Circumcision

[Greenday]

Do you know why they feel that way?

I know of guy in the same situation, in his case it was merelly because he was the only uncircuncidsed guy in his social circles, and he endured some teasing due to it,(mostly in the locker room, and girls who had only been with cut guys, who were the norm there, found his thing "weird".

so not out of any practical reason.

Well, they doesn't lose any feeling. And they liked the way it looked better.

So cosmetic surgery that does no harm and makes you feel better = win

[Andara Bledin]

So cosmetic surgery that does no harm and makes you feel better = win

With the waning of the practice in the US, we're likely going to see far fewer cases where people get it done to "fit in."

But I still find the idea of performing cosmetic surgery on a baby to be a pointless risk. While the overwhelming majority are perfectly successful, there is a risk of permanent disfigurement or death, and I really cannot find any way to justify to myself why this would be acceptable.

[patiokitty]

My son wasn't done although my mother kept pushing me to get him done. I felt (and still feel) that if he wasn't meant to have foreskin he wouldn't have been born with it. It really was not that difficult to keep clean and when he was old enough he was taught how to pull it back to properly clean and dry it so we've never had any issue with that as he was growing up.

I can remember when my much younger brother was brought home - my mother had him cut, and it was an absolutely mess. He ended up with a nasty infection in the area of the incision that took forever to get clean up and healed. I did not want that for my own son so I made sure to learn as much as I could about how to take care of a baby that kept his touque.

Not once has he ever expressed any interest in getting 'fixed to look like other guys', but then he also doesn't exactly go around comparing his dick to those of his friends either. He's happy enough with being uncut, and he's now 21.

I don't have a personal preference when it comes to guys - as long as they keep the goods clean I'm happy. I've seen some pretty gross circumcised penises that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole, uncircumcised penises that were perfectly clean and a LOT of fun, and vice versa.

[Greenday]

I felt (and still feel) that if he wasn't meant to have foreskin he wouldn't have been born with it.

Do you feel the same way about the appendix, a complete waste of an organ in present day human beings that's only purpose seems to be to get infected and kill people? Not saying that the foreskin does any such thing, but still. Human beings are born with stuff we don't need.

[Andara Bledin]

Fun fact: Current medicine actually finds that despite the wisdom of recent decades, the appendix actually does appear to serve a function related to our immune systems and might even be vital during fetal development.

Just because we don't know what it does does not mean that it does nothing.

[patiokitty]

Thank you, Andara Bledin. Just because something appears useless doesn't automatically mean that it is. I've always figured that the foreskin was meant to protect the more sensitive bits it covers but the trick is to keep everything clean so there aren't any issues with keeping it. Unless there is a good medical reason that all males should be circumcised I'm going to stick with my reasoning.

[Greenday]

Thank you, Andara Bledin. Just because something appears useless doesn't automatically mean that it is. I've always figured that the foreskin was meant to protect the more sensitive bits it covers but the trick is to keep everything clean so there aren't any issues with keeping it. Unless there is a good medical reason that all males should be circumcised I'm going to stick with my reasoning.

Actually, I feel like the foreskin would create a bigger risk of catching yourself in your zipper and such as it's extra danglely skin.

[patiokitty]

Surprisingly enough my son has never gotten caught in a zipper. My circumcised brother, on the other hand, had lots of issues with that. But really, I think it's more a case of the angle of the dangle and being aware of where the zipper is in terms of your package. As well as not wearing pants so tight that the guy's junk is squished in and in danger of zip rip more than a looser pair of pants. And wearing underwear helps as there is something between the zipper and the bits.

[HYHYBT]

Do you know why they feel that way?

I know of guy in the same situation, in his case it was merelly because he was the only uncircuncidsed guy in his social circles, and he endured some teasing due to it,(mostly in the locker room, and girls who had only been with cut guys, who were the norm there, found his thing "weird".

so not out of any practical reason.

The girls' preference for cut sounds like a practical reason to me.

Fun fact: Current medicine actually finds that despite the wisdom of recent decades, the appendix actually does appear to serve a function related to our immune systems and might even be vital during fetal development.

Just because we don't know what it does does not mean that it does nothing.

Also helps repopulate your intestines with good bacteria after a bout of diarrhea and can serve as a spare part if you need some surgery I can't remember at the moment. Nothing that makes it worth trying to keep if it needs to come out, but you don't want yours removed just because they've got you open for something else either.

[SkullKing]

So cosmetic surgery that does no harm and makes you feel better = win

I agree with this

[LewisLegion]

Another difference is, the appendix isn't removed UNTIL it becomes a problem. Doctors don't routinely remove the appendix of a young healthy baby when there's no reason to.

Surgery is surgery. If it's merely cosmetic (and not the result of a bad birth defect that isn't life threatening but will pose a real concern for the child as he ages) then I don't understand why it should be done. The doctors are cutting a part off a baby that does not need to be cut off, and the child has no say in it.

Yes, it may be slightly more difficult for a grown person to endure, but it would still be their choice, and should be their choice. I dislike people getting little girls' ears pierced when they're infants too- my mother waited until we were old enough to understand what it was and ask for it.

I think people should be able to make their own choices about their bodies and what happens to them as much as humanly possible. Just my opinion, and I think no less of anyone who gets their children circumcised or pierced...I just think its unnecessary.

[Kara_CS]

I remember back in about 4th grade or so, word got out that one boy was uncircumsized. I didn't even know what that meant, but according to the boys who saw the evidence in the boys' bathroom, it looked "weird." That's pretty much the only time I ever heard it mentioned.

I have 2 sons, and they are both circumsized. For my ex and I, it had nothing to do with our religious beliefs, it was cultural influence. Why did we have them get circumcisions? Because that's just what people do with their boys, right? It's a standard thing. And we'd both heard of the supposed health benefits to the procedure.

Penn & Teller did an episode of Bullshit all about circumcision (very very very very NSFW). If I had watched it before my sons had been born, I would have given it a LOT more thought, since it's made very clear it is a purely cosmetic procedure and there are no benefits to it.

[Parvenu]

My partner was circumcised as a baby and he knows he has less sensitivity then an uncut man and handling it I know the difference. His was the first uncut penis I saw as it isn't very common in my county.

Recently I saw an article from the BMJ which stated that men who has been circumcised lost a noteable amount of sensitivity. (I'd find the link but I'm not on a pc).

[Jetfire]

As I said earlier, I'm uncut. About the only time it has affected me, was when I was at bible camp when I was really young (pre-teen). I faintly remember some of the boys commenting on me when we were changing for the pool. I had no idea what they meant, nor did I ask what it might be about, so I didn't realize what it meant until literally decades later. And in hindsight it is probably a bit of the source of some of my shyness as well, but a minor amount at most.

[Ginger Tea]

When I saw the Appendix mentioned I knew it would go down that route, but as already stated, it used to have a function earlier in mankind's growth, but now its just seen as a ticking bomb.

A more fitting analogy is docking tails, when was the last time you saw a Rottweiler or Doberman with it's tail intact?
Unless you have a breeding pair and don't dock them "Because everyone is" I don't think Joe public will see one.
AFAIK there are no reasons to the act, some might even see it as cruel, but there is no religious ancestry to the practice that I know of, least if there was it's long out of 'dogma' if you excuse the pun.

Yes I am comparing babies dicks with dog tails.
Without religious grounds its cosmetic (and to a 3rd party that cannot say no on the subject) because everyone else is, no more no less.