I grew up just outside of Oslo, the capital city of Norway, in a small corner of that endless suburban sprawl that already in the early Nineteen Eighties spread a cross the Earth swallowing town and country alike. It was that sort of ultra straight place where I felt everyone looked askance at each other, a place I which I left as soon as I could. At fifteen however, such a time seemed like forever into the future. I felt stuck. Somehow I also felt that I had to do something to mark myself as myself for myself; even if no one else would see it. Having read experiences here on BME, I know now that I was not alone. But I felt quite alone back then.
At A Glance Author Diomedy IAM Diomedy When Ten years ago or more Artist Me Studio At home Location Somewhere in Suburbia I had heard of no-one who did or had genital piercings except for a punk-rocker in another town, a guy whom my cousins knew. Apparently he had pierced his foreskin with a safety pin and worn it to a party. -Or maybe it was to school, showing it off in the locker room or something. I was much to shy for that...
I really wanted a circumcision. Very uncommon here in Scandinavia, except among ethnic minorities, it would really have set me apart. It never occurred to me that I could talk about this with my parents. I guess I expected that they would think me weird or "worse". I feel quite sure that a fren piercing, i.e. "a ring in your pe...?!" would have seemed even more weird to them, but I did not have to ask them for that.
I did get the circumcision, four years later; a separate experience. Only a few things need mention here: Wanting a circumcision gave me a major reason to do the piercing, like a sort of test. At this time, I also started to wear my foreskin back at all times, except when someone saw me naked. (I had tried this before, and found that I liked it better than letting the foreskin cover the glans.) At times when no one saw me at all, I had plenty of chance to look carefully at the frenulum. In my case the skin was almost transparent between the capillaries.
I actually pierced myself twice; after a few false attempts where I merely stung myself, without getting the needle through. I had no idea of how a piercing was supposed to be done, with hollow syringes and all. I used a black sewing needle with a very sharp point. Once I had decided and found what seemed like the right spot, I pushed the needle through. It took a little time with this kind of needle, as the skin stretched. It was quite painful, but it bled very little. The hole looked fine, placement perfect. -Yes, I actually did think that.
I didn't wear anything in the hole, so after a few days, it closed. According to my then state of mind I felt relieved that my experiment hadn't left a trace. I also felt very disappointed somehow, but I had tried it; doing almost the same thing as what the punk had done. -Except that I didn't brag about it. Perhaps I should have, wearing my foreskin retracted in the locker room after games, with some heavy metal jewellery hanging from the fren.
About a month later, as you might expect, I tried to pierce again. I had worked out that if I put something like a (clean) school eraser to receive the needle it would go through the skin and not just stretch it. It worked. This time I had also found a place without any blood-vessels, and as it so happened also avoided any major nerves. It bled not at all, and I hardly felt any pain.
As far as I heard, the punk had not kept wearing the safety pin in his penis. This thought did cross my mind though. This second time, I did a few experiments; making wooden plugs and so on. I found that a tight fren ring could help keep the foreskin back, but only halfway. (It seemed easier to retract by just folding the skin over itself.) It actually seemed that somehow, the piercing made the foreskin pop back on again...
Another thing I tried was to stick a rubber tube through the hole; letting it form a loop around the neck of the glans, under the foreskin. Wearing this makeshift ring did not feel uncomfortable, and it made the rim look wider. -Like my glans was actually bigger under the skin. This I wore to school and even tried in the shower. -I guess two or three times, until I felt I had done it. No-one seemed to notice, as my foreskin hid the ring.
I could have continued with this, perhaps with some more permanent jewellery. The ring sort of filled the "neck" behind the rim of the glans however, and I needed that to keep the foreskin back. Later, when my glans-rim had widened, and the foreskin stayed back by itself, this worked better. But by then, I only used the piercing occasionally. My experience would suggest that this piercing might work fine with a retracted foreskin; but for me, that didn't really ever work out.
At the time and place, It was also hard to find proper jewellery; something good to wear, that could not cause an infection, and that was not too expensive or too valuable. So, I gave up on the idea of having a permanent genital piercing. From then, and until this summer, I only used the piercing now and then. I am quite sure however that the weeks when I did try it, made the piercing permanent. The hole has always been there since, widening from perhaps 14 ga. (app. 1.6 mm.) to a little over 10 ga. (app. 2.5 mm.) as the years have passed. Apparently, from what I have read, I am not the only one to have experienced this; that a fren just stays open...
In June this year, I seriously picked up the idea again of wearing something in my frenulum, at least most of the time. I decided on a 10 ga. straight barbell. This time I found that I really liked the piercing. Maybe people just change? Many things have been changing in my life the last few years, and will probably keep changing; hopefully for the better.
Getting jewellery for this piercing, my only piercing this far, has turned out to be a seriously good change. I have now stretched the hole to approximately 5 mm, wearing two 10 ga. in it; one straight and one horseshoe. So this summer, I could go to the nude beach with a shiny piece of surgical steel hanging from my totally nude penis!
On the beaches, I see that year by year mods are getting more and more common on young and old and in-between. I shall be the last to mind that "everyone" do it now. -You all just make me want a tattoo!! Once I felt totally strange and unusual, now I just feel like me, -and no longer alone.
This piercing gives me both pleasure and pain these days, and for sex it feels very intense; but if I want only pleasure I have to go slow... If you think this sounds like your cup of tea, I guess I can recommend this piercing. I am planning to stretch the hole further, and to write a separate experience on that, when I see better how things may turn out...
At this point, I guess I have to say that by writing all this, I do not wish to talk anyone into doing, or attempting to do their own piercing; especially not at a young age(!) I am just telling my own story. Getting into the mod culture, I just don't seem to have to do anything my self any more! Now I look forward to just strolling down to one of the piercing studios and just lie down, waiting for someone else to do the needlework for me.
What I do recommend is research and preparation. Especially, if after-all you do decide on doing something by yourself; please know what you're doing! BME/IAM, and the rest of the Internet tells me more than I could ever hope for in the mid Eighties. Back then I knew of no professional piercers either, at least not where I grew up.