Dryness

As I mentioned when I discussed retraction of the foreskin, it behaves slightly different depending on how moist the glans is. If it is highly lubricated, the whole foreskin will slide over it. If it is moist, as it tends to be, it will sort of roll off. Sometimes though, especially some hours after cleaning it with soap and water, the glans tends to be more dry, and then the foreskin will stick to it.


Here I'm halfway through a retraction. Note how thin and stretched the lower part of the foreskin is. When pulling back, it will peel off the glans, rather than roll or slide. This may sound nasty, but unless done too quickly, it is at most slightly uncomfortable. On the left side (from your point of view), the glans is somewhat more moist, and thus the foreskin will not adhere as much there.

Now, after I have fully retracted the foreskin, what will happen if I try to pull it up again, so that it covers the glans? Well, usually something like this:


This is how far it came. No matter how much I try to pull it up (er, that is "down" in the picture) at this stage, it will not move to enclose the tip of the glans. The reason for this is simple: When it started to cover the glans, the parts of the foreskin that first stuck to it was not the innermost parts of the skin, and since it can't slide, it is stuck in this position.

Personally, I can't stand going around like that, because I find that the friction from my underwear against the exposed glans is far too uncomfortable. The solution is simply to completely retract the foreskin again, and apply some kind of lubricant. A dab of saliva will do excellently, or even some water may work. But even so, some further adjustment may be necessary to bring it completely back to its original place. A gentle stretch may loosen it from the glans:


Alternatively, if the glans is moist enough, one can press on it through the skin and wriggle it into place:


A final word: this is obviously not meant as a generic guide on how to handle a penis, especially if it is not your own. You will have to find out for yourself what is comfortable for you or your partner.

Frenulum

On the underside of the glans, the foreskin attaches to it with a sort of bridge-like structure, called the frenulum. It goes all the way up to the urethral opening.

Foreskin retraction

The skin that covers the penis is not fixed to the underlying erectile tissue, but can move freely. A perhaps unsatisfactory analogy, for those of you without a penis, may be how the skin on the elbow of an extended arm is quite loose, as can be felt if you rub it with the hand of the other arm. This skin (not the elbow's) covers the entire penis, from the base, all the way to the tip of the glans, where it folds, so to speak, and follows the glans back down to where it meets the shaft. This double-layered structure that covers the glans is commonly called the foreskin, or prepuse.

It is hardly meaningful to make a distinction between the skin on the shaft and the outer layer of the foreskin, since they have exactly the same texture; the inside of the foreskin, on the other hand, is different, being a mucous membrane. In a way, this is similar to how there is no distinct border between the skin of the face and of the outer part of a lip, while the inside of the lip is mucous. The difference is that, just as the penile skin moves freely over the shaft, the two layers of the foreskin move freely in respect to each other, which is not the case with a lip.

Due to this ability to slide, the foreskin can be pulled back, revealing the inside that otherwise lies against the glans, as demonstrated by the following picture sequence.

In this first picture, I am simply holding up the flacid penis, without pulling or pushing in either direction.


I then start to pull back. The foreskin begins to stretch, but has not yet started to retract from the glans.



As I continue to pull the skin back, the highly elastic opening of the foreskin, i. e. where it folds back under itself, begins to stretch, and the glans begins to peek out. Note how the skin on the shaft, behind my grip, is getting very wrinkly.


The glans is now halfway exposed. Depending on how moist it is, the foreskin will either roll or slide off it. I am here fairly lubricated, and so it slides easily. When it has reached this far, it doesn't take much of a pull before it slips into place behind the glans:


In a fraction of a second, all of the foreskin will be resting below the glans, in a wriggly little ring. If I let go of the penis at this stage, it would stay in thas location, even if the penis is not erect. (See below for a picture.) There are certainly individual differences in this regard; for some, it would immediately slip back to cover the glans.


Because I don't have an erection here, I can easily pull further back, stretching out the foreskin. The glans now starts to dip, since it is pulled from below by the frenulum.


We now see a larger part of the inner structure of the foreskin. It is still somewhat wrinkly, which means it can be stretched further.


Finally, we see the full, smooth inner surface of the foreskin. This is now slightly uncomfortable, due to the strain of the frenulum. I have not changed my grip: the thumb, which originally was placed on the glans, is now actually pressed against my pubic bone. In effect, the whole shaft of the penis is now covered solely by the skin of the prepuse.


As mentioned, the foreskin stays pulled back behind the glans, especially when I have an erection, as I start to get in this picture.

Scrotum

The scrotum is basically a sack of skin that contains the testicles:


Note that I do not have an erection in this picture, I have simply lifted the penis to give a better view of what is behind it. Currently I feel comfortably warm, and thus the scrotum is relaxed and the testicles hang a bit from the body. Note that the left testicle is hanging lower: from what I have gathered, this is usually the case. Supposedly, this gives an advantage, since they then avoid clashing into each other when I move — or so I have heard. The two "strings" that seemingly goes from the testicles up to my penis is simply the result of how the loose skin of the scrotum folds when I stretch it like this.

When a man gets chilly, the scrotum contracts dramatically:


This way, the testicles are pressed closer to the body, in an effort to keep warm — but not too warm! The ideal temperature for sperm production is in a fairly narrow interval, some degrees below normal body temperature.

The scrotum is homologous to a woman's labia majora, i.e. they have the same origin. When the scrotum is contracted, we can more easily discern the so called perineal raphe, the "seam" that is the result of the two halves growing together during the fetal development.

Taking pictures of these parts of myself is actually harder than I thought! For a possibly clearer view of these features, see this picture of a man who has shaved his scrotum.

Rationale

One day when I was leisurely surfing the web, checking out some blogs, browsing through some forums, I found myself reading a long and heated discussion concerning circumcision. I will save my thoughts about that subject to an upcoming post, but what struck me then was the many comments that revealed a profound lack of understanding of male genital anatomy.

Exploring this some more, I discovered that, while it was no problem at all finding serious anatomical information on the one hand, and sexually graphic depictions of penises on the other, I found it surprisingly difficult to find exactly what I wanted, and so I decided to do it myself: to give a personal description of the many various aspects of how it feels having male genitals, with detailed, graphic, yet tasteful photographs. (If this sounds offensive to you, please look away.)

Why am I doing this? Well, it sounds like a fun and worthwile project, basically. I wouldn't say that I do it for the thrill of it; I'm not really the exhibitionist type at all. But I want to give something to those who does not have the opportunity to easily explore these things for themselves, to women, circumcised men, to anyone who is interested.

Of course, descriptions of my particular penis are only anectodical evidence. It is perfectly possible that I am not representative for men in general when it comes to some aspects of my anatomy and sexuality. All persons are individuals, and I am not attempting to speak for all men out there. On the other hand, I have no reason what so ever to think that I am outright abnormal in any way. From all that I know (being a predominantly heterosexual male, mind), I would be representative for a large group, but I can't know that for sure. Also, I'm not a doctor of any kind. Please bear that in mind.

So, to the point. Namely this:

In this blatant example of frontal nudity we can see my flacid penis amidst my pubic hair. As can be deduced from its bland colour, I'm blond — usually the pubic hair is darker than on the head. I have not shaved in any way, so this depicts my natural amount of pubic hair. Behind the penis is the scotum.