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Circumcision.. What do Evolutionary Biologists/Naturalists/Darwinists think?

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Even if most of this is correct, and I bet there's a lot of good reasons to not get cut. But including this "discredit" of myth number 4 almost makes this whole thing questionsable. PTSD, Depression and anger? That's just bullshit. During my life I have heard more people complain about NOT being cut (And never in my life met someone who says they wish they weren't or that being cut lead them to some kind of source of anger or depression). Although I have directly heard of not being cut causing more anger and depression because of awkward sexual encounters.

There are links in that paragraph if you got to the original article. I wouldn't know either way.
 

theaface

Member
please, just read this post :

I was responding to a daft question about FGM. I have not once tried to advocate for or against circumcision in this thread. I have my views and respect other peoples' right to have theirs.

I'm not trying to discredit that particular article, but I'm sure I could find any number of other articles to support any given POV, either for or against, so I prefer to take my guidance from my country's health service as an objective source of the 'facts' rather than an individual's blog post. Again, that's without commenting one way or the other on the article itself.
 
Although I have directly heard of not being cut causing more anger and depression because of awkward sexual encounters.
Holy shit does America need to get a grip.

Look, there's no reason to do this and the whole 'what about women?' angle is such bullshit. There's no reason to have this done, the only reason American women seem to be weird about it is they haven't been exposed to it like, well, seemingly the rest of North America and Europe. The number has been dropping for years so will still be the norm anyway.

Also, you're doing it because some bellend from the early 1900s didn't want you to masturbate. He also suggested applying phenol to a woman's clitois.

Honest to God there is no reason to do this, whatever the extent of damage you want to argue it doesn't excuse that you're doing something for a stupid reason. End of. I don't even understand the idea that people would 'decide to have it done later'. Why? Its crazy how otherwise sensible people seem to crumble when it comes to 'tradition'.
 

Rootbeer

Banned
Circumcised at birth like so many American boys. Thankfully, they did a fine job on me and I'm fine with how it turned out, but horror stories about botched circumcisions are pretty scary. That would forever alter your son's life in a negative way, so that's another thing to weight when deciding.

Personally I don't think that anyone, parent or otherwise, should be able to decide for a child rather they should or shouldn't be circumcised. I know a lot of guys, particularly since i'm a part of the LGBTQ+ community (where this certainly gets talked about a lot), that would prefer one way or the other, but you remove the person's choice by deciding for them. I say... just don't do it.

If as the child ages it becomes clear they need the procedure because of something like phimosis then that's different. Basically... just wait it out.
 

Moosichu

Member
Even if most of this is correct, and I bet there's a lot of good reasons to not get cut. But including this "discredit" of myth number 4 almost makes this whole thing questionsable. PTSD, Depression and anger? That's just bullshit. During my life I have heard more people complain about NOT being cut. Never in my life met someone who says they wish they weren't or that being cut lead them to some kind of source of anger or depression.

Although I have directly heard of not being cut causing more anger and depression because of awkward sexual encounters at the very least.

Anecdotal evidence!

If this is true, it won't be the case that people go "I have PTSD because of my circumsised Penis", it just means that, when controlled for other factors, you have a higher probability of suffering from these mental health issues if circumsised than someone who is uncircumcised.

Your rebuttal is akin to saying, "I know people who smoke who are perfectly old and healthy today!"

I'm not saying the article is correct by the way, just a better counter-argument is required. Liking reading the papers and finding a flaw in their methodology or finding that parts of the article are made up.
 

Grug

Member
Anecdotal evidence!

If this is true, it won't be the case that people go "I have PTSD because of my circumsised Penis", it just means that, when controlled for other factors, you have a higher probability of suffering from these mental health issues if circumsised than someone who is uncircumcised.

Your rebuttal is akin to saying, "I know people who smoke who are perfectly old and healthy today!"

Bingo. Or "my unvaccinated child hasn't got measles".

And yeah, since anecdotal evidence is now in play, even my mother who got me circumcised tells the story that I screamed a tortured scream she had never heard before or since and that I turned whiter than the hospital bed sheet. She bawled her eyes out afterwards.
 

velociraptor

Junior Member
After a comprehensive review of the scientific evidence, the American Academy of Pediatrics found the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks, but the benefits are not great enough to recommend universal newborn circumcision. The AAP policy statement published Monday, August 27, says the final decision should still be left to parents to make in the context of their religious, ethical and cultural beliefs.

Here is what the AAP thinks about circumcision.
 

Grug

Member
Here is what the AAP thinks about circumcision.

And keep in mind that a lot of those paediatricians have a vested financial interest in the procedure existing. So if they by and large aren't recommending it, it is really food for thought.

Supporting this is the fact that in most public health systems in western countries where the doctors are more removed from the direct financial benefits of performing circumcisions, you will struggle to find a doctor who will do it at all. They're more likely to look at you in disgust.
 
My mother told me that one of my uncles once said he wasn't happy with being circumcised because the lack of protection (from the skin that's usually there) around the tip led to toughening of the skin (akin to calluses?) which made the entire area less sensitive, which yeah, seems like a bummer.

I'm not circumcised though so I'm no expert.
 

WinFonda

Member
Parents make all sorts of choices for us before we're able to make our own.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of parents making bodily, and general well-being choices for their babies; you can take it as far as conception, and I think we can all agree none of us chose to be born. The process of childbirth is not a pleasant experience, but we all go through it against our will. I'm sure some babies given the choice might actually prefer to stay in the womb forever. And then of course we're subjected to life itself for years and years, which some of us might also one day come to regret.

But no, if you read this thread then you will soon discover it's actually circumcision that is the great selfish evil our parents commit on us - that barbaric and traumatic act performed in modern hospitals by professionals that none of us ever have recollection of - much like childbirth itself
 

Grug

Member
Parents make all sorts of choices for us before we're able to make our own.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of parents making bodily, and general well-being choices for their babies; you can take it as far as conception, and I think we can all agree none of us chose to be born. The process of childbirth is not a pleasant experience, but we all go through it against our will. I'm sure some babies given the choice might actually prefer to stay in the womb forever. And then of course we're subjected to life itself for years and years, which some of us might also one day come to regret.

But no, if you read this thread then you will soon discover it's actually circumcision that is the great selfish evil our parents commit on us - that barbaric and traumatic act performed in modern hospitals by professionals that none of us ever have recollection of - much like childbirth itself

This is profoundly absurd. Well done.

I suspect my response will be kinder than what is to come. Enjoy.
 

Greddleok

Member
Anyone know why America took to cutting it off while most of the rest of us didn't?

Puritanical crazies.

Let's not forget Kellogg with this choice quote for all to see on Wikipedia:

"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, as it may well be in some cases."
 
It's genital mutilation, pure and simple, and there's no reason for it unless you've got a serious medical condition that requires amputation and every other treatment has failed.

The fact that it's so common in the US without even the inherent irrationality of religious dogma is just weird and seriously fucked up.
 

The Lamp

Member
Even if most of this is correct, and I bet there's a lot of good reasons to not get cut. But including this "discredit" of myth number 4 almost makes this whole thing questionsable. PTSD, Depression and anger? That's just bullshit. During my life I have heard more people complain about NOT being cut. Never in my life met someone who says they wish they weren't or that being cut lead them to some kind of source of anger or depression.

Although I have directly heard of not being cut causing more anger and depression because of awkward sexual encounters at the very least.

Your opinion and anecdotes as an internet denizen is a really rigorous statistical sample size that I bet is sturdy enough to dismiss published research.

How the hell do you even masturbate without foreskin? You tickle it?

Lotion/lube. It's why I never understood the masturbation jokes in Hollywood movies growing up because uncircumcised men don't need any lube to masturbate because we have foreskins. In fact, getting lotion trapped under your foreskin is probably grounds for a yeast infection.
 
All of the talk about weird sexual encounters... Get out of your country for once, Jesus.
Lotion/lube. It's why I never understood the masturbation jokes in Hollywood movies growing up because uncircumcised men don't need any lube to masturbate because we have foreskins. In fact, getting lotion trapped under your foreskin is probably grounds for a yeast infection.
I don't want to imagine the pain from constant rubbing against rough garments, your own hands, female pubes when grinding...
What happens if you get the dick caught in your zipper? There is no expendable skin to protect it...
 
If you're going to chop of some of your kids dick then you might as well chop their ear lobes off too. Just get rid of everything that flops.
 

The Lamp

Member
All of the talk about weird sexual encounters... Get out of your country for once, Jesus.

I don't want to imagine the pain from constant rubbing against rough garments, your own hands, female pubes when grinding...
What happens if you get the dick caught in your zipper? There is no expendable skin to protect it...

The circumcised penis doesn't really hurt after so many years of desensitization. My bf says he doesn't feel anything painful in his underwear or when he touches it.
 

Yeoman

Member
Parents make all sorts of choices for us before we're able to make our own.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of parents making bodily, and general well-being choices for their babies; you can take it as far as conception, and I think we can all agree none of us chose to be born. The process of childbirth is not a pleasant experience, but we all go through it against our will. I'm sure some babies given the choice might actually prefer to stay in the womb forever. And then of course we're subjected to life itself for years and years, which some of us might also one day come to regret.

But no, if you read this thread then you will soon discover it's actually circumcision that is the great selfish evil our parents commit on us - that barbaric and traumatic act performed in modern hospitals by professionals that none of us ever have recollection of - much like childbirth itself
It's just a weird unnecessary procedure, it's as simple as that.
 
Parents make all sorts of choices for us before we're able to make our own.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of parents making bodily, and general well-being choices for their babies; you can take it as far as conception, and I think we can all agree none of us chose to be born. The process of childbirth is not a pleasant experience, but we all go through it against our will. I'm sure some babies given the choice might actually prefer to stay in the womb forever. And then of course we're subjected to life itself for years and years, which some of us might also one day come to regret.

But no, if you read this thread then you will soon discover it's actually circumcision that is the great selfish evil our parents commit on us - that barbaric and traumatic act performed in modern hospitals by professionals that none of us ever have recollection of - much like childbirth itself

So if you don't remember it when you're grown up, parents can do absolutely anything to their child right? Good to know...
 

Cyanity

Banned
I almost cried reading that. The idea of inflicting that on my little boy shakes me to my core.

Who can look at their beautiful newborn boy and think "yeah, bring in the dude with the scalpel".

I'll probably rile a few posters up here but I genuinely feel that some posters here are more trying to convince themselves more than others they they did the right think in circumcising their kid. I sense shame.

At least I hope it comes from a place of shame.
 
The circumcised penis doesn't really hurt after so many years of desensitization. My bf says he doesn't feel anything painful in his underwear or when he touches it.
And the poor bloke is also feeling less than he could every time you guys have sex for the same reason. The foreskin moving about is also super, super pleasant. (In some positions it sort of snaps about and is painful when having sex without a condom though)
Speaking of condoms, when wearing one the foreskin has to be retracted and doesn't move, so I'd equate wearing a condom with being circumcised for me. The difference is not dramatic, but surely noticeable.
 

Fafalada

Fafracer forever
Hoo-doo said:
Or pre-emptively removing a gall-bladder for the off chance you develop gallstones.
Also pre-emptively removing tonsils, appendix etc.
Think of all the Potential medical benefits, and also sparing those poor adults the pain of going through appendicitis and all its complications. Not to mention avoiding most scar tissue - if noone had abdominal scars from such surgeries, it would be super awkward to have one done in adult life and reveal it during sex, so we should all strive to avoid that right?

On a related note - I can imagine certain organizations (especially religious) can't wait to get their hands on gene-manipulation laws so they can start breeding their perfect societies that are cleanly separated from all others...
 
About what? I have yet to come across another guy that was circumcised as a newborn and angry about it. Or complains that it impacts their life in any way. Majority of the people that are unspoken about it are uncircumcised themselves.
I fucking object to it. We had a medically unnecessary surgery for primarily cultural and cosmetic reasons performed on us as infants, something that significantly altered our most sensitive sexual organ. Just because we've lived our whole lives with the result and have become normalized to it does not change the fact that it is morally reprehensible.
 

Tremis

This man does his research.
Myth 1: They just cut off a flap of skin.

Reality check: Not true. The foreskin is half of the penis's skin, not just a flap. In an adult man, the foreskin is 15 square inches of skin. In babies and children, the foreskin is adhered to the head of the penis with the same type of tissue that adheres fingernails to their nail beds. Removing it requires shoving a blunt probe between the foreskin and the head of the penis and then cutting down and around the whole penis. Check out these photos: http://www.drmomma.org/2011/08/intact-or-circumcised-significant.html(nsfw)

Myth 2: It doesn't hurt the baby.

Reality check: Wrong. In 1997, doctors in Canada did a study to see what type of anesthesia was most effective in relieving the pain of circumcision. As with any study, they needed a control group that received no anesthesia. The doctors quickly realized that the babies who were not anesthetized were in so much pain that it would be unethical to continue with the study. Even the best commonly available method of pain relief studied, the dorsal penile nerve block, did not block all the babies' pain. Some of the babies in the study were in such pain that they began choking and one even had a seizure (Lander 1997).

Myth 3: My doctor uses anesthesia.

Reality check: Not necessarily. Most newborns do not receive adequate anesthesia. Only 45% of doctors who do circumcisions use any anesthesia at all. Obstetricians perform 70% of circumcisions and are least likely to use anesthesia - only 25% do. The most common reasons why they don't? They didn't think the procedure warranted it, and it takes too long (Stang 1998). A circumcision with adequate anesthesia takes a half-hour - if they brought your baby back sooner, he was in severe pain during the surgery.

Myth 4: Even if it is painful, the baby won't remember it.

Reality check: The body is a historical repository and remembers everything. The pain of circumcision causes a rewiring of the baby's brain so that he is more sensitive to pain later (Taddio 1997, Anand 2000). Circumcision also can cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anger, low self-esteem and problems with intimacy (Boyle 2002, Hammond 1999, Goldman 1999). Even with a lack of explicit memory and the inability to protest - does that make it right to inflict pain? Ethical guidelines for animal research whenever possible* - do babies deserve any less?

Myth 5: My baby slept right through it.

Reality check: Not possible without total anesthesia, which is not available. Even the dorsal penile nerve block leaves the underside of the penis receptive to pain. Babies go into shock, which though it looks like a quiet state, is actually the body's reaction to profound pain and distress. Nurses often tell the parents "He slept right through it" so as not to upset them. Who would want to hear that his or her baby was screaming in agony?​

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blo...9/myths-about-circumcision-you-likely-believe

Don't put your baby through that.

Even lab rats must be properly anaesthetized before any procedure for experimental research or you are not ethically allowed to do it in most countries. That alone should give anyone pause.
 

Derwind

Member
As someone who was circumcised, if I have a child, I will make sure that only unless absolutely medically necessary, I will not circumcise my child.
 

Camwi

Member
OK.

I need to stop posting in this thread now. I just had someone blatantly disrespect my parents (whom they don't know) to prove some point.

If I stick around, I will post some shit that will get me perm'd.

WTF is wrong with you? People should just get a pass for whatever they do, if the reason for those actions are religious? Come on, dude.

There are good ideas in religious and there are stupid ideas in religion, and there's nothing wrong with pointing those out. If your religion tells you that you should chop off a piece of your baby's dick, then that's a really fucking stupid idea.
 
Lotion/lube. It's why I never understood the masturbation jokes in Hollywood movies growing up because uncircumcised men don't need any lube to masturbate because we have foreskins. In fact, getting lotion trapped under your foreskin is probably grounds for a yeast infection.

Yuuup, this always threw me off as well.
 

Xun

Member
May as well cut the earlobes off as well to be honest.

I just think it looks better, ya know?

The logic of many truly baffle me.

Fuck genital mutilation.
 

RM8

Member
Did you read the thread though?

- diminished sexual pleasure
- pain
- the risk of serious complications, infections and even death.

All upside?
I was talking about my case, lol. I'm not in pain, I'm not dead, and sex is good. So at the very least, if it's done correctly, it doesn't seem like a huge problem to me. I repeat, though, I don't have strong feelings about it and everyone should strive to avoid any unnecessary surgeries, since the risk is never 0%.
 
Me too. Like, I can't see any downside. I don't have strong feelings about it either way, though, I don't care if people want it done on their children or not. It wasn't for religious reasons in my case, fwiw.


I like being circumcised.

And that's completely fine. People aren't saying you should feel ashamed of it or anything. Just that perpetuating the procedure just for cultural reasons is really damn sad.
 

zou

Member
the whole aesthetics argument kills me.

a dried out, calloused glans with keratinization is nasty looking. and circumcision scars aren't exactly sexy either.
 
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