With coordinator Dahl away on vacation, our meeting for May was helmed by the capable
(if reluctant) Gary Harryman. Many of our regular attendees and a few new restorers
showed up for two hours of the latest news and information regarding foreskin
restoration.
Gary brought us word that the penile sensitivity study currently taking place is
rumored to have preliminary findings which support what we've been saying - intact
penises are more sensitive than circumcised penises. The only other study to compare
penile sensitivity was performed several years ago by Masters and Johnson, who found
little or no difference in sensitivity between intact and circumcised men. But that
study can be faulted for a serious flaw in the testing method they employed - the
subjects could clearly see when and how their penises were being touched with various
objects. In the current study a screen is placed between the subject's eyes and his
penis. The subject has no choice but to indicate only when his sense of touch
registers some contact; there are no secondary clues available to influence his
perceptions.
Gary also reported on his ongoing research at UCLA's Biomedical Library. His ceaseless
efforts have turned up one of the only studies on that dreaded and vilified substance
known as smegma. The study in question confirmed that smegma consists of little more
than dead skin cells. Jim, a retired physician, added that there may in fact be some
antibacterial agents present in smegma. Far from being a biohazardous substance, smegma
may be beneficial! If you ever wake up in the morning and find a pasty white coating on
your tongue, this too is a layer of dead skin cells. No matter where it turns up on your
body it's certainly nothing to be afraid of, and anyone with the most basic personal
hygiene skills knows that it can easily be washed away.
Bruce, who regularly makes a three hour trek to attend our monthly meetings, is making
steady progress toward establishing a new branch of NORM. If you're in or near San
Diego and would like to have a branch of NORM nearby, you are encouraged to contact
Bruce at (619) 280-2204. You can't email Bruce because he doesn't have a computer yet,
but he anticipates purchasing one in the near future.
The bulk of our meeting was spent discussing Jim's wonderful invention, the Tug Ahoy.
Several of us purchased the device at our meeting last month and this time around we
shared our progress and experiences. The consensus seemed to be that this device offers
several distinct advantages: it's quick and easy to apply and remove, you don't need an
erection to put it on, the device is quite comfortable when applied correctly, and some
believe that it has accelerated their rate of skin growth. There were some disadvantages
reported also: it can be uncomfortable if you leave any wrinkles in the skin before
applying the outer cone, and discomfort can also occur if you use excessive tension,
particularly at night. (It's important to remember that the harder you pull, the tighter
it gets - if you ever had one of those "Chinese Finger Traps" as a kid, you probably
remember how that works!) Some men also experienced a tendency for the outer cone to be
pulled loose when worn under tighter pants, in this case a pair of blue jeans. Jim
recommends that you wear looser fitting pants.
Next month we look forward to meeting more new restorers, hear more reports on the Tug
Ahoy and other techniques, and share more of our experiences...good and bad... in the
ongoing struggle to reclaim our foreskins. If you're going to be anywhere near Los
Angeles on the eighteenth of June, please join us!