Request For Information: Comparative Male Anatomy
So I've got a question about cocks and sexual sensitivity.
One of the limitations of heterosexuality or, of course, homosexuality, is that however experienced one might be with the responsiveness of different individuals of one's preferred gender one is necessarily going to have more limited experience with whichever gender *isn't* the one you prefer. That means an opposite-side data point of one if you're straight, or none if not.
In my case I've got pretty much a data point of me and for the question I've got that's not enough so I'm going to ask those of you with more sexual experience with cocks other than mine.
So!
Pretty much every sex education book introduces the penis as functionally blah-blah this, and la-la that (usually without mentioning that whatever else it's good for one of its functions is caressing one's partner.) After the functional formalities there's mention that the "head, or 'glans'" has the most nerve endings and is most sensitive to touch.
So...
I gotta admit that the head, "or glans," of my cock has the most nerve endings and is most sensitive to the touch. I also, however, gotta admit that all those sensitive nerve endings aren't really very *erotically* sensitive. They're extraordinarily good at, say, helping me locate just the right part of a partners vulva without me having to look, of being able to tell... quite a lot really... about how she's feeling about penetration: how wet she is, how warm she is, how engorged and open her lips are, where the verge of her vagina is, and whether I should try to enter her at all or if I should first dip shallowly and slowly for lubrication or whether she'd be into me deepening my strokes. It's even good (and, it seems to me, almost exactly the right shape) for telling when it's touching her cervix so that, if I know she's enjoying it (which some partners do) I can continue or if she doesn't care for it at all (which some partners really don't) then I can steer clear.
What all those sensitive nerve endings are *not* good for, however, is...
...pretty much anything to do with arousal or orgasm!
Anybody else have experience with that, either as a cock owner or as partners with cock owners?
Now that doesn't mean my glans never feels erotic sensation, but if it does at all it only does so way, way, way far into extended arousal and even then it feels good only with the lightest sensations and tons of lubrication.
Instead what's most sensitive to erotic touch for me is the skin an inch or two below the glans, the wrinkly, oak-y, tattered remnants of my foreskin, especially along the sides and underside (underside when if I'm standing up, anyway.) The surface there is instantly and erogenously sensitive to warmth, moisture, and touch. The lightest contact from tongue, or labia, or a slickened finger feels marvelous there, and somewhere below the surface, close to the slippery-hard core, especially near the spongy ridge along the bottom, there are deeper nerve endings that respond *very* nicely to firmer pressure from tongue or the roof of the mouth, from thumb or fingers, and from the slippery/hard corrugations right over the G-spot just inside and under the pubic bone.
Oh, where was I?
Oh yeah, textbooks and sex manuals. They tend to go on about nerve endings in the glans (as they do about the glans of the clitoris, by the way) as if raw numbers told the whole story. At least if you asked *me* but I could be mistaken so I'm instead asking you.
What you say jives with my experience with different male partners. Most get off to stimulation on the front of the penis beneath the glans, not on the glans itself.
I've only had one partner, and um, the less said the better.
But what you say about yourself simply backs up the fact that each person is different as far as what their 'hot spot' so to speak, is and that you can't just assume because the books or the experts say this where a guy or a girl is most responsive, that's the place to head. Um, so to speak.
I will say that in my experience a tongue or finger in the places you describe has the most immediate payoff. Of course, some men like the head to be caressed in much the same way they like other body parts to be caressed, but it doesn't seem to produce the same jolt, as it were.
ok, for my partner the sweet spot is on the underside about an inch below the glans. In fact, I could not touch the rest of his penis at all and he would be pretty happy if I just rubbed there. That's not really true, the rest of what you said seems to be true for him, too. He is circumcised, though, so I wonder if that makes a difference?
My experience has been that most men prefer stimulation and pressure on the shaft of the penis, with occasional (softer) stimulation of the head/glans such as licking, swirling, etc. Or even kind of incidental contact while stimulating the rest of the penis. Sort of like they enjoy the sensations around the head and the testicles and the perineum, but the real orgasm-building touches are to the shaft.
I do wonder if circumcision, or lack thereof makes a difference. I have never been with an uncircumcised man, so I have no real idea.
I have also found that most men are highly uncomfortable with any touch at all on the head/glans in the immediate aftermath of orgasm. All those nerve endings become incredibly sensitive.
Most of my male partners have told me that the glans is too sensitive and forceful direct stimulation is uncomfortable (as it is for most clitorises).
It's interesting, though, to hear about it being able to feel details in the vagina. I always assumed penises during sex felt the way a vagina does, where you can tell something good's going on but you can't tell precisely what, but you make it sound more like the sensitivity of a finger. Interesting.
I think my experiences echo what the others have said... frequently, below the glans, on the under side, is the most sensitive area, it seems. On the other hand, people really do vary so much. For example, I am much more likely to achieve orgasm through even light pressure on my g-spot rather than any amount of skilled stimulation of my clit.
It is so interesting to me to learn how different we all are. For a long time, I thought that clitoral orgasms were the only kind and that vaginal orgasms were a myth. I like having intercourse (I really really do) but I have never had an orgasm that way. I have come (come ha ha) close, though. That a penis is like a finger tip is interesting, too. I did not know that.
I dunno, I've been with guys whose best spot seemed to be right below the head, probably about where you're talking about, but my husband seems to get the most sensation from the head.
Okay, I'm gonna weigh in as the foreskin "expert," since no one else has. :-) But I've only known one uncircumcised, um, data point, so my knowledge may be pretty limited.
As far as I can tell, one very nice feature of the foreskin is that it seems to cushion those often over-sensitive nerves. So you can caress the head through the foreskin, sliding it back and forth. This seems to provide both some natural slipperiness and a buffer against too much intensity.
Another nice feature is when I move the foreskin all the way back, revealing the head. That also seems to feel wonderful - and it's a pretty erotic sight, from my perspective.
But that sweet spot on the underside of the shaft seems to be much the same, foreskin or no. I'm inclined to think that men vary less than women when it comes to their most erogenous spots.
I guess it's not so much that the textbooks are wrong as that they confuse anatomy with phenomenology. Which you describe quite stirringly, figleaf.
I'm uncircumcised, and happy to share my personal data point.
Firstly - the glans is definitely too sensitive for me to gain erotic pleasure from it being touched in anything more than the most gentle of fashions - when someone tried to persuade me that increased glans sensitivity was a benefit to circumcision, I recoiled in horror at the idea!
I definitely think the underside to my penis is more erotically sensitive than the top side, in general. I also think that the point that seems to be most arousing seems to be more or less an inch from the base. The base itself is definitely a hot point, and then after that I think the position identified in the OP is another key zone.
I believe y'all are talking about the frenulum. Cosmo told me about it when I was 17, and I took it to heart (although I, uh, didn't touch a penis for another couple of years:). It's always pretty sensitive, but in a good way, unlike the head, which is usually too sensitive for prolonged touching. Interesting, though.
When I read what you said about the frenulum, I thought you were wrong because the frenulum is a string of tissue under the tongue that causes some people to not be able to extend their tongue past their lower lip. So I Googled it, and whattaya ya' know? I love Wikipedia-check this out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum_of_prepuce_of_penis.
The frenulum is a string of tissue that is sometimes removed on men who have been circumcised.
I agree with you.
For me, my clitoris is covered by my lips. My lips get rubbed all the time. It's where my pants rub. But the part that doesn't get rubbed is what feels best.
When giving blowjobs, I ask them what feels best. You got to ask before it's done. With my fuck buddy, it's exactly where you like it.
For my partner it is his head that gives him the most pleasure when I am "giving him head" (no pun intended). He is different from my experiences with other men, and my tongue on the top and a little to his left on the ridge around his head, with my upper lip closer to the underside of his cock gets him going right away. Couple that with stroking and pulling those few inches of skin figleaf was talking about and he's in heaven.
It's very cool to lick and suck his head while he is getting me off too. Something about it gets me off as much as it does him.
As a clit owner... my clit, hidden as it is within its hood, is way too over sensitive usually to be able to be stimmed directly. Usually rubbing my clit through my hood (with plenty of lube) is the way to go. Sometimes some direct touch is good, when done right, but it won't push me to orgasm. It's just tons of fun and I get super pleasure high (and usually pushed past that point where orgasm is no longer an option, but I'm still having an ultra good time).
My partner is sort of the same with with the head of his penis. What seems to get him off is rubbing the loose skin of his foreskin up and down so it crests just over the edge of the glans, but that's about as high up as he wants hand pressure to go most of the time. Just barely over the rim of the glans. The tip is just too sensitive. I can torment and pleasure him tons on the tip, but it's not going to push him over the edge. He'll get ultra pleasure high, sort of like me, but won't finish. It's just going to get him aroused and pent beyond all belief.
I find it interesting that the two of us have a lot of similarities when it comes to this sort of thing.
Oh yeah, there's a difference between 'pleasure' regions and 'sensitivity' regions. At least with penises.
Would you liken your glans to a fingertip?