Zeus and Hera once had an argument on which gender enjoyed love making more. They called on Tiresias, a mortal that had been both a man and a woman. his answer was this...
Of ten parts a man enjoys one only, but a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart.
What does this mean? What are the ten parts?
This is from Appolodorus 3.6.7. It does not refer to specific parts or phases of intercourse. You should read the numbers as percentages, as the translation indicates:
Hence, when Hera and Zeus disputed whether the pleasures of love are
felt more by women or by men, they referred to him for a decision. He
said that if the pleasures of love be reckoned at ten, men enjoy one
and women nine. Wherefore Hera blinded him, but Zeus bestowed on him
the art of soothsaying. The saying of Tiresias to Zeus and Hera: "Of
ten parts a man enjoys one only; but a woman enjoys the full ten parts
in her heart."
In the original text, the saying reads:
τὸ ὑπὸ Τειρεσίου λεχθὲν πρὸς Δία καὶ Ἥραν·
οἴην μὲν μοῖραν δέκα μοιρῶν τέρπεται ἀνήρ,
τὰς δὲ δέκ' ἐμπίπλησι γυνὴ τέρπουσα νόημα.
"If the pleasures of love be divided in ten then give 9 parts to women and but one part to men."
or so I understand it
A more modern (and prosaic) translation would be, "men get 10% of the enjoyment, women get the other 90%". We've somewhat settled on percentages as the standard way to express proportions of things now, but this wasn't the case in ancient Greece; dividing things into fives, or tens, or whatever number was convenient, was not uncommon. (Compare "one part baking soda to two parts baking powder" and such nowadays.)
