Genital piercing

Gilt marginalia on the Boxer Codex (c. 1590) with the only known illustration of the pre-colonial Visayan tugbuk and sakra genital piercing from the Philippines

The traditional prehistoric and historic practice of genital piercing is most culturally widespread in Southeast Asia (particularly in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar), where the insertion of various kinds of implants into the penis were common until modern times, in addition to other ancient body modifications like tattooing, supercision or circumcision, pearling, ear piercings and ear plugs, gold teeth fillings, teeth filing, teeth blackening, and artificial cranial deformation. The primary purpose of such inserts were to enhance pleasure.[4][5][6] The practice also spread to neighboring regions, where scattered references to genital piercings exist, like the South Asian apadravya, a male genital piercing that passes vertically through the glans (unlike most Southeast Asian piercings which are inserted horizontally), in the Kama Sutra (2nd century AD).[7] Other smaller traditions of genital piercings also arose independently in other cultures (like in Central America).[4]

In the Philippines, penile piercings were widely documented by European explorers among the Visayan people.[8] Visayan penile piercings consists of a rod or bar (usually made from gold, brass, tin, or ivory; and often ornamented) called the tugbuk or tudruk that is inserted horizontally through the glans of the penis. Its ends are attached to the sakra (also transcribed as sacra or sagra), a wheel or half-ring (made from the same material as the tugbuk) that goes around the head of the penis, similar to a cock ring. The sakra comes in many variants, but is usually ornamented with blunt knobs around the circumference. The ends of the tugbuk are then secured to the sakra with plugs (also often ornamented). The Italian explorer Antonio Pigafetta who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan in the first circumnavigation of the globe describes the practice as such:[8][9][10][11][12]

The males, both large and small, have the head of their member pierced from one side to the other, with a pin of gold or of tin as thick as a goose feather, and at each end of this pin some have a star-shaped decoration like a button, and others, one like the head of a cart nail… In the middle of this pin or tube is a hole through which they urinate, and the pin and the stars always remain firm, holding the member stiff.

— Antonio Pigafetta, Relazione del primo viaggio intorno al mondo (1550-1559), [10]

The anonymously-written Boxer Codex (c. 1590s) also has a similar description:

Two holes are fashioned in the round part of the hoop or ring, one on the top and the other on the bottom, through which a small bolt or pin made of the same metal as the ring is inserted and which is then thrust through the man’s member as the base of his foreskin. And thus the hoop or ring (sakra) is worn on the genital member itself in the same way a ring is worn on a finger.

— Unknown, Boxer Codex (c. 1590s), [10]

These piercings were done to boys at an early age. They were meant to enhance sensation and pleasure during sexual activity for both men and women. Notably, Pigafetta describes that it was the women who controlled how the penis with the sakra is inserted. Men without penile piercings were reported to be derided by women as asog ("impotent" or "effeminate"). The practice was heavily suppressed by the Spanish clergy and eventually lost during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines, as it was considered by the Spanish clergy to be a "sin of the flesh."[8][10][9][13][14][11]

Indian Fakirs, one of them wearing a big piece of jewelry through an ampallang piercing, 1870–1880

Two Kenyah-Dajaks, both with barbell-style studs in ampallang piercings – Borneo, 1920

The ampallang, a similar piercing (which also passes horizontally through the glans, but differs in that it is not attached to a ring), is found in different tribes throughout Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo. Genital piercings became first introduced in western countries by ethnographic report, done by explorers such as in the 19th century. The Dutch explorer Anton Willem Nieuwenhuis described in his ethnographic record In Centraal Borneo: reis van Pontianak naar Samarinda – documenting his travel through Borneo in 1897 – the procedure of an ampallang piercing:

″The young men through the tattoo, because it is performed by them only to a limited extent, much less than women to suffer for it but they must in order to gain their full manhood, subject of another test, namely the through-hole the glans penis. This operation procedure is as follows: First, the glans made anemic by pressing between the two arms of a folded over strip of bamboo. At each of these arms are opposite each other where needed openings through which one after the round pressed glans become less sensitive to an acute kapfernen pin; formerly was used for this purpose a pointed bamboo sticks. The bamboo and the clamp is removed by means of a cord attached to pin left in the opening until the channel is healed. Later, the copper pin (utang) by another, usually through a tin, replaced, which is worn at all times, making only heavy work or strenuous operations of the metal pin a wooden square. Particularly brave men enjoy with the chief's prerogative to be allowed to wear the penis a ring in the scales of the pangolin cut and blunt teeth is occupied; sometimes they can also be crossed with the first channel, a second by the glans . Drill In addition to the Kayan themselves, engage in many Malays from the upper Kapuas this art. The pain during surgery do not seem to be very violent, and it has only rarely serious consequences, although until recovery can often take a month.″[15] – Anton Willem Nieuwenhuis

Modern: Genital piercings have become increasingly popular since the start of the 21st century:[16][17] woman with a vertical clitoral hood piercing, man with a Prince Albert piercing

Piercing the genitals became a short-lived trend at the end of the 19th century, in particular for upper classes of the society: "It was during the Victorian era that the practice of body piercing in the Western world reemerged. Many men and women of the Victorian royalty chose to receive nipple and genital piercings.″[18]

However, the popularity diminished again, with genital piercings becoming rather uncommon in the western world until the second half of the 20th century. In the 1970s, they were introduced to the emerging body modification community by the early piercings pioneers like Jim Ward and Doug Malloy, many of them associated with the legendary piercing studio The Gauntlet in Los Angeles. With the advent of Piercing Fans International Quarterly in 1977, information about genital piercings became available to a wider community. Genital piercings were later sported by the modern primitives movement that developed during the 1980s in the San Francisco Bay Area. Still, only until the 21st century, genital piercing was confined to a body modification subculture.

Just like nipple piercings,[19] genital piercings became increasingly more popular and part of mainstream culture in the second decade of the 21st century, with ″nice and normal″ people endorsing them.[20] Many celebrities such as Christina Aguilera,[21] Fantasia Barrino,[22] Pete Doherty,[23] Janet Jackson,[24] Lenny Kravitz,[25] Katarina Waters,[26] or Pete Wentz,[27] stated that they had or planned to have genital piercings. Genital piercings nowadays have a growing demand, especially in a young adult, college-aged population.[16][28][29]

With regard to (female) genital piercings, Marilyn W. Edmunds, adjunct clinical professor at the Johns Hopkins University, stated, "Women with genital piercings are no longer on the social fringe or part of the 'punk' culture who are experimenting with behaviors that are 'socially provocative.' Over the past 30 years, genital piercing has become mainstream, and women engage in it for a variety of reasons."[30]

However, according to Chelsea Bunz, professional piercer from UK, the clearly existing rise in popularity might as well be an effect of more people openly talking about their genital piercings: "I think genital piercing has always been popular – it's just discussed more openly these days, which makes it increasingly acceptable to the mainstream. People from all classes and professions have them (...)."[31]

Like body piercings at large, genital piercings are often done for aesthetic reasons and as an expression of personal style. In addition, some (but not all) types of genital piercing increase sensitivity and provide additional stimulation during sexual intercourse or stimulation. According to an Association of Professional Piercers expert report by Elayne Angel, body piercing pioneer, former member of The Gauntlet and inventor of several genital piercings such as the fourchette and the lorum, individual motives and preferences are quite diverse:

Left: Offering only minor added stimulation, the Christina piercing is primarily done for aesthetic reasons. Right: Beyond aesthetics, the Apadravya can enhance sexual stimulation for both partners.

"Many adults are interested in genital piercing but aren’t really sure which of the many options to select. They want to know which is the “best piercing” but there is no “one-piercing-fits-all” answer. It depends on many factors and highly individual desires and preferences (without even bringing individual anatomy in to the discussion yet). For some clients the most important aspect is that the piercing pleases their partner. Others have the priority of increasing their own sensation in a particular area or manner. Some want the one that will show the most, others to heal the fastest, yet others want one that is least likely to bleed! And on it goes. You will need to interview each client to determine the specific motivations and expectations for genital piercings. Inquire about which piercing(s) are of interest—and why? Is stimulation or aesthetics a primary motivation? Is the stimulation important more for the piercee, or does the piercee desire that sensation more for his/her partner? Then there are deeper specifics to probe (pardon the expression) such as whether the goal is increased sensation during penetration, or enhanced clitoral stimulation.[...]″[32] -– Elayne Angel

Enhanced pleasure and sensation

Additionally, genital piercings can enhance sexual pleasure during masturbation, foreplay and intercourse. While female genital piercings do this only to the women wearing them, male genital piercings can enhance stimulation for both the person wearing the jewelry and their partner by stimulating both the glans of the wearer and the vaginal wall or the anus of the penetrated partner. Due to genital physiology, women seem to gain more sexual pleasure from both, their own as well as her partner's genital piercings.

Prince Albert piercings are commonly used for enhanced sexual pleasure for both partners as well as for aesthetic reasons.[36]

For the sexual partner

This effect is in particular reported for piercings passing through the glans penis: the ampallang and apadravya piercing. Women of the Dayak in Sarawak, Borneo prefer men with an ampallang, claiming that intercourse without would be dull:

Historic photograph of a Dayak with ampallang piercing (top), detailed view of traditional jewelry (bottom)

Paolo Mantegazza stated, "The Dayak women have a right to insist upon the ampallang and if the man does not consent they may seek separation. They say that the embrace without this contrivance is plain rice; with it is rice with salt."[37] On another account by the anthropologist Tom Harrisson, who spent much of his life in Borneo and interviewed natives about the traditional ampallang; he stated, "the function of this device is, superficially, to add to the sexual pleasure of the women by stimulating and extending the inner walls of the vagina. It is, in this, in my experience, decidedly successful."[38]

Comparable to other piercings, improper hygiene during the piercings process carries the risk of transmitting blood borne diseases and during the healing process it might lead to infection.

Some physicians believe that male genital piercings increase the risk of STD transmission by making safer sex barriers (condoms) less effective.[41][42][43] Most professional piercers and body art enthusiasts believe these risks are over-stated or nonexistent. In two surveys, 5%–18% of men with genital piercings reported unspecified "problems using condoms" though it is unclear how many of these men used condoms regularly.[44] There is no conclusive evidence that wearers of genital piercings are more likely to contract sexually transmitted infections.[44]

The time to fully heal a genital piercing varies tremendously, depending on piercing site and individual characteristics: it can range from a week up to six months. Until fully healed, preparations should be made against possible causes of infection, such as proper cleaning on a daily basis. People with fresh piercings should abstain from sexual activity for the first few days and also then should use physical protection barriers such as condoms until the piercing is fully healed.

Laws in other countries vary. In many European countries, minors are required to bring a signed consent form from or to be escorted by a legal guardian. Even in countries that have no laws regulating genital piercing in minors, many piercers refrain from doing them (since physiological development is not completed in minors). In the United States, it is prohibited to pierce the genitals of persons younger than 18 years.

• Bikini waxing
• Chastity piercing
• Cock ring
• Genital jewellery
• Genital modification and mutilation
• Genital tattooing
• Nipple piercing
• Play piercing
• Pubic piercing
• Transdermal implant
• Vajazzle