Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Martin Reichardt has been fined for correcting a vulgar, factually incorrect remark made by a left-wing politician regarding her own anatomy in the German Bundestag.
The left-wing politician who initiated the explicit rhetoric faced no disciplinary action whatsoever – “not even a call to order”, according to the written objection Reichardt lodged against his own penalty.
The controversy dates back to a heated plenary session on March 19, 2026, which was focused on sexual abuse and violence against women. The debate was held to mark International Women’s Day.
During the debate, Kathrin Gebel, an MP for the left-wing Die Linke (The Left) party who took her seat in 2025, accused the AfD of using women’s rights to push an anti-immigration agenda.
When Reichardt interrupted her via verbal heckling from the floor, Gebel launched a highly explicit counter-attack.
“Mr Reichardt, the clitoris has 3,000 nerve endings – and yet you are even more sensitive,” Gebel told the chamber.
At the time, mainstream media outlets and broader left-wing commentators widely celebrated the vulgar jibe, praising it on social media platforms as a historic parliamentary “burn” against the right-wing opposition.
“The clitoris has 3,000 nerve endings…
and yet you are still more sensitive.”
Kathrin Gebel just gave AfD’s Martin Reichardt a biology lesson he definitely wishes he skipped.
German parliament went from debate to public execution in about 5 seconds. pic.twitter.com/vuAM5Rf9sP
— Mr Bench (@therealmrbench) June 26, 2026
Though the scientific basis of the attack was flawed and Gebel’s anatomical figures were completely wrong, as modern anatomical research indicates the clitoris possesses upwards of 10,000 nerve fibres. A 2023 study by Oregon Health & Science University, published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, counted an average of 10,281 nerve fibres in the glans clitoris – the first such count in humans.
Gebel was subsequently forced to upload a video acknowledging her factual error.
In an Instagram post she apologised for “talking sh*t”.
“The clitoris doesn’t have 3000 nerve endings at all – it has 10,000,” she corrected herself. “But it’s not so unusual for someone to be ignorant about the clitoris. Because the fact that we represent the clitoris correctly in medical textbooks at all is actually quite new.”
She claimed it is an example of women’s health being neglected.
Gebel also said “I would never, never call Martin Reichardt a ‘pussy’ or compare him to a vulva.”
“Because the vulva is an incredibly strong organ. It is extremely stretchy, it can withstand a lot. And my point was that Martin Reichardt can’t do that.”
On October 15, during a parliamentary debate on family policy in which four opposition motions on single parents, child poverty and maternity protection for the self-employed were tabled, Reichardt used his time at the podium to formally return fire, hitting back at Gebel’s erroneous data.
“You have been very helpful to me — you with your unqualified intervention, and you with your lack of knowledge about your own clitoris.”
Reichardt said he had done no more than highlight a factual error on a subject Gebel herself introduced to the floor. The reaction from the house leadership was swift and asymmetric.
Bundestag Vice-President Andrea Lindholz, of the Christian Social Union (CSU), who was chairing the sitting, immediately intervened, bypassing standard warnings to hit Reichardt with a formal fine. Under the Bundestag’s rules of procedure, such a penalty is set at €1,000, rising to €2,000 for a repeat offence.
Reichardt lodged a written objection the same day, arguing that his words were a factual observation and that he had used the term only because Gebel had aimed it at him first.
On October 16 the Bundestag rejected that objection without debate. The Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the CSU, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and Die Linke all voted to throw it out. Only the AfD backed him.
Further fuelling accusations of institutional bias, Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) took to the floor on the same day to defend the enforcement.
In doing so, Klöckner appeared to introduce an entirely separate political grievance out of nowhere to justify the punishment.
“I want to say very clearly: something like this aligns itself with accusations thrown at women here in parliament that they are childless. We are in the year 2026. Women and men have equal rights!”
“In the future, we will immediately punish this with a fine if people talk so disrespectfully with and about women.”
Martin Reichardt klärt die politische Opposition über ihre Unkenntnis der Klitoris auf. pic.twitter.com/2Abxu6McfJ
— Majestätsbeleidigung 👑🇩🇪 (@bfoonery) October 16, 2026
