Taylor’s Ridge

Dr. Robert Taylor, who is from Canada, studied 22 corpses of grown men (mean age 37, age range 22 to 58). Ten of the men had foreskins that went past their glans; the rest had foreskins that did not reach the end of the glans. But each one did have a foreskin when alive.

Dr. Taylor and his two assistants, studied the foreskin, especially its lining. They found an area near the fold that was ridged, sort of like corduroy fabric. On the top of the ridge they found numerous cells, known as Meissner’s corpuscles, which are particularly sensitive to touch. Thus, they concluded that the ridge, now commonly known as Taylor’s ridge, named for the doctor who headed this study, is particularly sensitive to motion when the foreskin goes back and forth over the penis during foreplay or intercourse. In fact, stretching it, they concluded, is a major factor in stimulating pleasure sensors!

Their conclusion, which was not part of their study, incidentally, was that men whose foreskin is removed, find pleasure in other ways, and, in fact, have to be more creative about sexual pleasure since they don’t have Taylor’s ridge to help turn them on.

What Taylor and his cohorts found on the ridge were Meissner’s corpuscles, which are also found elsewhere in the body, namely on the skin and in places highly sensitive to touch, such as fingertips and the soles of the feet. Dr. Taylor concluded that such cells contribute a great deal to the sexual sensitivity of the grown male, even though he drew this conclusion based on research of dead men. Thus, Taylor never compared his findings to live subjects. His discovery of Taylor’s ridge, however, helped fuel an intense debate between those who approve of or even advise doing routine infant circumcisions and those who believe it is better to leave a foreskin intact on a male.

Taylor also postulated that because the band had so many Meissner’s cells on it, it is “reflexogenic” and therefore extremely sensitive to touch. He also postulated that it is sensitive to movement that leads to sexual stimulation of the glans underneath it. And this sensitivity in the ridge is what leads the penis to tense, stiffen, and tighten into an erection, which will lead to both an orgasm and ejaculation. (For a more detailed explanation of this, check out research.cirp.org)

It’s important to consider that his study is based on corpses, not living males. Furthermore, it is important to consider that Dr. Taylor was a member of an active group trying to ban infant circumcision. Now, we don’t know if his study was biased because he was searching for evidence to support his stand against circumcision, or if he joined the league of doctors opposed to routine circumcision because of what he found in that study, namely the role of Taylor’s ridge in sexual satisfaction of the male.