![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i-base.info\/guides\/files\/2011\/12\/Fig-1i-Male-circumcision-FINAL.png\" "\\"Fig")
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In heterosexual sex, a circumcised man has a 50% lower chance of catching HIV compared to a man who is not circumcised.\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Male circumcision does not reduce the risk of transmitting<\/i> the virus.\u00a0 <\/span>It does not protect from other routes of infection.<\/p>\n This protection might be because the glans (penis head) in uncircumcised men contains a higher proportion of HIV target cells.<\/p>\n The inner foreskin of the penis is a membrane that HIV can easily penetrate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is also more delicate and more sensitive to damage than skin. So contact between the inner foreskin and genital fluids (vaginal secretions, semen or rectal mucus) is a way to catch HIV.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The longer the contact the more time HIV has to overcome this barrier.<\/p>\n The reason similar protection has not been seen in studies of gay men is likely because most gay men enjoy both active and passive sex.<\/p>\n So gay men who are exclusively insertive may have a similar level of protection, but only for insertive sex.<\/p>\n So far studies have not been able to show this.<\/p>\n