Circumcision: What is your opinion?

Hi everyone,

I was circumcised shortly after I was born. I didn’t even figure out that I had been circumcised until I was about 10 (I thought I was just born that way). Around 13 or 14 I started becoming very sad and angry about it because I had no choice over it and I wished that I still had my foreskin. I still struggle with this every day. I personally believe that circumcising boys without their consent (when they are just babies) should be outlawed. I’m not against the procedure itself but I believe that the person receiving it should have consented to it. Even if there enough evidence to support circumcision (which there really isn’t, research only shows a slight drop in std’s), I still don’t think it should be done to a child who has no control. You’re taking away a part of someone’s body (one of their most important parts at that) without their permission, most of the time just because it is a tradition. If someone wants to be circumcised later in life I think that it is totally fine, but not as a child. What are your opinions on this?

You could not have said it better. It’s barbaric. It’s the male equivalent of FGM, except it could not actually be as bas at that. I have Jewish friends and no doubt they consider it to be normal and required. I extend my sympathies towards you.

Barbaric, stupid, informed by some ancient superstition. Ridiculous, a decision very few men would make in the affirmative if they were allowed to wait until they were adults to make it themselves.

It gave me nerve damage, a skin tag that caused curvature and serious issues with getting erections. My mom had me circumcised at 1 year old not birth. It got complex.

So I think it’s super dumb.

Unless it is done out of medical necessity or due to strict religious doctrine, it is mutilation.

The religious issue is a contentious one that is too individual in nature to really discuss constructively.

Wow, I did not expect everyone to agree with me (at least so far). I agree that it is mutilation but I didn’t want to come off as an anti-circumcision nazi or something.

“Anti circumcision nazi.” One to remember for those touchy dinner parties..

The religious angle is indeed complex, and to discuss it would probably infringe the site guidelines. However, I thought that a high percentage of American men were circumcised even thought they are not Jewish. Is there any particular reason for this- if indeed it is true?

It’s mutilation for some; however, as already mentioned. It’s also practiced by Jews and possibly other religious groups and taken as sacred. Those groups can decide how they want to proceed and they can one day modify their practice should they find it to make sense. So we let those groups decide and determine their destiny. After all, religions evolve and change over time.

Those who are not part of those groups should certainly question why they are being circumcised? And within those groups they can also debate.

I personally do not think it’s right, given there isn’t some sacred reason for it.

If we are going to debate the religious aspects, I suspect that’s a different thread all together.

I think it is no big deal, in fact it is so little that it won’t make a difference at all. It is only the cut of the prepuce to allow the glans to stay free. Men who are circumcised have more time during sex because they do not feel that pleasure that comes from the prepuce, and it is really a good thing. The procedure of circumcision is very simple, the bad part is the post surgical in which the patient have to rest, don’t have an erection, no sex and no masturbation, a very little percentage of parents that had their baby circumcised do not look right their kids penis, one thing that is very common for a baby is to have priapism, now imagine a baby recovering from the circumcision and then a priapism happens, it is madness.
First, Actually you are not taking a part of the body away (and let’s face it, it is really not that important), it is just a skin that is there and it cause some problems to the man.
Second, it is not mutilation as in the meaning of the word means that it is done a procedure to remove the function of an organ, if you remove the prepuce it won’t make the man sterile nor ED. Example is the cropping of the dogs ear and tail, it won’t make the dog deaf nor lose it’s balance, everything has a meaning and positive function to the ambient.
One funny story is from one monarch from Portugal that lived here in Brazil (as it was a colony of Portugal) Dom João VI had phimosis and all the guards, aristocrats, bureaucrats and some people that worked and lived in his castle could hear his moaning of pain every time he had sex with his wife Dona Carlota Joaquina. Later on some years before his mother died and he became king he made a circumcision and everybody could live in peace.

In my experience (I’ve had this discussion a lot both in real life and here) almost everyone who has negative thoughts about circumcision was circumcised as a child and has never had a foreskin and make a lot of assumptions about the difference between having one and not having one (and many are not happy with their penis for any of many reasons).

I had an adult circumcision. It was not what I wanted. I was very happy having a foreskin! But it got damaged and caused a restriction; the doctor said best cut it off.
I’d had years of sex and masturbation with my foreskin and enjoyed them immensely but it was damaged and I figured millions of men managed without a foreskin so I could too, if it needed removing.

So now I’ve had many years of sex and masturbation both with, and without a foreskin. And my 100% open, honest and factual assessment, on every level….

I don’t want my foreskin back.

If it suddenly magically appeared back tomorrow morning, I wouldn’t cut it off again.
But if a genie said “you can have your perfect foreskin back instantly - just make the wish!” I would not do it.

One of the best things for me was that I could feel my penis sliding against the vaginal walls, rather than just in and out of my foreskin, and that there was more friction for the woman as they could feel the same.

The pleasure isn’t decreased. Intensity of orgasm is exactly the same, as is the build up to it. If you imagine boiling 2 pots of water, one over a big flame and one over a 10% smaller flame, they both go through the same temperature ranges, and they both end up boiling - one just takes 10% longer to do it.

Life/sex/masturbation was great with a foreskin. But I find it better without. I hugely suspect the vast majority of guys who have had it both ways would agree, without hesitation.

That is one of the reasons why after I am done with length gains I will have a circumcision, woman buy dildos with different shapes so it will have a better feeling when she contracts her vagina walls and feel all the dildo bumps and shape inside her, the glans should be out making a good friction for her vagina being a good ally for the improvement of the sex.

Im cut and wouldn’t have it any other way.

I don’t agree with that. The foreskin is important. It protects the glans and contains lots of nerves that increase pleasure. And even if it was useless, why would we want to cut it off? Our fingernails are basically useless yet we don’t remove them from every baby when they are born. Weak logic imo.

Being circumcised is all I know and I like it just fine.

Your logic is flawed. Fingernails are essential. You’re not going to last long if you continue to tell people they are wrong when they voice differing opinions. Just a heads up.