Circumcision reduces sexual satisfaction: study

Posted on : 2006-12-28 17:01 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
20 percent of men report reduced sensation after procedure

A research study by a team of South Korean professors has found that circumcision could reduce the level of satisfaction in sex.

A survey of 373 men 30 years or older in South Korea was taken by Seoul National University professor Kim Dae-sik and JoongAng University professor Bang Myeong-geol. They found that men who underwent circumcision felt less sensation during orgasm while engaged in masturbation or sex than when they had been uncircumcised.

The research, which is scheduled to be posted to an academic journal in Britain in February, was conducted with 255 men who underwent circumcision after the age of 20 and 118 who did not.

According to the research, 20 percent answered that their level of satisfaction in sex fell after circumcision, compared with 6 percent who said the level rose. The remaining 74 percent said no change was seen after circumcision. For circumcised men, their average time to reach orgasm was 11 minutes. For those who have not undergone circumcision, the average time was 13 minutes.

In addition, 9 percent said they felt pain, bleeding, and/or discomfort during erection.

"Statistically, there was no meaningful difference seen in terms of sexual desire, erectile function, and the ejaculation of sperm before and after circumcision," Bang said. "However, we can make the conclusion that circumcision poses a negative impact on [enjoyment of] sex by damaging peripheral nerves."

In the meantime, research does not agree regarding the impact of circumcision on health and disease prevention. In 1999, the American Cancer Society publicly sent a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics, saying that circumcision was not a way of preventing penile cancer, or vaginal cancer in the female partner of a heterosexual pair. In 2001, the Korean Urological Association also published a report that said there is no need to promote universal circumcision, because it poses little impact in preventing penile cancer and other diseases. However, a report published last week by the U.S. National Institutes of Health found that circumcision may reduce a man's risk of contracting HIV through heterosexual sex by half.

In addition, Korean men are often circumcised during the onset of puberty, whereas in countries such as the U.S., Canada and those in Europe, the procedure is almost always done during infancy; no information is available on what effect this practice might have had on the results of the survey.


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