In college I had a girlfriend who was utterly fascinated by the fact that testicles move.  For the uninitiated, the evolutionary design of our balls is to enable the production of sperm, which requires temperatures a bit below the normal body temp. The solution is to have the testes hang just outside the body cavity, cooling them just enough that they can freely produce copious amounts of swimming tadpoles, who, ideally, will race hellbent towards an ovum once they're deposited in a uterus. Okay, so much for the technical. Our balls hang outside the body, but since outside conditions change they can drop and contract, pulling, as necessary, free of the body when you're in warmer conditions such as a beach in Barcelona or a sauna in Sweden. Chill dude Conversely they can contract, as in the classic Seinfeld episode in which George screams "shrinkage" when a woman sees his chill-reduced package. The testicles pull up tightly against the body hoping to share s...

Since January1st I am down nearly 25 pounds using the ketogenic diet, exercise and intermittent fasting. I've lost a lot of body fat and am at my healthiest - and lowest weight - in the last thirty years. But my regular readers already know that. Let me talk a little about specific physiological changes I've noticed. First, whether it's because the workouts are intensifying, or my physiology is simply working better, I sweat a lot more in my morning workout. It gives me the sense that I'm actually accomplishing something. And as of early April my fat layer has receded considerably, though I have a ways to go until I'm completely satisfied. Around 25 pounds. My arms are pretty lean at this point, and muscular. I've been working out with weights. The veins in my forearms have returned to prominence, as have those on the back of my hands. I've got to do some extra work to get my deltoids a bit more developed. My chest is doing pretty well. Most of the fat seems...

Masculinity . This means different things to different people.  In this 21st century world of gender fluidity and gender identity I am going to pause for a moment to describe the attributes I I consider to be key points of masculinity.  This does not mean I regard anyone with a penis as less than male, nor is it to denigrate women in any way - women may be described as masculine, but need not lose their femininity in order to be strong. That’s a misperception. Nor do men need to be lurking hulks to be masculine. (Think George Clooney as the masculine and Gal Gadot as the feminine in this example.) Men can be soft and gentle without being unmasculine, while women can be powerful and assertive and entirely feminine. This isn’t about labels, it’s about traits. There’s nothing in my eyes that is wrong with either of those two perspectives, or in the vast rainbow of degrees between those points and elsewhere. Being masculine means carry traits of the traditionally feminine side...

(Trigger Alert: This entry is a discussion about erections from a mechanical standpoint.) HAPPY NEW YEAR!! So... Part of my experience with medical issues has been doing my own in-depth study of the male reproductive system. Essentially anything a urologist would examine, I've researched. Out of self-defense in many cases, to make sure I both know what is going on, as well as being able to make educated decisions when it comes to my own care. My penis has had - excuse the pun - its share of ups and downs over the years. To recap for someone just reading the blog for the first time: over the last thirty years I've experienced several surgeries and surgical procedures focused on my groin and related systems. (Using the search words doctor or medical with the search tool above and right of my header you can read about a few of them.) First, I've had three inguinal - pubic - hernia surgeries, the most recent of which was pretty extensive, leaving a two inch scar, and causing a ...

 It probably would not surprise anyone who reads this blog that I have, over the years, dealt with more than a handful of body image issues, some of which were brought on by the very experiences that eventually led me to being pretty indifferent about nudity. I've mentioned before the fact that my body, particularly my left side inguinal area, has been the subject of much attention from the medical community. That dates from childhood, and as a young boy I was pretty self-conscious about one particular scar left over from a kidney operation. It runs from my back to just shy of my stomach, and once puberty set in it grew to be an eventual eight inches of pretty obvious scarring to anyone who sees me with my shirt off. Given that the surgery was conducted in the 1960s - before the advent of many modern surgical techniques - it's a pretty nasty looking affair. Later, a series of abdominal surgeries - three umbilical hernias (the belly button) - also left prominent scars on my nav...

  Forgive me, Padre, for it has been many months since I last confessed. The truth of the matter is that I felt I was beginning to be repetitive in much of my posts, and wanted to wait until something new presented itself. Things appear to be going quite a bit better with my health, at least where my groin is concerned. The surgery to remove the vas deferens on my left side has really fixed the constant pain and bruising I had felt for more than a decade. A huge relief by any standard. I still have some remaining post-surgical scarring to deal with, and the left nut is still a tender to the touch, but both things are slowly resolving themselves. My sex life remains non-existent and will be so for the foreseeable future. My wife's condition is the same and I won't press the issue. Any orgasm is a solo act these days. On a more fun and upbeat note, in the last month I've enjoyed several instances of NMNM (Naked Male Naked Male), CFNM (Clothed Female Naked Male) and CMNM (Clot...