Why is everyone so keen on circumcision?

Question

Why is everyone so keen on circumcision?

I've been answering a lot of questions in the Men's Health section and every time someone asks a foreskin related question the average answer is "Just get circumcised!".

Circumcision, for some, is a religious thing and therefore understandable, but it's not ideal or %100 necessary. Foreskin is a natural protective skin for the penis glands and urethra, why remove it?

Also, every cut made to penis cuts sensitive nerve endings that help make sex pleasurable, why cut them? I am circumcised and for this reason I wish I wasn't

Some people claim that a foreskin is unhygienic. Education of how to clean the foreskin is key when a child is uncircumcised. If we wanted to save our children from hygiene then should we remove the labia from our female children so they don't get infections or remove children's teeth so they don't get cavities?

I hope that next time someone goes to suggest circumcision they take these points into consideration

Matthew

Circumcision does not stop the spread of HIV and AIDS it just helps lower the risk. Those who are foolish or uneducated enough to have sex without a condom risk tearing their foreskin and therefore transmitting the disease or infecting themselves.

Circumcision isn't a magic surgery that makes you susceptible to HIV and AIDS.

Answer 1

I agree with you 100%. great to get the oppinion of a cut guy about us natural one. Sorry to hear you had it done against your will like so many other boys in the states do. I agre with all your points. Its just a pitty that so many people dont see then.
here are a few more points for you.

Answer 2

I never fully understood why many people just respond with "Just get circumcised" myself. I think it's just because those people are used to the circumcised penis, so an uncircumcised one seems foreign and is then maligned.

Honestly, the foreskin is really easy to clean and keep clean. And good hygiene reduces or prevents most problems associated with being uncircumcised. For pretty much everything else, that's what safe sex (i.e. condoms) are for, which everyone should be doing anyway regardless of being circumcised or not.

Some opinions are from guys who got circumcised later in life and loved it. Yeah, sometimes there are problems with the foreskin that only circumcision can solve, and in that case it's a good thing. And some guys get circumcised because they want to and like it. But even so, this doesn't mean circumcision is for every guy. There are lots of men who regret getting circumcised or wish they weren't; it's not a "one size fits all" kind of thing. And foreskin problems that can only be "fixed" with circumcision are rare anyway.

Lastly, I don't think people fully realize that circumcision is a surgical procedures, with all the potential surgical risks and complications. People have even died from the procedure (albeit rare, but dying due to a problem with the foreskin is rarer).

Anyway, aside from religious reasons, as long as the foreskin's working normally (which it does in the vast majority of guys), one maintains good hygiene (which is quick and easy), and one practices safe sex (which he should anyway), there's really no good reason to get circumcised. I believe that the decision to get circumcised should lie with that individual, and shouldn't be made for him by someone else.

Answer 3

Harriet is right, it is largely ignorance. Those of us that know we are mutilated have to stand up and shout and keep on shouting. Perhaps in a generation or two we will be able to tip the scales on this barbaric practice. The rates are dropping slowly as more and more parents realize this is not the dark ages and we don't mutilate people to fit in; we don't do "blood letting" to cure disease, we don't burn genitals with caustics or even castrate to prevent masturbation.

Education and knowledge will end male and female genital mutilation.

One of these guys on here had himself mutilated a few years ago and now he thinks he knows the life long effects of "circumcision". It seems he is speaking so loudly not to convince others but rather to reassure himself. Many men have resorted to non-surgical foreskin restoration or use protective sheaths on their glans to regain sensitivity. The results they have achieved prove to them the damage that had been done and continues to be done as long as the glans is bare. If only there was a way to restore the nerve tissue that is lost.

Why do some men report that "circumcision" improves their sex lives, hard to say but likely somebody has convinced them that maleness is dirty, rude, imposing or even intimidating, so they develop a hatred of their gender's attributes. As a remedy they offer this "little castration" as an apology. After becoming less male they believe they are not so intimidating to their mothers and other females, and think this will win them acceptance.

Simon:on the AIDs thing, just don't go to Africa and screw around without a condom. A new study shows that the infection rate is linked to the number of prostitutes in a country regardless of the "circumcision" status of the male population. Unregulated prostitutes have a high infection rate, so what if a "circumcised" male has a 50% less chance of becoming infected from an encounter, after 10 or 100 encounters that advantage is meaningless because he is infected. These guys frequent prostitutes, that is why the disease spreads.

Do you have unprotected sex with prostitutes? If not, "circumcision" is just more ineffective male genital mutilation.

BTW in that "study" they ended it before the mutilated guys had time to heal up and get back up to speed. They ran the trial for 13 months, conservative estimates are that "circumcision" will effect sexual behavior for at least 6 months (reduce frequency, tend to be less rough, more likely to use condoms in the short term). So in effect the cut team had half the exposure that the control team had. The pro-mutilation squad stacked the deck, imagine that, well that is how the reason-to-mutilate-of-the-week club has been operating for the last 100 years since the days of "dr." john harvey kellogg.

Answer 4

I think it's probably a question of aesthetics. And given that most older American men (I think) are circumcised, and probably most younger ones too, I am assuming that someone who is uncircumcised feels that it looks weird or their spouse/partner feels the same. Too bad, too. It's the way it is made and unless necessary, should be left that way (to me). And this is coming from a circumcised man who has no problems with being that way.

Answer 5

I agree with you! You have made a very valid statement and its good that you voice your opinion. Everyone has an opinion and thats what makes this what it is. Its okay and its good that you let people know that surgery isn't always the solution to most penis problems. I hope people will take more time and thought into answering questions, I do! And that way it shows the asker that you care and are not answerng just for points.

Answer with care and help the asker, otherwise dont answer at all if you have nothing helpful or mean to say.

Answer 6

I am one of those that always say don't do it. I have been cut since birth and wish that it was never done. It's not as though there is no enjoyment from sex or no feeling, but I know it would be much better if I was intact! Unfortunately, despite the fact that my father isn't circumcised, and neither of my parents agreed to have it done, the doctors took upon themselves to do it, not only to me, but to my two older brothers as well! As for why so many guys out there are so quick to say to get it done, I think it just boils down to being uneducated. The foreskin is there for a reason, cutting it off is like removing your hand, it something that shouldn't be done unless there is a medical reason!
What also really bothers me, are these guys that do it for their partners, if she/he doesn't like it, too bad, they shouldn't have gotten with you in the first place! It's your penis, treat it that way!

Answer 7

People are just uneducated, that's all. They really don't know what they're talking about and think circumcision fixes things and is a small deal. Unfortunately unless they are pro-active and educated themselves there's not much we can do.

True jkels but I don't need personal experience to read the studies on HIV and see how insane it is that people now believe it's a "prevention mechanism" - when all it does is lower your risk slightly after one act of unprotected sex with an infected person. If you do it more than once, circumcised or not, then there's still a high chance of infection and you're still an idiot for sleeping around without condoms.

People who think it's dirty are also uneducated and those who think it "causes" cervical cancer are again incorrect as the HPV virus is primarily transmitted through semen.

Getting it done because they think they can't clean it or they'll get more STDs is dumb and uneducated.

If people get it done as adults because that's what they want for aesthetics/pleasure, then that is absolutely cool. I have heard more people be negative about their experiences afterwards than positive, but if it worked for you, lucky you.

Answer 8

They are keen on it because in the US all the reports say do it. Circumcision is a quarter-billion dollar a year industry in the US ALONE, I would do any thing for that kind of money would you??? They pay off companies all the time to make there results say do it.

I am against it, It is your body its your life, For woman You should love your boy friend / Husband the way he is not the way he looks.

I am circumcised and don't like it, I wish I could have lived my life uncircumcised for awhile to see what it's like.

Answer 9

If circumcision helps lower the risk of Aid's, why is it that in America were we still circumsise, we have the highest rates of Aids

Answer 10

It's mostly here in America, although times are changing. For example, in some states circumcision rates have dropped to as low as 14%, so I'm sure the opinion will change soon. =)

Circumcision is a traditionally Jewish and Muslim procedure, although it was introduced and encouraged to the Western, developed world as a way to stop masturbation, especially with the help of Dr. Kellogg. (see link 1) However, although scientific studies have discovered that circumcision harms masturbation by up to over 60% (2), needless to say, it doesn’t completely stop masturbation. Many circumcised guys find it more convenient to use a commercial lubricant as a result (3) since the typically moist foreskin that is like the eyelids is not present to rub the glans with (4).

Most developed nations quickly rejected circumcision after noticing its ineffectiveness against masturbation, and as a result the United States remains the last developed nation doing it to a significant percentage of newborns. (5) This was done as a result of the for-profit American health care system promoting myths about benefits of circumcision (6), such preventing penile cancer (6a, 6b), preventing HIV (6c, 6d) despite the USA being the developed nation with the highest HIV rates and circumcision rates (6e, 5), and preventing STDs (6d, 6f). As a result, circumcision is now brings in hundreds of millions of dollars to doctors and the American health system. (7)

However, circumcision has been becoming less popular as years have passed by. In the 1960s over 90% of guys were circumcised in the USA, now circumcision rates are as low as 14% in some states. (8) More and more parents are discovering that circumcision carries more risks than benefits, and realize that by leaving their sons uncircumcised, they have the choice of choosing what they’d like, since the surgery is irreversible.

Circumcision risks include the loss of sexual pleasure according to multiple studies (2, 9, 10, 11). Those studies take into effect many sensation points, including the foreskin, and they involve many participants. There have been other studies that claim no difference, but they don’t even take into effect the nerve endings on the foreskin, which as seen in one study, are some of the most sensitive points on the penis (10). One study even found an increase in erectile dysfunction rates after circumcision (10a). In another study, it was found that females ended up reaching orgasm with and preferring uncircumcised males in 9 out of 10 cases (10b). In addition, circumcision is extremely painful on newborns (12, 13, 14), and you risk many bad conditions, such as a buried penis when too much foreskin is removed and limits the size of the penis (15), or adhesions or skin bridges that develop from the head to the shaft when the skin heals after the surgery (16), meatal stenosis [occurs in up to 10% of circumcised males!] when the opening of the penis becomes irritated from too much exposure and rubbing and begins to close up (17), and meatal ulcers (18). All those risks are, of course, not including the possibility of having too much skin removed, which can cause discomfort during erections due to lack of skin to allow the penis to expand, and could consequently cause a hairy penis by pulling pubic hair and skin to the shaft. Often a circumcision scar develops around the penis after circumcision. In addition, circumcision has negative effects on breastfeeding. (18)

To conclude, here is a link that describes the anatomy of the foreskin (19) and the development of the foreskin with infants, a link especially helpful for parents (19a). Ultimately, one survey found that although uncircumcised guys are a bit more satisfied percentage-wise, it’s within the margin of error. (20) The only difference is that those unsatisfied uncircumcised guys can simply get circumcised and end up satisfied either way. In addition, in one survey it was found that up to half of circumcised guys expressed concerns on wishing to have had the choice themselves. (21) That, along with the risks and negative effects that are being seen more with the help of the Internet, may be what is bringing down circumcision rates.