Sound of the Penis: Secrecy, Sex, and Stigma

Abstract

ABSTRACTUrethral insertion – colloquially referred to as sounding – has primarily been restricted to case and quantitative studies within the medical literature, thereby reinforcing a stigma element to sounding. In qualitative in-depth interviews with non-heterosexual males who engage in sounding, respondents report a pathway into sounding. A dissolved relationship was the catalyst to engage in sounding among a repertoire of sexually variant activities, with sounding being associated with emotional and psychological rewards and various levels of competition. Sounders exhibit themes beyond the medical literature to convey that sounding is not strictly sexual, but also constructed in a milieu of secrecy and stigma.