Subincision

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Subincision

Penile subincision is a form of body modification

Body modification

Body modification is the permanent or semi-permanent deliberate altering of the human anatomy for non-medical reasons, such as: sexual enhancement; a rite of passage; aesthetic reasons; denoting affiliation, trust and loyalty; religious reasons; mystical affiliations; shock value; and self-expression.....
consisting of a urethrotomy, in which the underside of the penis

Penis

The penis is an external sex organ of certain biologically male organisms, in both vertebrates and invertebrates.The penis is a reproductive organ, technically an intromittent organ, and for Eutheria, additionally serves as the external organ of urination....
is incised and the urethra

Urethra

In anatomy, the urethra is a tube which connects the urinary bladder to the outside of the body. The urethra has an excretory function in both sexes to pass urine to the outside, and also a reproductive function in the male, as a passage for semen....
slit open lengthwise, from the urethral opening (meatus

Urinary meatus

The urinary meatus is the external orifice of the urethra, from which urine is ejected during urination and semen is ejected during ejaculation....
) toward the base. The slit can be of varying lengths.

Subincision is traditionally performed around the world, notably in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
, South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
and the Polynesia

Polynesia

Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising a large grouping of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean....
n and Melanesia

Melanesia

Melanesia literally means "islands of the black-skinned people". It is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western side of the West Pacific to the Arafura Sea, north and northeast of Australia....
n cultures of the Pacific

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, often as a coming of age

Coming of age

Coming of age is a young person's transition from adolescence to adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition....
ritual. The practice has been taken up in the western world

Western world

The term Western world, the West or the Occident can have multiple meanings dependent on its context . Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances....
in recent years for the purpose of sexual pleasure or aesthetics.

Disadvantages include the risk of surgery, which is often self-performed, and increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

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Cultural traditions

Subincision (like circumcision

Circumcision

Male circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The word "circumcision" comes from Latin ' and ' .Early depictions of circumcision are found in cave drawings and Ancient Egyptian tombs, though some pictures may be open to interpretation....
) is widespread in the traditional cultures of Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the first human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands and their descendants. Indigenous Australians are distinguished as either Australian Aborigines or Torres Strait Islanders, who currently together make up about 2.6% of Australia's population....
, and is well documented among the peoples of the central desert

Central Australia

Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs, Northern Territory in Australia....
such as the Arrernte

Arrernte

The Arrernte are those Indigenous Australians who are the original custodians of Arrernte in the Central Australia area of Australia around Alice Springs, Northern Territory in the Northern Territory....
and Luritja

Luritja

Luritja is a name used to refer to several dialects of the Indigenous Australians Western Desert Language, and thereby also to the people who speak these varieties, and their traditional lands....
. The Arrernte word for subincision is arilta, and occurs as a rite of passage

Rite of passage

A rite of passage is a ritual that marks a change in a person's social status. It is a universal phenomenon which can show anthropologists what social hierarchies, values and beliefs are important in specific cultures....
ritual for adolescent boys. It was gifted to the Arrernte by Mangar-kunjer-kujaIt, a lizard-man spirit being from the Dreamtime. A subincised penis is thought to resemble a vulva

Vulva

The vulva refers to the external sex organ of the female. In colloquial speech, the term vagina is often used to refer to the female genitals generally, although, strictly speaking, the vagina is a specific internal structure, whereas the vulva is the whole exterior genitalia....
, and the bleeding is likened to menstruation

Menstruation

See also "Mensuration", a term sometimes used to describe Measurement, particularly in the context of forestry.Menstruation is the shedding of the uterine lining ....
.

This type of modification of the penis was also traditionally performed by the Lardil people of Mornington Island

Mornington Island

Mornington Island is one of 22 islands part of the Wellesley Islands. The island is located in the Gulf of Carpentaria at and is in the Australian Australian States and Territories of Queensland....
, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a States and territories of Australia of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south....
. The young men who chose to endure this custom were the only ones to learn a complex ceremonial language, Damin

Damin

Damin was a ceremonial language register used by the advanced initiated men of the Lardil and the Yangkaal tribes in Aboriginal Australia....
. In later ceremonies, repeated throughout adult life, the subincised penis would be used as a site for ritual bloodletting. According to Ken Hale

Kenneth L. Hale

Kenneth Locke Hale was a linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studied the syntax, lexicon and phonology of a huge variety of unstudied and often endangered languages -- especially indigenous languages of North America, Central America and Australia....
, who studied Damin, no ritual initiations have been carried out in the Gulf of Carpentaria for half a century, and hence the language has also died out.

Indigenous

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
cultures of the Amazon Basin

Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries....
also practise subincision, as do Samburu

Samburu

The Samburu are an ethnic group in north central Kenya that are related to but distinct from the Maasai. The Samburu are semi-nomadic pastoralists who herd mainly cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels....
herdboys of Kenya

Kenya

The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the northeast, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, and Sudan to the northwest, with the Indian Ocean running along the southeast border....
, who are said to perform subinicisions on themselves (or sometimes their peers) at age seven to ten. In Samoa

Samoa

Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa , is a country governing the western part of the Samoan Islands archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean....
, subincision is traditionally a coming-of-age ritual. In Hawaii

Hawaii

File:Pahoehoe and Aa flows at Hawaii.jpgThe State of Hawaii is a U.S. state in the United States, located on an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of Australia....
, subincision of the foreskin is reported to have been performed at age six or seven.

Related modifications

Splitting the urethra only to the base of the glans is called meatotomy
Meatotomy

A meatotomy is a form of penile modification in which the underside of the glans penis is split. The procedure may be performed by a doctor to alleviate meatal stenosis or urethral stricture, or by a body modification practitioner for the purpose of sexual pleasure or aesthetics....
.
Some people split the top of the penis as well, to achieve genital bisection
Genital bisection

Genital bisection in males involves the splitting of the penis . This still allows for erection, though often the two halves curve into each other, making insertion more difficult....
.
Splitting the glans
Glans penis

The glans penis is the sensitive bulbous structure at the distal end of the penis. It is also commonly referred to as the "head" of the penis. Slang terms include "helmet", "nob" , and "bell end", and all refer to its distinctive shape....
, but not the shaft, is known as headsplitting.
Splitting of the top of the penis only is known as superincision.

External links

(Warning: contains graphic content)