Dear Dr. Dodson,
I stumbled across your site and am very impressed. Anyone who advocates and works for sexual healing has my vote.
How do I feel about my penis? I thought this question would be easy to answer, but it isn't! For starters, I LOVE my penis! I wish, however, that I had been left the decision to be circumcised or not. Can't imagine why I would have chosen to be, in the absence of any medical necessity. I have experienced some real grief over that, and the more I learn about routine infant circumcision as it was practiced fifty years ago, the more startled I become. Having no choice but to come to terms with it, however, I have realized that my circumcision is a very good one, leaving me enough foreskin that my glans is covered when I am flaccid. As a result, there has been very little keratinization of the glans, as the smooth appeareance in the fully erect photo shows, and it remains extremely sensitive.
I also find the fully exposed glans very erotic in contradiction to the grief I have felt. Go figure. My glans is well-proportioned and darkens nicely as arousal progresses --- I love that about it. It communicates my inner state very clearly whether or not I choose to say a word, giving my parter every indication of my level of excitement. And the scar is barely noticeable, which is a preference of mine.
There's more, of course. It would be fair to say that I hold my penis - and the sexual organs of other people, in a kind of reverential awe, because it is the one organ of the body that has the power to raise me to transcendant ecstacy, and does so frequently. I understand why the sexual organs were worshipped in antiquity, and would like to see a waning of the sex-negative aspects of contemporary society. This doesn't mean I would advocate anyone acting irresponsibly, of course. My belief is that a more sex-positive culture would result in more resonsibility, because then sex wouldn't be a dirty thing that people, especially sexual minorities, have to hide. As a gay man I have had to work through all manner of issues regarding my sexual orientation, and have arrived, in my fifties, at a place where I am very comfortable with the way God made me, phyically and emotionally.
Thanks again for your great site.
Joe, OR
