22,208
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
wikify skin
A frequent argument against the non-therapeutic [[foreskin]] [[amputation]] is the concept that the [[foreskin]] not only contains numerous nerve endings and is more sensitive for touch than the [[Glans penis|glans]], but also that the number of nerve endings is “more than 10,000”, "(more than) 20,000" or even "up to 70,000" or “100,000”. There appears to be no reliable evidence for these figures.<ref name="Appendix">see Appendix: Documentary Part, p. 5f. – Ditto on facebook: [https://www.facebook.com/notes/hannes-mueller/the-legend-of-20000-nerve-endings/2034618236765662/ The legend of the “20,000 nerve endings]”:</ref> Nevertheless, this article identifies the origin and the calculation of these figures, explains how credible they are, and what magnitude range is the most realistic.
The [[Intactivists]] movement, which promotes the idea that the possession of intact genitals is a [[human rights| human right]], is active against the genital mutilation of all children. [[Intactivists]] clarify many widespread myths about [[circumcision]], especially those concerned with male genital cutting. Advocates of circumcision often allege there are advantages. But the results of evidence-based scientific studies disprove these. They provide convincing arguments that the [[foreskin]] is not a superfluous piece of [[skin]], but a part of the body with many positive functions and its lack leads to many disadvantages. To explain this, it is important to provide reliable, i.e. also verifiable, information about the anatomy of the [[foreskin]].
Medical studies of the past 25 years have provided much good evidence for [[intactivists]]. Evidence can be found, for example, that the [[foreskin]], especially at the end, is very densely supplied with nerve endings<ref name="Taylor">Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. [http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/The prepuce: specialized [[mucosa]] of the [[penis]] and its loss to circumcision]. ''Br J Urol'' 1996;77:291-295.</ref>, and is very sensitive to fine touch, even more sensitive than the [[Glans penis|glans]]<ref>{{Sorrells etal 2007}}</ref>. Basically this is enough to emphasize the special sensitivity of the [[foreskin]]. However, it is in this connection that the above figures are often quoted.
=== How did Fleiss come to this number, which is nowhere documented? ===
==== The number of nerve endings in normal [[skin ]] ====
As early as 1971, the anthropologist [[Ashley Montagu]] (1905-1999) had written in a study on the importance of [[skin ]] as a tactile organ for the social development of man: “A piece of [[skin ]] the size of a quarter [25-US-cent piece] contains more than […] 50 nerve endings, […]”<ref>A. Montagu, Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin, 1971, <sup>2</sup>1978, p. 4; https://archive.org/stream/youchingthehuman000780mbp/youchingthehuman000780mbp_djvu.txt and 1979: http://www.foreskin.org/quarter.htm</ref>
==== The size of a [[foreskin]] ====
1992 (<sup>2</sup>1996) appeared in the small book "Say No to Circumcision" of [[Thomas J. Ritter|T.J. Ritter]] and [[George C. Denniston|G.C. Denniston]] ([[DOC|D.O.C.]]): "Circumcision removes a piece of [[skin ]] (that in the adult is) almost equivalent to a 3 × 5 index card.”<ref name="galleryIntact">{{REFweb
|url=http://www.circumcisionharm.org/gallery%20intact.htm
|title=Global Survey of Circumcision Harm
==== Nerve endings in the [[foreskin]] / Quarter (25-US-Ct.) ====
1995, in the film "[[Whose Body, Whose Rights?]]"<ref name="WhoseBody" /> starting from Montagu's description of the number of nerve endings in normal [[skin]], the number of nerve endings in the [[foreskin]] was calculated as follows: “15 square inches comfortably fits 15 quarters. This analogy helps us to understand that the adult [[foreskin]] contains … over 1000 nerve endings …" (15 × more than 50 = more than 750), which NOHARMM supplements to "Since Dr. Taylor's research suggests that the [[foreskin]] is '''more densely enervated than "normal" [[skin]]''', a circumcised man likely loses many times more than 1,000 nerve endings.”<ref name="circumcisionharm" /><sup>b</sup>
==== The “ridged band" ====
In 1996 the article by the Canadian pathologist [[John R. Taylor]] et al.<ref name="Taylor" /> about the “ridged band” of the [[foreskin]] had appeared. Taylor reported, that the encapsulated nerve endings<ref>Nerve endings can be divided into types with or without end corpuscles (corpuscular/encapsulated or free nerve endings). “… the free nerve endings (FNE) … do not seem to have any part in fine touch sensation (they are innervated by unmyelinated axons which conduct too slowly, don’t have specialised end corpuscles to transduce vibration, etc. and have a high threshold, all of which prevent the conduction of fine touch).” [[Ken McGrath|McGrath]], Fn 29b</ref> of the [[foreskin]] are concentrated in the “ridged band” and thus are distributed very differently. In his article, Fleiss also mentions the "ridged [[mucosa]]" and calls Taylor as a source. He therefore knew of Taylor’s work.
{{Citation
|Text=I made my estimate at the Symposium held in Oxford UK, Summer 1998. … I made my informal ‘back of the envelope’ estimation in response to a question during discussion outside the meeting. … Paul Fleiss did not differentiate between the types [of nerve endings] either and simply took Bazett's total number for his estimate. <br><br>
In my estimation, I extrapolated the numbers of [[Meissner's corpuscles|Meissner corpuscular endings]] from the finger tip to the prepuce as these are the principal mediators of fine touch (and, therefore, of sexual sensation). All [[skin ]] appears to have many free nerve endings evenly distributed over their surfaces regardless of the local function; two epithelia, however, have virtually no fine touch—the cornea of the eye and the [[Glans penis|glans penis]]—having almost nothing but free nerve endings. The prepuce is no exception to this general pattern of having FNE over its entire surface, but like most other [[skin ]] (except the two exceptions above) it has varying numbers and distribution of corpuscular endings which are in lower numbers than the FNE. From teaching [[skin ]] enervation to medical students using sections of an index finger, I knew the numbers of [[Meissner's corpuscles]] in that [[skin]]. Observation and personal experience told me that the prepuce was more sensitive than the finger tips which suggested there are more of those fine touch endings in the prepuce. But I could not be definite about the numbers in the prepuce having only looked at some general sections. So I made an estimate in orders of magnitude: not less than 1000 nor more than 10,000 with the view that the numbers were probably at the lower end; i.e. between 1000 and 2000. Some recent work seems to confirm a figure around 1500.
|Author=[[Ken McGrath]]
}}