THE MALE SEXUAL MACHINE: AN OWNER'S MANUAL
by Kenneth Purvis, M.D., PH.D (published in 1992)
Chapter 3 THE FORGOTTEN FORESKIN
In America alone this year, 1.3 million boys will sacrifice their foreskins to the surgeon's knife--1/2 inch of discarded penile anatomy. What is this thing which is treated with so much disdain by so many? Has the supreme being made a minor blunder in his blueprint for the male of the species?
WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED A FORESKIN? The penis is not just a club to be used to batter its way through the portals of love. It is a wonder of natural hydraulic engineering equipped at its tip with a dense mat of nerve endings that make it one of the most sensitive organs in the male body, designed to fire off impulses to our pleasure center in the brain and spinal cord with the slightest touch. It is clear that such a delicate and sensitive piece of machinery should be protected from the ravages of nature and its local environment when not in use--a function provided by the humble foreskin. Whether it be on request or on its own initiative, this guardian of the male member gracefully slides back to expose its sensitive core, charged and ready for action. To call it a skin is to do an injustice because it is far more. To remind us its sexual significance it is equipped with an intricate biochemical apparatus that makes it responsible to the male sex hormone. Indeed human foreskins have been studied by hormone researchers for many years in an attempt to unlock some of the secrets of how the male hormone acts. It also contains highly specialized glands that squeeze an oily substance on the penile head to prevent it from drying out and to hinder attack by bacteria and fungus. Some have suggested that this oil may serve as a sexual perfume to attract and excite the female during sexual play. Let us not forget that women too have foreskins, small and well hidden, but nevertheless fulfilling the function of its male equivalent.
FORESKIN ADORNMENT When our more primitive tribal cousins discovered a loose or redundant piece of body skin, the chances were that they stretched it to unbelievable lengths, mutilated it, or pierced it with all manner of objects from chicken bones to rings. In this respect, the foreskin has through the ages apparently been a temptation too great to resist. Even in today's so-called civilized societies, body piercers, bondage freaks, and the more temperate masochists have been quick to appreciate the potential of their foreskins for adornment and for titillating their sex lives. A ring placed on one side of the foreskin is not only chic but also serves to heighten the woman's sexual pleasure during intercourse. Gay pairs in the United States have hit on a novel way of proving their sexual fidelity by putting padlocks through the foreskin and giving their partners the key. Long pendulous foreskins are apparently a thing of beauty for some of the tribes in New Guinea who deliberately stretch them by suspending weights from the penis. Foreskin stretching may be something to recommend for the Chinese who are apparently equipped with relatively short foreskins, with the consequence that the naked head often peeps out even in the the flaccid organ, fiving the appearance of an acorn. The resemblance of the semierect penis to an acorn possibly accounts for the use of the oak tree in sexual symbolism.
THE RAPE OF THE PHALLUS Man has slit, skewered, and hacked pieces of his penis skin since he first discovered it hanging there between his legs. How much skin he removed depended on the culture to which he belonged. Those boys unfortunate enough to belong to certain Arabian subcultures could look forward to having all the outer skin removed from their penis down to the base, and woe betide those who cried out during the ceremony; they were put to death by their fathers. Some races were satisfied with a symbolic nick in the foreskin, while others, such as the modern American culture, preferred to remove the whole end. Egyptian mummies have been found minus their foreskins, and some of the Indians who greeted Columbus when he discovered America were also circumcised. Why? you may ask. In some cultures it appeared to represent an initiation ceremony at puberty. Boys could show how macho they were by smiling while their genitals were being mutilated. Experts have also pointed out that this ritual of spilling blood may also represent a symbolic menstruation--a sign of the happy times to come. Other societies had more religious reasons. As mentioned earlier, circumcision can be thought of as a symbolic castration that was the ultimate offering to the gods. In Genesis 17:10-14 it is written that God is said to have claimed as his covenant that every boy should be circumcised: And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations, and the uncircumcised man-child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people: he hath broken my covenant. In other words, one's foreskin was the membership fee for a rather exclusive religious club. In certain African and Melanesian tribes, the operation is one of a variety of ritual mutilations that are performed in the hope of adding allure and charm to the penis. So much for the original origins of circumcision.
Why does the operation find so much favor in contemporary Western society? In the 1850s in America, the humble foreskin was blamed for a long list of disorders, from epilepsy to"reflex neuroses leading to idiocy." Mental illness was blamed on tight foreskins, so-called sphincterism, as was excessive masturbation. The foreskin was a disease-causing structure that had no business being there. These sentiments were still being published in medical textbooks as late as 1925. Today, aside from religious reasons, there are very few sound arguments for removing the foreskin. The majority of parents allow their son's foreskins to fall under the surgeon's knife because (a) everybody else does it, (b) the fact they look different from their fathers might create a psychological problem for some sons, (c) it is easier to keep a circumcised penis clean, (d) it is aesthetically nicer to look at, and (e) the doctor didn't say we shouldn't. Until recently two "scientific" arguments were that uncircumcised men run a greater risk of getting cancer of the penis and that they also cause cancer of the cervix in women with whom they have had sex. The villain in the plot was supposed to be smegma, the cheesy substance that collects under the foreskin of the uncircumcised male. This theory is now rapidly losing support. The key today is penile hygiene, whether you are circumcised or not. It appears to be "in" to pamper your penis with the loving care it deserves. "If we can teach a boy to brush his teeth, clean his ears, and wipe his anus, would it be too much to teach him to retract his foreskin and wash the head of the penis?" reported one expert on the subject. A penis should be washed as often as you brush your teeth, but not necessarily only after meals and with a strong brush. Such a change in social attitudes would also remove another argument for circumcision--that it prevents the local buildup of fungus or bacteria under a foreskin that is responsible for the painful condition called balanitis and also removes a potential breeding ground for venereal disease. What are the remaining grounds for circumcision? These include (a) a foreskin that is too tight and cannot be pulled back, (b) a condition called paraphimosis, in which the base of the foreskin is so tight that it strangles the blood flow to the penis head, (c) repeated inflammation or infection of the glans, (d) abnormalities of the foreskin after an accident, or (e) skin cancer of the penis. For the most part, however, these conditions are extremely rare.
THE GOOD NEWS AND THE BAD NEWS The bad news starts from the day we say good-bye to our foreskins. Not only are there complications of the operation itself, such as bleeding and infection, but also our newly uncovered glans is now uncomfortably exposed to ammonia and other harmful chemicals from urine and feces, and suffers the abrading influence of toilet paper an clothing. The result can be painful sores and a condition called meatal stenosis, which is the hardening and narrowing of the urethral opening. With loss of the foreskin the man loses a natural gliding mechanism that helps with the sex act. With a foreskin it is possible for the shaft to move back and forth within the loose outer skin. This is especially helpful during sex with women who have poor lubrication because the reduced friction during intercourse is less irritating. This is also the case with anal sex. Penetration by the circumcised man has been compared to thrusting the foot into a sock held open at the top, while penetration by his uncircumcised counterpart has been likened to slipping the foot into a sock that has been previously rolled up. After circumcision, the delicate and sensitive skin of the head of the penis gradually changes character. After years of rubbing against underwear and denim jeans, it begins to resemble normal skin and loses some of its sensitivity, with a reduction in the intensity of sensations for the man during intercourse as a possible result. Having sex with a circumcised penis has been likened to "trying to appreciate one of Goya's masterpieces by looking at a black and white photograph." The good news is that circumcision could help a man stay on the job longer, thus avoiding the disgrace of premature ejaculation. One additional bit of good news for the circumcised male is that he never has to suffer the painful experience of getting something stuck under a foreskin. British and Commonwealth soldiers who suffered the sandstorms of the African deserts in the last war were somewhat more comfortable than their uncircumcised brothers. Perhaps this is the reason why circumcision finds so much favor with Aborigines and Arabs of the desert regions in Australia and the Middle East. If it is not yet obvious to the reader, the message is clear and undeniable: Our foreskin, like our tonsils, does have a purpose in life, and it is time that one-sixth of the world's population faced the reality of that fact. Happily, in America if new attitudes persist and current trends continue, the coming generation, unlike the previous one, can revel in the new experience of having sex with a foreskin. (End Quote) The author gives no list of his sources and I don't agree with all he says, but coming from a medical man, it seems pretty enlightened to me. I transcribed it as written including the word "responsible" in the first section when I thought it should be "responsive." I am not sure about the benefit he mentions concerning premature ejaculation, but this is at least 6 years old and research continues.
THIS WAS SENT TO US BY "TOM", WHO CAN BE REACHED BY EMAIL