U is for Uncircumcised Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey 021 - a podcast by Dr. Lori Beth Bisbey - A to Z of Sex

Hi everyone! Welcome to the A to Z of Sex. I’m Dr Lori Beth and I am your host. We are working our way through the erotic alphabet one letter at a time. Just a reminder this podcast deals with adult content, so if you don’t have total privacy, you might want to put on your headphones. Today the letter is U and U is for Uncircumcised. In this episode, I will only look at circumcision of males.
Circumcision is an operation in which the foreskin of the penis is removed. The foreskin is the part of the penis that covers the most sensitive portion –the glans or head of the penis. If you are in certain age groups and were brought up in America, you may not realise that there are uncircumcised penises. The first uncircumcised penis I ever saw was at 27 years old when I had sex with my first husband for the first time. He was British and it wasn’t popular in the UK to get circumcised for anything other than religious or medical reasons (whereas in the US almost all men who were born in that age group were circumcised unless a parent objected). I was shocked at first. My initial response was to ask him what was wrong with him! That almost derailed our first sexual experience entirely. When he finally understood the problem, we both had a bit of a laugh. It took me some time to get used to the difference in appearance. At rest, the foreskin covers the head of the penis and some are large pockets of skin and very loose. Others are smaller and just barely cover the head.
There are a variety of reasons that men are circumcised. Jewish men are circumcised at 7 days old as part of a covenant with God. Muslim men are circumcised at a similar time as part of a birth ceremony for the same reason. Men who convert to Judaism must be circumcised in order to convert. Of course in the time that the Old Testament was written, regular baths and showers were not the trend and so circumcision to increase hygiene made more sense.
The most common medical reason for circumcision is a foreskin that is too tight and doesn’t retract as the penis enlarges so that the head of the penis is trapped and this is very painful. The foreskin and glans can grow together and only separate when the boy is about three years old. So some doctors recommend waiting until the boy is older before making the decision to circumcise.
The second medical reason that is often given for circumcision is balanitis which is an inflammation and then infection of the foreskin and/or the glans. This can be caused by poor hygiene, candida, allergy to soaps. Any of these can cause damage to the skin leading to inflammation and then infection.
Finally circumcision can be offered as a treatment for adult men if a tight foreskin is making sex painful.
Circumcision in childhood reduces the risk of penile cancer but penile cancer is rare in any event. Sexually transmitted infections are more common in uncircumcised men. It is suggested that uncircumcised men are less likely to notice the symptoms of things like chlamydia. The safe sex discussion is essential in any sexual encounter but even more essential with uncircumcised guys.
There is a lot of debate as to the downside of male circumcision with some saying that it decreases pleasure and others talking about the risks of the operation. There are problems in 2% of medical circumcisions and these range from bleeding, infection, psychological impacts and sexual problems.
Despite all the debate 2/3 of men are still circumcised. It took until 1999 for the American Academy of Paediatrics to conclude that there were no specific benefits to circumcision. Many American parents prefer circumcision from concerns that their boys will be teased for looking different or that their boys will feel uncomfortable looking different from their fathers.
Now that we have covered some of the facts relating to circumcision, let’s turn to how to approach an uncircumcised penis in order to give the most pleasure....

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