Sex Talkby Simon Sheppard
| Speaking of Genital Piercings |  |
Body piercing has been around since the time of King Tut, but until ten
years or so ago, few queer men would have thought much of the idea of putting
a ring through their penis. Then the "Modern Primitive" trend took hold,
and now every mid-American nook and cranny has a body-piercing parlor
where a friendly employee will punch a hole through your meat and embellish it
with jewelry.
Unlike some popular piercings, such as the navel or eyebrow, genital
piercings are more than just decorative. Having a solid object pressing
against pleasure-giving thickets of nerves can make for some mighty good
sensations. And properly done, genital piercing can be safe and
relatively simple. Also, because of the abundant blood supply in the penis, a
piercing here is more likely to heal rapidly than piercings in other body parts,
such as the nipple.
A well-trained piercer knows just where to put the needle, not just for
safety's sake, but for maximum sensation. I watched Fakir Musafar, one
of the godfathers of the whole piercing boom, as he gave a guy a guiche (that's
the piercing of the perineum, the sensitive ridge between balls and
butthole). The naked piercee got on all fours and Fakir moved a small stick over
the perineal area. When the guy's anus showed signs of dilation, Fakir knew
he'd hit the sweet spot, and he deftly marked it for piercing.
The guiche is popular, but Penis Piercing Number One is no doubt the
Prince Albert, in which a ring is threaded in through the urethra and out
through a hole in the underside of the shaft. Now a symbol of the sexual
adventurer, it was used in Victorian times to moor a guy's meat discreetly beneath the tight
trousers of the time. Commonly known as a
"P.A.," the piercing can sometimes make peeing standing up a real
problem, but most guys find that the added sexual sensation more than compensates
for whatever inconvenience they might have in public restrooms.
There are a number of other genital piercings, too. A frenum piercing is
done through that nifty little flap of skin just below the head of the penis.
The ampallang, an import from Asia, runs barbell-shaped jewelry horizontally
right through the head; this one should be done only by a very
knowledgeable piercer. Other areas, including the ballsac, can be pierced as well. One
older gent of my acquaintance has over thirty piercings in his dick; at
San Francisco's raunchier street fairs he's been known to charge tourists to
take photos (he gives the proceeds to charity).
One question the non-pierced always want to ask is, "Didn't it hurt?"
While there's no rule against using an anesthetic, for many guys the pain is
part of the experience, a process that also can include a bit of ritual, from
chanting to holding tightly to a lover's hand. As one friend of mine who
recently got a guiche said, "Not only did the piercing hurt, it hurt
more than I thought it would. But now my guiche just feels so great!"
Now, about those airport metal detectors...
| About Simon Sheppard | |
Simon Sheppard's work appears in numerous anthologies, including the
forthcoming Best Gay Erotica 2000 (Cleis Press) and Best American Erotica
2000 (Simon & Schuster). He can be reached care of this publication or at
SmutSmith@aol.com
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