# The (involuntary) circumcision of Mickey Featherstone **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373 "2011-03-20T17:44:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/21 "2011-03-21T05:37:58Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Would it be ok for them to sign off on day elective plastic surgery? Yes. Millions of babies have had cleft lips repaired. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/22 "2011-03-21T06:14:23Z")
> [@TravisFromOR](#): > > Yes. Millions of babies have had cleft lips repaired. Is cleft lip/palate really in the same category as circumcision? I suppose it’s “elective” in that you could hypothetically leave it and the child would survive, unlike something like hypoplastic left heart syndrome, but it can cause feeding issues, make the child’s speech virtually unintelligible, and cause them social ostracism. You could choose not to have the issue fixed in your child but I think that would probably get Social Services interested in you. ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/23 "2011-03-21T06:31:16Z")
Nothing substantive to add… but… Wasn’t it a plot line in Nip Tuck that the teenage son of one of the doctors tried to perform a self circumscision? Mum found out and had to call dad who had to “fix” the problem…he did if for his girlfriend if I recall - she didn’t want to have anything to do with a foreskin and said teenager wanted to get himself some. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/24 "2011-03-21T09:40:29Z")
Homer Simpson: Dean Peterson, I’m really sorry for the running you over with my car prank. Dean Peterson (in a hospital bed): Prank? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/25 "2011-03-21T10:50:55Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Would it be ok for them to sign off on day elective plastic surgery? > [@TravisFromOR](#): > > Yes. Millions of babies have had cleft lips repaired. I’d say cleft palate surgery is more reconstructive, and it actually improves function so one can hardly say it’s _just_ cosmetic. Circumcision doesn’t make a penis work better. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/26 "2011-03-21T17:53:13Z")
I think it’s an utterly unnecessary procedure for the vast majority of boys born today. It’s really just kept up for religious and cultural reasons and hopefully it’s starting to decline. We’re about to have our first (a boy) and we’ve made it clear that he will not be getting this procedure. Our (Jewish) doctor could not be more supportive of this (but then he’s just a top class doctor all around, highly recommend him if you’ve having a baby in the Chicago area). One thing I would like to add though is one “argument” (absurd for so many reasons) that people give in support of circumcision: the myth of the locker room. I’ve never been to a locker room where I’ve had men or boys stare at my junk. In fact, if you did so as a teenager you’d be the center of a shit storm of scorn and abuse for checking out another guy. By way of example for two years I was the only un-circumcised male in a locker room of over 90 Jews so I think (at least anecdotally) I know what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/27 "2011-03-21T18:46:22Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > I’ve never been to a locker room where I’ve had men or boys stare at my junk. In fact, if you did so as a teenager you’d be the center of a shit storm of scorn and abuse for checking out another guy. As a counter-example, I remember kids in 4th grade pointing and laughing at one boy. His penis was downright conical. Later that same year I had some weird condition where part of my penis was swollen in an unusual way, and I took great pains to hide it in the locker room. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/28 "2011-03-21T18:50:05Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > As a counter-example, I remember kids in 4th grade pointing and laughing at one boy. His penis was downright conical. Later that same year I had some weird condition where part of my penis was swollen in an unusual way, and I took great pains to hide it in the locker room. Never came across that myself and honestly that’s the first time I’ve ever heard a story like that. It also seems that the poor kid had a very unusual penis, with or without circumcision. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/29 "2011-03-21T19:00:51Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Never came across that myself and honestly that’s the first time I’ve ever heard a story like that. It also seems that the poor kid had a very unusual penis, with or without circumcision. Honestly it was the only time I saw it happen. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/30 "2011-03-21T21:08:32Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Honestly it was the only time I saw it happen. Sounds unpleasant. Complete tangent but kids can be very unpleasant at times. My best friend was the resident tough guy in our neighborhood (I was born and raised on Dublin’s Northside which is traditionally the more working class area of Dublin). He was genuinely tough as nails and prone to exceptional violence. The only time he ever gave me grief though was when I was picking on a neighborhood kid who couldn’t run. He made it clear that bullying someone for imperfections that were outside of their control was a sign of weakness and need on my part. Pretty profound for a twevle year old! Always stuck with me. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/31 "2011-03-21T22:49:57Z")
[QUOTE=Lochdale] …I’ve never been to a locker room where I’ve had men or boys stare at my junk. In fact, if you did so as a teenager you’d be the center of a shit storm of scorn and abuse for checking out another guy… [/QUOTE] Twelve years of public school, 11 years of gym class, 6 of which required changing, not once did I ever even have to take my underwear off. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/32 "2011-03-21T23:07:12Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > The difference is that appendectomies are done for medically necessary reasons, not because the parents think the kid “looks better” without an appendix, they fear the kid will feel different standing next to someone without an appendix in a locker room, and no mythological entity demands appendectomies in babies. I will always regret not having my kids’ appendixes (appendices?) removed. I swear to god those kids have abdomens only a mother could love. Seriously - I don’t know what to say about the original story beyond my stock answer for really bad stories: some people just fucked in the head. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/33 "2011-03-22T01:21:22Z")
Y’know, a mean prank on a drunken comrade is leading him to get a tattoo of something you tell him are the Chinese characters for “I ride the dragon’s fire” when it actually stands for “I like to take it up the rear”. Or having him wake up wearing only girls’ panties and handcuffed to a railing on the Main Street bridge. But, …_ **this…** _? Actual surgery-under-the-influence, by unlicensed moyel, on your “unit”? :eek::eek::eek: That’s setting the bar high(?). ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/34 "2011-03-22T05:03:07Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Pretty funny, coming from the guy who a year or so back started a thread asking other Dopers to tell him, in excruciating, minute detail, about their experiences eating feces… > > I recall after going off on one of your shit-eating tangents (you brought up the subject of coprophagia and your favorite new book “Hogg” in several different random threads) you were called out on your unusual obsession, and were shocked, offended, even scandalized that someone might actually think that YOU yourself had taken up eating shit (for fun and profit?) and all of your innocent inquiries were just your oh so artful way off sniffing around for others who like yourself enjoyed dabbling in the brown-arts. > > Fuckin’ demented indeed… That’ll be enough thread-shitting from you, **MPB**. Cut it out. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373/35 "2011-03-22T05:33:23Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I’d say cleft palate surgery is more reconstructive, and it actually improves function so one can hardly say it’s _just_ cosmetic. Circumcision doesn’t make a penis work better. Point taken. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-involuntary-circumcision-of-mickey-featherstone/575373.md?page=1)