[ ARC forum 2 ]
MoRe: Interpretation
As an answer to: Interpretation written by Aussie girl at 28 Jul 2003 16:50:20:
> Jay asked "can phimosis be the reason for lost erections" and you said "in a word ... no", so we are saying something totally different.
So it seems. My point in the original answer, was that the phimosis was a most unlikely reason for loss of erection. If this conflicts with Beaugé, so be it, whilst his motives are honourable, I nevertheless find some "problems" with his observations. In particular, he ascribes some most unlikely consequences to masturbation, such as "It is usual in these cases for the raphé on the underside of the penis not to be in the midline but more or less displaced to one side or even spiral; the preputial orifice is often displaced: figure 1." I personally think this is a quite improbable extrapolation of the ability of masturbation on its own, to influence the shape of the foreskin.
So when he says that "among those who have had sexual experience, many have failed, with difficulty in penetration, pain and loss of erection", I think that "many" is actually "a couple" and not a significant proportion or majority. In fact, if we examine these factors, they must certainly apply in virtually equal proportion, to circumcised men, and even those with functional foreskins, because in this regard, intercourse is not such an automatic process at all (witness the inquiries on the Fathermag Teen sex forum).
> No my 38 year old was not ever able to retract his foreskin, and had never seen his glans. He didn't even know it was supposed to retract till I told him.
And as others have said, you must have surely been an education! 
> He had a few attempts at sex over the years, but couldn't ever get enough stimulation to cum. I witnessed very strong erections that only went down from the pain when the foreskin was forced behind the glans for the first time ever) and returned.
My point exactly. This is not what Jay describes, else I am sure he would mention the matter of pain well in advance of the consequential loss of erection.
> He didn't lose erections with the other girls he attempted sex with, he couldn't cum,
Exactly!
> but losing erections and not being able to cum can certainly both be caused by insufficient stimulation.
Only in older men, or in the sense that one must eventually lose the erection. I'm sure you will concede that younger men do not lose erections unless in pain (M&J's "squeeze technique"), or distress (psychological - anxiety), and with no mention of pain, the latter is far more probable.
My reason for being so didactic on this, is as ever on these fora, that we must always attempt to focus people on the important details. In "Jay"s situation, it is important that we direct him towards the realisation that his problem is with his girlfriend (or indeed not her personally, but the relationship with his girlfriend, rather than with his penis), otherwise as you know only too well, we end up with results like "AJ". Sure, we have to accept that he has a problem with phimosis, but he needs to understand that that is not the main problem and is readily remediable.
It would be rather nice - perhaps, - if he had a girlfriend as knowledgeable and capable as yourself, but that is rather unlikely, is it not? If not, he will have to figure it out for himself. I think it is diagnostic that what he has described, is a situation where he is not happy with his sexual relationship. Now it's terribly difficult, but we need always to direct him to focus on that, and to help him resolve his phimosis as a secondary matter. Were he merely to "lose" his phimosis overnight, and that without the terrible consequences (both short- and long-term) of circumcision, he would still have the problem of loss of erections - remember, he "discovered" phimosis after he realised the erection problem, so it is not "worry about phimosis" that is responsible.
> The 38 year old and Jay were in the same category where neither one of them was able to retract at all.
But different age and experience.
> It's possible that Jay's loss of erections is caused by anxiety, but I had to disagree when you said it's not possible for his phimosis to be the cause.
Sorry if I have to simplify matters, but while it's possible , it's very unlikely, particularly as the particular matter was couched, and that's the reason for the force of my reply.