# 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:** 4
**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, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/61 "2012-01-24T18:04:25Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > That makes no sense to me. Did people ever really believe that cut guys won’t jerk off? “And if you keep it up, we’ll cut even more off!” ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/62 "2012-01-24T19:14:02Z")
I’m not angry that I’m cut, nor do I have an opinion (for the time being) on the ethics of the procedure. I do, however, wish I had been given the chance to make the decision for myself. ---
**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, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/63 "2012-01-24T19:19:02Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I’m not angry that I’m cut, nor do I have an opinion (for the time being) on the ethics of the procedure. I do, however, wish I had been given the chance to make the decision for myself. “So, Baby Foxtrot, do you want us to cut your foreskin off? Say **goo goo** for yes, **waa waa** for no.” ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/64 "2012-01-24T19:29:41Z")
It’s a custom of our society, one that I hope is dying out, but it is part of the suckiness of our society. As such it’s not your parents fault, but this goes way back to acceptable abuse of our offspring, making them bear our issues, etc. For that you get changed, housed and fed till you can do that on your own. It is some bad that got tangled up with the good and unfortunately we have to deal with the good and bad. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/65 "2012-01-24T23:34:38Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > That makes no sense to me. Did people ever really believe that cut guys won’t jerk off? In any case, that hypothesis has been falsified. Cite: Portnoy, Alexander. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/66 "2012-01-24T23:39:03Z")
I haven’t been circumcised due to not having the equipment, we would never do it to a kid of ours except if it was medically necessary, and circumcision is very much the exception over here anyway, so I don’t have much to add, but I had to ask what on \*earth \*‘activate trust issues’ means. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/67 "2012-01-25T00:32:57Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > “And if you keep it up, we’ll cut even more off!” Y’know, just to show it takes all kinds, there are boards and blogs dedicated to people who seek to have their circumcision revisited by surgeons _in order to make it “tighter”_, who claim readiness to go through multiple revisions :eek::eek::eek: to get that “perfect cut”. ---
**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 25, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/68 "2012-01-25T01:12:31Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > 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. the problem is how do you define “sensitivity.” after all, the most important sex organ is the brain. the brain is also extremely easy to influence and fool. I mean, (spoilered for TMI) even when I’m “taking care of my own business” depending on stuff like mood or what I’ve been doing prior, it might take me less than 30 seconds or more than a few minutes. I’m certainly not un-circumcising and re-circumcising my self each time. so talking about “sensitivity” is pointless because that lump of gray matter between one’s ears is far, far more important. > [@](#): > > 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. your “desensitization” is because your brain is getting used to the change, not because of any difference in your sense of touch on your personal region. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/69 "2012-01-25T01:26:53Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I haven’t been circumcised due to not having the equipment, we would never do it to a kid of ours except if it was medically necessary, and circumcision is very much the exception over here anyway, so I don’t have much to add, but I had to ask what on \*earth \*‘activate trust issues’ means. Apparently it means he was raped. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/70 "2012-01-25T02:45:23Z")
> [@eclectic\_wench](#): > > I haven’t been circumcised due to not having the equipment, we would never do it to a kid of ours except if it was medically necessary, and circumcision is very much the exception over here anyway, so I don’t have much to add, but I had to ask what on \*earth \*‘activate trust issues’ means. What it means is that the OP is ridiculing the people who, in the previous thread, took him to task for posting a link with a provocative title with no explanation. The OP thinks that their caution about clicking on an unexplained link is ludicrous, and he is taunting them by saying, “Oooh, poor little scaredy-cats with their “trust issues”, here, I’ll post it in a way that won’t make you nervous, you big babies!”. Hope that makes it clearer. -kittenblue, who DOES have trust issues but doesn’t like using the term because it’s too “pop psychology-sounding”. ---
**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 25, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/71 "2012-01-25T03:06:59Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > your “desensitization” is because your brain is getting used to the change, not because of any difference in your sense of touch on your personal region. That’s ridiculous. If you had furry hands for a year, then shaved the fur, the sense of touch in your hands would necessarily be more sensitive–because all that hair isn’t in the way anymore. Just like a typical latex condom physically decreases sensation, because there’s an additional layer of physical matter between the penis and what it’s touching. You can’t pretend that removing the matter itself (whether it’s hair or a keratinized skin layer) doesn’t make a physical difference. ---
**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 25, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/72 "2012-01-25T03:53:09Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > What it means is that the OP is ridiculing the people who, in the previous thread, took him to task for posting a link with a provocative title with no explanation. The OP thinks that their caution about clicking on an unexplained link is ludicrous, and he is taunting them by saying, “Oooh, poor little scaredy-cats with their “trust issues”, here, I’ll post it in a way that won’t make you nervous, you big babies!”. I did not intend to ridicule anyone with the title. The mods shut down the thread for their own reasons, but I recognized that I put people in a position of needing to trust me before they clicked a provocatively-titled link. The people may not enter the thread with trust issues _per se_, but they might reasonably not trust me to not impose on them something insulting or shocking with a link titled ‘rape me’ _sans_ explanation. Kind of like being circumcised at 8 days creates trust issues before you even have the chance to bring them to the table yourself. ---
**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 25, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/73 "2012-01-25T04:04:22Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > You can’t pretend that removing the matter itself (whether it’s hair or a keratinized skin layer) doesn’t make a physical difference. all I know is that I have a penis and you don’t, and we’re both just guessing. ---
**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 25, 2012, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/74 "2012-01-25T04:05:17Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I’m not angry that I’m cut, nor do I have an opinion (for the time being) on the ethics of the procedure. I do, however, wish I had been given the chance to make the decision for myself. Fuck that! I’m angry, and I think we all need to get together and shove Rick Perry, the Pope, my dessicated old foreskin and other dignitaries up Wind Baby’s ass, then throw the whole shitbag in the goddamn quarry! God Damn It Tell me now why circumcision is necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/75 "2012-01-25T04:14:17Z")
Well, it’s like cutting the tag off of a mattress. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/76 "2012-01-25T04:48:21Z")
I wonder about something, and hang with me here. The OP and his particular level of anger aside, and aside from whether you are happy with your massive and perfectly functioning circumcised penis that gives you incredible levels of pleasure or not. Why all the hostility and defensive dismissal? Would you all be this dismissive of a woman who had her clitoral hood(the exact female anatomical equivalent to a foreskin) removed at birth for cultural/cosmetic reasons and was angry about it? If there were women who realized they could do tissue expansion to “restore” it at least cosmetically? Would they be told to stop being crazy and seek therapy? Would women post that they are happy to be rid of their clit hoods and they function perfectly, I mean hey good for you but the issue remains. I doubt it, I think most would be sympathetic and supportive. Even if people personally thought it was not important enough to get worked up over they would not say it out loud. I think this is an issue most in the USA just don’t want to face, they don’t even want to consider it. Its terrifying really, the what if? Genitals are not somewhere you want doubt to land, I think thats the source of the boasting and humor. What man wants to think about the fact a piece of his penis is gone, what parent wants to think about signing a form allowing it? Once you allow even a little doubt to creep in it could allow more. ---
**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 25, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/77 "2012-01-25T04:54:47Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I had it done as a 37 year old adult. Frankly, I wish I’d had it done as a kid. A lot less traumatic. Why did you do it? ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/78 "2012-01-25T05:04:08Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > 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.” > . This is the most baffling one to me, on the one hand communal showers in schools are out of fashion. Most guys don’t even shower at school, or if they do its wearing swim trunks. On the other hand even if they weren’t guys do not openly check out each other’s dicks and comment on it, it doesn’t happen. Good or bad the fact is homophobia is so strong it would be unthinkable, it would be like commenting to the guy next to you at the urinal that you noticed he is circumcised! :eek: The other thing people say, that they want their son’s penis to look the same as his father’s is also baffling. They say it will be a big issue otherwise, the source of incredible discussions and psychological torment when they are different. Fathers and sons do not sit around comparing penii, it doesn’t happen! When you dig to the bottom of all this nonsense you come to the fact circumcision is for the parent’s psychological benefit, it is to assure them that its right and normal and no big deal. Its an issue no one wants to have to consider. ---
**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 25, 2012, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/79 "2012-01-25T05:06:40Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Other motives: > > - "It’s normal; boys will laugh at him in the showers/ No way. In 2012 Sandusky will fuck him in the ass in the showers. Not gonna happen. Circumcision really isn’t necessary, no? ---
**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 25, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362/80 "2012-01-25T05:19:36Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > 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. I’ve been told British whangers smell like fish and chips, and look like Margaret Thatcher. Nothing to envy there no matter how you slice it. Or don’t slice it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-how-i-feel-about-being-circumcised-thread-that-doesnt-activate-trust-issues/610362.md?page=5)