Give Me Back My Foreskin

Across the land, "thousands of men have attached what look like Inquisition-era torture devices to their privates in order to reclaim what they feel was butchered at birth," reports the Houston Press.

Low started with the film canister method, but used his training as an engineer to design a new device — what turned out to be the TLC Tugger. He says he secretly tested it on himself, not wanting to announce his invention until he knew it worked. Even his mother, who lives next door, did not know her son was walking around constantly stretching the skin of his penis.

"For a long time she would see me wearing shorts and notice a knee brace on one leg, which was there to conceal the tugging straps, and she would express concern about my poor knee," he says. "I usually just said I strained it."

The article's a bit older than we'd usually cover at Wired Science, but it was just too weird to ignore.

Did you know that there's a nonprofit group for men who want to surgically restore their circumcised foreskins? Oh yes there is, and it's called Brothers United for Future Foreskin. Also known as BUFF.
But BUFF has been supplanted by the National Organization for the
Restoration of Men, aka NORM.

Snickers aside, the question remains of what circumcision or the lack thereof actually does. When it comes to sex, the *Press *found a lot of men (and women) who claim that it's better. Whether the reporter left out some less-successful accounts is unknown.

Research into penile sensitivity is conflicting. Wired Science has covered two studies that suggest it makes no difference (here and
here). Anecdotal evidence and other, anti-circumcision activist-funded research suggests that it does.

As for the health benefits, circumcision has been associated with a reduced risk of HIV transmission. But that might not be true, either. A lack of circumcision appears to increase the risks of other diseases, but that might be avoidable with better hygiene. (Full CDC rundown
here.)

So: more research, please! All you grant reviewers out there, I know it might be kind of weird and uncomfortable for you to fund this stuff, but seriously, we need it.

The Fantastic Foreskin [Houston Press]**

Wired News coverage of the quest for new foreskins here. That's where the picture comes from. Said the caption: "The CAT II RO is made of chlorinated polyvinyl chloride piping, which is a bonus because the user can get through airport security without a problem. It's tapeless and easy to get on and off, according to its creator."

Thanks to the Women's Bioethics Blog for catching this!