I think I could have accepted a deformity that was
an accident of nature, but I can’t accept that
someone did that to me.
The fact that other boys were circumcised too
never made me feel any better.
I used to think there were 2 kinds of boys:
circumcised boys like me and real boys.
I was circumcised when I was a year old. I
remember my foreskin. I want my foreskin back.
My feelings about the doctor who circumcised me
are too violent to describe.
What circumcision did to my body is bad enough,
but what it did to my mind is worse.
I was just a baby - I couldn’t stop them.
There's a story by Harlan Ellison with a title
that exactly conveys my feelings about having been
circumcised. It's: ‘I Have No Mouth And I Must
Scream’
I feel like half a man.
I have revenge fantasies about circumcision.
I have resented my circumcision ever since I saw
my first intact friend when I was 5 or 6.
It cast a pall over my entire life.
It's a life sentence at birth.
I want to kill the doctor who circumcised me.
I have never been able to accept the fact that
someone cut part of my penis off when I was a baby.
The sheer monstrousness of it haunts every waking
moment of my life. Sometimes I think I'm beginning
to make some sort of adjustment to it, but then I
see an unmutilated man in a magazine or shower and I
become overwhelmed by uncontrollable feelings of
outrage and disbelief that I was made the victim for
life of something so sick. Sometimes I feel I'm at
the edge of madness and just can't handle it.
I think of myself and other circumcised men as
amputees.
I feel as if part of me had been murdered.
Fear, pain, crippling, disfigurement and
humiliation are the classic ways to break the human
spirit. Circumcision includes them all.
To: circumcision_pro_or_con@yahoogroups.com
From: "philip"
Date sent: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 16:22:24 -0000
Subject: [circumcision_pro_or_con] ruined
Send reply to:
circumcision_pro_or_con@yahoogroups.com
i was cut right after my 13th birthday before then i
was proud of my uncut dic but was told by my Mom and
Doctor how much better it would be to be cutwhat a
LIE! Now it is so ugly that i am ashamed to let
anyone see it and there is almost not feelings in it
anymore most times i cant even jack off for the skin
is so tight and doesnt move at all and i go soft from
the lack of feelings. And the pain i suffered
while it heal was almost embarable for weeks it hurt
the head was so tender and hurt for so long from
rubbing my briefs then the head peeled so bad as it
dried out that it left sores it was horrible i hate my
Doctor and Mom and always will for ever for what they
did to me!
I am against circumcision because I was not
circumcised until I was 45. They said I needed it for
medical reasons. If I had it to do over I’d tell them
to go to hell. I lost so much sensitivity it’s almost
unbelievable. No one should do this to anyone unless
there is no other way to fix the problem. An if there
is no problem it should never be done. To me it is
child abuse to circumcise a child for no real reason.
100% DONT CUT IT! I am polish/European and was born
uncut. I moved to USA when I was 2 and felt different
from other boys. I didn't like having foreskin so when
I was 18 I got cut because I couldn't [bear] the
insecurity. I'm no[w] 26 and TOTALLY regret doing it.
I lost SOO much sensitivity. There is NO need to cut
your foreskin. It's not JUST a piece of skin. It
PROTECTS the penis. My girl and I are NOW expecting a
baby boy and we are DEFINITELY NOT CIRCUMCISING!
At the age of 21 I allowed the US military to talk me
into getting circumcised. It would prevent disease,
they said, and I would be cleaner, which the girls
would enjoy (not much clearer than that) and such.
What they didn't tell me was that intercourse would
never be quite as enjoyable, that the reduction in
sensation while excited would make the area feel
almost numb compared to before, and that the increase
in sensation when flaccid would lead to make the rest
of life uncomfortable.
I still wish I had my foreskin back.
cirecire90 Wrote 6 months ago [February 2009]
i m jealous...i m cut n really m mad at my parents 4
having me circumsized...
My penis was butchered at birth and I resent it. Wait
until men are 18 and let them make their own decision.
Otherwise this constitutes forced genital mutilation.
How did this barbaric religious practice spread to the
general population?
No. 17 · Jesse
...
I myself was originally not circumcised but when I was
12 I slowly began experiencing Phimosis, the closing
of the foreskin, my parents ignored it even though I
kept telling them I wanted to see a doctor about ti
and it wasn't until I was 14 when it began to become
difficult to urinate that I finally got to see a
urologist, who told me before even looking at the
problem that the ONLY way to fix it was circumcision,
so I got circumcised and it was a terrible experience,
especially since I was going through puberty, imagine
having to avoid getting an erection because it would
cause the stitches to dig into your penis, AND YOU'RE
14! The age when anything will cause an erection.
It was only after I finally recovered that I learned
there actually WERE other ways to stop Phimosis and
that my urologist had LIED to me! In order to push a
surgery I didn't need.
And being one of the few people that can remember
having foreskin and now doesn't have it, I REALLY miss
my foreskin, it is terrible not having it, I lost 2
inches!
Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 2:57 pm
No. 29 · unimac
I wish my parents never had me circumcised. I didn't
care about it until a few years after I started
becoming sexually active, and then it hit me like a
brick wall…the fact that I had something removed from
me, surgically, and that it has happened to millions
of other men without their consent. I thought about it
a lot and became upset about it. It is a serious
problem and indicative, i think, of an obscene medical
system.
Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 4:10 pm
No. 49 · Jeff K.
If being cut reduced sensation all that much
we'd have all these cut men screaming "I can't cum."
I can't. At least not during normal sex. Only while
masturbating. I was hoping to leave that detail out,
but oh well. :/
Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 6:32 pm
[#30.] No. 51 · Nobody
F*** no. It's my body and I'm still annoyed that my
parents had the audacity to cut off part of my dick.
Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 6:47 pm
No. 52 · Shawn
@Nobody: I agree, but I more mad at the doctor than my
parents
Posted: Aug 24, 2009 at 6:58 pm
No. 66 · Mark
My boyfriend is cut. No, he (unlike the other, uncut
ones) cannot come unless with his own deathgrip, and
yes, it was a very traumatic procedure for him.
Nobody in their right mind should be advocating
circumcision especially in the industrialised world.
Circumcision whether male or female is a fucking
disgrace..
The fact this bronze age bullshit still occurs is
utterly disgusting..
I'm furious with my parents for doing it to me as a
child..
Posted: Jul 28, 2010 at 1:56 pm
No. 24 · Whoddafunk?
I agree with you David, circumcision is genital
mutilation and I wish more people would talk openly
about this. When I asked my parents why they
circumcised me they didn't want to talk about it and
they said it was just what is done. I couldn't believe
they would just do something for that reason without
thinking about it more deeply, and I couldn't believe
how nervous they got when it was brought up. That they
would do something to their child that they can't even
talk about or justify without getting really nervous
is crazy....
Posted: Jul 28, 2010 at 2:10 pm
I certainly have enjoyed my share of foreskins, don't
like the look of scars on cocks and regret the fact
that I have to wrap the head of my un[?]cut penis in
silk or some other supersoft material to protect it
during sweaty physical activity. Despite the callouses
developed on the glans of an uncut [sic a cut?]
penis, my head gets irritated very easily, on into
pain, making it difficult to ride a bike or run. So
yeah, I have been a bit annoyed at my parents.
If I’m going to bare any scarred or
partially-amputated body part in the gym shower, it
should be because it had to be done for medical
reasons or because it was my choice. My penis is no
different in this regard. I don’t want my cockhead
permanently exposed to strangers because some religion
told my parents how much of my penis I could keep or
because I was unlucky enough to be born in some
country where boys go through surgery to lose half
their penis skin “to fit in”. That’s beyond crazy.
Males who get penis plastic surgery at birth will
never know what it’s like to be a whole man in control
of his own body. For me, that control was ceded by
proxy during my first week of life. From then on, I’m
just a slave; I’m living someone else’s idea of how I
should explore my body, develop and enjoy sex.
Worse than that, it’s taboo to complain that my
(unnecessary) penis scar is crooked, or that I lost so
much skin that my erections hurt, or that my penis
bends because my circumcision is lopsided. Skin bridges? "Live with it."
Hardened lymph fluid, fistula, cold glans? "Live with
it." Meatal
stenosis? "Everyone’s got it, it’s normal. Shut
up."
Listen up: It’s my penis and I’ll decide how much of
it I’ll keep. I’ll decide what’s “beautiful”. I’ll
decide what’s clean. I’ll decide how safe to keep it
from disease and especially from anyone’s scalpel.
Yeah, I’m angry that doctors and my parents are too
brainwashed to understand all this, but I’m really
pissed off that the law doesn’t spare them from having
an ethical dilemma. It sure stopped anyone from even
wondering whether to cut my sister.
...I don’t feel I’m cleaner, or more attractive, or
more normal for having been put through this surgery.
All I really feel is that I’m permanently branded, like a
steer.
- John, from Washington, DC
I was circumcised as an infant, and as an adult I
feel both violated and mutilated. Not a day passes in
which I fail to contemplate the fact that my genitals
were modified in a way that I did not consent to nor
could control - when I did not suffer from any medical
issues whatsoever.
My penis was mutilated without my consent when I was
a baby. Like many thoushands of men, I suffer pain as
an adult from this horrific act...
Trevor on Student Life (Washington
University), December 2, 2009
I have had nothing but grief from being circumcised
at 14 days of age for no medical issue whatsoever. ...
Due to the constant discomfort and irritation of
having an exposed glans I am forced to pull the shaft
skin forward over the glans and taping up with medical
tape every day just to get relief and feel normal. ...
To this day I find it difficult not to boil over with
anger over the injustice of this inhumane, cruel and
barbaric procedure.
Having been so tortured in 1950, I am only lately
coming to grips with the induced PTSD. My sexual
feeling has so blunted that sex is a chore now rather
than a joy.
I was not given a choice. Nobody asked if it was
alright to disfigure me.
Joseph Rissetto, California on petition to the AAP (# 2,158)
December 21, 2009
I had phimosis, and was circumcised at the age of 11.
...
I never got a choice as far as how I wanted it to
look. Years later, when I read about the condition
online, and realized that removal of the entire
foreskin was not necessary… well… needless to say, I
got very bitter.
I really don't understand how doctors can do this and
sleep at night. First do no harm! Then again the ...
doctor that amputated my glands did not even
apologize. He also did not have parental consent. He
was sent here in the early 60's to civilize the
Hillbillys by Uncle Sam. I am sure he is in Hell now.
Being that he died before I reached 18 and brought
suit against the bastard.
No evidence of psychological trauma?? That is only
because they weren't looking.
If they knew the rage that I have for my mutilator
runs so deep that I would willingly "return the favor
to him" in the way he did me they might change their
mind.
I had a medical circumcision when I was 18, and I can
report that there IS a difference. Afterwards I was
really pissed off because at the time they offered me
a new procedure where they just make a cut in the skin
rather than hacking it all off.? Being totally
ignorant I turned it down thinking it would be good to
have shot of it. If I'd known that I'd be left with
scar tissue and the end of my knob less sensitive, I
would have taken it. But they never told me anything
about that.
My mother was advised to circumcise. The procedure
was botched according to a distressed nurse in
attendance. I am over 60 and have virtually no
sensation in my penis. I have no sensation during
masturbation and sexual penetration and have never
ejaculated while conscious. I still have occasional
wet dreams. I am married to an understanding wife, we
find other ways for affection.
Would some circumcision advocates please reply and
explain why my circumcision was the right thing to do.
I do have a circumcision. I hate whoever did this to
me. It's spilled milk, though, I realize. You say that
I'll never know unless I have a circumcision. Well
because I do, I can attest to bleeding and complete
destruction of sensitive nerve endings in the glans.
Yes, even a chunk of my glans was taken along with the
foreskin. I can't feel nearly as much as my husband.
What else am I missing? I can only imagine.
Just so you know... I was circumcised and then
abandoned to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. How is
that for child abuse? How is that for "cut and run",
huh?
What do you say for people like me? What sort of
rationalization do you have for children who had body
parts sacrificed to god or the gods of the medical
establishment?
Where was my consent form? Where are my rights for
bodily integrity? I will say this again:
At birth in the United States, I had less rights than
dogs in Switzerland. At birth in the United States, I
had less rights than dead bodies here. At birth in the
United States, I had less rights than girls at birth.
The allowance of circumcision in the United States
for parents' whim is sexist, ageist and places the
rights of dead bodies higher than my rights at birth.
Where is the outrage? My body, my rights!
nhguy78 of Hudson, NH, on Rant/Rave February 21, 2010
to be honest the whole circumcision thing has gotten
me paranoid and scared, I would never put my childern
through something like that. my parents were very
nieve for having me circumcised because they thought
it was better for me but in the long run it left me
with a skinbridge and im still goin through hell
because of it!
Okay, circumcision is bad i was circumcised at birth
and after reading this article and many others i feel
like a lost arm at birth. i have never felt the
foreskin i am starting the restoration process but you
lose so many advantages being circumcised. I now hate
my parents for removing part of my body a very
important part may i say. When i have kids if the
woman wants to circumcise the kids i will say fuck her
and ask for a divorce.
in teenage years (hitting puberty) i felt lots of
discomfort in becoming erect and i ask some of my
friends if they had the same problem i found out that
only the ones with a circumcised penis had them and
they reported occasional bleeding as well.
and so i think F@#$ MY PARENTS FOR CIRCUMCISING
ME!!!!!
i am extremely pissed off that my mom forced me to
get a circumcision. ignoring the obvious pain that i
had to endure as a goddamn infant (seriously. i dare
you to watch a video of
a circumcision all the way through), and all the
sexual pleasure i'm going to miss out on, i can't
believe she'd put me through a barbaric ritual that is
purely religious.
Since my brainwashed parents were obedient, and my
jackass doctor didn't start the cut where he ended it,
I have a weird "red storm of jupiter" where he tried
to change course on my penis. Thank you doc. I will
never know what it's like to have the normal, natural
penis I was born with. Idiots.
After I received this torture, I apparently rejected
my mother and my parents had a difficult time finding
a replacement for her milk. Then I was so stressed out
that it took extra years before I stopped bed-wetting.
The result was to make me a more inward-looking, less
emotional kind of person than I would have liked to
be.
I am sure that I would have been a different person
if I had not been circumsized.
Trowbridge H. Ford on The Local (Sweden), April 29,
2010
I am a circumcised male and I have suffered for years
as a result of a decision my parents made.
This video is very significant and deserves more
publicity.
Be allowed? - no
If I had a son... no!!
I've done enough reading that this whole thing with
circumcision is barbaric. I am jealous of guys that
are still fully intact.
I don’t buy that line that male circumcision is
harmless, because my Bris resulted in some pretty
severe damage. I have a large irregular band of scar
tissue, and when I was a teenager erections were
painful and sometimes resulted in ripped, bleeding,
skin, making the scars even worse. Ever since I was a
little boy I knew something was wrong. I was told that
circumcision was a good thing, without even knowing
what it was – as it turns out, amputation of about
half the skin of my penis. I did not ask for part of
my penis to be destroyed, and I’m furious when I read
clueless articles like this one that dismiss the harm
with clueless chuckling. ...
I’m a man who had his foreskin removed without his
consent. If this was done to me as an adult, how much
money would I be entitled to and how much prison time
would the perpetrator receive?
I didn’t want to be mutilated. Fuck you if you have
come to terms with it and want to tell me to get over
it. Fuck you. Really. That’s about all I have to say
about that. Comment #145: on 05/10 at 09:30 AM
I was born a muslim and was
circumsised. I feel that I had something taken away
from me, which is not natural. Nobody had the right to
take something away from me.
Why don't we force kids with big noses to have
plastic surgery? Humans deserve the right to choose
what happens to their bodies once they are adults.
I was mutilated at birth and i deeply resent this
terrible decision. Most people don’t know or even care
to look but 4 out of the 5 most sensitive parts of the
penis are amputated by “circumcision”, and if that
wasn’t terrible enough the last remaining sensitive
part “the glans” becomes “keritanized” which means
that due to abrasion a substance called keratin, the
same substance that forms your nails, builds up in the
glans to help protect itself, further reducing
pleasure. it is a crime beyond comprehension to
mutilate children male or female. Lets stop this wave
of mutilation. NO EXCEPTIONS.
As a male-bodied individual, I am really upset that
my parents made the decision to have me snipped when I
was fresh out of the oven without me even having a say
in the matter. I am against controlling other peoples
bodies in any way. If the statistics on the health
benefits of being circumcised were accurate, which I
deeply doubt they are, it should still be a decision
left for an adult-male to make about his own body when
he is of age to safely undergo the procedure of his
own free will.
Its just my luck that i was born into a jewish
family. i cant even prove to them that circumcision is
bad because their so brainwashed! I hate them for it.
If they come out with a way to genetically
regenera[t]e foreskins so its like you never even lost
it ill be first in line
fuck my parents. they said they did it to me to fit
in. fuck that, likes its such a big deal to be a tiny
bit different. yea i agree it might be a little more
attractive to females but that is by far not a good
enough reason to go through with it. not only that but
as a baby it is out of your control weather it happens
to you or not. thats the fucked up part. is your body
and its not even your choice. its honesty fucked and i
can not put into words how pissed i am
Just turned 70 – had a badly botched infant circ
excessive skin removed with significant scarring and
irreperable nerve damage – result left me unable to
enjoy any kind of mutual sex activity – not only is it
non-productive, but it is just plain painful. There
has been considerable emotional damage over the years
as well, plus eventually the complete estrangement
from my entire family – I feel mutilated and raped –
at this point, I hope I will live long enough to see
the end of this monstrous practice, and the best would
be to see it made totally illegal as FGM is now -
I was cut as a baby and have suffered because of it….
and I’m very angry with my parents because of that
decision. Sure there’s a lot of risk in life. But
circumcision is NEEDLESS amputation and mutilation of
a normal, healthy, functioning body part.
Circumcisers are child rapists, most just don’t
realize it. My mother’s OB/GYN inflicted circumcision
on me, and I’m beyond PISSED about it. How does anyone
except ME have the right to cut off important parts of
MY penis? If you get the urge to cut up your baby, cut
yourself instead.
Another reason why religion should be keep away from
EVERYTHING! Any docter who thinks this should be done
should have their profession denied by law.
Anyone who performs this should got to jail on
MULTIPLE felony charges. The doctor who did this to
me…I wan[t] to behead with his own damn scape[l]
knife.
Man, I wish I wasn’t circumcised. I was circumcised
at birth, so I never had a choice. Now I have all
these embarrassing scars. I can’t forgive my parents
for doing this to me.
I was circumcised, It has many problems, the most
severe being the desensitization on the glans (penis
head). Over time, after rubbing on rough fabrics in
the underwear, it keratinizes, meaning a thick layer
of dead cells form over it, eliminating a lot of
sensitivity, and on top of that the millions of nerve
endings are damaged or even destroyed.
This makes it take very difficult to do things normal
men can do like masturbating and having an orgasm.
I was circumcised at birth and I AM mentally scarred
and resent it deeply. You only have to work out how a
foreskin acts like lube during masturbation and sex to
know us cut guys are missing out on a lot of pleasure
for no good reason at all.
One of my best friends killed himself because he was
so disturbed by being circumcise.
strivealivebrian on Moms Health September 30, 2010
I have got cut when i was 10 years
old & i still have sleepless nights. I choose to
do it as my dad said everyone has it. But my mom said
if i leave pakistan then i don`t have to have it done
& people die Also i will miss my dick ( i regret
it ) she was right.
My mother was not in the room when I had my bris.
I confronted her about it when 27 yrs old, she said
she would still have done it to me even if she knew I
would kvetch about it to her when I was 27. If I could
have been self aware & able, I would have put the
moyls head through
the wall and used his instruments to cut off his
genitals and ram half down his throat and the other
half up his tokhus.
It would be a giant leap in the right direction if
they ban infant circumcision. I had no choice, my body
was cut and altered. That is mutilation by the very
definition of the word. Men are getting information on
what circumcision really is and more importantly, what
it removes. Ill tell you that I deeply resent the fact
that forced genital cutting was imposed on me, and
millions upon millions of others (most of them
infants: unaware of sex, diseases, pain)....
And if you argue about hygiene issues, take a walk to
your local pharmacy and look at all the products to
help maintain and aid in female hygiene, try to find a
product that men need other than soap. None, and they
cut me so that i would be cleaner? WHAT THE F...!!!
All I can say is i hope future generations will be
spared from this genital cutting so they can enjoy the
pleasures of an intact body.
"My grandfather was circumcised with a reed, and my
father and I were circumcised by a Gillette blade. I
still remember it. When the man came to circumcise the
boys they were taken to a separate place and kept
behind a kind of screen. I was five years old and very
curious to see what was happening. I went to see, and
they saw me and grabbed me too. I am still angry about
that."
A Ugandan businessman quoted in "The Masque of Africa" by V. S.
Naipaul, October 2010
I am a victim of infant circumcision. The "ancient"
Greek and Roman civilizations did not practice
circumcision, so I am uncertain why we did so in the
twentieth century, when modern sanitation and medicine
precluded the need for this unnecessary and barbaric
practice. I cannot forgive my
parents for subjecting me to Judaic religious
practices when we are not Jews. STOP INFANT
CIRCUMCISION NOW! The UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child bans it in
most developed countries. [It
doesn't explicitly, but that's a logical
interpretation of it.] Why not the USA?
NYCAustinNYC
@80jasey
I am also "a victim of infant circumcision". My
nominally Christian mother had it done because she was
told the lie by her doctor that doing so would
eliminate the chances of me giving my future sexual
partners vaginal
cancer. :-(
jimmymastiff (26 October 2010)
circumcision is disgusting....let the child choose if
he wants his own penis mutilated when he grows up...I HATE that I am....it really
is barbaric and unnecessary....
I wish I were no circumcised. I feel cheated out of
that extra sensitivity it gives a man down there...
the glans were meant to be covered up and protected...
it's false to say that the extra skin will spread
disease. If a Father did his job right and TAUGHT his
son how to clean himself properly there would be no
argument or discussion about that. ....
I don't forgive my parents, and I was 2 days old. the
reason most boys don't get mad at their parents?
because they don't UNDERSTAND what happened to them.
...trust me, if I could have I would have killed the
people who did it to me...
I am SO GLAD someone is doing this [the San Francisco
ballot]. I strongly resent having been cut.
Circumcision is medically unjustifiable genital
mutilation of uninformed, non-consenting minors.
Religious reasons for doing it are not acceptable,
for you can create a religion to sanctify anything
(e.g. Mormons with polygamy, Rastafarians with
marijuana). Mutilating babies' genitals is nothing
short of barbaric.
I am very dissatisfied with the results of my
unauthorized genital alteration - what would you say
to me? What you say to many men who are offended by
our culture's lack of respect for bodily integrity?
I wish my parents and the doctors hadn’t shoved THEIR
beliefs down MY throat when I was helpless to speak up
about it. They cut away more than my flesh, they took
away my freedom of choice over MY OWN body. I agree,
NO ONE has the right to force their beliefs on anyone
else. That includes my parents. My body, MY choice.
I was circumcised as a baby, and no I am not happy
about it. Did it prevent me from getting HIV? NO! I
know a many who are HIV+, all but 2, my boyfriend and
one other guy I know are circumcised. If the study
were performed among gay men in the US most likely the
majority of men infected with HIV would be
circumcised, simply because this barbaric practice
still rules in the US not because there are really any
meaningful differences among the risk of infection
between circumcised and those left intact.
Circumcision is a barbaric practice whether preformed
on males or females, and male circumcision has been
used as a means to prevent or cure every malady
imaginable, now HIV. It is simply ridiculous to treat
a natural part of the male body as a defect and a
cause of disease.
I was circumcised at birth. Now, as an
educated, sexually active, 27-year-old adult, I wish
it had not happened. I won't say anything about
the pain and suffering of the
physical event, because it's true that I don't
remember it (though anyone who has witnessed one can
tell you the baby is in horrific pain throughout the
process). What I am going to talk about is how I
feel now. I feel a sense of loss for the fact
that a physical part of me is permanently missing
without my ever having known it. More painful
than that is a sense of violation. Something was
unnecessarily done to me as a baby that I would not
have chosen to have had done if I had been given the
choice as an informed, consenting adult. (And
yes, I do know it to have been unnecessary because I
have been able to discuss the issue with my
father. He confirms that he and my mother
were undecided about it and asked the doctor for
advice. The doctor said that everything appeared
healthy, but that he recommended it anyway for the
cosmetic and societal reasons. It was this
preferential, non-medical recommendation that led to
my mutilation at birth, and many other baby boys in
the 1980's and other decades.)
The only thing I can do about it is to undergo
foreskin restoration,
either a surgical or mechanical process. I am
choosing to do that, but I also know from my research
on the subject that it is not a reversal of my
circumcision, but only a physical simulation which may
or may not be successful in fully amending the altered
appearance and function of my penis.
I have heard it said that many women
prefer circumcised men. I have been with
many women and found through my own sexual experience
that I prefer women with natural pubic hairstyles and
small nipples on medium-large breasts of a certain
shape. I have respect for my sexual partners and
feel that I can either accept a woman's body or find
someone else who better fits my preferences. I
would never ask a woman to change the way she grooms
her pubic hair or expect her to surgically amend her
breast shape or nipple-to-breast ratio. And I
hope a woman would have more respect for herself than
to change her body to please a man who felt his
preferences outweighed her body's natural form.
I was appalled to see a woman's contribution on
Circlist where she proudly recounted consistently
nagging her boyfriend to be circumcised, and his
subsequent compliance despite initial strong refusal
to do so. I wish I had been his friend so I
could influence him to see that he deserved better
than a woman who would criticize his body, and I
wonder whether she would have been willing to change
herself if he had imposed a preference on her that
didn't match who she was physically. So I don't
think the old "women prefer circumcised men" argument
holds up. Every individual in the world is
different and has different preferences about the
appearance of sexual partners. Imagine how we
would look if, when we were infants, our parents had
surgically altered everything about us that they
suspected our future sexual partners might not
"prefer."
Another concern I've heard is that circumcised
fathers want their sons to look like them.
My father is uncircumcised, and when I occasionally
saw him undressed as a child, I didn't think anything
of the fact that his penis looked different from
mine. And I imagine that if I had thought
anything of it, the presence of a foreskin wouldn't
have even made the Top 10 list of differences between
a 34-year-old's penis and a pre-schooler's. Now
that we are both fully-grown men, we have not seen
much, if any, of one another's penises in many, many
years. As someone whose penis did not (and still
probably doesn't) look much like his dad's, I have the
experience to say with full knowledge and authority
that that particular question is a complete non-issue.
Then there's the hygiene
argument. I just ran my theory by my
uncircumcised roommate, and he confirmed that an
uncircumcised penis does not develop odors, accumlated
smegma, or an inability to be retracted healthily if
its owner invests a few seconds a day in quickly
cleaning it in the shower. Unless I'm the only
circumcised guy in the world who washes his penis in
the shower, that doesn't sound like an added burden in
any way.
This is the perspective of one circumcised man who
wishes he were not. I know that a lot of guys
who have been circumcised don't mind that they are
(some report a sense that they "got it over with"
without having to remember it, but of course
circumcision isn't an inevitable event that you must
submit to sooner or later, so I don't know where that
frame of mind comes from). Anyway, I'm glad that
many them don't mind, because I know from my own
experience that it's a very painful thing if you do
mind. I'm glad they don't have to face those
feelings. But the fact that many men are
fortunate in that respect doesn't mean that it should
continue - what if the next baby boy who undergoes
routine infant circumcision grows up to feel the way I
do instead? I would rather not take the risk of
letting that happen. If a man reaches adulthood
with his foreskin intact and decides he doesn't want
it, let him choose to have it removed. Options
are far more limited for men who reach adulthood
without it and wish it hadn't been taken away.
(Question: are there any health insurance plans
that treat infant circumcision, or even adult
voluntary circumcision, and adult foreskin
restoration the same way?) If I'm fortunate
enough to become a father, no son of mine will be
circumcised. That's for him to decide, and I
will not rob him forever of the opportunity to
make that choice for himself as an informed adult
capable of making it.
Kevin, by email on December 19, 2010
I too am a victim of circumcision. My quality of life
because of the botched penis "fix" makes me a very
depressed person.
I was circumsised as a baby and ended up with a super
tight circumcision which has literally scarred me for
life and is uncomfortable. I blame my parents for what
they did to me and this has affected our relationship
no doubt. I cannot understand how any intelligent
free-thinking individual can agree to have their son
mutilated for no medical reason whatsoever. If it was
my choice I would never have done it (and my 1 month
old son won't be mutilated either).
I am a 20 something male that deeply wishes his
mother hadn't circumcised him. I feel that this North
American society seriously ripped me off. This is
individual liberty 101 folks. It is my body, it should
have been my choice to remove a perfectly healthy body
part- not my parents, not anyone, me, the person whose
genitals these are.
I was circumcised, so I know quite a bit about its
damaging effects. Circumcision does cause many men
severe psychological problems. It has caused me
feelings of being raped, sadness, depression,
betrayal, and deprivation. I am constantly reminded
and it causes me pain and sadness everyday that i was
mutilated and my body was scarred. I first learned of
circumcision when i was 12. I feel like i have been
stabbed in the heart and am depressed that people
would do such an inhumane and asinine thing to
children. ...
I'm 29 years old, and was mutilated-oh sorry, let's
use the politically correct phrase-circumcised shortly
after birth. It has severely affected both my body and
psychological well being. I have no sympathy for my
parents who allowed it to be done, the doctor who
performed the barbaric act, or my community that did
not protect me from this form of physical and sexual
abuse. But I do have plenty of anger for them, with
enough extra for people like you.
How dare you spread your filthy propaganda trying to
persuade people to have HEALTHY, FUNCTIONAL tissue
amputated from those who cannot consent. You probably
have no idea what the functions-yes plural, there are
multiple-of the foreskin are and yet you have the
audacity to write that disgusting, baseless pro-circ
drivel. People like you are shameful and if you ever
have a circumcised son don't be shocked if you find
out some day that he resents you for it once he learns
all that was lost.
...
The bottom line: It is WRONG to amputate healthy
tissue from those who cannot consent. All people
should have a right to genital integrity.
I am a man that was non-consensually circumcised as a
neonate and I really wish I wasn't. I wanted to have
the choice to keep my complete genitals and find out
for myself if my foreskin was significant.
My muslim parents had me circumcised as a 3 or 4 year
old in a Glasgow hospital by a jewish doctor. I am now
40 and have always resented the procedure done to me
without my informed consent. I still cringe at the
humiliation and shame.
I was circumcised after birth and wish I'd been left
intact. My body healed poorly from the procedure and I
was left with a skin bridge that made me very self
conscious after puberty. Many years later I had
surgical correction but I have vowed that I would
never put my son through the same ordeal
I'm for it [the San Francisco ban]. There's not a
good enough reason for it [circumcision]. Mine was
botched. I still resent my parents for doing it based
merely on aesthetics and tenuous claims of hygiene.
Although I'm not Jewish, I was circumcised at 5
months of age, and now I'm older I am really suffering
the consequences. A numb penis is no pleasure,
intercourse is unproductive, even masturbation is
often a failure.
I’ve endured a lifetime of discomfort, pain (physical
and emotional), recurrent infections requiring massive
and lengthy doses of antibiotics to cure, which have
now caused life-long digestion issues ALL because of a
(botched) "perfectly routine circumcision." Do NOT try
to tell me it’s not a big deal. My penis should have
been left alone so that *I* could decide what to do
with it, not some quack doctor looking to pocket an
extra fee at my expense.
...
I consider circumcision rape, I am circumcised, I
consider circumcision rape and mutilation. It was
against my will, and ultimately I Speak that now. I
wish it were legal for me to execute people.
...you could also count me as one who realizes
that his own infant circumcision was an
infringement of his physical rights. A
significant one. And the realization has been an
emotional burden to me. I cried every day
for a while back when I first realized, ten years ago
or so. I haven't cried about it for a while and
usually it's forgotten but sometimes I read
something or someone says something that flares it up
again.. The San Francisco thing flared it up
again.
- Aaron to this site, June 17, 2011
As
a
male in my early 40's I was the victim of circumcision
for no more reason than it was the fad of the 60's and
70's and explained away as hygienic. I blame my
parents for this and their decision to go along with
prevailing fashions rather than make their own
investigation and moral decision. I feel robbed as a
man both of my foreskin and more importantly my choice
to make decisions about my own body.
When I read about the functions of the foreskin, how
much more sensitive intact men were, and how much more
pleasurable sex was for intact men, I had a mixture of
feelings come over me: anger, depression, resentment,
hatred, among a number of other things. Long story
short, it drove me into a deep depression.
I'm a man who is circumcised and nobody asked me.
It's a permanent choice inflicted on me.
It also has damage they don't speak of. I'm
numb there. Obtaining orgasm is incredibly difficult
for me and always has been. Either by myself or with a
partner.
Gee thanks.
Plain and simple this is genital mutilation. You are
cutting off part of a person's body. Not YOUR body.
Someone else.
That is physically inflicting your beliefs on another
person who can't defend themselves.
I'm all for making this barbaric practice illegal to
be performed on children.
It is cosmetic and non necessary and those criteria
alone should prevent it from ever occurring again.
...
Personally I do consider circumcision mutalation and
lament my Catholic parents having been talked into
allowing our family doctor into taking away a large
number of my nerve endings. To cut or not to cut
should have been my choice.
I was circumcised - and I am NOT happy with the
results. We need a worldwide end to this torture and
genital mutilation of children. Adults can cut, pierce
or tattoo their own bodies if they wish. 4 months ago
I am a Latin American man who has been circumcised. I
did not have a choice in the matter being an infant at
the time. I can wholeheartedly state that I wish I had
my foreskin. ...
The real issue here is choice and the fact that there
is no, NO scientific proof that circumcision is
beneficial in any way and all it does is desensitize
the penis. Males lose about 35 to 40% of sensitivity
when circumcised, all based on religious mumbo jumbo
and a perpetuated lie that circumcision makes the
penis more hygienic and safer.
I feel as if something that by all means should have
been my birthright has been taken from me - the right
to even have a say over what is and isn't done to my
own body. ...
I feel that if someone like me would finally step
forward, someone who has been so badly damaged both
physically and emotionally by what supposedly is a
preventative health measure, [then] so would others. I
think that it could be the very thing necessary to
start the cascade that could derail routine infant
circumcision everywhere.
My father converted to Islam in 1990. I was early in
my third year. I remember being circumcised. It's my
earliest memory. It's too vivid. I can't shake the
pain every time I think about it. I've been mutilated.
Between 10000 and 20000 erotogenic nerve endings taken
from me and I had no say in the matter. I'm?
mutilated.
I want to kill the doctor who did it to me. And I'll
never forgive my parents for letting it happen.
From my own personal experience, circumcision did not
make it feel better. The doctor cut too much skin off.
It is a very imprecise procedure and it really depends
on how much the doctor cuts off. It is hard to
estimate how much to cut.
The doctor cut too much skin off. It was way too
tight and it is extremely painful when stretched. I
absolutely hate it. I regret having it done. After
circumcision, the skin on the organ becomes extremely
dry and is prone to severe irritation. Also, they
supposedly say circumcision makes you last longer in
sexual relations. This is not correct. In fact, after
circumcision, there is so much irritation of the skin
from the missing foreskin that you go off sooner.
...
I hate the effect of circumcision. If you were
circumcised as a baby, you don’t know what you are
missing. I don’t believe people should live in
ignorance. I don’t believe we should go on being a
society that says sexual pleasure does not need to be
as good as it can get. I don’t support, “As long as it
is kind of good feeling, it is enough. Settle for
ho-hum pleasure. Who cares about full sensation and
feeling.”
My husband is very upset that he was circumcised. He
has scar[r]ing, nerve damage and a fistula that won't
heal. All from routine infant circumcision.
Kirsten Veronica William on the Huffington Post, October 4, 2011
Two teenaged sons are now asking WHY did I allow
doctors to DO THAT TO THEM??? Wish I hadn’t… Parents
now have much more information available to them to
help with the decision. If I knew then what I know now
– I would have left them intact, just the way God made
them, practically perfect in every way!
- smc626 on , October 4, 2011
I've lived with it 50 years and I fucking hate it.
I should have been given the choice at least.
I
had no choice when I was cut. I had a friend who
decided to have circumcision done when he was twenty
so he would "look like everyone else". Many months
later I asked what was the difference. He said " my sex world went from full color to
black and white and I can't go back". I feel
I was abused and robbed of a important experience.
I hate being circumcised and I hate the monsters that
forced their creepy religious sacrifice on me. It has
done major damage to my sexual function. Anyone but a
parent would go to prison for this sexual mayhem.
I
was circumcised at birth—and it wasn’t to prevent HPV
or HIV. The reasons to do it change each year.
...
The harm circumcision has caused me physically and
psychologically is immeasurable.
...
It started for the wrong reasons. It causes harm. And
they will keep finding more reasons. But none of them
hold a candle to the fact that I was born with a
foreskin and it was part of my body and I did
not want it removed and it was taken without my consent.
I have a right to my body.
Dr Meg – ...
As a male circumcised at birth, I am angry and feel
that I have been cheated of a vital part of my sexual
anatomy. Given that millions of men worldwide are left
intact, it seems the American medical community would
do better to investigate methods of caring for the
intact male instead of cutting off a part of the body
because it is inconvenient.
...
The issue is a matter of PERSONAL choice – not the
choice of the parent or doctor but of the individual
whose rights are being taken against his will.
Hi, I was just a baby - I couldn’t stop them. My mom
said they had to tie me down and also hold me down so
they would not screw up. But they did anyway. They cut
off too much skin and when I was younger I looked like
a peeled banana. I feel like only part of a guy. I
have never been able to accept the fact that someone
cut part of my penis off when I was a baby. ...
I have never been able to accept the fact that someone
cut part of my penis off when I was a baby. The sheer
stupidity of it used to haunt every waking moment of
my life. I was jealous of the guys I knew that had
been able to retain their 4skins. My brother had his
first son circumcised and then he had to take him in
for "corrective surgery" to fix something that should
have not been done in the first place. He said "NO!!"
to his other 2 sons and I said "NO!!" to [having] my
son circumcised. He has no problems with his penis or
his 4skin. I saw a lot of screwed-up penises in school
and the YMCA when I was younger. It really freaks me
out when I hear people say that they are going to have
their son cut.
When I
was about 5, I observed most boys in my class weren’t
like me, as circumcision almost exclusively religious
in my country (My family aren’t Jewish or Muslim) plus
my second brother was born around this time, and he
was left intact. I only learned this year that my two
youngest brothers were allowed to keep their penises
in their proper state because of money issues, and
that my mother was dead against circumcision, but
eventually gave in to my father’s demands.
...
As for complications, I’m all too familiar with them.
In the past I’ve been asked by partners what was wrong
with my penis. I’ve recently come to learn that the
abnormalities are called “skin
bridges”, previously, I didn’t even know there
was a name for them. Smegma gathers beneath them, but
instead of simply retracting, then washing, which is
what I’d do were I…unmodified, I have to poke out the
smegma with a paperclip, a most annoying task. And
here I thought circumcision was
meant to be cleaner. ...
If i could make my penis normal
again, I’d do so in a heartbeat, but short of
a scientific leap in tissue regeneration or time
travel, or finding a magic lamp, I don’t see that
happening. It’s easier to destroy than create, and
sadly this is especially true where infant
circumcision is concerned.
I was circumsized and it was botched. I am 42 and
never had a satisfactory sex life or long term
relationship. The scarring is horrible and I have no
sensitivity in my penis. Think on this. My life, while
not ruined, is very unhappy. I also hate my parents
for letting this happen to me. Parents let your
children make up their minds as adults PLEASE. Do not
let their lives become mine.
I had "the op" at birth and wish I hadn't. ...
- so it is all about "grossness"? Ever thought about
the **complete loss of sensation** "down there" for
those of us who have "been done"? No, of course you
haven't. I now have no more sensation down there than
the back of my hand. ...
I
wish I was never circumcised after doing research, and
I hate the fact I can never reverse it. I wish parents
were more informed, my folks just thought it was what
they had to do. So please, do the research,
understand, and perhaps you’ll leave your kids intact.
i was circumcised as an infant because of my parents
being jewish. because of my circumcision, i am now 19
and i cant have sex. my penis has severe keloidal
scarring and lacks the skin i need to have an erection
without pain. the only hope i have is undergo more
surgeries to remove the scar tissue, which has a 50/50
chance of growing back, and undergo foreskin
restoratin to try and regain skin. because of my
circumcision, i am not on a speaking terms with my
family because their ignorance and lack of compassion
for me as their child has cost me the chances of
having sex, a relationship, and children. ive also
become an atheist so the irony is that circumcision
doesnt profit me anything in eyes of a god either so
it was truly all for nothing. ill probably never get
an std though. you have to be able to have intercourse
to get one.
- Cameron Christopher Cross on Facebook, December 2, 2011
My own mother was, I imagine, very easily talked into
to sexually mutillating me when I was first born and I
have NEVER forgiven her (I never will, either), in
spite of her and many other of her defenders’
excuses...
As a man circumcised at 5 months of age, who is no
longer able to orgasm when having intercourse, and
being able to masturbate only with great difficulty,
I am filled with loathing of the man who did this to
me...
Bear in mind that he was paid to do this...
I have consulted a urologist, and though he said that
the cutting was neat, he said the loss of sensitivity
was inevitable sooner or later. This is why infant
circumcision is very rare here, except among Jewish
and Muslim parents, and whilst adult circumcision is
possible, very few do it, and for very good reasons.
... I feel violated that
my foreskin was removed at infancy. For me it's an
issue of consent.? An infant cannot consent to
circumcision. If an adult male wants to hack away at
his own penis, let him have at it but I think ANYONE
seeking to mutilate the genitals of a child, male or
female, should be criminally prosecuted.
I am circumcised, and I hate it. I hate the way it
looks and it feels very tight and painful when I
masturbate. It may not have caused any of you
pro-circumcision activists any problems, but it has
definitely caused me problems. Just because something
works for you, it does not mean it works for everyone.
I am living evidence that circumcision can cause
people problems.
...
I was circumcised as an infant. I discovered this at
about the age of seven, and I still remember my anger,
my childish outrage. Who gave them the right to do
this to me? For much of my life I had no idea what I
was missing. Now I do. Now I understand that my penis
was mutilated and desensitized because of anti-sexual
values that originated with perverted religious
loonies and then were adopted by the medical
profession.
...
If it’s cultural pressure that is causing the practice
to continue, it will only end when the counter
pressure builds to a scream.
I’ve started screaming. I hope you all will join me.
At 63 I have perhaps 5% of penile sensation left due
to neuropathies. Being intact would left me with an
intact nervous system and probably a signitficantly
increased amount of penile sensation. I can tell you
with the redundency of our nervous systems, losing
the first 80% of sensation is much less noticable than
losing those next few percent which starts
leaving big holes in what we feel. I have been
genuinely pissed off at those who damaged me in this
way for at least 40+ years. ...
I did some research on a random whim when I saw a
picture of an uncircumcized penis, and after learning
all the fact, I wish I still had my foreskin. I
honestly feel victimized that I was not involved in
the decision. It's incredibly unfair to make a
decision for somebody else when it is his body and he
has to live with the effects the rest of his life....
I'm circumcised, I'm also desensitized leading to the
near inability to ejaculate. My parents aren't even
religious, my mother just thought they look better
circumcised, which I think was absurd because the
moment I start dressing myself regularly she would
never see it again.
However, I generally don't engage in this debate
because I hate arguments from personal experience. I
recognize that my experience is the statistical
rarity. But my personal opinion is that it should have
been my choice.
It was done to me at birth and not a day passes when
I don't regret this unnecessary and unwanted
mutilation. Loss of sensitivity, sexual disfunction
and discomfort in walking (it is there to protect a
very delicate part of the body). Those who seem to
think they are better off without will soon find out
how necessary it is as their skin ages. this process
should be outlawed in any civilised society (as it is
for women), whether practiced for assumed medical
(phimosis) or fundamentalist reasons. Barbarism...
I am cut and i wish that i could go back and make the
decision for myself because there is no way that i
would have that crazy as quack of a doctor cut my sh!t
off! uncut lover here!
I'm circumcised and I hate it. It's just plain
mutilation, and it's stupid. Yeah, I've heard all the
health related arguments, and they're bogus - they
don't practice it in Europe - it's a stupid American
thing. It's humbug. And the fact of the matter is, it
does reduce sexual pleasure.
I was circumcised as an infant. I'm not sure of the
exact reasoning for me being circumcised, but I was
born right at the peak of circumcision rates in the
United States, and in the region where it was most
common. I am unhappy with the decision to have me
circumcised. If I have a son, I will not have him
circumcised, because it takes away his right to bodily
integrity.
...
The bottom line though is that once he is
circumcised, it cannot be undone. It is a permanent
alteration to his body. If he chooses later in life,
when he is able to understand what circumcision is, to
get circumcised he will still have that choice if you
leave him intact.
- matchrestore on February 15, 2012 and
on Bayside Patch, June 2, 2012
I do take circumcision very personal. I hate that it
wasn't my choice to decide weather to get rid of the
foreskin or not. Sex is one of the greatest things in
life. Why mess with your sons penis? Are you sick? I
hate my mom for circumcising me. Im 5ft 8in. My penis
is 6 Inches. When i get a good erection sometimes my
penis hurts like its trying to jump out of its skin.
I'm a handsome guy believe me i had nice women but i'm
insecure. Men like me wants the big booby girls who
wants the 8inch dicks. It sucks how men can't enlarge
the penis because they are circumcised. Why cross out
the best in life?
- i was circumcised and thanks to that i lack sexual
function and my parents regret forcing it on me at
infancy, name ONE benefit i received from being
mutilated
I am circumsized and have always had problems with
achieving orgasm my ENTIRE LIFE I am 47 now. ...
are you people stupid........keep your hands off
babies penises let them decide ...
Hetrosexual men usually only have intimate experience
of one penis, their own. They are not very well
qualified to make a choice that will effect their
child for life.
I have been circumcised and have always been angry
with my parents for doing this to me. At least they
have the excuse it was not a topic widley discussed in
the 1950s.
In my experience as a gay man i can say without doubt
sex is more enjoyable if you have not been
circumcised.
If you want to chop off a functioning part of your
childs body and deny them sexual fulfillment go ahead
chop it off.
... Im cut and not happy about it
at all. I hate the way it looks and it has led to some
inferiority complexes with myself. There are numorous
psycological issues that spring from this mutilation
and all cut men do have them...we are less likly to
trust easialy. Theres also a physical issue that takes
place... Its called desensitation, so sex is not as
enjoyable as it should be. I wish my parents had me in
a time that was educated but in 1990 information on
this issue was not a computer or phone away. ...
... Intact
penis are more attractive erect or flacid and are
certainly instantly recognizable. Circumcized penises
are more likely to be bowed, crooked, or hairy. The
glans is will be dry and pock-marked and of course
there is the scar. Circumcised men like to make people
think that intact penises are laughable because they
are insecure. I was circumcized at birth, but I am
trying my best at non-surgical "foreskin restoration".
I will continue to be
indescribably furious about my circumcision until
the day I die.
I'm 14 and a
freshman in highschool. When I found out what
circumcision was, it literally struck me. I was
circumcised at birth and have been very angry about it
ever since. I then decided to order a restoration
device, but my dad made me return it. I did some
research and read that uncut men have 3 times better sex
due to "nerve endings". I wanna know if that's true or
if its just made to stop infant circumcision. Believe me
I'm 100% against it. But I need to know. My dad told me
all this bullshit that its healthier and that I
shouldn't make a big deal about it, but to that I say
"piss off"
... I am circumcised and hate it! I wish I had been
given the chance to choose for myself. Intact men can
choose to get cut at any time in their life, though
most have no desire to do so. Many men resent being
circumcised.
im a married man in my 20s. i was circumcised as an
infant. my circumcision has left me unable to make
love to my wife without pain
for both of us. if i am able to get an
erection - and more often than not, i cant - orgasm
can take hours. and at least half the time, i dont
orgasm at all. my penis is virtually numb and its
ridden with scarring. ive had to undergo surgery to
correct meatal stenosis and to correct skin bridges,
both of which were caused by circumcision. im
currently undergoing manual foreskin restoration in
hopes that it will help some of my issues. in addition
to my personal experience with circumcision, im also a
nurse. and the first time i saw a circumcision take
place in person, i cried. no one should perform
surgery on another person's genitals just because
their mom and/or dad says "eh. that looks weird. cut
it off."
As a clinical psychologist I have counselled men who
were very distressed that they had been circumcised as
infants. They have felt depression and anxiety, with
feelings of powerlessness and anger.
What is rarely talked about in the great circumcision
debate is that infant
circumcision takes the choice away from the man
the child will become.
This is the moral and ethical problem with infant
circumcision. Let the man decide when he is 18.
... put
yourself in the place of the male infant. Imagine you
are restrained, against your will, and a healthy organ
is amputated from your healthy body. Would you still
be so call[o]us toward the feelings and rights [of]
male infants? If the same cutting were to be the
fashion for little girl infants would you still feel
so indifferent? I AM A VICTIM OF MALE GENITAL
MUTILATION. I will live out my ent[ire] life having
been deprived of an important and functional part of
MY body. I am a human being, just like you. Would you
let some one alter your body forever, without your
consent? ...It
is
a known psychological fact, the abused become the
abusers. Where will it all end...
?
I will not allow you to silence
my voice by deleting my comment. If you REALLY enjoy
a good debate as you claim from your profile, you
would have the courage and tenacity to address this
comment, and not abridge it.
I am a 21 year old male rendered impotent
by circumcision.
There are tight skin bridges that go all around my
penis that healed there after the trauma of
circumcision, terminating at distal points along the
glans, covering roughly 33% of the head of my penis.
As my penis began to grow, my bridges did not,
resulting in painful erections that started at age 14.
I have been technically impotent from the age of 16
because the pain renders me completely incapable of
total penile erection without pain.
Nighttime is the worse. I can usually control it
during the day, but at night I awaken every few hours
or so to the painful sensation of an erection,
gripping the sheets and holding back my choked sobs. I
have not had more than three hours of consecutive
sleep since I turned 17.
I have consulted my doctor on surgeries. A
predilection toward keloid scars runs in my family,
and operating would leave me looking worse down below,
and remove what little erogenous, sensation-receiving
flesh I have left in my penis. I had the surgery, and
now have something that looks like cauliflower on the
end of a gouged bratwurst.
I am at a no win situation. I will never be able to
experience physical intimacy with a woman because of
the pain or the shame of the sorry mess between my
legs that I call my penis.
I am not an isolated case. I am not a single voice. I
know that there are others like me, permanently
damaged and scarred both physically and
psychologically, ranging from various states of
function left.
This gallery proves that there are others out there
like myself. Recent estimates of prevalence of
conditions like mine, that is to say, adhesions of all
levels of severity, are anywhere between 10 and 30%,
the last I read.
The whole problem starts with prematurely separating
the congenital penile adhesions between the foreskin
and the glans. This process is very much like using a
blunt piece of wood to remove your own fingernail.
After the flesh was cut on me, unevenly, the
prematurely separated congenital adhesions healed back
together permanently. On other men, these newly formed
trauma adhesions may break very painfully on their
own, but mine never did.
Every time people like yourself think that YOU have
any right to discuss circumcision, there are two
voices missing, and they belong to the people like me
who are damaged but so normally afraid to speak out of
shame that they never do, and most importantly the
infant who cannot even speak for himself.
I feel as if my very right as a human being to be
born with an intact body has been abridged.
I hate you. I hate this
website. I hate my parents for ruining me. I HATE THAT YOU DELETED MY LAST
COMMENT LIKE THIS.
I say to you out of nothing but
spite that your logic, your life, and the very fiber
of your being are the only thing that I can think of
that are uglier than my penis.
I will fight until the day I die to prevent this
damned preventative measure.
I'm circumcised and not happy about it. I don't blame
my parents but I do see it as unnecessary mutilation
and the worst part is I got no
say in the decision.
I think the health benefits were more important
before we had the healthcare and hygiene of today (I'm
thinking like a couple hundred years ago). Nowadays
you should just wait and let the boy decide.
There are tons of nerve endings there that cannot be
replaced. Women-- imagine not having labias. Totally
sucks.
To help save many boys from the phycological and
physical effects of circumcision that I have suffered
since I was unnessercerily circumcised at the age of
4. My earliest memory was asking a docotor not to give
me the operation.
I am someone who is extremely unhappy with the
decision my parents made to circumcise me. Without
going into details, there were complications which
haunt me to this day and cause me distress. ...
It's too late for me, but not too late to save others
from this procedure.
I’m not a fan of government intervention on almost
anything. But I’m torn on this because what is being
done to kids is disgusting. I
have never said anything to my parents, but there is
a huge amount of anger in me now that I
realize what has been taken away from me.
All I can say is if you circumcise your child before
they are old enough to know what is happening, you had
better be prepared for the backlash later. My dad is
already gone, but this affects how I feel about my
mom.
I was circumcised as a baby, as are most American
baby boys to this day. I know for a fact that this
non-consensual sexual surgery as an infant affects my
sexuality as an adult significantly and negatively.
(The otherwise-protected glans is continually brushing
against clothing, which results in a semi-callused
surface and a dramatically reduced sensitivity.)
I remain angry about it
as a 48 year old man, but women here just don’t get
it. Both of my sisters circumcised all of their sons.
Even though I have heard both of them lament the
plight of African women who are subject to FGM (which
is now illegal everywhere), nonetheless they are
completely deaf to what they themselves have inflicted
upon their own boys for no reason.
I have only one theory as to why this practice
continues in secular America. Just as when a man buys
a truck or a motorcycle he wants to customize it with
accessories, so also must new mothers want to take
their babies in to the clinic and have them customized
as well. I have no other explanation.
Thank the gods [for the German
legal
decision] ! Common sense at last.
I had it done to me and it p*sses me off that someone
was allowed to do something to my body without my
permission.
...
I can honestly say that my parents well-intended
decision to have me circumcised has in some ways
ruined my life. My sexual formation was dysfunctional
from the get go. For example, overly sensitive to
sensation, I was really unable to endure intercourse
until I was in my thirties. That ruined my first
marriage. Overly sensitive to sensation, I became
fixated at an early age on my genitals. ...
I have had similar issues and can undestand how
this affects your relationships and self image. I am
a german- canadian and was circumcised at age 4.
Have recently gone through 8 years of non-surgical
forskin restoration and am about to have my second
minor surgery for tightening of my new foreskin.
(Yes, this is possible and has a good final result,
ask my wife). Alot of work and time to repair damage
done, for a surgery that was recommended to enhance
my health when it has caused me nothing but personal
problems and more surgery. ...
I now am a dad myself and want my kids to be
protected from this unnecessary cosmetic work. I
wish you other guys luck with this as well.
Just for future mothers (and their sons, for that
matter) thinking about this barbaric anachronism. I resent my mother for so arrogantly
having made such a highly personal and irreversible
decision for me. I would prefer to have been
asked as a consenting adult. If your not happy with it
as an adult there is nothing stopping you from making
the medical decision for yourself, just like any
other.
I had a circumcision done when I was 13 due to a
tight foreskin. It was unable to retract and I ended
up with paraphimosis, where the foreskin gets stuck
behind the glans. I went to hospital and got that
fixed, and the doctor got my parent's consent to
perform a circumcision. No other options were given,
and I have since found out that circumcision was
definitely not necessary. Stretching and special
creams can solve the problem. In fact, many boys are
unable to retract their foreskins until they are in
their late teens/early twenties.
Circumcision has RUINED my
life. The foreskin contains 80% of all the
sensitive nerve endings that make sex so pleasurable.
The glans contains the other 20% but because it is now
exposed to the air it becomes keratinised and so loses
all sensitivity also. I have problems getting
erections, I find no pleasure in having oral sex
performed on me, and the only way to reach climax when
having sex is by having very vigorous sex in the doggy
position. This has caused intimacy problems, where
partners think I am insensitive, and so has ruined the
relationships. I simply get no pleasure from other
positions; in fact, it's a complete chore that I have
no interest in.
I wanted to sue the NHS but apparently, because my
parents gave consent, I don't have a leg to stand on.
I feel depressed, suicidal and I've realised recently
that this is probably the main reason for my failed
life in terms of career/job and relationships.
The fact is rarely, if ever, medically necessary, and
if done for religious reasons, IS child abuse. It is
equivalent to raping your child.
...
I am a circumcised male born of Christian parents and
I regret the fact I had no decision in it. As an adult
knowing what I know about the purely religious
ceremonial reasons for it I would not opt for the
senseless cosmetic procedure. I once knew someone
while serving in the military that had the procedure
done because of his frequent problems with venereal
disease. Years later after meeting him by chance he
told me it was the worst decision of his life. He told
me after the protective skin had been removed his
penis gradually became more and more desensitized to
the point of lessoning his desire for sex. He said if
he could do it over he would have just used better
hygienic and safe sex practices. It makes me wonder
what I’ve been missing by not being a whole male. Once
it has been done there is no going back. It should be
left to the individual when they reach the age of
reason.
Here's one male who's enraged over being mutilated, aka
circumcised without consent. Circumcison is literally
disfiguring child rape, and sexual torture when done
without anesthesia, which is often.
... I was circumcised
as a child because my parents were/are Muslims, a
faith I rejected in my early teen years. I was
subjected to a barbaric religious ritual I not only
didn’t consent to but also could not have consented to
given my age.
...
I too am a circumcised male who feels he’s been
mutilated. The saddest thing is that the most vehement
proponents of the practice seem to be circumcised
males. After the “it combats disease” and “it’s more
hygienic” claims have been discredited, they
invariably fall back on “well it never bothered me so
it won’t bother my son when I do it to him.” It makes
me so angry and sad that in order to protect their own
feelings, they are willing to sacrifice the bodily
integrity of their child.
I was circumcised just after I was born, and I am
horribly unhappy with it. Not because the circumcision
was botched or anything like that. But because over
the years I have come to recognize that the human body
is a fascinating and wonderful piece of technology.
There are neurons in my brain that correspond to the
nerves on every square centimeter of my skin.
Evolution has fine-tuned nearly every aspect of my
body, so that I can enjoy sensory input to the fullest
degree. I take care to wear earplugs at loud concerts,
and wear sunglasses on bright days.
But a piece of me was taken without my consent. Not
just any piece. One of the most sensitive, personal
pieces on my entire body. It's on a part of my body I
use to express my love for others. Unless there's a
fantastic medical breakthrough in the future, I'll
probably never know what it would've been like to
enjoy having it. Do you know how utterly cruel it is,
to do this to a person? Maybe I'm just being a crybaby
and I should instead focus my attention to starving
children in Africa. But that doesn't change the fact
that what was done to me was wrong. Stop cutting
children. Just stop it.
"I’m not asking secular Jews to circumcise their
kids....... they shouldn’t try to push their choices
on me."
Someone DID force a choice on me when I was
circumcised without my consent. And it wasn't a choice
that belonged to them, it belonged to me. Yet
everytime I use the bathroom, change clothes, shower,
or even make love, I am reminded that I can never be
whole again. No one had any right to do this to me,
and they should be punished for it. ...
I'm male and I hate that I was circed against my will
as an infant! It makes me feel like a partial eunuch.
- Evan Soringler on , July 2, 2012
...
I am a Jewish male and I wish I could have this
procedure reversed. And besides, how would somebody
who had been circumcised be able to tell if they had
lost sensitivity due to this practice? what would they
be comparing it to exactly? The only way to do so
would be actual scientific research.. and guess what?
The evidence shows that the foreskin contains
thousands of nerve endings that are cut off, which
decreases sexual pleasure....
I ...
was born and raised Catholic but have pretty much
kicked religion out of my life. I think religion is
bunk. I am circumcised too, and wish
I weren't. And I see no reason why such a
thing should continue. I believe it serves no useful
purpose other than to line the pockets of the doctors
who do it, it is barbaric as all genital mutilation
is, and it does not deserve any more tolerance than
the practise of cutting off earlobes. Circumcision
should be abolished completely except then there's an
immediate medical need for it, which is extremely
rare.
The recent German circumcision ruling is not an
attack on religion — it is a defence of a boy’s right
to say ‘No.’ As the judge said, ‘[parents’ religious
rights] would not be put in unnecessary danger if
parents had to wait until the child could give consent
to the circumcision.’ I am a
victim of a Muslim circumcision I did not want.
I was never given the chance to say ‘No.’ It is time
we finally recognize the rights of boys to refuse this
procedure.”
...
there is no procedure which truly fixes the loss of
the foreskin. and if there were, we have laws to make
people who harm others pay for the harm they've
inflicted. My parents had absolutely NO right to take
the end of my penis from me. it's MY body, ALONE. they
did not have to make this decision. Just like with a
tattoo or genital piercing, they could have easily
left me alone, enabling me to make such a choice later
in life in the unlikely event that I would want to do
this to myself. yet they had me mutilated for life
instead, and now I can never be whole again. do you
know what it's like when every day of your life, every
time you shower, chang clothes, use the bathroom, or
even make love, you are reminded that you can never be
whole again? do you know what it's like to be reminded
of that during your most personal moments, discovering
sexuality as a young man? Yeah, it's a bit harmful. I've been severely depressed for
years due to this, at times suicidal. No one
had any right to do this to me.
... I did not ever
want to be circumcised. I'm missing part of my
genitalia due to my parents' faith in a religious
ideology that I want no part of. If given the ability
to make an informed decision about my own body I
wouldn't ever have chosen to be circumcised. I do not
care that my ancestor's cut off their foreskins for
nearly 6,000 years. I'm sure they trepanned each other
too, but I would not want to do that either even if it
is relatively harmless. Circumcision is not at all the
same as electing to receive a rhinoplasty or tattoo.
When an adult brings a knife to a baby's penis and
cuts a part of it off it is an assault which results
in a permanent bodily damage, and so it violates the
child's right to bodily integrity. ...
I was circumcised and I resent
the fact that I don't and will never know how the
intact penis I was born with feels like.
Freedom of religion does not give parents permission
to bring a knife to their children's genitals and
permanently alter it to their liking.
Oh give me a break. Really? You're going to compare
letting men decide for themselves if they want to be
circumcised or not... to the holocaust? Do you know
how immature that is? I'm 26 years old, and I wasn't
born in a camp in Germany. But I was born in a
hospital in the US, and as a result, I was
circumcised. And I strongly
resent it. Children have human rights, too.
As a mutilated without consent person, I fully agree
with the court. When the infants are of legal age to
consent, they can choose to undergo that horrible
ritual. The uproar from the different religious groups
is just an attempt to maintain their stranglehold on
the masses.
I've ... been very much aware of my own
circumcision from a young age. The unsightly scar
around the shaft of my penis, halfway along its
length. The discolored flesh above the scar which used
to be the inside of my foreskin. The scar tissue where
my frenulum used to attach to my glans.
When I reached puberty, my erections were tight and
painful. When I started masturbating, I didn't
understand that I needed to use lubrication, and as a
consequence I seriously damaged my penis. The skin was
bleeding, chaffed and flaking off. I was in pain. At
this point I realized that the skin should be gliding
back and forth over the shaft, but this was very
difficult to do because my circumcision was so tight.
I could only move the skin up towards my glans,
pulling more hair-baring skin from my groin up onto my
shaft. I couldn't move my shaft skin downward at all.
When I became sexually active, I realized I had
virtually no touch-sensitivity. I felt devastated. Not
much has changed since.
I also frequently experience lymphedema, where the
top of my penis above my circumcision scar fills up
with fluid and swells. This happens spontaneously and
during arousal. Recently I experienced a lymphedema
episode where my penis didn't return to its normal
size for over twelve hours. Due to all my issues with
pain and swelling, I can only masturbate once or twice
per month. Even with copious lubrication, my shaft
skin becomes chaffed and bleeds. If I had the choice,
I would not be circumcised.
I am a victim of circumcision as discussed by Giles
Fraser and have resented this mutilation all my life.
If I shared his primitive superstition, I would marvel
at his arrogant rejection of his god's anatomical
design work.
... I was cut as a baby against my
will, and I too went through a phase of trying to
justify having a mutilated penis that only religious
fanatics and a dwindling number of Americans have. But
I knew I was trying to fool people the whole time, and
you know it too.
Break the cycle and quit living out a lie. If I have
a son I would never mutilate him as a substitute for
hygiene and safe sex, EVER. But then I'm no longer
trying to overcompensate for my own sexual
disfigurement.
"It clearly doesn't matter a jot if a baby boy is
circumcised or not"
Say that to me, someone who can't feel sex at all. I
feel numb. It's a dead stick, because some ignoramus
thought it would be a good idea to cut a highly
sensitive piece of erogenous tissue essential for full
sexual pleasure off my person.
As someone who was circumcised as an infant without
may consent, I will tell you to take you child-cutting
apologism and shove it. By way of analogy: you don’t
really use your earlobes for anything, right? Let’s
just chop ‘em off, whether you like it or not, because
I think there’s a good reason: it will prove a point.
It’s a matter of bodily integrity/autonomy. If
someone capable of consent WANTS to have bits cut off
of or added to hir own body, power to hir. Other
people don’t get to make that call.
Circumcision does not cause harm, is
hygienic and increases sexual pleasure.
... , I assume from your name that you
are a woman. I am a man who was circumcised as an
infant. I deeply resent it. I deeply resent any woman
telling me that it had no affect on my sexual pleasure
or, even worse, that it increases sexual pleasure. ...
Just observed my first circumcision- kind of intense,
even for a doc. Kinda pissed my parents let a moyel do
that to me. #jews #oncall
- Daniel Mohrer @danmohrer on Twitter, July 28, 2012
...
Male circumcisions are not all created equal, just as
all female circumcisions are not created equal.
It seems that some men who are unfortunate enough to
get circumcised 'get lucky' in that some or all of
their frenulum (the G-spot) is left intact. So
although they are still missing a lot of sensitivity,
they still have some. I was unlucky enough to have had
the NHS, when I was 13, circumcise me unnecessarily.
It was done for 'phimosis'. ...
I was unfortunate enough to have had my frenulum
removed. I cannot feel sex now and it has cost me
relationships, caused me to be anxious and depressed,
it has lowered my self-esteem, and I also have
erectile problems too due to the complete lack of
sensitivity.
The circumcision I had is probably comparable to
complete removal of the clitoris. If not that, then
possibly the clitoral hood and the labia. Either way,
it is hard to understand where some people are coming
from here, turning the abhorrent act of circumcision
into some sort of competition/gender war.
Male circumcision/female circumcision......they are
both equally barbaric.
I have permanent nerve damage that gives me a
fraction of feeling that normal circumsized guys feel,
and even less when compared to uncircumsized. I am
physically unable to top because of my circumscision.
Please, please tell me again how I persuaded myself
that my cock was broken. It's nice to hear from you
that all the medical tests and doctor bills were for
nothing, that the years of embarrassment and all the
ointment I had use from rubbing myself raw in order to
masturbarte like anyone else was pointless and I was
fine, that that was just me being pathetic.
...
I am only twenty one years old and have had sexual
intercourse hundreds of times with ten different
females, and have had other sexual experiences with
countless others. Out of the hundreds of times I've
had sexual intercourse, I've only been able to orgasm
and ejaculate a handful of times with only one of the
ten partners. I've never orgasmed or ejaculated from
any type of sexual foreplay (IE: Oral). Unlike a lot
of circumcised men, I was not too embarrassed to go to
a medical facility to find out what the problem was.
After several tests, there was no conclusive
diagnosis.
Completely overwhelmed and hopeless, I decided to
look for answers online. I stumbled across an
Intactivist website that suggessted performing a test
in which a cotton swab is used to contact various
parts of the penis to test the sensitivity. My results
were horrible. I could only feel the cotton swab
directly on the tip of my Glans, and no where else.
In my heart, I know that being circumcised is the
reason why I lack sensitivity, and because of my
inability to reach climax, I've been too ashamed to be
in a steady relationship. The physical and mental
trauma is real.
... My penis was ruined just because
an incompetent doctor thought I’d be happy with the
result. Well I’m not, and if I had been left intact, I
certainly wouldn’t have chosen it. It is high time
that the mutilating procedure was consigned to the
garbage can of history. ...
... I encourage all parents NOT to circumcise your
baby boys. Where do you get the right to chop off part
of your baby's body? They don't even use anesthetic
when they do it to the baby. I'm angry that my parents
did it to me.
Editors' Pick
As a circumcised American man I tell my Mother every
year on my birthday that she had No right to mutilate
me like that. I ask what her reasoning was and she
never has a good answer. Circumcision of females is
illegal in the U.S. and the same should be true for
males. Mutilation of a child in any way should be
criminal. PERIOD.
I was circumcised at birth and wish I hadn't been. To
me it seems wrong to do this without consent - which
can only be reasonably given when someone reaches 18
years old. ...
I was done when I was a baby and I'm perfectly
appalled that my parents, doctors and hospital staff
would allow it to happen to me. How dare they. My son
did not suffer this procedure.
I've been circumcised and never had any choice in it.
it made me feel different than everyone else [growing]
up and why is it classed different than female
circumcision[?] I fully resent my parents for doing
this and wouldn't ever think about committing child
abuse against my child such as this, let alone doing
it in the name of fairy tales. Shame on any parent
that does this to their child.
[I'm a] Canadian in my late 40s, living in [a hot,
humid country], whose enjoyment of life was and still
is destroyed by not having a prepuce.
... the area that should be covered is super,
painfully sensitive to any kind of friction or contact
... the glans looks completely "normal" [but] it sure
as hell doesn't feel normal. Any activity, all sports,
cycling, walking up steps, and of course all sexual
acts, soon feels like sand paper is being dragged
across the glans and the area just near it where the
prepuce should be. So I have not had sex in about nine
years. Or ridden a bicycle. And I don't think I can
get a white collar job in Canada, not a decent paying
one. Even with the super lightweight cotton pants and
the soft organic cotton brief underwear, which seems
to be the least painful combination, normal activity
even in the freezing cold, not possible.
In my case, there are just no other possible causes
of the pain. I have never had an STD or even any kind
of rash in that area. Never engaged in any kinky
sexual practices ... My spouse [and I] had a good
relationship, very compatible world views, many
similar interests and tastes, no interest in having
children, good sex life until this pain came along.
And she was very understanding but years of living
together as friends and roommates instead of a
sexually active couple took its toll. And just the
enjoyment of going for a cycle togther was gone.
Ethically and morally, I would say she is entitled to
compensation also.
- Anonymous (Canada), personal
communication, January 31, 2013
I'm a Colombian who had a badly done circumcision at
age 21. It was absolutely unnecessary, I was induced
by an ignorant circumcised urologist. I consulted with
him because of something I thought might be a problem,
but it was really nothing. The urologist told me I had
to get it done, that it would bring lots of benefits
and just started with the typical pro-circumcision
discourse, which I swallowed quietly and innocently. I
went for it too fast, without doing any research,
because of the way the urologist spoke about
circumcision, as a panacea that could bring no
negative consequence.
The result was 95% loss of sexual enjoyment. He
destroyed 90% of the frenulum, practically all the
inner mucosa. He didn't even said that circumcision
destroyed the frenulum, all he said was that
circumcision was the removal of the foreskin. Never
mentioned the frenulum, which is the part i miss the
most.
Eduardo Rosales, personal
communication, February 5, 2013
I’m circumcised since birth and don’t really even
care to have sex, the only time it felt great was when
I was a teenager. I suppose since I still had great
sensitivity, but over time it becomes numb, the sex
itself now I can barely feel anything and takes a lot
just to get an erection which I lose quickly if not
constantly stimulated, I just have sex for the orgasm
which is about all I can really feel, but aren’t
really that impressive.
My doctor couldn’t find any medical cause for my
problem, he could only recommend Viagra but that won’t
increase the sensitivity so I can actually feel sex so
that’s not much of a solution for me. Now that I know
it’s circumcision that’s the culprit ...I’m
currently
looking into that and hope it will help restore
sensitivity in at least the glans so I can feel sex
more.
I should come clean. I was circumcised at the age of
four. Why ? Who knows ? I imagine because of my
mother's sexual anxieties and a misplaced sense of
hygiene. There was no medical or religious reason. The
doctor arrived at our house one afternoon. I was not
expecting him. I was invited to climb onto our dining
table. Climbing down was harder. But I was done. It
hurt. I remember that alright. It was not discussed,
and I was not comforted. At four I suddenly felt
unsafe at home.
I have hated being circumcised all my life. Hated it.
As an adult, it has always felt to me like a
mutilation, a diminishment, a grotesque elective
deviation from nature. It has always felt like
intolerable violence against my person by those who
loved me. And yes, it made me wonder about that, too,
though age tells me that they did so unequivocally and
were simply misguided on this issue.
I ... have had
sexual issues do to my circumcision. I have been in
such pain from the lubrication running out in one spot
that it created a badly bleeding abrasion on my penis.
This has happened more than a few times and it causes
me and my wife pain and anguish, and caused us to put
off sex a number of times. This has also affected her
because it creates painful abrasions in her as well.
Why my parents choose this painful sex life for me
makes no sense.
Im wondering if Ill ever stop being upset about being
circumcised as a baby. Iv had so many problems, some
of which I was punished for by my my parents, as a
result of something they did. Im not even sure if Ill
ever decide to talk to them again.
I was circumcised as an infant, and have hated it and
those who did it to me since the day I knew. No one
had any authority to deny me the right to choose to be
whole. Do you know what it's like when every time you
shower, use the restroom, change clothes, even make
love, you're reminded that you can never be whole
again? Do you know what it's like when you go through
your youth and teen years, discovering sexuality, yet
being reminded of this every single time? Yeah, it
does some damage to some of us. I no longer speak to
my parents, and never will again. I just wish they
were punished for what they've done.
I am sure the boys who were the victims of this
butcher would like a lot more to be done than simply
not allowing him to perform any more circumcisions. My
own doctor botched my circumcision. Too much skin was
removed, I've had adhesions and pain throughout my
adulthood, and it has severely damaged my self worth
as a human being. If I ever find out his name, the
doctor who cut me will also not be performing any
future circumcisions... or much of anything else
again, ever.
Please, flying spaghetti monster, don't ever let
me learn that butcher's name.
we decided to circumcise our boy. it was a painless,
easy procedure that involved a tiny plastic bell and
some string. fast forward 25 years: my son went
apeshit crazy on me one day as i was chopping
vegetables. he revealed that he was incredibly upset
that i had cut him and mutilated him without his
consent and that i should apologize. when i picked my
jaw up off the floor, i told him that no knives were
involved and that i made the decision based on the
information i had at the time. i would not ever
apologize for something irrevocable and 25 years in
the past. he feels that i took something important
from him. i cannot fathom why he would equate what we
did with actual genital mutilation since he is
functional and useful. i told him to read up on
infibulation, and what an actual mutilation looks
like. i have tried to see his point of view, and told
him about his cousin who had to have a circumcision at
age 6, due to his foreskin closing up on him. that was
trauma. hopefully he has come to accept what cannot be
changed. i stand by my decision, i just wish my son
would understand.
- Jenniefer P. (Jenniefer_Milot_Pickup) on Huffington Post, April 10, 2014
I was circumcised as an infant, and have hated it and
those who did it to me since the day I knew. No one
had any authority to deny me the right to choose to be
whole. Do you know what it's like when every time you
shower, use the restroom, change clothes, even make
love, you're reminded that you can never be whole
again? Do you know what it's like when you go through
your youth and teen years, discovering sexuality, yet
being reminded of this every single time? Yeah, it
does some damage to some of us. I no longer speak to
my parents, and never will again. I just wish they
were punished for what they've done.
- Chuck Weder, Saint Peters, Missouri
on JTA, April 14, 2014
#220
If someone had, I'd be extremely grateful to whoever
said 'NO' to my circumcision, and it's my mother I'm
most resentful towards for handing me over. Like I've
said in this thread, I try really hard not to fault
her for it, given the culture, but the facts on the
ground (so to speak) tell me they didn't care what I,
the adult man, the owner of the penis in question,
might want.
...
like most American men, I was circumcised at birth.
Didn't have a choice. I've always known I was
circumcised but never really thought about it.
Recently though, after doing some research, I'm kind
of pissed I'm circumcised.
It seems to me that the reasons for being
circumcised, outside of religious aspects, aren't at
all compelling. Health differences appear to be
negligible, and the whole "uncut dicks aren't clean"
narrative seems silly since you can just clean it in
the shower or something. I guess the main reason I'm
happy to be circumcised is that a lot of girls in
America are grosses out by uncircumcised dicks-- but
that speaks more toward ignorance/immaturity of some
women than any actual issue with it in my eyes. They
just "look weird", and I agree that they do. But is
that really enough to slice off skin off a baby's
penis? Like, really?
This isn't some huge issue in my life, but it's
something I've been thinking about lately. Just kind
of bothers me I had a part of me removed without
having any say.
I was circumcised in 1948 when I was a few months
old. It was by parental demand and there was no good
medical reason for it. I have spent a lifetime hating
this and detesting my mutilated penis. My relationship
with my parents was not what it should have been and I
still become anxious during consultations with
doctors. I know of many other men who are in a similar
position. Please, doctors and surgeons of Ireland,
think very carefully before doing unnecessary and
mutilating surgery on a baby or child who cannot give
informed consent. Remember that all surgery carries
risks. Think just how much more committed a young man
would be to his chosen religion or ethnic group if he
could make the choice of circumcision for himself.
I was a baby
You would never have punched me
You would never have stabbed me
But you cut off part of my penis
I was a baby
I couldn't have said no
And even if I had said no
It wouldn't have made any difference
As the blood ran
From the wound that you inflicted
With the knife of your power over a baby
With the knife of your power over me
I was a baby
And for circumcision there's no anaesthetic
I probably screamed or as some babies do
Went into the silence of terrible shock
I was a baby
I didn't know
That sex as a man would lack feeling
For lack of the nerves in the tissue you stole
That sex would sometimes be painful
That I would cry and shout from my grieving heart
For my sex, for that deep deep part of me
For what was taken and can never be returned
I was a baby
You would never have punched me
You would never have stabbed me
But you cut off part of my penis
- Max Cade (pers.com.), November 20,
2014
I am circumcised from birth. Had painful erections in
teen years due to overly tight skin. I would have
preferred to not live that. I got circumcised twice
actually because as an infant they did it wrong and
left me with a cyst in what was left of my mutilated
foreskin, then when they went around the second time
they did it super tight. I was maybe 4-5 when they did
that. I had no choice like the millions of others that
have problems later in life. I've been working on
restoring to take back some of what was taken from me.
...
My genitals were altered unnecessarily when I was a
newborn. I resent the American doctor who violated me,
and I resent the American hospital that provided the
venue for this violation. To advocate for the removal
of normal, healthy, functional tissue from babies and
children is unethical, immoral, and abusive. In
America girls are protected under federal law from
non-therapeutic genital alterations. ALL CHILDREN --
female, male, and intersex -- deserve EQUAL PROTECTION
under law.?
Growing up I never thought about being circumcised, I
just assumed that's how it was supposed to be. As I've
gotten older I've learned much more about my own anatomy
and frankly...I'm pissed it was done to me. And it wasn't
even done for a good reason, my parents just thought
that's how it's supposed to be so it's "cleaner". To put
so little thought in to mutilating your own childs anatomy
is insane to me, like...that was part of my dick and you
went and chopped it off like it was no big deal. Luckily I
have a proper one instead of a botched one or I'd be
especially angry (look up botched ones and be horrified),
but circumcision does remove sensitivity and causes the
skin to thicken over the years. It's like if you routinely
removed women's clitorial hood, that sucker would get so
much friction it wouldn't be very sensitive after years
and years now would it? I mean yea, sure it still works
fine but it would have worked better if people had left it
alone. I just can't help but feel something was stolen.
Leave your kids junk alone for Christs sake, jebus.
I hate that I was circumcised! I've always thought
uncut was preferable. Not to mention uncut guys get way
more sensation!
Jonathan E Guydon on the Huffington
Post, August 11, 2015
I was circumcised at birth for asthetic
reasons and am not happy about it. ... please find
attached and feel free to use it. ... I find this keepsake
vile.
Throughout my life I’ve experienced somewhat minimal
sensation in my penis even during time of intercourse,
and as I reached my mid 20s I found that I had
erectile dysfunction, upon which even Viagra had no
effect. The issue has always been a lack of
sensitivity, and a difficulty in getting physically
aroused even when I was fully aroused mentally. Even
when I am able to become physically aroused, it is
difficult to maintain an erection during intercourse
due to a lack of physical sensitivity – which I must
stress has nothing to do with mental arousal.
By the time I reached my mid-30s and it became time
to start a family, I found that I had significant
trouble getting physically aroused to the point of
ejaculation, which has greatly impaired my ability to
father children. While I cannot conclusively say that
the lack of penile sensitivity is due to circumcision,
I strongly suspect that this is the case, given the
nature of the hardening and scarring.
Moreover, I was circumcised as it is part of the
Jewish Covenant, and it makes me feel that my parents
too were victims, and that it was their love of me
that was twisted and leveraged as a means of hurting
their child.
My mother did tell me that whereas I was an
incredibly attached and loving child for the first
week, after I was circumcised my personality seemed to
change, that I took the surgery poorly, and that I
didn't seem to ‘trust’ her and my father thereafter.
Her words, not mine, but I do feel there is real
damage to the familial bond, as well as the physical
harm to the child, and I have absolutely no intention
of passing this cruel tradition to the next
generation.
- Matt L of Beverly Hills, December 26,
2015, pers. comm.
i
was hacked up
as a child n
been mourning
the loss of my
butchered
foreskin for
56 years ... I
only recently
found out that
i was such a
tiny baby they
didn't cut me,
but after 4
months my skin
wudnt retract
so they did it
then. So I
recon im so
obsessed w it
thru that
early muscle
memory?
-
Rusty in New
Zealand,
personal
communication,
December 17,
2017
-
Twitter,
February
21,2018
-
The Telegraph
-
Twitter,
February 27,
2018
-
Twitter,
February 28,
2018
-
The Daily Mail
(Australia),
February 2015
-
Twitter,
February 28 ,
2018
#310
As
children
myself and my
siblings
suffered
severe child
abuse, mental
and physical.
Despite the
abuse most of
us grew up and
came to terms
with what we
went through,
moved past it
and are now
living good
lives. One of
us was not as
lucky. My
brother Joseph
perhaps
suffered the
worst abuse of
all. In high
school he
became very
depressed and
withdrawn
where before
he had been a
very popular
and well loved
kid. I was
much younger
by almost 10
years, so back
then I really
didn't know
why.
As an adult
around age 25
he met a woman
who he would
later propose
to. She seemed
to love him a
lot. He was
dishonest, and
told her that
he wanted to
wait until
they were
married before
having sex.
She agreed to
wait even
though she had
been with
previous
partners. She
thought they
were waiting
because of his
personal
beliefs,
however my
brother was
waiting
because he had
a secret she
knew nothing
about.
Joe married
Gina, and on
their wedding
night she took
one look at
him with out
clothing on
and walked out
on him. She
was in no way
right for
leaving, and
he was in no
way right for
not being
completely
honest with
her. However,
this was the
final downfall
for my
brother.
The next night
joey went back
to the place
where his
torment began.
His high
school track
field. Took
out a gun and
ended his
life. He left
our family a
note detailing
the ridicule
he was
subjected to
in high school
when he was
forced to
shower in
front of other
guys. Then the
rejection of
his wife Gina
who left him
after a glance
at his body.
My brother
would have
been an
amazing police
officer. He
killed himself
2 weeks before
he was to
become one.
The ridicule
could have
been avoided,
the self
loathe and
torture of
being deformed
could have
been avoided.
He was
circumcised
shortly after
he was born.
It was botched
badly. His
penis was cut
short, the
opening grew
to the side
and it was
crooked. This
is why he was
teased in
school and
became
depressed.
This is why he
hadn't enough
confidence to
show or even
tell Gina
about it
before they
were married
and this is
why I will
never see my
brother again.
I miss him
every day.
I am sharing
this story so
others know
that
Circumcision
is unnecessary
and
potentially
very damaging.
These are the
only pictures
I have of
Joey. I do not
believe in
Circumcision
and I hope
others will do
research on
this topic
before making
a big mistake
with their own
boys.
-
(counting
signed posts
only) on
Twitter,
February
6, 2019
-
Twitter,February
6 and
March 2, 2019
(324)
-
Facebook,June
21, 2019
-
Twitter, July
22, 2019
#350
-
Twitter,
December 28,
2019
-
Twitter,
October 16,
2021
The thread
comprises 55
tweets from
other men who
hate that they
were cut.
-
Twitter,
November 19,
2021
(352 non-celebrities)
Polls
This quickfire poll of men at Burning Man 2011 is telling:
Like
Dislike
Ratio
Intact
63 (95.4%)
3 (4.6%)
19:1
Cut
66 (50.4%)
65 (49.6%)
1:1
These intact
men were 19 times as likely
to like their state as the cut men.
A poll on Buzzfeed in 2015 has a
much larger sample, still with a clear result.
The intact men who answered this poll were half
as likely to wish they were not, 1 ¼
times as likely to be glad about it, as the cut
men.
This 24 hour poll on Twitter in 2018 had a similar
result:
25/63 or 39.7% of these cut men are
unhappy about it, compared to 5/37 or 13.5% of these
intact men. That is, the cut
men are 2.9 times as likely to be
unhappy.
100/176 or 57% of these cut men are
unhappy about it, compared to 14/170 or 8% of these
intact men. That is, the cut
men are 7 times as likely to be
unhappy. This (May 11, 2018) is the
first such poll to show a clear majority of cut men
to be unhappy about it.
NB: to this question, a "Yes" answer means unhappy.
417/973 or 42.9% of the cut men (nearly half!)
are unhappy about it, compared to 104/764 or
13.6% of intact men. That is, the
cut men are 3.2
times as likely to be unhappy. The "push a
button" option eliminates the issue of pain for the
intact men, making them more likely to opt to
change, but it is still presumably irreversible,
unlike being magically restored.
- Twitter, April 25 2019
376/973 or 38.7% of the
cut men are unhappy, compared to 13/324
or 5% of the intact men. So the cut
men are 7.74 times as likely to
be unhappy as the intact men.
Other such informal polls have given similar results.
This asks about genital cutting in general, rather than
personal satisfaction:
Cut men are 1.23 times more likely to
agree with genital cutting than to disagree. Intact men
are 9.5 times more likely to disagree with it. That is,
intact men are 7.7
times as likely to agree with what happened to them
(nothing) as cut men are with what happened to
them (being cut). (This poll also shows a 64:36 vote
against genital cutting overall.)
A Reddit poll on July 17,2022:
Cut men prefer being cut in
a ratio of approximately 2.1:1, while intact men prefer
beiing intact in a ratio of approximately 13.1:1,
approximately 6.2
times as likely. (The wayward spelling is dealt
with elsewhere.)
Because the selection bias of
self-selected polls is unknown, their results are considered
worthless by statisticians.
Only one
scientific study of men's satisfaction has been
done. It found the same as the above polls, that intact
men are much more likely to be happy to be intact than men cut
as babies:.
Table 2 Participants
who reported feeling ‘‘unhappy’’ or ‘‘neutral/happy’’
toward their circumcision status, broken down by
timing of circumcision
Unhappy n (%)
Neutral/happy n (%)
Neonatally circumcised
235 (64.2)
131 (35.80)
Circumcised as child
45 (42.5)
61 (57.5)
Circumcised as adult
6 (12.8)
41 (87.2)
Intact
16 (5.5)
270 (94.4)
Data were missing for 5
individuals
So the neonatally cut men were
1.78 times as likely to be unhappy as neutral or happy with
their status, while the intact men were 16.9 times as likely
to be happy or neutral as unhappy. That is, the cut
men were thirty times as likely to be unhappy as the
intact men.
But Bossio et al. blurred the issue by first merging
the men cut as babies with those cut as children or adults
(who might have needed it or chosen it), and then by looking
at "satisfaction with one's status" as a single variable - a
bogus measure.
It is dishonest to say "The poll shows a majority of men are
happy with their status, whatever it is" as this and many
commentaries on polls and surveys do, because that was not the
question, and it throws out the whole point of asking, telling
us nothing about any connection between genital cutting and
happiness. The Bossio study is an egregious case of this.
How to lie
with statistics:
If a large and well- selected survey showed a 51%
majority of intact men, 99%
of them happy (50.49% of the total), and only 1% of the cut men happy, 0.49%
of the total:
happy
unhappy
total
intact
50.49%
0.51%
51%
cut
0.49%
48.51%
49%
total
50.98%
49.02%
100%
You could still pool the
data and say "A majority of men - 50.98% - are
happy, whatever their status." but the intact men
would be 99 times as likely to be
happy as the cut men!
![resent-deren ''I would have decided [to remain whole] without question''](Images/resent/resent-deren-lego.png)
![resent [coerce] grant w ''I was ... mutilated for no reason''](Images/resent/coerce-grant-w.png)
