Mainini Beatrice: Does circumcision Enhance or Reduce drive?

Love and Beauty with MAININI BEATRICE

I know that many of you are angry with me. Very angry, indeed, and justifiably so!

Well, I had gone AWOL the past few weeks and I unreservedly apologise for the disappearing act.

But what is important is not that I had gone AWOL, what we must be pre-occupied with is the business of the day. So, straight away to this week’s subject – circumcision and its effects on intercourse.

Well, the subject raises different emotions whenever it comes up for debate, with some males saying their sexual lives changed for the better once they got circumcised while others say the procedure kills the pleasure.

I notice that the subject is already causing hot debate in Parliament.

We have this senator from Matabeleland South who is notorious for bringing up subjects to do with sexuality in the House. She once caused a stir when she suggested that the only way to curb the spread of HIV among married people was by injecting males with an “immobiliser” to reduce their sexual desire.

Many men, naturally, frowned at this suggestion – you kill off desire and you would have literally killed off what makes the world go round for plenty of them.

The same senator once proposed that prisoners be provided with sex toys to satisfy their sexual desires, saying that the incarcerated are even prepared to forgo food and clothes for such.

Last week, the senator came up with a motion on circumcision and called for a stop to the procedure on those under the age of 18. The country, she said, risked being left with men whose reproductive organs are only for decoration. She said Zimbabwe was creating a generation of useless men by promoting circumcision.

“Mark my words, colleagues, some of these children’s organs will be for decoration and history will judge us harshly because by the time they want to use their organs, we will be dead,” said the senator.

“We are permanently reducing their sexual sensitivity.”

Well, in all this debate, I think it boils down to how a man connects with his partner. (And this reminds me of the “kadora” debate). Whether circumcised or not, a man must just know how to treat his woman. But then, circumcision is not only reserved for men, some women have often found themselves going under the knife, often in non-sterile conditions using household implements.

And the target of the circumcision will be the clitoris, one of the girl’s most sensitive parts when it comes to sex.

Traditionally, the argument has been that the clitoris should be cut away as a way of lessening the desire for sex in females. But the major question is: why should someone take it upon themselves to prevent someone from enjoying the God-given gift of sex?

God created people knowing full well that each part of the body he was giving them was there to serve a purpose. The removal of the female genitalia means that we have thousands of women who no longer have the desire to have intercourse. At the same time, the move means selfish, cruel men enjoy sex while denying women the same.

It seems like there are some out there who have gotten off to the idea that they do not have to please the woman at all when it comes to bedroom issues.

To me, the removal of the clitoris is the same as removing a male organ in its entirety. (In male circumcision, the organ is not completely chopped off.)

But the basic fact is that it seems all of these practices remove capacity for pleasure of the circumcised.

Take men, for instance, thousands of fine-touch nerve endings are cut off during circumcision. These nerve endings are crucial for the pleasure that comes with the act.

While I was reading about this subject, I came across a paragraph which quoted a medical journal’s survey of women who had comparative sexual experience. The women with circumcised partners said they were less likely to have one or multiple vaginal orgasms, and their circumcised partners were more likely to have a premature ejaculation.

Circumcision was also connected with vaginal discomfort.

Women were less likely to really get into the mood for intercourse and were more likely to want to get it over with as quickly as possible if their partner was circumcised, the survey indicated.

It is a contentious issue, but till next week, let us engage on: [email protected]