Letters to the Editor
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Adult Circumcision
This is from the very anti-circumscision Circumscision Resources website:
Men circumcised as adults were surveyed to assess erectile function, penile sensitivity, sexual activity and overall satisfaction. Over 80% of these men were circumcised to treat a medical problem. The response rate was 44% among potential responders. Mean age of responders was 42 years at circumcision and 46 years at survey. Adult circumcision appears to result in worsened erectile function, decreased penile sensitivity, no change in sexual activity, and improved satisfaction. Of the men 50% reported benefits and 38% reported harm. Overall, 62% of men were satisfied with having been circumcised.
Of course, this is really NOT about circumscision, this is about communication and loyalty - between a husband and a wife. I don't have a child yet, but as a Jew who married a gentile, I know my kid's will not be a Jew so we'll probably skip circumscision. My friend had both of his sons circumscised (even as his non-Jewish wife agonized) - so they would look like daddy. I asked him if he was going to stuff them with food as well - after all, he has quite a gut - and he might want his sons to look like him. He never replied to the question.
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How sad...
Sad for the the grandparents who are controlling and mean-spirited, sad for the 'man' who never grew up and wants to please his mama over his wife, sad for the mom who went against all mothering instincts and didn't protect her son and who has a sorry excuse of a 'husband'...but most of all sad for their son who had his genitals mutilated and lost his genital integrity for no good reason whatsoever and who has wimps for parents who couldn't stand up to nurses, family, and barbaric tradition.
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wow
this guy was brave for showing his wussiness for all to see.
as long as any culture/faith/whatever insists on having it their way you will see family/community/society busting crap like this that threatened to break up this family.
note the parents are not even devout. why so important to have it their way?
one might argue tradition. i say selfishness, pride, an inflated sense of one's own importance in the grand scheme of things, which seems to me to be a hallmark of the devout, whatever they are devout to.
i won't even get started on what it means to be jewish. jews can't even agree on that.
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Sadly, you fucktards probably represent the future
You make me sadder everyday and I hope we all die in a comet collision soon. Everyone knows that mentioning religion at all at Salon's circlejerk of selfrighteous assholes is going to go badly in the ditch. I get it. 5,000 years of human history is wrong and you, personally, at your keyboard will set us all straight. Thanks. Now go fuck off and save the tse-tse fly from extinction or something.
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To "Mom"
who WROTE IN CAPS SO SHE WOULDN'T CRY earlier, you can stop bemoaning the lack of humanity and desensitized quality of men who were circumcised. Most Europeans are uncircumcised, and yet in spite of the fact that their delicate manhoods remain untamed, they managed to start two world wars, never mind the brutal practice of colonialism which sowed so much bitterness that hurts the world even today. WAAAHHHH.
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Gotta weigh in on this one
I'm an American living in France and the men I talk to here about circumcision are horrified to learn most men are cut in the States. In fact most of them want to end the conversation right then--you can actually see them cringe.
My own son, now 26, isn't circumcized. His father wasn't either. Having experienced my then husband's perfectly normal, clean, smegma-free cock for several years I knew that the health benefits were a myth. Maybe it helped my son that his father looked like him, but I don't know, I never asked. As far as I know my son is happy with his penis.
Me, I prefere an uncircumcized cock. They are looser and prettier. I like revealing the head and sliding the foreskin back and forth. My partners seem to like it too. It's funny because I was married to a man with a circumcized cock and basically, I didn't know what to do with it. It was so tight and shiny and difficult to lubricate. I'd have to say that it seemed like he was less sensitive also.
However, all that aside, my friend's son (now a teenager) wasn't circumcized. But his brother is. He is now asking to be circumcized so he can look like everyone else. He thinks there's something wrong with his dick. My friend refuses to let him do the procedure and tells him he can do it when he's 18. I can't help but wonder if he would feel the same way if he lived in Europe where to be circumcized is pretty rare (unless you're Jewish or Muslim).
In my experience, all cocks look different and I've seen a few. Maybe there are some experts who can judge a cut one from an uncut one at 10 paces in the locker room but really, who cares? I've seen circumcized dicks that look uncircumcized and the other way around.
I'm on the side for letting the kid decide for himself. I'm not for or against it. But really, it's not my decision, it's not my body. It's between a man and his penis, and far be it from me to get in the middle of that sacred relationship.
I have to say that I was horrified myself to read the reactions from women who think an uncut cock is disgusting. I think if the situation were reversed and a man was disgusted by a natural part of a woman's body there'd be a hellava hullabahoo if he voiced his opinion in Salon!
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unkindest cut
Dear Editor,
I really found this story sad. I appreciate the author's courage in sharing this with the general public, despite the fact (in my view) that he does not come off looking very good at all. He placed his loyalty to his parents - who were prepared to blackmail him - above his loyalty to his wife, his own beliefs and, possibly, the health of his son. None of this is particularly commendable.
Circumcision may be an established Jewish tradition and, indeed, is/was very common in North America. However, mindlessly adhering to any tradition is always dangerous and deeply disturbing. The author is highly secular and his parents appear largely non-observant. Yet, they still insisted on perpetuating a tradition that, I suspect, they really cannot explain. The author went along with it. Was it simple tribalism, the desire to create (in their minds) a physical link to the people of the past? Whatever the explanation, their actions illustrate much of what is wrong with established ethnic/religious identities.
I hope that the author seriously reconsiders his relationship with his parents. If he cannot stand up to them now, over an issue of such importance to his wife and child, then he is going to have problems later in his marriage. No wife (or husband) wants to know that he/she comes after his/her spouses parents when issues of conflict arise.
Sincerely,
Shaun Narine