Jessica JungLand of the free, home of the brave…we exercise the freedom to choose. And how we choose to snip, or leave, baby boys' foreskin.
Parents who choose to circumcise their male child don't often consider the fate of their boy's future sexual experiences — and certainly don't care about how his future partners might feel.
But it matters to many of us, and it's not until the initial unveiling do partners see what they've got to work with. (Does anyone ask, “Are you circumcised or uncircumcised?” on a first date? Uhhh…let's hope not.)
But foreskin skin or not, does it make a difference when it comes to fornication?
For more than100 years, circumcision's been widely practiced in American culture, but recent trends show parents are more often choose to let their baby boy's fold fly free and foregoing the supposed benefits of circumcision. Fascinating. So what does it feel like to fuck someone who's “uncut?”
I looked to two of my sexually active girlfriends, both of whom have experienced snipped and un-snipped men. These two sexy, smart chicks have been around enough to provide us with common experiences, relevant to real facts, though for anonymity's sake I'll call them Sabrina and Krista — two names from Petey Pablo's lovely ode to sex, Freak-A-Leek.
Sabrina's first experiences were with circumcised guys, but then came a guy with (GASP!) “the flap.” She'd never seen an uncircumcised penis, not even in porn.
Quick tip from sex counselor and author of, She Comes First, Ian Kerner, for foreskin virgins:
“If a woman is new to a foreskin, she can also let the guy know and ask for feedback as to what feels good and what doesn't. She can also ask him to show her what works, and watch him self-pleasure. As with any part of the penis, it's sensitive, so start off cautiously and gradually increase the intensity of stimulation.”
Though Sabrina wasn't used to it, she dove right in and found herself coming to orgasm frequently and easily. When this relationship ultimately ended she found that sex with circumcised men made it more difficult to orgasm each time.
Makes sense — A Danish study released in 2011 revealed that circumcision was associated with orgasm difficulties in Danish men women, as well as dyspareunia and a sense of incomplete sexual needs fulfillment.
Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., is Executive Director of Circumcision Resource Center in Boston and author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma. He offered AfterDarkLA his expertise on why sexual pleasure is at stake for men and women when it comes to circumcision.
“There's an indisputable fact that circumcision removes about 12 square inches of highly erogenous tissue on a [male] adult. It's obvious, if they're missing tissue of the penile shaft, anyone with common sense would agree that they're feeling less pleasure, because they don't have the thousands of nerve endings that went with the tissue that was thrown away.
Plus, the foreskin has various functions including being a removable 'sleeve.' The sleeve slides up and down the penile shaft, reduces friction and stimulates the glands and the head of the penis and it makes it more comfortable and pleasurable for his sexual partner.”
Left one's been 'peeled' down for you. Which would you like?
My other above-mention friend, Krista — like Sabrina — mostly had sexual encounters with circumcised men before being with someone uncircumcised. After her first time, she realized something:
“I noticed that when they weren't snipped…it was harder for them to sustain sex without coming to orgasm because they were so sensitive.”
Now, Krista's sexual partners were not literally minutemen, but women who need more time than men to reach sexual satisfaction may find that some uncircumcised partners can't keep up.
Coming from a family whose father is in health care, Krista knows the additional benefits of circumcision, including improved hygiene. With uncircumcised partners, during oral sex, Krista said she was more often than not confronted with unpleasant odor.
“Uncircumcised men do need to keep the foreskin clean, so there can be the additional burden of general hygiene,” said She Comes First author Kerner.
Kerner, whose focus is on sexual pleasure for all, isn't for or against circumcision and looks at the pros and cons on a big-picture scale — sexually speaking.
“I can personally say that both categories of men [and women] have the capacity to experience a full spectrum of sexual pleasure, and both categories are just as vulnerable to sexual problems. If a woman encounters a man with orgasm issues, I don't think his issues are related to whether or not he's circumcised.”
Got a preference for your sexual niche?
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