Let's talk about a sensitive subject...

I suppose it had to do with my Midwestern small town upbringing, but I don't think I even knew what an uncircumcised penis was until I saw one in the school locker room in about 9th grade. It was like, "what the heck is THAT?"

N Sperlo wrote: Never thought I'd learn so much about penises here... peni.... wait. Whats the plural of penis?

"Dorks".

Oh, so this is where all the dicks are hanging out today.

Duke wrote: In reply to Beer Baron: I am truly saddened to hear of your difficulties. In all sincerity you have my sympathy. You're the first person I've known firsthand (more or less) who experienced real side effects.

I don't know how common or not the sort of thing I dealt with is. I certainly didn't have to deal with a "botched" job, just not quite right.

My theory is that I'm in the minority, but it's not as small as you might imagine because it's not the sort of thing people talk about. It's definitely something that someone going through the depths of puberty is going to talk much about that, and after that was done, it's only occasionally been an issue of saying, "Woah, woah, woah! Be a little more gentle, the skin doesn't stretch that far."

Beer Baron wrote: It's only occasionally been an issue of saying, "Woah, woah, woah! Be a little more gentle, the skin doesn't stretch that far."

It's not just you, I've had a few girls get a little overzealous from time to time.

"It doesn't stretch that much" should be right up there with "NO TEETH!"

pinchvalve wrote: When people who are passionate about an issue react like that, it immediately sets off the "ignore their viewpoint" section of my brain. If you can't make a rational argument and have to spew vitriol and insults, you shall be summarily ignored.

This cannot be said enough....I do the same all the time to another specific group that doesn't understand rational FACT BASED discussions.

As far as the OP, I am, harbor no ill feelings, and don't seem to have any issues.....at least as mentioned here, from a sanitary aspect it seems there is an upside to it so long as it is properly done.

What would Rabbi Tuckman do?

Trans_Maro wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: It's only occasionally been an issue of saying, "Woah, woah, woah! Be a little more gentle, the skin doesn't stretch that far."

It's not just you, I've had a few girls get a little overzealous from time to time. "It doesn't stretch that much" should be right up there with "NO TEETH!"

A female friend was relating a story that I just have to share here. she was dating a doctor from work and when it came time for that activity, he told her "Bite it!" She obliged a little and he said "no, bite it LIKE FOOD."

So now you all get to share in my mental pain.

We made this far without the SNL Commercial?
http://www.hulu.com/watch/2323

WOW Really Paul? wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: When people who are passionate about an issue react like that, it immediately sets off the "ignore their viewpoint" section of my brain. If you can't make a rational argument and have to spew vitriol and insults, you shall be summarily ignored.

This cannot be said enough....I do the same all the time to another specific group that doesn't understand rational FACT BASED discussions. As far as the OP, I am, harbor no ill feelings, and don't seem to have any issues.....at least as mentioned here, from a sanitary aspect it seems there is an upside to it so long as it is properly done.

I'm done as a kid, but while this "seems" like a good thing, I'm not sure reality is that important.

Other than for religious reasons, nobody has been circumcised for any reason up until recently. And I'm not aware of any major health issue that was solved when the practice went more mainstream. This isn't like other sanitary things that can be traced to major health issues.

To me, it's kinda like the whole shoe and support thing- shoes have not been supportive until the last 30 years or so. Humans have done well for a long time with just basic covers on the feet- what is this actually fixing?

Anyway, IMHO, the whole sanitary benefit is overrated....

In reply to Beer Baron:

See, THAT is a good argument. Thinking about a constant paper cut in that region would be enough to convince most men to avoid it...no other argument needed.

It's nothing to get worked up about, there are some health risks that go along with either choice.

My grandmother said I screamed real bad when mine was done as a newborn, but then I laughed later that day (and newborns aren't supposed to laugh so that made my mom freak out), so it couldn't have been that bad.

If I had a son would I do it? Maybe, maybe not, meh, dunno. But if you set up a tent to discourage people from doing it you're coocoo for coco puffs.

This seems like something people would argue over once we started running out of other problems.

In reply to Wall-e:

Some people just want to be dicks....

SO I have some real practical experience with this.

Kids #1 & #2 were circumcised, because 'default' and because I was. I didn't think anything of it.

Kid #3 came along with a very mild hypospadius. I'm spelling it wrong and I don't care. Essentially they had to do it under general anesthesia because they have to graft some of the leftover foreskin back on to make it look right, and because general anesthesia, they can't do it for like 6 weeks and only under the care of a urologist. Because of the hypospadius, we saw the urologist anyway. I asked the questions, because I decided to be intelligent about it, and felt awful for putting my oldest two through it for no reason.

The Abrahamic covenant required circumcision, and wow it must have been awful, just read Genesis 34, 25 if you want to read about it. The thing is that Christians don't live under the Abrahamic covenant, so there is zero religious imperitive to do this.

The urologist said that the idea of cleanliness is nothing, just teach the kid to wash it and it'll be fine.

As far as the hypospadius, well it was mild, so the guy said 'as long as he pees straight, it's just aesthetic'. Referencing valid religious beliefs that we hold dear (please don't take this to mean that we are ashamed of our bodies, I just don't expect the kid to have multiple partners, and that's totally fine for a E-mail type conversation, but let's leave it be for this thread), I hope it isn't on display too often anyway, so we let it be.

It's a pretty confusing conversation when they take showers together, but hey, whatever. It was a mistake, and I feel bad for it. It hurts, the baby cries, you treat it like a big wound, and the baby gets to be away from Mom and Dad for a while while it goers and gets hurt for NO REASON AT ALL.

The funny part is explaining this all to my Mom afterwards, she says: "Oh yeah, I know what a hypospadius is. You had one. I had to wait a few weeks before your circumcision too!", so at least I know where he got it from.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but the "waste" foreskin is actually used in skin grafts and other procedures. It has properties similar to stem-cells, so hospitals seem to really want to have a supply of this stuff to use. The hospital where my son was born had a person going from room to room asking parents when they wanted to schedule their child's circumcision- not IF, when, like it was the thing to do.

We opted out three times, and I kind of lost patience with it and wondered why they were so gung-ho about getting their instruments on my kids' junk. I did the research and found out some of the above. In fact, the documentation that the hospital was using to schedule the procedure included "medical waste" language that gave them ownership and the right to use any of the leftover parts as they saw fit.

When I saw the OP I thought for sure the banhammer was destined for me, as the image was one that I took and posted.

I wasn't trying to ruffle anyone's feathers. I didn't even know this was a real thing. Although in retrospect I shouldn't have been surprised.

While volunteering for a non-political group during art fair, I literally found myself in the middle of "flounder street". Surrounded by non profit groups of every flavor. Political, anti political, religious, anti religious- and anti circumcision. The group in the image I posted was opposite my location.

In reply to paranoid_android74:

I for one am actually a little surprised how adult this thread managed to stay. I guess we all take our hootuses seriously. Certain big name organizations could take lessons on calm, rational, adult conversation from this forum sometimes.

Meanwhile, I read Tuna's post and all I could think of was "can Tuna pee straight?"

So very adult.

I am. All my sons are. I don't remember it. My kids don't remember it. My wife doesn't complain. And I have 4 kids, so the thing still works.

I don't care if people do it to their kids or not. If a person is getting worked up over this, they have way too much time on their hands. They might consider getting a life, rather than a placard with a slogan on it.

paranoid_android74 wrote:

I've never been bothered by the state of my bits. However, I imagine those guys would have to have had their wangs mangled pretty bad for them to be compelled to stain their shorts red then stand outside with a placard and harangue people.

In reply to nderwater:

I'm pretty sure they make a pad for that.

Trans_Maro wrote:

Beer Baron wrote: It's only occasionally been an issue of saying, "Woah, woah, woah! Be a little more gentle, the skin doesn't stretch that far."

It's not just you, I've had a few girls get a little overzealous from time to time. "It doesn't stretch that much" should be right up there with "NO TEETH!"

"Quit pulling so hard. You're going to flood it."

Keith Tanner wrote: Meanwhile, I read Tuna's post and all I could think of was "can Tuna pee straight?" So very adult.

Not as well as kid #3, I'll tell you that!

I think it's a tough subject because we want our kids to be "normal" in the eyes of their peers. It's sad that "natural" is not considered normal.

Schools are changing a lot as well. Kids don't shower after gym. New schools have shower stalls for more privacy, that type of stuff.

For a long time sex-ed was taught with pictures of the circumcised penis, and I think that's changing as well.