# Anyone here been voluntarily circumcised?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 17, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069 "2009-06-17T14:28:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/1 "2009-06-17T14:28:27Z")
Inspired by [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11251809&posted=1#post11251809) asking for advice on whether to circumcise a newborn boy. The suggestion arises that new parents should skip it and let the child decide later. How much later is anyone’s guess.
I expressed that, as an adult who has some understanding of the physical sensitivities involved, I would not opt to be circumcised, even if I knew for sure that there would be a health or sexual benefit. That perhaps not having it done at birth is a defacto decision that it will never be done.
But I’m curious, and maybe I’m wrong. Have any uncircumcised males looked over the evidence, decided it would be better to be circumcised, and had it done? If so, could you tell us a little about your post-surgical experiences?
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [June 17, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/2 "2009-06-17T21:23:21Z")
My WAG is that any adult male who choses to be circumcised is doing it for religious reasons, not health-related ones.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/3 "2009-06-18T00:26:34Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#):
>
> My WAG is that any adult male who choses to be circumcised is doing it for religious reasons, not health-related ones.
You’d have to be pretty fuckin’ devout for that.
So… nobody?
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### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/4 "2009-06-18T00:34:25Z")
I did at the age of 28 for medical reasons…foreskin was too tight. I didn’t have to do it, but it was kind of painful from time to time.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/5 "2009-06-18T00:41:48Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#):
>
> My WAG is that any adult male who choses to be circumcised is doing it for religious reasons, not health-related ones.
Not a safe WAG.
I assisted in a few adult circumcisions when I was a medical student: They were definitely done for health-related reasons. Phimosis (tight foreskin causing erectile difficulty and chronic infection) is painful, and on occasion the tip of the penis can turn necrotic and need to be cut off. Much better to get circumcised than to experience the pain and run the risk of loss of one’s glans.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/6 "2009-06-18T02:05:59Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> on occasion the tip of the penis can turn necrotic and need to be cut off.
Sweet bleeding heart Jesus.
I was circumcised at birth and ritually circumcised at forty when I converted to Judaism.
That consisted of being poked with a needle in this fountain pen like thing the Moehl had in his shirt pocket. I wore a wahcloth in my pants on the flight home.
But I digress.
I probably shouldn’t have said “Jesus” up there, right?
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### Author:  [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/7 "2009-06-18T02:15:01Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Sweet bleeding heart Jesus.
>
> I was circumcised at birth and ritually circumcised at forty when I converted to Judaism.
> That consisted of being poked with a needle in this fountain pen like thing the Moehl had in his shirt pocket.
In the gland or shaft? I’m surprised that they ritually circumcise already circumcised men at conversion. Sounds kinda like joining the Amish and having to shave your beard to grow a new one.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/8 "2009-06-18T02:39:43Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#):
>
> In the gland or shaft? I’m surprised that they ritually circumcise already circumcised men at conversion. Sounds kinda like joining the Amish and having to shave your beard to grow a new one.
This is G-ddamn embarrassing, just like the Jewish women asking me at the wedding if i’d had it done.
But it is my fault, and I shall persevere.
Right under the glands there is a web, and Doctor Greene stuck me there with the needle pen thing, blotted it with gauze and showed it to the Rabbi who had turned his back on the act. I held onto my member all the time in terror. 🙂
It wasn’t supposed to bleed so much. Dr. Greene is aftera all a physician, and the member in question still works, so what the hell.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/9 "2009-06-18T04:33:57Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#):
>
> I did at the age of 28 for medical reasons…foreskin was too tight. I didn’t have to do it, but it was kind of painful from time to time.
Hmmm… does this have anything to do with your username? 😛
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/10 "2009-06-18T04:36:21Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Not a safe WAG.
>
> I assisted in a few adult circumcisions when I was a medical student: They were definitely done for health-related reasons. Phimosis (tight foreskin causing erectile difficulty and chronic infection) is painful, and on occasion the tip of the penis can turn necrotic and need to be cut off. Much better to get circumcised than to experience the pain and run the risk of loss of one’s glans.
That is BY FAR the best reason I’ve ever heard of for adult circumcision.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/11 "2009-06-18T04:44:26Z")
Also, by far the best reason to require **QtM** to spoiler all his future posts.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/12 "2009-06-18T04:45:15Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> That is BY FAR the best reason I’ve ever heard of for adult circumcision.
No kidding! I’m already circ’d, but I’m half tempted to ask my doctor to check just to be sure it shouldn’t be done again.
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/13 "2009-06-18T05:57:41Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> This is G-ddamn embarrassing, just like the Jewish women asking me at the wedding if i’d had it done…
A Muslim Turkish-American girl I knew was discussing her upcoming wedding to a Christian American with her grandmother. Grandma said “But, he won’t be circumcised.”
She answered “Oh, that’s no problem…” then stopped. “I hear that many American men are circumcised.”
…not wanting Grandma to realize that she’d already checked it out.
(Thank you for being so forthcoming.)
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/14 "2009-06-18T15:22:39Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> You’d have to be pretty fuckin’ devout for that.
Well, men who convert to stricter branches of Judaism presumably would.
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> Not a safe WAG.
>
> I assisted in a few adult circumcisions when I was a medical student: They were definitely done for health-related reasons. Phimosis (tight foreskin causing erectile difficulty and chronic infection) is painful, and on occasion the tip of the penis can turn necrotic and need to be cut off. Much better to get circumcised than to experience the pain and run the risk of loss of one’s glans.
Sorry, I should have said “not for health-related ones dealing with the claims of the benefits of circumcising an average penis.” An abnormally tight foreskin would definitely benefit.
The OP was basically comparing having the parents make the decision versus having the person with the penis make the decision when he got old enough, and my point was that I didn’t think most men would get circumcised for the alleged medical benefits it provides to an average man.
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I wore a wahcloth in my pants on the flight home.
So is that a mistyped “washcloth,” or some sort of cloth that keeps you from crying? 😃
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### Author:  [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/15 "2009-06-18T15:28:19Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#):
>
> My WAG is that any adult male who choses to be circumcised is doing it for religious reasons, not health-related ones.
Which is why WAGs aren’t very reliable. As noted above, I opted for this following a failed frenulectomy on the grounds that intercourse was difficult and/or painful due to the foreskin being too tight. From my perspective, that’s far more likely to be a reason for opting for the op than religious, though I may be wrong too.
Just for the squeamish, the op wasn’t too bad, but the six - that’s right, SIX - injections into the base of the penis to numb it hurt like hell and remained bruised for days. That said, I’d do it again now I know how much more pleasant it is to have sex without it feeling like there’s an elastic band around the glans…!
🆒
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### Author:  [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/16 "2009-06-18T15:46:27Z")
**Martiju** , as I clarified above, when I said “health-related ones,” my intent was to refer to “the same health-related issues that a parent would consider.” Obviously there are clear medical reasons why an adult man would choose circumcision, but my WAG was meant to indicate that the parents’ reasons probably wouldn’t be among them.
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### Author:  [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/17 "2009-06-18T15:52:35Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Hmmm… does this have anything to do with your username? 😛
It didn’t. But now it does! 😃
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/18 "2009-06-18T17:36:12Z")
> [@Small\_Hen](#):
>
> In the gland or shaft? I’m surprised that they ritually circumcise already circumcised men at conversion. Sounds kinda like joining the Amish and having to shave your beard to grow a new one.
Same thing happened to my SIL’s BIL (spouse’s sister’s husband’s sister’s husband) when he converted. Apparently they have to draw blood or the conversion ain’t real.
(anecdote told by my SIL: the gentleman in question is supposedly… well built. Reportedly the rabbi / mohel said in disgust “pick that thing up off the floor and slide further back in the chair” :eek::D)
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/19 "2009-06-18T18:00:18Z")
[nitpick]It’s **glans** , not gland.[/nitpick]
[sub]like **Martiju** said[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-here-been-voluntarily-circumcised/500069/20 "2009-06-18T20:19:18Z")
I signed the consent papers (a handprint I think) but I was only a few days old at the time. I still don’t regret my decision.
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