It’s been a few years since this thread has been visited, but I did find it useful after all these years, mainly for the purpose of understanding just how complex the whole subject of “having sex” can be. Whether it’s hormones, testicles (one, two, or none), the prostate, or the penis, and whether sex involves a climax, insertion in a vagina, or just playing around with other parts of the body, there does not seem to be any rule that can be applied across the board. And each of us tends to think that what we are experiencing is the same as everyone else.
For the record, many years ago I had a vasectomy. It had no effect on my sex life at all… apart from saving concerns about birth control.
Then, more recently, I had a prostatectomy, and it took away the ability to have an erection (even with Viagra). It also caused some incontinence, but most of that has been controlled by some fairly aggressive and faithful pelvic exercises.
At the same time, it did not take away the ability to have a climax, and, in fact, it has often been every bit as good as before… if you just count pleasure. The main problem, of course, has been that I am not able to give my wife pleasure. So I can appreciate that others who may never have a climax themselves, still feel they have an active sex life if they have been able to find a way to give pleasure to their partners.
But still I hear of people (sex offenders in particular) who have had everything possible done to them to eliminate their sex life, and still the re-offend. The theory is that for such people, pleasure comes not through the sex organs but just through a kind of debased enjoyment in hurting others.
If there is anything that I am most convinced of as a result of my experience, it is that the real pleasure we experience (MOST of us, at least?) during sex is actually coming from the area around the prostate gland. It is heightened, however, by stimulation of almost any other part of the body, but especially those parts leading toward the genitals. Is that what others have experienced? Just curious.