SUMMARY :
Subincision of the penis is the creation by mutilation (urethrotomy) of an acquired hypospadias. Noted in primitive societies as a ritual of male initiation, it has been interpreted according to Freudian psychoanalysis as the expression of male desire to appropriate the female sex (female biological functions).
In the tribal atmosphere that characterizes the end of the twentieth century, there are Western men who are at present subincising their penis; about 400 men/year (99% self-mutilation) according to the BME net site, Toronto, Canada.
It may be that this mutilation is the expression of an expiatory ritual for castration anxiety and even for erectile dysfunction. Or it could represent a transitory rite to be accomplished and in this respect be related to "social puberty".