# How can you tell if you are circumcised? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626 "2011-05-12T05:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/21 "2011-05-12T20:12:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s like saying it’s always easy to tell whether something is a [horse](http://neighbourhoodpolicing.devon-cornwall.police.uk/BCU-1663/Sector-1772/NB-1773/PublishingImages/horse-La-Comb-Shemal%5B1%5D.jpg)or a [zebra](http://www.shoarns.com/Hartmanns%20Zebra%20web%20ma_Aug_20052099-08-03_14-02-03.jpg)- I mean, just look at the pictures and it’s so obvious! - they’re totally different! > > Knowing that difference will not help at all when something like [this](http://surferjerry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/weirdest-animals-zorse.jpg)turns up. Just check if they are circumcised. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/22 "2011-05-12T20:12:58Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Well I would suspect that you are of a select minority that has no clue at the age of 46. Or else we’d have threads about it here every day. Rarity doesn’t make it a stupid question. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/23 "2011-05-12T21:03:41Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Or else we’d have threads about it here every day. Rarity doesn’t make it a stupid question. Your right, rarity is not what makes it a stupid question. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/24 "2011-05-12T21:05:02Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Your right, rarity is not what makes it a stupid question. OK. Let me be clearer: _It’s not a stupid question_. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/25 "2011-05-12T21:12:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > OK. Let me be clearer: _It’s not a stupid question_. That sounds more like an opinion, than a statement of fact. The OP is 46 years old. Grew up in a generation where you had to shower in front of other boys in gym class. As he indicated, for that age it is common for boys to be circumsized. It should have been obvious if his own dick was different from the majority of the other boys. At his current age, should be having regular physicals with his GP, whom he could have asked. The internets are full of pictures that clearly distinguish between circumcised and uncircumcised dicks. A few have even been linked in this thread. It’s really not that difficult to determine the difference. The only way that I could be convinced otherwise, is for the OP to post a link to a picture of his junk, and create a poll asking the Dope to say whether he is or isn’t, and if there was clearly not an overwhelming majority one way or the other, then I would agree, it is questionable. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/26 "2011-05-12T21:22:40Z")
As has been mentioned upthread, and is very often the case in life, some things are neither obviously one thing or another, despite those ends of the scale being very commonly understood. Not everything is as black-and-white unambiguous as you seem to imagine. The descriptors you listed might as well have been about me (except I’m British, and only 43, but had to shower with other boys at school, etc. And yet, I don’t resemble either a fully circumcised, or fully uncircumcised male. It’s ambiguous. My wife, who spent a couple of decades nursing, isn’t even sure. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/27 "2011-05-12T21:25:05Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > And yet, I don’t resemble either a fully circumcised, or fully uncircumcised male. It’s ambiguous. My wife, who spent a couple of decades nursing, isn’t even sure. I’ll be looking for your poll over in the IMHO forum. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/28 "2011-05-12T21:26:27Z")
You want to see pictures? [Here](http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f28/Waybully/beano/cbd12.jpg)’s one that is as illustrative as need be. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/29 "2011-05-12T21:28:20Z")
My point is that if you are, then it is obvious that you are. If it’s not obvious or ambiguous as you say, then you probably aren’t. The rarely mess 'em up. ---
**Author:** ![Hambil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3be4f8/32.png) [@Hambil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hambil)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/30 "2011-05-12T21:34:22Z")
Well, I will add at least one thing to help explain a little more (why I need to defend myself about this I’m not sure I understand, but…): I never showered with other boys. I have a skin deformity that I was very self conscious about. I never even played “skins” in gym. The ways I invented to get out of being naked in front of anyone were too numerous to even remember, but I found that if push really came to shove most adults, upon seen that removing a child’s clothes exposes a deformity, stop pushing the issue. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/31 "2011-05-12T21:35:53Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The[y] rarely mess 'em up. That’s as maybe, but as I understand it, there’s such a thing as partial circumcision. Determining whether this, or nature, is the reason for a foreskin that’s present, but short, is not nearly so obvious. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/32 "2011-05-12T21:35:59Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > The internets are full of pictures that clearly distinguish between circumcised and uncircumcised dicks. A few have even been linked in this thread. > It’s really not that difficult to determine the difference. That’s because all the pictures so far have been of gorgeous, almost idealized dicks. Not every shape of dick or skin on dicks looks like that. I can’t find it now, and I’m hesitant to google too much, but there at least used to be a website with a fairly clinical tone where men would upload pictures of their genitals. Some big, some small, some crooked, some straight, some cut, some uncut and some…indeterminate. (There was/is a very similar site for women’s bodies - some tight and young, some old and saggy, some old and tight, some pregnant, some scarred, some with two breasts, some with none…) It/they were a great resource for finding out what an astounding spectrum of shapes, sizes and colors the human body can be. Trust me, if all you look at is porn, you’re getting 2% of the view. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/33 "2011-05-12T21:38:16Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > That sounds more like an opinion, than a statement of fact. And anyway, WTF is this? Pot, Kettle? ---
**Author:** ![classyladyhp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@classyladyhp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/classyladyhp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/34 "2011-05-12T22:01:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s like saying it’s always easy to tell whether something is a [horse](http://neighbourhoodpolicing.devon-cornwall.police.uk/BCU-1663/Sector-1772/NB-1773/PublishingImages/horse-La-Comb-Shemal%5B1%5D.jpg)or a [zebra](http://www.shoarns.com/Hartmanns%20Zebra%20web%20ma_Aug_20052099-08-03_14-02-03.jpg)- I mean, just look at the pictures and it’s so obvious! - they’re totally different! > > Knowing that difference will not help at all when something like [this](http://surferjerry.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/weirdest-animals-zorse.jpg)turns up. Oh come on. There is a big difference between a circumcised vs an uncircumcised one. If he googles it he can compare. It’s not rocket science. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/35 "2011-05-12T22:03:52Z")
> [@classyladyhp](#): > > Oh come on. There is a big difference between a circumcised vs an uncircumcised one. If he googles it he can compare. It’s not rocket science. Just like there’s a big difference between a horse and a zebra. Not everything is one or the other though. That’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Hambil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3be4f8/32.png) [@Hambil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hambil)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/36 "2011-05-12T22:04:59Z")
> [@classyladyhp](#): > > Oh come on. There is a big difference between a circumcised vs an uncircumcised one. If he googles it he can compare. It’s not rocket science. So your opinion is that I am either 1) a moron, 2) lying, 3) lazy, or possible some combination of the above? ---
**Author:** ![classyladyhp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@classyladyhp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/classyladyhp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/37 "2011-05-12T22:07:46Z")
> [@Hambil](#): > > So your opinion is that I am either 1) a moron, 2) lying, 3) lazy, or possible some combination of the above? What:confused: No I’m not implying anything. That’s the conclusion you came to on your own. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/38 "2011-05-12T22:08:05Z")
> [@classyladyhp](#): > > Oh come on. There is a big difference between a circumcised vs an uncircumcised one. If he googles it he can compare. It’s not rocket science. What basis do you have to conclude he’s lying? He says he can’t tell. Why on earth would presume to think he’s not describing his situation exactly as it is? That’s rather presumptuous, don’t you think? ETA: his post wasn’t there before. The confused face confuses me. What other conclusion could there be if you keep telling him just google it when he said he couldn’t tell? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/39 "2011-05-12T22:10:59Z")
I think if you see the German helmet when you are…not interested in sex, if I may be delicate… as mentioned above, you are circumcised. Why do I post to these threads? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626/40 "2011-05-12T22:11:05Z")
> [@classyladyhp](#): > > Oh come on. There is a big difference between a circumcised vs an uncircumcised one. If he googles it he can compare. It’s not rocket science. So tell us, how many penises have \*you \*seen in person? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-you-tell-if-you-are-circumcised/581626.md?page=3)