Given the choice, I would not have parted with my foreskin.
But what can you say? You’re one day old. Your parents were doing what they thought was best, whatever their reason. So, from time to time, for the rest of your life, you wonder what it would feel like to be complete, to be whole. You wonder what it would have looked like; long, completely covering the glans, drooping off the end with a stretchy nipple of skin; or short and snug, leaving a peek at your pee hole. You wonder how having your foreskin might have affected your life.
It’s an ancient ritual suffered by approximately one third of the male population, mostly Muslims and Jews and Protestant American guys, rooted in religious or cultural convictions and rites of passage into manhood. Plus that boy will look like dad. A logical question – why is it still going on today?
Other than religion, the two main arguments in favor of circumcision (both controversial) appear to be hygiene and disease prevention: it can get ugly and smelly under there (unless, of course, you wash it!); you can be infected or pass along STDs (unless, of course, you wear a condom for casual sex!). And believe it or not, circumcision has also been used to prevent masturbation.
In 1933 the estimated number of “victims” in the US was 32%. The number rose to 70% by 1945; 85% by 1965; and peaked in the 1970s at 91%. Then we finally started thinking about it. The rate was 56% in 2005. Today it’s less than 1% in England.
Somehow many Americans thinks the penis looks better cut.
As opposed to uncut.
Ask an Englishman … that’s cultural. We’ve been conditioned.
In America the severed foreskin might be used for research in the skin-care industry; in some parts of Africa it might be eaten; Jewish law states that it should be buried. Why don’t we just leave the newborn males alone, let the guy make the decision when he’s older and screws up the courage to go through with it, if that’s what he wants? At least it will be his choice.
Many men are involved in foreskin restoration. For the best information I’ve found on this, check out NORM (The National Organization of Restoring Men).
What about you? Are you circumcised? Would you rather not be, or are you glad you are? If you’re not cut, have you had any associated problems, cultural or physical? Should we stop circumcising male infants and let them decide when they get older. If you’re female, what do you think? Does it make any difference to you if your husband or boyfriend has been circumcised?
No related posts.
Israeli Linguist Vadim Cherny: How Judaic is circumcision?
http://vadimcherny.org/judaism/how_judaic_circumcision.htm
Jews for the Rights of the Child
http://www.jewsfortherightsofthechild.org/
Laura Shanley: A Jewish Woman Rejects Circumcision
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/circarticle.html
Bris Shalom Officiants by Mark D. Reiss, MD
http://www.circumstitions.com/Jewish-shalom.html
I for one have been circumcised since birth and definitely wish I had never been. I do not care about the religious arguments… my family is religious but I have grown to *not* be and now I am stuck without a natural part of my anatomy. I have problems with not being sensitive enough and I outlast the other guys to orgasm. Sometimes I cannot even get there. It is embarrassing, disappointing and unfulfilling.
Parents of course can give consent for medical procedures necessary for their children but circumcision has no medical basis and is body modification at best, genital mutilation at worst. An infant cannot give consent nor holds any religious identity; it appeals to the parents’ religious beliefs alone. That this is often an automatic procedure in the U.S. is disgusting. I await the day when someone takes this through to courts and legislation follows.
I have 2 boys…I never gave permission to have them cut…they just did it…2 son I told they I hadn’t made up my mind on it…too late had already been done…
Circumcision – a barbaric mutilation visited upon sons by their parents from which neither derives any benefit; the parents may experience a moment’s righteousness but the son, in that stab of pain, is subject to a lifetime’s speculation and regret.
Nigel Bruen.
To be cuircumcised among the prepucial is to be naked among the clothed – basically embarrassing.
Nigel Bruen.
Strange how circumcision arouses such strong feelings, and usually anti. Having had a foreskin until my 30s and never been happy with it I eventually decided to have it removed.
I had no encouragement from my doctor in the UK and found most of the medical profession were anti.
Neither was it easy to find a clinic where it could be done under local anaesthetic.
I eventually located a specialist circumcision centre in London where this was possible and have never been less than happy with the result. I am now certainly pro circumcision provided the procedure is performed by a skilled practitioner.
I discussed the various styles with my surgeon, and opted for a low and tight cut. This has left the whole of the glans and rim permanently uncovered but hidden the neat and otherwise conspicuous scar behind the rim.
The healing was pretty rapid-about 3 weeks- and complication free.
The surgeon also gave me the option of frenulum removal which I took. The advantage, he said, is that this virtually eliminates any forward ‘creep’ of skin over the rim, over time, and eliminates any need for a re-circ (something I had never heard of and did not want but which seems surprisingly common).
Obviously, there is a price to pay in regard to loss of sensitivity but I think this is worth it.
I have never been less than happy with the result and so is my wife. The hygienic benefits (for both of us) are obvious and the sexual pros outweight the cons. Yes, in my experience there is definitely reduced sensitivity, but the upside is enhanced staying power. I would say the lack of a foreskin and frenulum also makes repeats easier.
My wife is shaven and we find the combination of male circumcision and female depilation aesthetically attractive and complementary.
We are naturist club members and visit nude beaches in Europe and the UK. In my experience, few males here are circumcised and there seems to be a sustained campaign against the practice. I think this is a pity.
I think its something that is perfectly acceptable for an adult male to choose to have done if they wish or if there is a real medical need. Its totally unacceptable for such mutilation to be performed on a person (and this includes female circumcision) where the person is not in a position to give informed consent. I am not circumcised and have never found a ‘hygiene’ issue, it just has to be washed properly like any other part of the body.
I have just found this site and find it interesting and clean in nature, not smutty. However I must join the debate on circumcision. I donned a foreskin for 32 years and always wanted to be rid of it thinking I didn’t look normal. I had an adult circumcision when I was 33. Now at 36 I regret ever doing it. I lost a lot of sexual feeling in intercourse and even in masterbation. On top of that, Now I don’t think it looked all that bad and I did look normal.
I am one of those men restoring my foreskin. Undoing my circumcision was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The difference is truly amazing. With my glans covered I regained my full sensitivity. I also got the gliding action, which is something I never knew existed before I started restoring. The gliding action changes the whole dynamics of wanking and sex.
Not quite understanding why there is so much anger about a normal procedure here in the US… I am circumcised. The vast majority of white males here are. I have had no problems from the procedure nor has anyone I know. I am glad it was done for me and have not met anyone who wishes they had not gotten it done. Two friends who moved here from Germany both got it done in high school. It is MUCH better to have it done as a child, as I was told by my German friends, who both wished they had had it done then, but are both happy they got it done. Honestly, I think all the backlash is simply jealousy… We realize there is no point to having a lint trap on the end of our tools. It’s just cleaner the American way.
Its a completely unnecessary procedure. Its mutilation, trust me on that one.
Mikhael
The US is the only country that routinely cuts its boys out of a need to conform to the local culture.
There is no medical basis for it; conditions that actually require circumcision as a cure where no other is available are incredibly rare and should this unlikely event occur – then the treatment can be applied.
Circumcision increases the risk of many other problems, which are detailed in other groups and around the ‘net.
Lies are spread about the procedure by people who make money out of gullible, uninformed parents.
So many sexual nerves are removed – sexual experience is altered and often negatively, though boys who are mutilated as babies will never have anything to compare to.
85% of the world is in tact as our genes dictate, as we have evolved to be, or as god made us if you prefer it that way.
We hope that education will spread and stop people from unnecessarily mutilating their children. Why alter a bodily organ that is perfectly natural and functional for no reason?
Marianne
I have 3 sons and another on the way
and none of them have been circumcised
because i believe that why change something that you are born with.
We don’t do it to girls so why boys?
Teach them to clean themselves properly
and you won’t have a problem.
Rebecca