It is an anxiety that gradually emerged in the mind of Damien, 39 years old: what if the circumcision that he envisaged made him lose all his sensations in the penis? Worse, could it "miss" and lead this man to regret this decision afterwards? The psychoanalyst and sexologist in Paris, Catherine Blanc, responds to Damien's apprehensions in the program Sans Rendez-vous on Europe 1, Wednesday.
The question of Damien, 39 years old
"For aesthetic reasons, I would like to be circumcised, but I am afraid of a failure, of losing sensations and in the end, of regretting."
Catherine Blanc's response
"It is very different when we go from one to the other, quite simply because for a man who is not circumcised, the glans is completely contained by the foreskin. As soon as the foreskin is no longer , since it is circumcised, all the sensations in daily life are upset: the glans rubs against the underwear and all the movements are particularly sensitive. It is a completely new sensation, until the moment when the body get used to these new sensations.
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It is not a question of loss of sensations, but of new sensations. The glans, which is the most sensitive part of the male reproductive system, will discover other sensations, but not in sexuality since in sexuality, in any case, the foreskin recedes on the body of the penis. So, these are the same sensations that occur, unless we obviously consider the surgical act and the look we have on ourselves. There, it is psychologically that one will be able to have difficulties to come, by anguish to have been scarified or damaged, in a certain way. "
Why is he talking about aesthetic reasons?
"Already in pornography, even if the sexes are not all circumcised, as they are always erect, we only see them like that. It is exactly the same problem for women who see pink sexes, made up because that the skin of the vulva is a tinted skin. Pornography has given an extremely standardized image of sexuality, which makes the encounter with the reality of her body become complicated.
Obviously, a sex that is not erect is a bit flaccid with a foreskin. Simply, for him, maybe it is closer to the image he has of perfect sex. It may be a meeting with someone who has never had a relationship with someone who is not circumcised and who says' I'm not used to it 'or' it's less beautiful'. The fear of a failure is a bit like this obsession with cosmetic surgery, on all parts of our body. We want an ideal image of ourselves, but we are afraid it will miss. So, in fact, that really raises the question of the difficulty we have in accepting ourselves. Because once he's erect, he's erect, like circumcised. "
For a woman, does that change anything?
"It is exactly the same for her. It is really once again in the fantasy that it is played out, since the sensations in the vagina are not strong enough to be able to perceive the difference between circumcised and uncircumcised. that it is penetrated, in any case, this foreskin retracts to leave the glans all its presence. This changes for all that is preliminary, caresses, fellatio, masturbation… This obliges to take into account the state of the penis, because that a foreskin usually has a brake, unless it has been broken, and that changes the way you touch the other's body. "