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

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RM8

Member
I am from the UK and me and my two brothers were circumcised due to my grandfather being Muslim.

I strongly resent the fact I was circumcised for the reasons of religion and the thought that choice was taken away from me lately has really made me resentful.
Maybe because mine wasn't done for religious reasons, but I don't feel like this at all. Heck I had never given this much thought to it in my 29 years of life, lol. My parents were told it was for the best at the hospital, and it's had zero negative consequences for me. If I ever have a son, I'm not doing it because it seems unnecessary, though.
 

jem0208

Member
Ah but you get your child's hair cut, and many parents have their kids ears pierced too. The children didn't choose.
Cutting hair is completely different and you know it.


Parents piercing their kids ears is fucked up though.


That fact that people honestly think that cutting a bit of your child's dick off isn't fucked up in the 21st century is bizarre.
 

Cyanity

Banned
Cutting hair is completely different and you know it.


Parents piercing their kids ears is fucked up though.


That fact that people honestly think that cutting a bit of your child's dick off isn't fucked up in the 21st century is bizarre.

The mental hoops the pro-circ crowd has been jumping through to justify cutting their kids' dicks for dumb cultural reasons have been astounding. Utterly shocking. I honestly can't believe people are this casual about it all, but here we are.
 

JesseZao

Member
Preach, brother. Don't let the hyperbolic posters make you feel like you "mutilated" your son. Seriously some people are acting like parents are lighting their sons on fire and sacrificing them. I honestly never realized people felt THIS strongly against it.

Why not cut other things while we're at it? Kids don't need ears to hear right?
 

darscot

Member
Why not cut other things while we're at it? Kids don't need ears to hear right?

I posted clear reasons why I had it done. There is no reason why my son would hide or be shamed about injuring any other part of this body. People don't actually care to discuss they just want to rant.
 

mantidor

Member
Maybe because mine wasn't done for religious reasons, but I don't feel like this at all. Heck I had never given this much thought to it in my 29 years of life, lol. My parents were told it was for the best at the hospital, and it's had zero negative consequences for me. If I ever have a son, I'm not doing it because it seems unnecessary, though.

Well of course, you have nothing to compare to, what possible negative effect can exist without some base of comparison.

Most people who have it done later in life is because medical reasons, and they are decisively in the minority of uncircumcised men, the comparison again is not relevant, they had actually a medical problem of some sort, of course they will feel better afterwards. The rest of uncircumcised people just shudder at the thought of the operation being performed whether it's done when they are babies or adults.

Anecdotal evidence relevant to the benefits could only be if someone who had an accident of some sort later in life was forced to have a circumcision for whatever reason, now that would be interesting to hear.
 

Flo_Evans

Member
Cutting hair is completely different and you know it.


Parents piercing their kids ears is fucked up though.


That fact that people honestly think that cutting a bit of your child's dick off isn't fucked up in the 21st century is bizarre.

I get the impression the pro cutting crowd thinks its allot more common than it actually is.

The main reasoning that they want their sons to be "normal"... and then defend body modification to fit this norm that is quickly disappearing from the world.

I would be willing to bet by the time a child born today reaches puberty circumcision will be the abnormal one. What then?
 

ElNino

Member
I get the impression the pro cutting crowd thinks its allot more common than it actually is.

The main reasoning that they want their sons to be "normal"... and then defend body modification to fit this norm that is quickly disappearing from the world.

I would be willing to bet by the time a child born today reaches puberty circumcision will be the abnormal one. What then?
I think it is more what is normal to them, not necessarily normal to the general population. I wouldn't have any idea how common circumcision was between my group of friends growing up as it simply never came up. Ditto for my female relationships, they never commented on it and I never thought to ask about it, it was a complete non-factor.
 
What? If it's a spontaneous root, she isn't going to call things off at the last second because you aren't cut lol. I mean it looks pretty much the same when erect anyway, and it isn't hard to keep yourself clean even with a foreskin.

Granted I don't live in America, so maybe this is a thing there.

It's not, but rampant male insecurity is.
 
This is like the male equivalent of a woman asking "would you like me better if I lost some weight?" That's a trap only an idiot falls for. No woman is going to tell you, "actually yes, your dick is weird." I'm not cut and I've had women express a range of reactions from "that looks better than those weird naked ones" to "I've never actually seen a circumcised one so I don't have a basis for comparison" to "wait, you can do tricks with it? Let me see that." Not once has someone ever said, "ewww, clip that shit or I'm not touching it," because that's not how humans act when they're getting ready to bone. Surely some of the women I've been with prefer circumcised penises, but they sure as hell weren't going to tell me about it, in the same way that I'm not going to say "I realize things were getting hot and heavy here, but you don't look like I thought you would naked, so bye." And every woman in the world has the absolute best line in the world available for a penis they don't want to look at; "why don't you get that condom on and come here big boy?" No man in the world interprets that as "she's just sick of looking at my penis!"

Quoting for sanity.
 

Grug

Member
Preach, brother. Don't let the hyperbolic posters make you feel like you "mutilated" your son. Seriously some people are acting like parents are lighting their sons on fire and sacrificing them. I honestly never realized people felt THIS strongly against it.

When you have to resort to ridiculous straw men arguments to relativise the real issue, your argument is failing.

"Jesus, who cares about genocide... the sun is going to swallow the Earth one day anyway"...
 

Zidy

Member
I'm circumcised and I'm totally cool with it. I never knew anyone who kinda held it against their parents for getting it done.

My son didn't get circumcised. The mother wanted it done and I was indifferent to it, but due to insurance issues we couldn't get it done in the window the doctor wanted it to be done.
 

Mythos

Member
Tbh i don't know many circumcised men, because here in Europe it's just not normal, only if you are a moslem/jew. First i saw a circumcised penis was in a porn, and i find them weird, and kinda gross without foreskin...
 
Am I the only one in this thread who was circumcised as a baby and wishes they weren't?

Nope. My body, my choice. I'm not a fan of having an exposed glans either.

Hell, if you are choosing to circumcise your boy now, he'll be the odd one out in 10+ years. Which should be a big deal, as that same argument is used to argue in favor of circumcision now.

imrs.php


Overall, the total U.S. hospital circumcision rate fell from 64.5 percent in 1979 to 58.3 percent in 2010, a decline of about 10 percent.

Survey data indicate that we may see these declines continue. A YouGov survey conducted earlier this year found that young people were more skeptical about the practice than their elders: only 33 percent of 18-to-29 year-olds said that male children should be routinely circumcised, compared to 43 percent of 30-to-44 year-olds, 52 percent of 45-to-64 year-olds, and nearly two thirds of seniors.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...comes-to-circumcision/?utm_term=.2e9869e193bd

So, if you decide to circumcise your kid today out of social fear, your kid will ironically be different from the norm*.

*
This is still not a good way to make this decision.
 
Where I'm from (Iraq) only muslims got circumcised, I'm Christian so I didn't have to do it. When I came to live in the US I was really shocked it was the norm here, never understood it.

They also used to show mass circumsions on TV.
 

manakel

Member
When you have to resort to ridiculous straw men arguments to relativise the real issue, your argument is failing.

"Jesus, who cares about genocide... the sun is going to swallow the Earth one day anyway"...
This entire thread has been strawman arguments.

-People have provided actual health benefits; people retort that the data was skewed by insurance companies or they are so "minimal" that they don't matter anyway.
-Guys have stated that they got circumcised later in life and they like it better, and they've been chastised for it.
-A dude's parents have been attavked because he said they did it for religious reasons.
-People have compared male circumcision to female genital mutilation and said they pose the same exact risks - which is blatantly false.
-People have said that, if people should choose to circumcise their son, they should also be fine with cutting off their ears and toes.

Please spare me.
 

The Lamp

Member
Uh, yes, kids need ears to hear without their hearing being impaired?

Your ear drums still hear even if you cut your ears off.

Your penis still ejaculates even if you circumcise.

Had it done on my son at the hospital. No regrets. He's fine.

Anybody who survives having bits of their body chopped off seem fine after recovering from the procedure. Not like that alone is a good reason to do it in the first place.
 

The Lamp

Member
Perhaps you should look up the function of the outer ear, and how hearing is seriously diminished should one not have it.

I know, it directs sound waves into the ear.

And having a foreskin, I would say my sex would be seriously diminished if I didn't have it included.
 

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
Uh, yes, kids need ears to hear without their hearing being impaired?

Little toe assists with balance, walking, running, etc. So no, I wouldn't be okay with that.

Perhaps you should look up the function of the outer ear, and how hearing is seriously diminished should one not have it.

Sexual pleasure/sensation is diminished should one not have the foreskin. You're literally removing tons of nerves that enhance sexual pleasure.
 

The Lamp

Member
I've had no issues in the sex department ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Well no shit, it's still enjoyable and you can still ejaculate. I can have sex without using my foreskin and having a condom on and still enjoy it.

But if you're missing a foreskin and de-keratinized head, you're kinda missing out imo
 

Grug

Member
This entire thread has been strawman arguments.

-People have provided actual health benefits; people retort that the data was skewed by insurance companies or they are so "minimal" that they don't matter anyway.
-Guys have stated that they got circumcised later in life and they like it better, and they've been chastised for it.
-A dude's parents have been attavked because he said they did it for religious reasons.
-People have compared male circumcision to female genital mutilation and said they pose the same exact risks - which is blatantly false.
-People have said that, if people should choose to circumcise their son, they should also be fine with cutting off their ears and toes.

Please spare me.

At least three of those aren't straw man arguments.
 

Grug

Member
I've had no issues in the sex department ¯_(ツ)_/¯


How could you know though? You haven't experienced both.

I'm colourblind. If I wasn't told about it I wouldn't even know, but that ignorance wouldn't mean that I would be able to see the full spectrum.
 

manakel

Member
How could you know though? You haven't experienced both.

I'm colourblind. If I wasn't told about it I wouldn't even know, but that ignorance wouldn't mean that I would be able to see the full spectrum.
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.
 
I've had no issues in the sex department ¯_(ツ)_/¯

How would you know? As cut guys, we don't even know what we're missing. You probably didn't even know that in addition to removing the foreskin, they also usually remove a thing called the frenulum:

The frenulum and the associated tissue delta on the underside of the penis below the corona has been described in sexuality textbooks as "very reactive" and "particularly responsive to touch that is light and soft". The "underside of the shaft of the penis, meaning the body below the corona" is a "source of distinct pleasure".[5] Crooks and Baur observe that two extremely sensitive specific locations that many men find particularly responsive to stimulation are the corona, and the frenulum.[6] Repeated stimulation of this structure will cause orgasm and ejaculation in some men.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum_of_prepuce_of_penis (nsfw)

There's literally oral sex techniques that circumcised men can never experience.

HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

This is dumb. There are studies of people who were cut late in life and the majority of them noticed a huge decrease in sensation. And on the more extreme end, there are guys who actually grew their shit back.
 
We did it for both of our sons. One of them cried for all of 10 seconds the other didn't even seem to notice. I could only imagine how it would be as an adult.
As has been pointed out in links from professionals, the baby goes into shock and that is mistaken as the baby 'not being bothered by it'.

Sorry you need hear that.
 

Audioboxer

Member
It's genital mutilation.

I've had it done for medical reasons, but outside of that it shouldn't be happening. While not as extreme as FGM which is a whole other ball game of abuse, male circumcision is still abuse.

There are no health benefits, wish people would stop buying that nonsense.
 
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

Well to be fair, I'd imagine all an uncircumcised person would have to do is keep the foreskin pulled back 24/7 for like two weeks, and it would basically be the same as being circumcised.
 

The Lamp

Member
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

TBH I think (I could be wrong) the latest research says that overall, people circumcised later in life don't detect a difference in sexual quality (this is paraphrasing). But the mere design of such an experiment is flawed because you're asking people to recall and accurately compare function of tissue that doesn't exist anymore, and sex feels so rewarding for most, regardless of circumcision or not, that I don't think that this kind of research can really demonstrate much for these debates.

Uncircumcised men have lots of options with stimulating their penis. They can choose to use the foreskin or not. The foreskin itself is full of nerves that we can literally feel, and they feel great. These nerves alone can cause many to reach orgasm. And on top of that, the foreskin glides across the head of the penis, full of surface nerves that have not been desensitized from clothing and dryness, and both tissues involved feel really good.

So I can imagine that if circumcised, that foreskin tissue and feeling simply isn't there to feel with.

Does it mean sex is unenjoyable or dysfunctional for circumcised men? Not necessarily. Although I guess some circumcised men report difficulty reaching orgasm, especially sometimes in a condom, we all love sex and we all sexually stimulate ourselves, so even if you don't have a foreskin, sex is great.
 

amanset

Member
Could be worse, don't speak for everyone.

I had mine done about 7/8 years ago.
However, shortly after waking up from the operation I went to take a leak and, well, I was dripping blood all over the floor. Had to go back into the operating room.

They had to cauterize my dick, right on the fresh wound below the tip.
Without anaesthetic.
Nurse asked me if I wanted to hold her hand.
I'm a grown man.
We all laughed.
Then I didn't laugh.

Unlike most people I actually needed it done though, personally it's much better now than it was before; I wish I had it done when I was younger as all my sexual encounters were painful. I don't regret it at all.

Same. I needed it done, wish it had been done and had to go through it all as a 38 year old.

No cauterising though. But I did have the sheet blocking my view fall down and see my half removed foreskin being pulled up by a doctor, bleeding, with a pair of tongs.

No man should ever see that. No man.
 

Grug

Member
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

Well to start with, I am circumcised, so chill.

Secondly, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. I would suggest that the person suggesting that removing 20,000-70,000 nerve endings doesn't diminish sensation is the one making the extraordinary claim.
 

Audioboxer

Member
TBH I think the latest research says that overall, people circumcised later in life don't detect a difference in sexual quality (this is paraphrasing). But the mere design of such an experiment is flawed because you're asking people to recall and accurately compare function of tissue that doesn't exist anymore, and sex feels so rewarding for most, regardless of circumcision or not, that I don't think that this kind of research can really demonstrate much for these debates.

Uncircumcised men have lots of options with stimulating their penis. They can choose to use the foreskin or not. The foreskin itself is full of nerves that we can literally feel, and they feel great. These nerves alone can cause many to reach orgasm. And on top of that, the foreskin glides across the head of the penis, full of surface nerves that have not been desensitized from clothing and dryness, and both tissues involved feel really good.

So I can imagine that if circumcised, that foreskin tissue and feeling simply isn't there to feel with.

Does it mean sex is unenjoyable or dysfunctional for circumcised men? Not necessarily. Although I guess some circumcised men report difficulty reaching orgasm, especially sometimes in a condom, we all love sex and we all sexually stimulate ourselves, so even if you don't have a foreskin, sex is great.

I've "experienced" both. I was circumcised at 13, or it might have been 14. Foreskin issues, where I had a few options, but circumcision was quickest and problems sorted.

The penis head without a doubt loses sensitivity. Like, it's not even questionable. It took me like 2 weeks to be able to even walk properly being fully exposed 24/7. Not to mention healing is a bit of a bitch when you are a young man, not a baby. Majority of that was possibly sensitivity from the stitches healing, but the head does "toughen" up, considering it's rubbing against cotton fabric 24/7 instead of being covered by skin.

So I guess there is some anecdotal evidence from someone who can remember having it both ways. Probably rarer as I expect most had it done as babies, which sadly I do say if your parents done it for aesthetic/religious reasons, is indeed abuse. Not saying you need to "blame" them, but please don't do it to your own children.
 

Grug

Member
How would you know? As cut guys, we don't even know what we're missing. You probably didn't even know that in addition to removing the foreskin, they also usually remove a thing called the frenulum:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum_of_prepuce_of_penis (nsfw)

There's literally oral sex techniques that circumcised men can never experience.

I said earlier in the thread that while I am anti-circumcision I don't personally resent my parents decision... now I'm starting to change my mind. Damn.
 
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

I'd say using a condom vs not using it is a close enough equivalent, and the difference IS there. (It's probably bigger, the frenulum and foreskin are still stimulated even if it's in a diminished manner)
 

xelios

Universal Access can be found under System Preferences
HAVE YOU experienced both? Uncircumcised folk are acting as if they have the most pleasurable sexual experiences known to man, and yet they also have no clue what it feels like to be circumcised.

I've "experienced" both. I was circumcised at 13, or it might have been 14. Foreskin issues, where I had a few options, but circumcision was quickest and problems sorted.

The penis head without a doubt loses sensitivity. Like, it's not even questionable. It took me like 2 weeks to be able to even walk properly being fully exposed 24/7. Not to mention healing is a bit of a bitch when you are a young man, not a baby. Majority of that was possibly sensitivity from the stitches healing, but the head does "toughen" up, considering it's rubbing against cotton fabric 24/7 instead of being covered by skin.

So I guess there is some anecdotal evidence from someone who can remember having it both ways. Probably rarer as I expect most had it done as babies, which sadly I do say if your parents done it for aesthetic/religious reasons, is indeed abuse. Not saying you need to "blame" them, but please don't do it to your own children.

Well, I'm glad we finally cleared that issue up, as obvious as the effects of removing nerve endings responsible for sensation from erogenous zones already was.
 

The Lamp

Member
How would you know? As cut guys, we don't even know what we're missing. You probably didn't even know that in addition to removing the foreskin, they also usually remove a thing called the frenulum:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frenulum_of_prepuce_of_penis (nsfw)

There's literally oral sex techniques that circumcised men can never experience.



This is dumb. There are studies of people who were cut late in life and the majority of them noticed a huge decrease in sensation. And on the more extreme end, there are guys who actually grew their shit back.

Yeah if you get circumcised, please emphasize and beg to your doctor to try to preserve as much of the frenulum as possible.

I cannot overstate the function of the frenulum. Must be like a male clitoris or something. And the fact that it cooperates with the other parts of the male genitals in motion is amazing.
 

Audioboxer

Member
Well, I'm glad we finally cleared that issue up, as obvious as the effects of removing nerve endings responsible for sensation from erogenous zones already was.

Without a doubt. I think the waters get murky as the debate often devolves into "well I still feel pleasure during sex!".

Well duh, we all do. The "technicalities" around sensitivity are important, because factually speaking, yes, there is a change. Part of that change isn't just the removal of skin, it's what happens to the glans when it has to deal with being constantly rubbed by cotton (or silk if you got some $$$ to spend on underwear!).
 
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