The palang ( iba, crossbar), or ampallang is a male genital piercing that penetrates horizontally through the entire

glans The glans (, plural "glandes" ; from the Latin word for "acorn") is a vascular structure located at the tip of the penis in male mammals or a homologous genital structure of the clitoris in female mammals. Structure The exterior structure ...

of the

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...

History

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM 'Twee Kenyah-Dajaks met een penis-staafje de linker heeft tevens een oorbel van houtsnijwerk Borneo' TMnr 10005628

Penis piercings of proto-Malay origin predated European contact with tribes in (among others) the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

(

Dayak people The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each w ...

Thomas Cavendish Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and retu ...

claims that in the Philippines the practice was an invention of the women to prevent sodomy (the Philippines variant included a spur). In Western culture, the ampallang became popular along with the many genital piercings practiced amongst the

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

community prior to the establishment of the body piercing industry in the 1980s and 1990s. Due to its supposed authenticity, this piercing is closely associated with the

modern primitive Modern primitives or urban primitives are people in developed, or modern nations who engage in body modification rituals and practices inspired by the ceremonies, rites of passage, or bodily ornamentation in what they consider traditional cultu ...

movement but anatomy and use of a palang differs drastically from a modern ampallang. Indeed, traditional palang design is simply a pin used to attach a wooden glans cape extension to the penis.

Procedure

The piercing may be ''transurethral'' (passing through the

urethra The urethra (from Greek οὐρήθρα – ''ourḗthrā'') is a tube that connects the urinary bladder to the urinary meatus for the removal of urine from the body of both females and males. In human females and other primates, the urethra c ...

) and named as the European ampallang, whereas the American ampallang is placed horizontally above the urethra, generally back toward the

corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

. A variant on this piercing is the shaft ampallang, which penetrates the shaft of the penis horizontally at any point along its length. The counterpart to this piercing is the

apadravya The apadravya, like the ampallang, is a piercing that passes through the glans. While the ampallang passes horizontally through the glans, the apadravya passes vertically through the glans from top to bottom, almost always placed centrally and pa ...

, which penetrates the glans vertically. The combination of an ampallang and an apadravya is sometimes referred to as the magic cross.

Health issues

Ampallang is an advanced piercing, and the procedure can be extremely painful. Full healing usually takes between four and six months, but can take a year or more in an American ampallang. The primary health issues related to this piercing are during the procedure itself and during the healing process. Depending on the placement, there can be a significant amount of

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...

loss, both during the procedure and during the initial healing process. The measurement for the piercing jewelry is typically done by the receiver in private on his erect penis, while the actual piercing is done on his flaccid penis. The long healing process requires that the bearer abstain from sexual intercourse for a lengthy period of time, on the order of six weeks to six months. It is possible for this piercing to injure or damage the

teeth A tooth ( : teeth) is a hard, calcified structure found in the jaws (or mouths) of many vertebrates and used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores and omnivores, also use teeth to help with capturing or wounding prey, t ...

and

soft palate The soft palate (also known as the velum, palatal velum, or muscular palate) is, in mammals, the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is part of the palate of the mouth; the other part is the hard palate. ...

of the giving party during

oral sex Oral sex, sometimes referred to as oral intercourse, is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a person by another person using the mouth (including the lips, tongue, or teeth) and the throat. Cunnilingus is oral sex p ...

. If this piercing is transurethral ("European"), it can divert the flow of

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra. Cellular ...

, forcing the bearer to sit down or take other measures during urination. The piercing will leave a tube of scar tissue, which will remain even if the jewelry is removed and the piercing allowed to heal.

Functions

Ampallang, once healed, is often pleasurable to the bearer because it stimulates the internal penis tissues.

Jewelry

Straight barbells are almost exclusively worn in ampallangs, both initially and after they are healed. Jewelry must be long enough to accommodate the expansion of the penis during erection, at the risk of significant discomfort for the wearer. After initial healing the piercing can be stretched and larger jewelry can be inserted, reaching sizes above 10 mm in diameter.

References

External links

More information on the ampallang
{{Body Piercing Penis piercings