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Infibulation be
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Discuss) (October 2023)
A penile fibula is foremost a ring, attached with a pin through the foreskin to fasten it above the
glans penis.[1] It was mainly used by
ancient Roman culture, though it may have originated earlier.[2] This ring type of fibula has been described akin to a "large modern
safety pin".[3] Its usage may have had several reasons, for example to avoid intercourse, to promote modesty or the belief that it helped preserve a man's voice. Some Jews also utilized fibulas to hide that they were circumcised.[4][5] The word fibula could also be used in general in Rome to denote any type of covering of the penis (such as with a sheath) for the sake of voice preservation or sexual abstinence, it was often used by masters on their slaves for this purpose.[6] Fibulas were frequent subject of ridicule among satirists in Rome.[7][8][6][3][9]
Infibulation could be also a surgical procedure in which two holes were pierced in the foreskin, so a metal clasp could be locked on them to close the prepuce shut. This procedure was similarly criticized by
Celsus.[10]
See also
Boxer at Rest, a Hellenistic Greek sculpture showing infibulation
Kynodesme, a cord tied around the end of the foreskin to secure the penis
^Frederick M. Hodges, The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, volume 57, p. 375-405