Argument: Foreskin is important to sexual intercourse and pleasure

Support

Paul M. Fleiss, MD. “The Case Against Circumcision”. Mothering. Winter 1997 – The foreskin has numerous protective, sensory, and sexual functions[…]

• Erogenous Sensitivity: The foreskin is as sensitive as the fingertips or the lips of the mouth. It contains a richer variety and greater concentration of specialized nerve receptors than any other part of the penis.15 These specialized nerve endings can discern motion, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations of texture.16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

• Coverage During Erection: As it becomes erect, the penile shaft becomes thicker and longer. The double-layered foreskin provides the skin necessary to accommodate the expanded organ and to allow the penile skin to glide freely, smoothly, and pleasurably over the shaft and glans.

• Self-Stimulating Sexual Functions: The foreskin’s double-layered sheath enables the penile shaft skin to glide back and forth over the penile shaft. The foreskin can normally be slipped all the way, or almost all the way, back to the base of the penis, and also slipped forward beyond the glans. This wide range of motion is the mechanism by which the penis and the orgasmic triggers in the foreskin, frenulum, and glans are stimulated.

• Sexual Functions in Intercourse: One of the foreskin’s functions is to facilitate smooth, gentle movement between the mucosal surfaces of the two partners during intercourse. The foreskin enables the penis to slip in and out of the vagina nonabrasively inside its own slick sheath of self-lubricating, movable skin. The female is thus stimulated by moving pressure rather than by friction only, as when the male’s foreskin is missing.

• The foreskin fosters intimacy between the two partners by enveloping the glans and maintaining it as an internal organ. The sexual experience is enhanced when the foreskin slips back to allow the male’s internal organ, the glans, to meet the female’s internal organ, the cervix-a moment of supreme intimacy and beauty.

Paul M. Fleiss, MD. “The Case Against Circumcision”. Mothering. Winter 1997 – “Circumcision desensitizes: Circumcision desensitizes the penis radically. Foreskin amputation means severing the rich nerve network and all the nerve receptors in the foreskin itself. Circumcision almost always damages or destroys the frenulum. The loss of the protective foreskin desensitizes the glans. Because the membrane covering the permanently externalized glans is now subjected to constant abrasion and irritation, it keratinizes, becoming dry and tough. The nerve endings in the glans, which in the intact penis are just beneath the surface of the mucous membrane, are now buried by successive layers of keratinization. The denuded glans takes on a dull, grayish, sclerotic appearance.

Circumcision disables: The amputation of so much penile skin permanently immobilizes whatever skin remains, preventing it from gliding freely over the shaft and glans. This loss of mobility destroys the mechanism by which the glans is normally stimulated. When the circumcised penis becomes erect, the immobilized remaining skin is stretched, sometimes so tightly that not enough skin is left to cover the erect shaft. Hair-bearing skin from the groin and scrotum is often pulled onto the shaft, where hair is not normally found. The surgically externalized mucous membrane of the glans has no sebaceous glands. Without the protection and emollients of the foreskin, it dries out, making it susceptible to cracking and bleeding.”

“The Foreskin Has Crucial Functions”. National Organization of Circumcision Information. Opposing Views – The foreskin provides the skin necessary to accommodate a full erection. Even when erect, the foreskin has a gliding action that provides additional sexual pleasure to the man and his partner. The gliding mechanism of the foreskin facilitates insertion and reduces friction and chafing during sex. The foreskin also provides a seal, keeping the secretions necessary for comfortable intercourse contained within the vagina.

[…]The foreskin contains 20,000–70,000 erogenous nerve endings, the majority of which are concentrated in the ridged band, which encircles the inner opening of the foreskin. When the penis is flaccid, the nerve endings are protected but, when erect, they are exposed. Circumcision removes about three-fourths of the nerve endings in the penis, leaving the circumcised penis severely disabled by comparison.

“Circumcision Alters Sexual Function”. National Organization of Circumcision Information. Opposing Views – “The foreskin has a gliding action that facilitates intercourse. The gliding of the foreskin stimulates the glans and the glans stimulates the foreskin. During intercourse, the foreskin turns inside out and the ridged band is exposed to and stimulated by the vaginal walls. The movements and skin contact an intact man needs to reach orgasm are compatible with the movements and skin contact a woman needs to reach orgasm.

The dryness, abrasion, and chafing complaints of some women, along with their inability to have an orgasm, are oftentimes complications of circumcision. A circumcised male has little lubrication of his own, and he removes much of a woman’s vaginal lubrication with every outstroke. In addition, a circumcised male needs longer strokes to stimulate the small sensitive area (frenular remnant) on the underside of his penis to reach ejaculation. Each long outstroke distances him from the woman’s clitoris, making it harder for her to ride the wave to orgasm.”