The Penis - Sex Education 101

Marilyn Milos, R.N., executive director and founder of NOCIRC, discusses normal sexual function of the penis and foreskin and its loss due to circumcision.

Why do/did you have foreskin?

The foreskin occupies a prominent position on an important organ. The foreskins location and structure indicate that it is the most important sensory tissue of the penis. Its persistence over millions of years suggests that it has played a role in the propagation of the species.

A well-integrated organ

Structurally, the penis is highly integrated. The glans, foreskin and skin of the penile shaft function as a single unit, not as a collection of separate parts with entirely different functions. The functions of the glans and foreskin are similar, and overlapping, but come fully into their own at different times during intercourse.

Simple sensations

The outer surface of the foreskin is specialized to detect feather-light touch and other sensations, including painful ones. The infamous zipper injury is an extreme example of the sort of damage the outer skin was designed to detect and prevent, long before the zipper posed a threat to the uninitiated.

Compared with the true (outer) skin of the foreskin, the glans is only feebly sensitive to light touch, pain, heat and cold. This is part of the reason we call the foreskin the primary sensory tissue of the penis. Without the foreskin, the end of the penis is numb to a host of sensations that tell the owner whether one of his most prized organs is in good company, or should move to safety.

Complex sensations

Thanks to its ridged band, the inner lining of the foreskin is specialized sexual tissue. The ridged band readily expands and contracts and is obviously designed to detect stretching forces. When penile shaft skin tugs on the ridged band, special genital corpuscles in the peaks of the ridges detect movement and trigger ejaculation. Stretching of the ridged band may also trigger and sustain erection.

Electrical stimulation of the glans triggers nerve impulses that pass to the spinal cord and then to the muscle of ejaculation. Clearly the glans has much in common with the foreskin. Where foreskin and glans part company, functionally as well as physically, is in their sensitivity to light touch, pain and heat and cold. Contrary to common opinion, the glans is not highly sensitive to a broad range of stimuli.

Foreskin vs. glans

It is unclear whether the ridged band simply plays backup for the glans, or whether the two have different functions. The location of the retracted ridged band on the erect penile shaft suggests that the difference is one of timing. Possibly, the foreskin and its ridged band are designed to ensure that sexual reflexes are triggered when, and only when, these structures are stretched during intercourse. The biological importance of the ridged band to conception is self-evident, but there is still a major gap in our understanding of the relation between form and function of the penis.

Dartos muscle

Penile skin has two important characteristics, apparent only on erection. Firstly penile skin tenses, stiffens and shortens, firming up the connection between shaft skin and ridged band. This change allows for the transmission of movement from the base of the erect penis to the ridged band.

Secondly, penile skin undergoes a marked frictional change, brought about by stiff, forward-pointing skin folds. The mechanism is similar to that which raises goosebumps.

The changes in penile skin are brought about by contraction of the Dartos muscle. Between them, stiffening and frictionality ensure that the ridged band is instantly alerted to changes in position of the penis within the vagina.

Why two layers?

The double-layering of the foreskin allows the delicate ridged band, which normally is safely hidden from view, to be deployed on the upper surface of the penile shaft during erection. There it stands a better chance of being activated. Double-layering also eases vaginal entry by offsetting the frictional resistance of erect shaft skin.

Summary

The various parts of the penis, including the foreskin, form a functional whole. The foreskin is the primary sensory tissue of the penis. The ridged band of the foreskin is built to trigger orgasm and ejaculation.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• penis
• foreskin
• vagina
• clitoris
• labia
• anus
• genital
• integrity
• intactivist
• Meissner's
• corpuscle
• coitus
• intercourse
• circumcision
• sexual
• wounding
• medical
• fraud
• trauma
• mutilations
• human
• rights
• NOCIRC
• doctors
• nurses
• NCLEX

[hungryhungryhonda]

This bitch forgot to mention all the side effects of not being circumcised. & I heard the whole "ride the wave" thing but it makes no sence why a person w/ a much more sensitive cock would last longer in bed. What's she know she ain't got a weener

[Bonobo3D]

@hungryhungryhonda There are no "side effects" to having a whole, natural and intact body. Your comment helps illustrate that ignorance is what perpetuates the sick violence of cutting the genitals of children.

[annoyedkid565]

... I LEARNED THIS SHIT IN MIDDLE SKOOL

[Bonobo3D]

@annoyedkid565 I seriously doubt that. Which school did you go to? Why do you call information about human sexual anatomy "shit"?

[AudioBookBoy12]

@Bonobo3D We started learning this in sixth grade all the way up? So why do you doubt that ?

[Bonobo3D]

@AudioBookBoy12 I would like to know which school teaches such detailed anatomy of the penis and the importance of genital integrity.

[joehiatt182]

according to penisextendersreview(.)com side effects of circumcision are: loosing penis head sensitivity. some men claims that they reach orgasm harder than before or not having orgasms at all.

[RedGreyV]

@Bonobo3D Thank you so much for uploading this. Intact is the natural, right way to be, there will never be a good enough reason to rob a child of an option only they have the right to make. Cheers

[Hugh7777]

@abrowning0421 The American Cancer Society doesn't agree with you.

[Hugh7777]

@highway955 Next time I'm standing naked next to an anteater and someone with a gun is in danger of mistaking one of us for the other, THEN I'll worrry about that.

[Hugh7777]

@hungryhungryhonda That's like talking about athlet's foot being "a side effect of not having your toes cut off. It's not just "more sensitive" but "better sensitive". Like not having one eye put out means you see not just brighter but in 3D. The effect has been called "a sympony of sensation". And any woman in the western world knows what it's like to have all her genitalia, which is more than any circumcised man knows.