The Package Myth: When Blokes Obsess Over Hardware – Part 3 – The Infrastructure

So how is this feat of biological engineering made? Infrastructure, Cargo, Management

Team Infrastructure

The Outside Team is made up of the penis and the scrotal sac that holds the two testes. The Inside Team is rather more complex, but when you put it all together it makes perfect sense—nature excels at this sort of thing.

A cross-section of the penis reveals three parallel tissue structures, rather alarmingly named 'corpus cavernosa' and 'corpus spongiosum', which really just refer to three sponges running along the length of the organ. Inside one of these tissues runs the urethra, which ends with a slit at the head of the penis.

The three spongy tissues are themselves wrapped in a fibrous, tough tissue—think three sausages wrapped tightly in a burrito. (I'd love to claim this analogy as my own, but we owe this delightful visual to Dr. E. Nagoski.)

The insides of the male reproductive apparatus include the urethra, a highway running through the penis that transports waste in the form of urine and sperm in the form of semen. Same highway for both, but a clever system of 'levers' ensures the two don't get mixed up.

Urine is held in the bladder, a sort of balloon nestling in the groin that nobody really thinks about—until those two pints of lager make their way through to it and you start casually looking for the loo, waiting for that all-important lull in the conversation.

Semen is made up of sperm and secretions from the prostate, an organ the size of a walnut located just beneath the bladder, and the seminal vesicles, two glands positioned right behind the prostate. The prostate and seminal vesicles produce a nutrient-rich liquid that supports the sperm on its epic journey to the egg, a bit like an energy bar before heading to the gym.

Sperm is produced in the testes, affectionately known as the family jewels. When sperm is called to action, it travels from the testes up the vas deferens, a coiled tube that acts as a spring, contracting and propelling the sperm upwards to mix with its liquid component, then waiting for the 'all systems go' order to ejaculate.

All is neatly packaged and tucked away inside the penis owner's groin. However, things get really interesting when arousal gets in the way.

Next time: The Cargo