Penis

The penis is the male copulatory organ, and, in mammals, the male organ of urinary excretion. It is homologous (develops from the same embryonic structure) as the female clitoris.

The penis is built of three columns of erectile tissue:

• the two [corpora cavernosa]? and
• one [corpus spongiosum]? which lies below them.

The end of corpus spongiosum is enlarged and cone-shaped and forms so called [glans penis]?.

Erection is achieved by influx of blood into a labyrinth of [blood vessel]?s. The vessels are distended and reflex muscle contraction around veins traps blood in vessels of erectile tissue. (When this mechanism fails to function properly, the result is impotence.)

The urethra that is the last part of urinary tract traverses the corpus spongiosum and its end lies on the tip of the [glans penis]?. Apart from being a passage for urine? it also is for semen ejaculation.

A loose fold of skin partly covering the glans is called the foreskin or prepuce?. Circumcision is the cutting off of this fold of skin. Many societies have practiced circumcision on religious or cultural grounds (For example, circumcision, or briss?, is one of the basic requirements of male Jews). In the modern USA, male infants are commonly circumcised on the grounds that the circumcised condition is healthier. Controversy about the truth of this assertion continues.

Related subjects : impotence, priapism?, circumcision, sexual intercourse; clitoris; vagina.

/Talk