Frenum piercing
Encyclopedia
A frenulum piercing is a type of body piercing
Body piercing
Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice...

 located on the underside of the shaft of the penis
Penis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...

. A series of parallel
Parallel (geometry)
Parallelism is a term in geometry and in everyday life that refers to a property in Euclidean space of two or more lines or planes, or a combination of these. The assumed existence and properties of parallel lines are the basis of Euclid's parallel postulate. Two lines in a plane that do not...

 frenulum piercings is known as a frenum ladder
Frenum ladder
A Frenum Ladder, also known as a Jacob's Ladder, consists of a series of frenum piercings often extending from below the head of the penis and as far as the base of the shaft of the penis....

. A frenum ladder may be extended to include lorum
Lorum
A lorum is a male genital piercing, placed horizontally on the underside of the penis at its base, where the penis meets the scrotum. The word "lorum" is a portmanteau of the words "low" and "frenum", so named because it is essentially a very low-placed frenum piercing.Much like the frenum piercing...

 piercings, hafada piercing
Hafada piercing
A hafada piercing is a surface piercing located anywhere on the skin of the scrotum. This piercing does not penetrate deep into the scrotum, and due to the looseness and flexibility of the skin in that area, does not migrate or reject as much as many other surface piercings...

s and guiche piercing
Guiche piercing
A guiche piercing is a body piercing on the perineum. Guiche piercings are much more common in men than in women. Although a guiche normally runs perpendicular to the direction of the penis, lateral placements are possible...

s.

Placement

Frenum piercings are almost always pierced perpendicular to the shaft of the penis. They may be pierced through the frenum that connects the head of the penis to the shaft, or anywhere further down the shaft of the penis. Less commonly, frenum piercings may be pierced along the top or even the sides of the shaft of the penis.

Healing

Frenum piercings generally require from two to five weeks to heal fully. Depending on the placement it may be a surface piercing, but due to both the vascular, fast healing nature of the penis, and loose nature of the skin
Skin
-Dermis:The dermis is the layer of skin beneath the epidermis that consists of connective tissue and cushions the body from stress and strain. The dermis is tightly connected to the epidermis by a basement membrane. It also harbors many Mechanoreceptors that provide the sense of touch and heat...

 in that area, frenum piercings rarely reject if pierced properly, although they may migrate
Piercing migration
Piercing migration is the process that occurs when a body piercing moves from its initial location. This process can be painful or go unnoticed, until it has progressed. Given enough time, a ring may migrate entirely outside of the skin, although it may only migrate a small amount and come to...

.

Those wishing to stretch this piercing to accommodate larger gauge jewelry should wait until at least two weeks after the initial piercing has fully healed. It is common for a frenum piercing to start to close soon after the jewelry has been removed. A fairly recent piercing may start to close in less than an hour. Temporary removal and replacement (for example, to accommodate a partner who finds it uncomfortable) may mean reinserting with a smaller gauge and then restretching to get back to the original, larger gauge. This tendency for the piercing to close up will diminish over time.

Jewelry

Both barbell
Barbell (piercing)
Barbell style piercing jewelry is composed of a straight bar and with a bead on each end, one or both beads unscrewable for removal and/or changing of the beads. Often one of the beads is fixed, either via epoxy or welding, so that only one bead is used to install or remove the jewelry...

s and rings can be worn in frenum piercings, both as initial jewellery and on an ongoing basis. Sometimes, when rings are worn, the diameter of the ring is specifically chosen so that the ring can be worn encircling the penis. A wide variety of chastity devices
Chastity belt
A chastity belt is a locking item of clothing designed to prevent sexual intercourse. They may be used to protect the wearer from rape or temptation. Some devices have been designed with additional features to prevent masturbation...

 make use of frenum piercings to secure themselves to the penis, as part of fetish or BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...

 activities.

History and culture

The earliest literary reference to frenum piercings occurs in Die künstlichen Verunstaltungen des Körpers bei den Batta. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (16:217-225, 1884), which states: "Amongst the Timor
Timor
Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. The island's surface is 30,777 square kilometres...

ese of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

, the Frenulum beneath the glans penis is pierced with brass rings...the function of the ring is to enhance stimulation during sex." Anecdotal piercing lore associates this piercing (along with many other male genital piercings) with various chastity devices that have been used throughout history, although there is little hard data to back up this claim.

In contemporary society, frenum piercings were primarily found amongst the members of gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...

 subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

s, until body piercing became re-introduced to mainstream society in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Frenum piercings are often intended to provide sexual pleasure to both the bearer and the person he is having sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

 with. They may also be used to attach chastity devices to the bearer, denying them sexual pleasure.

See also

  • Body piercing
    Body piercing
    Body piercing, a form of body modification, is the practice of puncturing or cutting a part of the human body, creating an opening in which jewelry may be worn. The word piercing can refer to the act or practice of body piercing, or to an opening in the body created by this act or practice...

  • Genital modification
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