In boys, the development that gives them the ability to contribute to a pregnancy starts a few years later. The signal to begin the changes of puberty, as in girls, comes from the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. In boys, these hormones act on the testes, the two glands suspended below the penis, outside the body. After pubic hair has begun to grow, the male sex organs to enlarge, height and weight to increase and the muscles to become heavier, the testicles will begin to manufacture sperm – the male cells. Unlike ova in girls, these are not present in a finite number from birth but made anew each day, and as many as 300 million may be present in each ejaculation. The advantages of such conspicuous waste are that even the loss of one testicle will not affect a man’s ability to start a pregnancy (and indeed if a woman loses an ovary, the other will take over!). Another advantage is that there is safety in numbers – only one sperm gets the prize and fertilizes an egg, but the others aid it on its way.

A tube connects each testicle to two small glands called seminal vesicles, connected in their turn to the prostate gland. Sperm is passed up these tubes into the seminal vesicles where it combines with seminal fluid from the prostate. The resulting mixture, which is about 98 per cent fluid and 2 per cent sperm, is called semen. Semen can remain in the seminal vesicles and eventually be absorbed back into the body, as new, fresh sperm mature and travel up from the testicles. More often, it is passed out of the body as an ejaculation during masturbation or an erotic or wet dream.

Boys have erections from the time they are born. Both sexes soon learn that touching their genitals is pleasant, and even before boys’ bodies manufacture semen to produce an ejaculation, or girls start menstruating, we have evidence to show that both can experience orgasm. But with the onset of sperm production, self-pleasuring does acquire an extra dimension for the young man! How often a boy has wet dreams or masturbates depends entirely on individual factors. However, it is neither abnormal nor unusual for a teenager in the throes of adolescence to have frequent emissions – as many as several days. Boys are also constantly bedeviled by involuntary erections. An erection is the first response to sexual excitement. The body often reacts to a trigger – the sight, scent, sound or thought of something stimulating – even before the mind recognizes it, and certainly before the penis is touched or manipulated. Adolescent boys can find themselves becoming excited in the most public places and at the most inappropriate times, without meaning or trying to become so.

Related posts:

1. The Basics of Children’s Reproducing System

2. The Prostate and Its Problems

3. Prostate Cancer 101 – The Normal Prostate Gland

4. Teenagers Parenting Tips – On Becoming a Man

5. The Basics of How to Parent Your Boys: Read and Learn Together

6. The basics of living with teenagers – periods in girls

7. The Basics of Urethra

8. The Basics of How to Parent Your Boys: Fight the Might of Muscles

9. The basics of parenting teens – sexual maturity

10. The basics of living with teenagers – skin and growing hair