For context, I’m circumcised and expecting a son and my wife and I are torn about the circ. We’re American so from a cultural standpoint circumcision is the default choice. Thing is, there’s no real benefit besides practicing a religion we don’t believe in, and I’m uncomfortable about cutting the tip of my son’s dick off.
On the other side, I’ve met a guy who was bullied in high school so bad for it he got a circ as an adult. Apparently crazy painful recovery. I’ve also talked to women who are generally grossed out by uncircumcised men. I don’t want to make him feel like something’s wrong with him his whole life because I was uncomfortable with the idea.
From a moral standpoint I’m against it, but from a social and cultural standpoint I feel like I should do it? It’s a crappy situation. If there’s any uncircumcised American men who want to talk about their penis I’m all ears.
Edit: I really appreciate everyone’s responses I never expected to hear from so many people. With the decision hinging on social and cultural norms it’s been really helpful to be able to take the temperature like this. I obviously need to talk to my wife, but given the overwhelming support of dick hats I don’t thing we’re going to do it. Thanks, lemmings!
Dude I have a foreskin and it’s fucking rad. I can pinch it closed when I pee and it’ll fill up like a balloon. How could you deny your son that?
Can’t argue with that
Lmao love all this genuine life advice and you say nothing, one dude shows up and is like "I get to play with my dick like this and you’re 100% in hell yeah territory.
Rad.
Male circumcision is genital mutilation.
If it’s your culture, your culture is dumb.
Except it has more upsides than downsides. In fact, except for extreme outliers there are no downsides. Not once in my life had I ever thought “I wish my parents would have not circumcised me as a baby”. From a US perspective, I think it looks better, most women think it looks better, and it saved me from cost, pain, and awkward teen years of waiting until adulthood to make the decision.
OP, you said it yourself, really. You aren’t unhappy to be circumcised. You know at least one guy in real life who hated not being circumcised. Do you know anyone in real life; not the internet where people with negative outlooks on an issue tend to be the most outspoken, and not from all the other countries with different cultures and norms, but that you actually know that was mad about being circumcised? I work in a field that’s very… Not shy about bringing up things like this. I’ve never met a guy who wished he wasn’t circumcised.
Nanook can go ahead and call it mutilation, trying to lump it in with a dangerous and sexual pleasure ruining practice done to women in a handful of places, but I’ll hard disagree. Mutilation is “a severe and disfiguring injury.” I don’t see circumcised as any of that, and neither do most people where OP or myself are from.
There is like, no upside its literally you making up reasons to justify your condition lol.
You’re doing the same thing, but hey, we can both start throwing links at each other to back up our points, if you’d like.
But you know what, lets just say for the sake of argument neither dick has any medical or hygiene or STI risk differences (because there’s loads of evidence showing uncircumcised people are at a greater risk of getting those)
I think it looks better, and most people in my country think it looks better. Personal preference? Sure. But personally, we got better looking dicks. The other medical benefits are just a bonus.
You’re not going to bring up the sensitivity arguments? Foreskin is a natural part of the body, the fact that it’s the norm is meaningless. If we were chopping off the tips of ears or male nipples would there be “no downsides” either? Why not just NOT do the thing? You can’t undo a circumcision.
Sensitivity arguments? Go check Google search trends and tell me if the searches for guys trying to last longer is larger than the searches for lasting too long.
Sure buddy, go play with your half dick
Smegma
Imagine arguing “I’m a child who can’t clean his own body” in public to justify mutilating children so their genitals are prettier
shower
The infection risk only becomes an issue when you’re old. I’m getting circumcised at 70, I’m keeping my dick whole until then. Your dick looks ugly, sorry not sorry.
Also, I’m happy you like your dick, I’m sure you’d also like it if your parents didn’t remove a piece.
I don’t know who told you it was only a risk when you’re old, but that isn’t true at all.
Something tells me this guy could talk about dicks all night slong.
There are a number of men who are upset about it, they’ve formed advocacy groups and some use therapies and procedures to regrow foreskin.
https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/
For some balance, this isn’t very informative, but it does fairly frame the debate:
I mean, there’s groups for everything. If just 1% of men in the US were unhappy about having been circumcised, while the other 99% were happy or indifferent about it, that’s still over a million people unhappy. It’s still a super minority of people.
If any other elective medical procedure had a 1% chance of extreme regret, it would be considered psychologically risky, in addition to the chance of complications.
Do we know the actual numbers for how men feel about the procedure? I think that’s important if we’re debating this on the merits of joy/regret.
I couldn’t find any good sources that surveyed adult men on their parents’ circumcision choice.
Don’t do it. Let your kid choose as an adult. You can’t undo circumcision.
This.
Regardless of the up and downsides respectively, it should be the penis owner himself to decide.
Why is Christianity always so obsessed with little boys penises? It’s fucking gross.
I agree, but that’s not the question.
As a woman, I’m genuinely curious on men’s opinions about this.
There is nothing Christian about circumcision
I’m circumcised and my three children are, too. However, I made that decision when I was still working my way out of a conservative upbringing. If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t and have left my children uncut.
There is no point to it. I just did it because it is considered strange not to in religious circles and I hadn’t broke away from that stupid yet.
If your kids want to be, let them make that decision themselves when they’re older. You can’t undo it.
Hell no I like the extra skin wouldnt it hurt if my dick was out in the open the whole time wtf, also jerking of with skin is like 100 times better lol
Never ever regretted being uncircumcised. In fact, I regularly feel especially grateful to my parents for not getting me circumcised. If it were socially acceptable, I’d talk to more people about it and why it’s great not being circumsized. I would get me parents a “Thanks for not mutilating me as a baby” thank you cake.
I’d never sacrifice 50% of the feelings for the sake of a shriveled tip to please some invisible sky daddy.
Male genital mutilation should be as outlawed as female.
And… Kids bullying others over their foreskin? I don’t think I ever saw any classmate’s dick in my life. Why is that even a thing?
You can’t be bullied if everyone is uncut. And as you say it’s cultural, it makes absolutely no sense for me and I don’t understand parents who voluntarily butcher the genitals of their children. I can’t believe it still exists.
I had a “friend” in highschool try to make me feel bad about being uncut. Saying the typical pseudoscience of “you’re dirty” “girls don’t like it”, it was that day that I decided this guy was stupid beyond repair.
It still exists because people with circumcisions see it as an improvement. It’s better.
You may like it better, and it should be your choice to have it. It should be an elective procedure for the individual to make, that’s all I believe they are saying.
I’m glad I didn’t have to go through 18 years before paying to have it done and being in pain from the surgery.
Okay, but your experience isn’t universal. Some people may and some people may not have preferred to have it done as a baby when viewed in hindsight, but it doesn’t change that their individual choice was removed.
The idea that you would cut off a part of your kids genitalia just so they could ‘fit in’ culturally is kinda blown away by the fact that it is now less common to be circumcised than being natural, even in the USA. By the time your kid is old enough to care, it will be a complete non-issue, and they can always get one as an adult if they want. Don’t take that agency away.
https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/117464
The idea that it has a population-level health benefit is completely debunked. It is medically advisable in only a tiny fraction of kids (sub 1%). The fact that %60 of the US population is circumcised is all thanks to religious hooey from puritans who don’t want children to masturbate, and think chopping a sensitive part of their genitals off to make it harder to enjoy is the best way to go - thanks to education and a wider exposure to the rest of the world via the Internet, US parents are finally realising this which is why it’s in decline.
Never, I’m very happy to be in cut. Just wash myself in the shower, and it’s more sensation and fun.
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If you aren’t Jewish, what reason do you have to do it to an infant that can’t possibly wait until they’re old enough to decide for themselves?
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Would you be struggling with the same decision to surgically alter an infant’s genitals if we were talking about your daughter instead of your son?
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Have I ever wished someone had genitally mutilated me as a baby?
Drum Roll
No
I’m uncut and went through my childhood and teenage years in the US. No one cared in preschool, and no one cared in the Highschool locker room, none of the women I slept with cared. It might be painful as an adult to do, but it’s a choice the person gets to make for themselves. I am grateful my parents stopped the doctors from cutting.
It’s painful regardless, the baby just can’t complain about it. I’m not circumcised nor are my kids, with the first kid, the nurse let out an unintentional “good” after we said no to it.
