Debbie says:
My first reaction was to make fun of this, but on reflection I’m not so sure it’s a bad idea. The product, that is: the advertising copy just begs for sarcastic comment, but I’m going to refrain.
The SenSlip helps restore the sensitivity to the penis of circumcised men. It protects the head of the penis against dryness and chafing caused by constant exposure to clothing. It looks, feels and works similar to a real foreskin.
This is a very odd product: it is not a direct sexual aid. The instructions say clearly that it is not to be used in penetration. What it is, basically, is a chafing protector, comparable to the “split slip” that a woman might wear to keep her thighs from chafing in humid weather.
Whatever you may think about male circumcision,* infant circumcision is undeniably common in the U.S. and Canada. What’s more, there is at minimum a host of anecdotal evidence that one effect of circumcision is to reduce penile sensation. (A lot of attention has been paid to a current small study which had the opposite result; I’m just not very interested in 300-person studies.) If, in fact, there is a reduction in sensation, even in some men, and if it is even sometimes related to chafing nerve endings on the head of the penis (which seems plausible), this apparently trivial and inexpensive device just might be useful.
At four for $30, if I had the equipment and any concerns, I just might try one. Body Impolitic does not endorse this product, but it welcomes your reports.
* The evidence for male circumcision as a female health issue seems to be waning. The most recent studies linking male circumcision to female cervical cancer–at least the most recent ones easily found on the Web–are over five years old and the results are statistically inconclusive. What’s more, the availability of Gardasil, a good safe HPV vaccine, presumably lessens any risk significantly, which may be why the studies stopped when they did.
At the same time, however, the evidence for male circumcision as AIDS prevention for everyone waxes. However, the World Health Organization recently released an African study showing that circumcision does significantly effect the spread of AIDS.
The link for this was from BoingBoing; I wish I could remember who sent it to me.