We’ll begin with the front and work our way back. Penises come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The range of sensation is also different for each man and depends on various factors—so rule number one is that you can’t predict anything based on the way a penis looks. The base of the penis sprouts from the pubic mound, which is usually covered with hair—it can be thick as a forest, or thin and barely there. The skin covering the pubic bone (or pubic mound) is generally fleshier than any of the skin surrounding it, and the mound is where the skin begins to deepen in color as it meets the base of the penis. The shaft of the penis begins just below the pubic bone and continues internally almost all the way to the anus.
Nature loves variety, and men’s penises are no exception. Penises come in more shapes, sizes, and variations than words can communicate—though there certainly has been a lot written about them. The skin covering a man’s penis is almost always darker in tone than the skin everywhere else (though sometimes it’s lighter), and it’s more smooth in texture. Colors can range from the lightest pink to the deepest chocolate and anywhere in between. The color at the tip, also called the head, or glans, will generally differ from the rest of the penis, especially his circumcision scar (if he has one), and penises are seldom the same color all over. They also vary greatly in size, both in flaccid (soft) and erect (hard) states. The size of a man’s soft penis is not a reliable gauge of his erect state—again, you can’t tell just by looking. Shapes are yet another variable: he can be thick at the base and slender at the tip, wide from top to bottom, with a wide head but slender in girth, or any number of combinations, each of which is perfectly normal. The color, size, and shape of a man’s penis has nothing to do with how he responds to stimulation—or what type of lover he is.
The penis is essentially a long shaft, or tube, that ends at the tip with the urethral opening, where urine and ejaculate (sperm or “come”) leave the body. Inside the penis, the urethra continues as a long tube through the center of two other larger tubes of spongy erectile tissue, whose proper names are corpus cavernosum and corpus spongiosum. When arousal triggers an erection, these tissues fill with blood, hardening the shaft and head of his penis. However, an erection does not always indicate whether a man is aroused; he can be perfectly, happily aroused and remain unerect.
At the tip is where you’ll find the head, or glans. The head has the largest concentration of nerve endings in the penis, and it can be very responsive to stimulation—sometimes extremely sensitive to touch (especially after orgasm). Always ask your partner what level of stimulation works for him at any given time with the head of his cock, because his preference levels will change throughout the pleasure cycle. The head is often bulbous—anywhere from slightly to quite pronounced. If he’s uncircumcised, in its soft state the head will be covered in a thin jacket of skin called a foreskin. As his penis becomes aroused, the glans will harden and emerge. In North America, most infant boys are circumcised, a process in which the foreskin is removed after the bundle of joy is delivered.
Beneath the head of his cock is usually the most sensitive part, which some men claim is their “sweet spot,” the spot they really enjoy having touched when they’re aroused. This spot can range in location from just at the urethral opening to farther down the underside of the shaft, where the circumcision scar lies. On an uncircumcised man, this spot runs along the same area, beneath the tip of the cockhead, from the urethral opening (underside) to approximately where the inner skin of the foreskin’s hood meets the outer skin of the penis.
Cut or Uncut?
Most American men have circumcised penises, meaning that the foreskins were removed from their penises shortly after they were born. The foreskin, which they no longer have, is a thin jacket of skin that covers the head tightly, like a wetsuit, with an opening that allows urine to leave the body. When an uncircumcised man is aroused, his cock stiffens and the head swells, emerging from under the hood of the foreskin, which often—but not always—retracts.
On an “uncut” penis, the outer surface of the foreskin consists of skin similar to that on the rest of the penis. Inside the foreskin is an inner layer of very sensitive, moist mucosal tissue, similar to the skin of the inner labia in women. Connecting the foreskin to the penis is the frenulum, which is where the foreskin is cut away during circumcision. When aroused and stroked by a hand, a mouth, or anything else pleasurable, the foreskin is mostly retracted but slides up and down pleasurably on his frenulum, a sensation many men consider exquisite.
Some people are nervous about going down on uncircumcised men. Most of this anxiety comes from not understanding what’s different about having a foreskin—if you have not seen an uncut penis before, it might look different from most others you have encountered and even appear to respond differently. If your partner is uncircumcised and you have concerns about how to stimulate him, ask. He’s probably been asked before; even if he has not, he would probably love the chance to tell a lover who cares enough to ask exactly how he likes to be touched. Another concern people might have when first encountering a foreskin is cleanliness—how do guys get it clean in there? Most uncircumcised men learned at an early age how to pull back the skin in the shower and apply soap and water. But if you’re really worried, then suggest a shower together, and you can delight him with your inquisitive and arousing washing techniques.
The Testicles
Underneath the penis is where we find the scrotal sack, containing the testicles (or testicle—not all men have a pair). These are the “balls.” Their wrinkly, fleshy container, the scrotum (or scrotal sack), hangs attached at the base of his penis and can be the same color as the penis or darker in tone. With rare exceptions, the testicles are usually covered with a lighter covering of hair than the pubic bone, yet they can sometimes be just as furry. Most men’s testicles hang unevenly; one is usually lower than the other. According to a 1996 Men’s Health survey of over 2000 readers, in 85 percent of men the left testicle is the lower one.
The scrotum is a container of loose, thin skin that holds the testicles inside. Its unusual characteristic is the cremaster muscle, which causes the testicles to wrinkle here and there and to go up and down as they contract and relax. It’s really a heat regulator: when it’s chilly, the muscle will pull the scrotum up and the testicles close to the body, and when the temperature rises, it relaxes and lets them hang. Before he’s about to ejaculate, the muscle retracts, pulling the testicles close to the base of the penis.
Inside the scrotal sack lie one, two, or sometimes three testicles—though you will most often find two. Men can have one, two, or more testicles from the time they are born, or they might later have one (or more) removed for medical reasons, such as cancer. These small, egg-shaped spheres feel uneven and bumpy in texture when you touch them through the skin, but that’s because they’re tightly wound masses that consist of tubes—similar to a rubber-band ball. Between the tubes are cells that produce that celebrity hormone testosterone, and the tubes themselves are where sperm are born and bred. The sperm travel from the tubes through a lumpy mass at the back of the testicle that’s actually one long coiled-up tube, and into the fast freeway of the vas deferens. Destination: urethra.