Pumping

Pumping is a body modification to the phallus (meaning a clitoris or a penis). This practice uses vacuum suction to stretch the phallus and make it larger. Normally this is temporary, but if done on a regular basis, it has long-term or possibly permanent effects toward making the phallus larger. For people who were assigned a female gender at birth, pumping can make it possible or easier to use their phallus for penetrative sex. A regular practice of pumping is also part of getting ready for a kind of surgery to pull the phallus outward and give it more usable length, called metoidioplasty. These are both often a part of the physical transition of transgender men, and for some transgender people with nonbinary gender identities. A person doesn't need to do this or any other particular part of physical transition in order to identify as male or nonbinary, because all parts of transition are optional, and based on an individual's unique personal wants and needs.