(by "them" I mean a parents choice to have their child's penis skin removed.)

I know most of you are male, so this is pertinent. Please be mature.

What's your opinion on circumcision? Before I ever really thought about it, I didn't care. Once I really considered it, it's pretty stupid. You cut off a portion of a man's penis for no reason other than looks. To argue otherwise is to say that everyone with a sheath has urinary infections. That's OBVIOUSLY not true.

I'm envious to have lost my sheath. It's supposed to improve stimulation of females and males during sex. That alone makes me wish I had mine. Not to mention the concept of not having a choice, and having to live with it no matter what.

The concept of calling the head of a penis an "internal organ" really puts it into perspective for me.

Language/Nudity Warning: Bull****'s Episode on Circumcision

My feelings:

I really don't care.

There's really no point to it. My parents had me circumcised, but if the choice was presented to me I would choose against it. If you can't wash that area enough that you're worrying about getting certain infections or diseases, then you're a pretty dirty person.

I am not circumcised and I am pretty glad. Humans were not meant to have part of their wieners chopped off...

But really it doesn't matter whether or not you're circumcised as long as you can piss and have sexy time without problems. I wouldn't circumcise my son....

The only real benefits for circumcision is conformity (I guess). And religious reasons. But if it was left up to me, I would rather give up religion if it involved cutting pieces of myself off.

I support the parents right to choose on this, though I don't think there's a real reason for it.
As for religious reasons, I'm a Christian, baptist to be exact, and from what I've read about in the bible, it doesn't matter anymore. So for that reason I'm not likely to have my son circumcised.
That is, of course, assuming I find a woman willing to be my wife, which at this point doesn't look likely, so... anyway.

JediGandalf doesn't even need to vote in the poll, because he has no soul.

^^ He speaks truth. I have no soul against stupid catchphrasery. ^^

My grandfather, my grandmother, and my mother are Catholic. I got the blade to the schmonz RIGHT after birth.

Uncircumsized penises look like dog penises.

And circumcised penises look like circumscribed dog penises.

Penis' aren't pretty to begin with. I don't think people should really be worried about making them look like anything.

Dick Bonzai!

I really don't understand the religious reasons for circumcision.

Why would God give you foreskin just so the doc can chop it off after birth??

My parents are both Catholic, and I avoided the blade...and I have no complaints!

I was told that was the reasoning. Soooo. Oh well, can't do much about it anyway.

Foreskin makes kids interested in their penis'. Your parents have to tell you clean it well, so you learn to pull it back. You slip while pulling it back and do it again and discover masturbation. God hates that.

Nuh uh!

Hmm; not to my knowledge..

Sorry 'bout your luck.

Posted a video

Circumcision is around so that those with God's covenant could stand out from the rest. That was a long time ago, though. Now I think its just tradition.


I think circumcised penises are best, but it really doesn't matter. This thread reminds me of a quote, though:

I would post a link to wikipedia regarding this issue but there are some photos on there that I doubt anyone here wants to see

I don't think God told people to cut off a portion of their organs. I think that the higherups in the religion realized that when living in a freakin' desert, it was hard to wash thineself properly, and people were getting "mysterious diseases." So they say God told them to CHOP IT OFF and suddenly no more mysterious diseases.

Long story short.

It's a little peice of skin. It doesn't reduce the length of an erect penis. Get over it.



No one has ever argued that. The likelyhood of urinary tract infections is greater with the foreskin present. There is also a greater risk of contracting things like STIs and HIV with the foreskin present. These are problems, and it's one way of reducing their occurence. Is that such a bad thing? People have tonsils and appendixes removed all the time, no one cares about those.



I hear this all the time. I'd love to see that study. Did they just get a bunch of guys together, circumcised and not, and ask them how pleasurable sex was? How would any of them know what sex felt like before and after the procedure? The only way a study like that could be conclusive is if they got a dozen uncircumcised men, rated their sexual pleasure, circumcised them, then had them rate it again. This didn't happen and I challenge you to prove it ever did.

And don't call it a sheath. That's honestly one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

Jin's an angry angry man. He must miss his foreskin.

It's supposed to be proven that there are lots of nerves in the skin. At the same time, people argue that the number of nerves there would make it become nullified after excessive stimulation.

And it's STILL a portion of the penis. I don't care about length or higher risk of aids. You lob off something because it was once a religious ideal held by everyone. I'm not trying to bash religion, I'm saying that it's a religious ideal, not a medical one. To me, AIDs is a black and white thing. You screw someone with aids, you might as well get it. Wear a condom, and the difference between foreskin and no foreskin is nothing.

And I call it a sheath because people don't like the term foreskin.

Funny because it's statistically true, and because it makes you sound like a biggot.

hahahaha

I do recall a discussion on another forum on this topic - apparently someone was circumcised as an adult; apparently he preferred it beforehand.

*shrug* It might be around somewhere, if you feel like messing Anandtech off topic's terrible search feature..

Firstly, the origins of circumcision are completely unknown. Sure, it was adopted as a religious practice but what the hell does that have to do with anything now? There's plenty of medical literature supporting circumcision because it does lower the risk of infection. It is a medical issue.

As for HIV infection.. I'm not talking about homosexuals, or the United States. I'm talking about the millions of poor souls in third world countries that probably don't even realise they have it, the ones that have children who are then born with it, and will probably die before they speak their first words. It's not a black and white issue.

I think the better poll (obviously not for these forums) would be do girls prefer circumcised or uncircumcised?

Have one, against the procedure.

As for the pleasure issue, one thing about it is that uncircumcised men generally need less extra lubrication, which is a pretty good thing.

That's one guy. I'm not saying it's entirely impossible for such a thing to occur, ever, but there's no evidence to say that getting circumcised will make sex less pleasurable. Considering the area of the penis that has the most sensitivity during sex isn't even attached to the foreskin anywhere, I can't see how removing it would resolve in permanent desensitisation.

edit: To be honest, I'm not entirely sure of my last point, my memory is somewhat fuzzy what I learnt in Sex Ed about the specifics of the penis.

There are medical reasons, you touched on that already. Not all are exactly under the person's control, either so that you can label them as savage, filthy dogs. It's just a fold that can gather crap in it, especially in children. It does not just have adult implications. You should, you know, read up on the subject before you speak with such conviction.

Oh, there are nerves in it, woop de freakin' do. Since you're the sudden expert on the foreskin, what do they do? Because as we know, all innervation is created equal. Oh wait, no it isn't at all. Stop throwing the term "nerves" around like you know what you're talking about.

I kinda always thought of it as "it looks better if baby's lips are surgically removed at birth..." It'll cut down on all of the gum infections and buildup of plax that gets caught in the crevaces.. THAT'S AN AWESOME SOLUTION!!!! No, no, and no... Things are where they are for a reason. If something gets dirty, clean it. If you don't take care of your mouth, it will get nasty, infected and begin to smell... same thing.
As for the "sensitivity" issue, it is practically proven. It even has a medical term. Basically imagine keeping your eyes open for 18 years with out blinking, and every day rubbing clotes agenst your eyeballs for all hours of the day. You would grow up use to this feeling, so it wouldn't hurt, but you would probably loose most feeling in your eyeballs do to the calluses you would build up.
Also, the only reason everyone says "it looks better" is because they are use to seeing it in it's unnatural state. I'm sure that in other countries where they don't have as high of a circumcision rate, they probably think it is horrible and disgusting. I'm pretty sure that this is what they meant earlier about being upset about "losing a piece of their body", not cause they are worried about length.

I saw that someone said "ask if women like it" most don't because of the society we live in and the bad connotations it gets (it stinks, and has disease). I actually even heard of a website that advertises "desiner circumcisions", where they cut it to look like a flower so it looks "cute". That is the most disgusting thing I have heard. I'm of the mind set that it's my body and if a girl doesn't like the way a part of it looks then she isn't good enough for me.

There was such a thing as female circumcision back in the day, but they made it against the law and labeled it "genital mutilation".

Lord Kuat, do you have any idea what you're talking about? Any at all?
I guess you do, neurology. So then, Kuat, in your sub-expert opinion, there's nothing special about the foreskin? Is that what you're saying?

They're not just cosmetic. I had a tight foreskin and thus I had to be circumcised when I was three years old. Honestly, I could care less. It's just the penis.

I have a friend with the same condition who had to be circumcised when he was 18. No sex (or touching it!) for three months, doctors orders

@kuat

I'm not. I said that the question whether it has more feeling or not is up in the air. But you're the one that wants to make this hostile:

The fact of the matter isn't that it's just a fold of skin. OK, it's just a fold of skin? Why cut the goddamned thing off!? You just want all kids to be like you. Racist.

I'm probably biased because I'm 3 feet tall and I have severe body alterations like rods and fusions and whatnot that are supposed to improve my quality of life. None of them have been life or death surgeries. (The ones at birth were, I guess.) I got to make the decision on all of my "better quality of life" surgeries. All of them but the one on my penis.

Pretty much every girl I've been with has been happy that I'm circumcised. I've been told it's preferable for them to go down on a guy without a foreskin.

I had it done at birth, I'm not exactly for automatic circumcision at birth but I like my dick the way it is.

That's different. I don't know if I would or wouldn't have gotten myself cut. I'm not going to argue what people PREFER. I'm arguing if it's right to decide for your kid because he's going to have to be better at cleaning it.

Would they support removing all of your teeth and replacing them with dentures at age 10? Those teeth are hard to clean, and it's easier to just drop them in a glass of cleaner. It's not at all the same, but it has the same emotional effect for me.

Having foreskin allows bacteria to grow underneath the fold of the skin, causes infections, causes unsastisfactory smells during, which in turn keeps women away from having sex with you, allows for disease to grow, an gives an increase in the chance of contracting said diseases.

On top of that, there is no difference in stimulation during sex.

The only reason to be against a circumcision after receiving one is because you're pissed at your parents for some other reason, and this is the outlet for that anger.

There really isn't enough information to come to a safe conclusion one way or another.

That would be totally awesome.

Especially if they were made of TITANIUM.