# The How I Feel About Being Circumcised Thread that doesn't activate trust issues **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362 "2012-01-23T03:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/41 "2012-01-24T01:10:20Z")
I’m thinking this must be something to do with all those BP executives, walking around round with uncut wieners in their pants. That must really chafe the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/42 "2012-01-24T01:49:16Z")
> [@PandaBear77](#): > > I cried because I had no foreskin, 'til I met a man who had no penis … That was a woman, you fool! ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/43 "2012-01-24T04:44:03Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > I’m going to vote that no, having a surgery as a baby that you have no recollection of and only sometimes think about enough to get pissed off is not in any sense close to the trauma of rape. Why isn’t this in the pit? It is in MPSIMS because the whole crux of the issue is that my member is… pointless. And I do seem compelled to share it, which is pretty mundane in the scheme of things, so this forum seemed the perfect fit. Not rape? Well no, people simply took it upon themselves to chop off a body part is what is sticking in my craw. It is violative, hence the rape comparison. The point is not that life would be so much better with my original unit or that foreskins are just the greatest things ever. But I certainly would rather have remained as is, especially considering the motives as I understand them. There’s two. One is the bit from [Genesis 17](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+17&version=NIV): > [@](#): > > Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Isn’t this a big part of why circumcision is still in vogue- because in xxxxBC Abraham is said to have got this commandment? Hey that’s all real nice but frankly I don’t personally take Genesis as a reliable source of medical advice, or a reliable source for much of anything. When I read Genesis, to me is _screams_ that it is not intended to be taken literally. But alas, apparently people way back when did not get the memo and set about imposing their religious agenda… on my penis. Thanks guys. The other motive, perhaps intertwined with the first, is [in the service of anti-onanism hysteria:](http://www.cirp.org/pages/whycirc.html) > [@](#): > > Routine circumcision as a preventative or cure for masturbation was proposed in Victorian times in America. Masturbation was thought to be the cause of a number of diseases. The procedure of routine circumcision became commonplace between 1870 and 1920, and it consequently spread to all the English-speaking countries (England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). None of these countries now circumcise the majority of their male children, a distinction reserved today for the United States (in the UK, in fact, nonreligious circumcision has virtually ceased). Yet, there are still those who promote this social surgery, long after the masturbation hysteria of the past century has subsided. > [@](#): > > A remedy for masturbation which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision. The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment. In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement. > (John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., “Treatment for Self-Abuse and its Effects,” Plain Fact for Old and Young. Burlington, Iowa: F. Segner & Co. (1888). P. 295) The link goes on to trace the history of this notion. **ladyfoxfyre** , if you are so down with my circumcision, would you reciprocate by submitting to the carbolic acid treatment? No? Well why not? I’m sure you would ‘just get over it.’ If anything else comes up I’ll post it, but that seems about it with my beef (or lack thereof). Strangers took it upon themselves to surgically alter my body in the service of some ancient Bible verses, or maybe as a holdover from Victorian masturbation hysteria. Neither of which should make my penis any of their business. Doesn’t that sound downright un-American to anyone? I get surgically altered and the message is that _I_ have to get over it. I’ll try to stay calm and watch my language, but sheesh, how about we come up with a sound justification for mandatory circumcision or else abandon the practice? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/44 "2012-01-24T04:46:30Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > No I am not going to look into foreskin restoration. Why not? I hope for a good explanation, since you seem to have no shortage of words. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/45 "2012-01-24T05:10:36Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Why not? I hope for a good explanation, since you seem to have no shortage of words. Welp, it is too late for me to go unaltered. Maybe the next guy can stay in one piece. And, ‘no shortage of words’ isn’t exactly complimentary y’know. If you’re going to dismiss what I have to say, I too hope for a good explanation. Is there something you think I’m missing? Some spot of ignorance you want to clear up? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/46 "2012-01-24T06:55:12Z")
I think you’re missing that what’s done is done, and ranting and raving about it isn’t going to change anything. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/47 "2012-01-24T07:18:55Z")
Yeah, dude there are all kinds of other hurdles, why make life tougher than it needs. Seriously, you should consider talking to a good counselor about this, the strength of your resentment is not normal. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/48 "2012-01-24T07:19:24Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > According to Samuel R. Delany’s novel _The Mad Man_, there are clubs that men join with the goal of restoring the foreskin. Through stretching and the use of rings inside the skin, apparently they are able to significantly lengthen the foreskin, even the guys who are “kike-cut” (to use one character’s term.) One man even had a foreskin down to his knees. While the novel is fictional, the author informed me that the foreskin part was, in fact, based on real people. > > OP, why don’t you try to seek out one of these groups. Just Google “foreskin restoration” to start. Seriously - why not try it? There’s a great _Penn and Teller’s Bullshit_ episode on circumcision. They talk to some dudes who restored/are restoring their foreskin. One is younger and talks about the procedures (involves stretching and taping your weiner around a small metal dumbbell-doohickey). He didn’t take his pants off, though. But one old dude who restored his foreskin _did_, and showed the results for the camera. I thought it was really cool. He said after the restoration, his penile sensation was greatly increased. I have fairly strong anti-male-circumcision views myself, OP. But as I’m neither male or circumcised, I can only cheer on the sentiment. You might truly consider looking into foreskin restoration, if this is something that bothers you often. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/49 "2012-01-24T10:01:26Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > He said after the restoration, his penile sensation was greatly increased. well _of course_ he would say that. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/50 "2012-01-24T13:12:14Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > He said after the restoration, his penile sensation was greatly increased. Now, see, that there has got to be the placebo effect. Stretching the skin out isn’t going to regrow lost nerves, or increase the sensitivity of those that are there. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/51 "2012-01-24T13:36:20Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I get surgically altered and the message is that _I_ have to get over it. I’ll try to stay calm and watch my language, but sheesh, how about we come up with a sound justification for mandatory circumcision or else abandon the practice? Circumcision is mandatory now? Damn, I must have missed the memo. 😉 I think the problem here is twofold. One of those folds is entirely not your fault, and that is: we’ve done this before. About once a year we have an anti-circ thread, (I think the last time, I was pretty shrill in it, asking for someone to give me a logical reason why FGM is badbadbad and male circ is just shrugged off as “a cultural thing”) and it always goes about the same way. By the end, male circ is acknowledged as probably not a good thing, but whaddaya gonna do? I think we just got there a little quicker this time around, and people are picking on you a bit just because it’s old hat. That’s totally not fair of us; this is your first time with this topic on this board, and we should respect you enough to have the conversation, or at least stay out of it if we’re sick of the conversation. Sorry about that. The other problem, though, is that your word choice and sentence structure makes you come off a little…hot. Not in a good way. While you make some good points, they’re lost in the aura of fanatacism. I’m not sure how to fix that; I suffer from the same problem when I feel passionate about an issue. But it does make people mentally “back away slowly from the crazy guy” and disengage from the conversation. We feel like the real “problem” here is your emotional outburst, not male circumcision. It’s probably an ape thing. But keep on preachin’ brotha. We (anti male circ folks) are making headway, and this internet thing really helps. People are starting to question default male circ, and the [numbers of US parents who have their infant boys circumcised is falling](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/u-s-circumcision-rates-on-the-decline/). This is, I think, a good thing. But it’s going to be a slow thing, because people are social creatures who want their children to look like and act like their peers’ children. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/52 "2012-01-24T13:45:40Z")
Oh come on, stop arguing the OP can’t complain because it happened a long time ago. Someone chopped bits off his body, that just sucks no matter how much your culture supports it. If my parents had chopped off my earlobes and I posted here saying how I wish they hadn’t, you’d probably all be screaming they should be institutionalised. Nothing particularly strange about posting on a message board how it bothers you that someone mutilated you as a child. Be a bit supportive, sheesh. All he’s saying is he wishes they hadn’t and how he feels violated. Duh, he _was_ violated (just in a culturally sanctioned way). Doesn’t mean he needs therapy or needs to get his foreskin restored. Just means he wants to talk about it on a message board. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/53 "2012-01-24T14:29:50Z")
Just a suggestion: if you want people to take you seriously, first step should be leaving out any hint that someone somewhere maybe still believes that circumcision helps minimize masturbation. Because, really. Come on. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/54 "2012-01-24T15:24:03Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Just a suggestion: if you want people to take you seriously, first step should be leaving out any hint that someone somewhere maybe still believes that circumcision helps minimize masturbation. Because, really. Come on. I don’t know if people think that anymore or not. If there are other motives for doing it (aside from being Jewish) I’d like to hear them. But the anti-masturbation thing appears to be how circumcision became the institution that it is, even if the original reasoning has been lost. If the reasoning has been lost, why continue the practice? And I am not going to be hanging dumbells from my unit. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/55 "2012-01-24T15:36:28Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I don’t know if people think that anymore or not. If there are other motives for doing it (aside from being Jewish) I’d like to hear them. But the anti-masturbation thing appears to be how circumcision became the institution that it is, I’ve hardly ever _heard_ that reasoning, at least in the case of male circumcision. The motives I’ve heard relate to hygiene (easier to keep clean), health (it [may lower the risk of STDs](http://men.webmd.com/news/20090325/circumcision-cuts-stds)), and appearance. Granted, all these motives are controversial and have their critics, and I’m not going to argue for them, beyond just saying that many parents have made the decision to have their sons circumcized because they believed, in good faith, that it was the best thing for their sons. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/56 "2012-01-24T15:38:55Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Now, see, that there has got to be the placebo effect. Stretching the skin out isn’t going to regrow lost nerves, or increase the sensitivity of those that are there. It probably just felt good to take the damn dumbbell off. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/57 "2012-01-24T15:40:44Z")
Other motives: - “It’s normal; boys will laugh at him in the showers/he’ll never get a serious girlfriend if we don’t get it done.” - “It’s more hygienic and will be easier for him to keep clean.” - Research has shown a reduced HIV transmission rate in circumcised men, over uncircumcised. I forget if other STIs are also affected. - No real reason; it’s expected and the parents don’t put much thought into it. Edit: Damn, beaten to the punch. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/58 "2012-01-24T15:49:01Z")
I’ve never liked turtlenecks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/59 "2012-01-24T16:34:03Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I don’t know if people think that anymore or not. If there are other motives for doing it (aside from being Jewish) I’d like to hear them. But the anti-masturbation thing appears to be how circumcision became the institution that it is, even if the original reasoning has been lost. If the reasoning has been lost, why continue the practice? > > And I am not going to be hanging dumbells from my unit. That makes no sense to me. Did people ever really believe that cut guys won’t jerk off? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/60 "2012-01-24T16:45:38Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Now, see, that there has got to be the placebo effect. Stretching the skin out isn’t going to regrow lost nerves, or increase the sensitivity of those that are there. Why not? When the glans becomes an internal organ again, it is no longer exposed to being rubbed all the time by your underwear/pants. Keratinization of the skin on the penis (due to friction) is a cause of lost sensation, it’s not \*just \*that those nerves were removed. The skin is actually made tougher and becomes moderately desensitized by constant exposure to friction. It seems reasonable that the skin could become softer and less accustomed to casual friction, once the friction goes away. Then sensations could improve. No, you’re not going to get nerve regrowth, but I don’t think it’s impossible for foreskin restoration to make improvements in sensitivity. I know that when I shave my private area, the skin feels more sensitive for a few days until I get desensitized. It’s because I removed the protective buffer between it and my underwear. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362.md?page=4)