Ask Lemmy

Why is Christianity always so obsessed with little boys penises? It’s fucking gross.

This is your opportunity to discontinue a barbaric practice that was done to you for stupid reasons.

The only thing that is making this a difficult ethical choice for you is the culture you were brought up in. If you were born in most other places, this issue wouldn’t even provoke serious thought in your brain, just astonishment, laughter, and ridicule for anyone who practiced it.

This isn’t a hard choice. Do the right thing.

I’m American and circumcised. I do not wish to be different than I am because I don’t know anything else. That said, it is no longer the cultural default choice here at all. I’m upset that you feel it is. Were I to have a male child I would 110% NOT mutilate that child. There is no reason or excuse to justify doing this. Don’t mutilate your kid. Anyone who teases or bullies other people is the one with the problem, and you should absolutely not cut off part of your son’s body on the off-chance that might alleviate one vector of inbound bullying. As others have said, bullies will find a way. Please do not do this.

You could also consider chin implants to give your son a strong chin. A strong chin is definitely going to have a positive impact in his life later on, and recovery will be faster and less painful as a child. Another thing to consider would be earlobe separation if his earlobes are joined. This will make sure he looks more normal and won't be made fun of in school. If you are asian you should definitely also consider eyelid surgery since it can reduce problems with vision and lead to healthier eyes

Or you could avoid cosmetic procedures on non-consenting children entirely.

So I'm no longer a penis haver since I got it removed entirely, but before that I was uncut. In my case I never had anything negative happen health or social. It helped with logistics for sex while going from just starting to everything isn't quite fully lubey yet, plus it was another bit of sensitive skin to toy around with.

As far as the removal part I am trans and had mtf surgery. Foreskin is analogous to clitoral hood skin. It gave my surgeon more to work with both aesthetically and for adding areas of increased sensitivity.

But really the argument should start and end with "don't make medically unessecary changes to your kid's body until they're old enough to consent"

I'm Chinese-American, male, was born in mainland China, immigrated to the US. Family is not really religious, I didn't get mutilated, and no I do not want to get mutilated.

I was actually shocked when I learn that Americans, particularly Christians, do this shit. WTF. I also learned that some tribes around the world also do (or used to do) this. Felt sick just hearing that word.

(Edit: To be clear, I mean no offense to my fellow Americans, I like this country for the most part, but forcing religion on kids and government corruption are probably two of the biggest thing I hate)

Learning about "bloodletting", and "witchhunt" made me hate previous eras.

And when I learned about this thing called "lobotomy", I just... idk kinda have a "new fear unlocked" moment for me...

...humans are so fucked up.

Please don't mutilate your children. We're supposed be advanced civillizations (I'm talking about humanity as a whole), how are being still doing outdated "bloodletting"-type of stuff?

(Only exception would be if its medically necessary, and a doctor, without being influenced by religion, recommended it)

I did as a kid because I was different from everyone else.

As an adult I'm so incredibly thankful that I didn't suffer genital mutilation because of social pressure from people I couldn't care less about.

I'm very happy being natural.

No. Why the hell would I want the end of my dick chopped off??

American and uncircumcised here. Definitely don't do it. The only reason it should ever be done is a case of phimosis so bad it can't be fixed any other way.

Male circumcision is genital mutilation, and I think it's pretty gross that it's still so common. I'm grateful that I'm American and my parents didn't mutilate my dick when I was a baby.

I'm glad you're asking and taking people's opinions with validity because it's important that you don't do that to your baby.

I'm an intact American man.I have never wished I was circumcised.

I haven't ever been bullied for it. If I was, I think I'd first accusing the bully of being homosexual for taking an interest as loud as I could. Start calling him Gaylord Cockstarer in mixed company. Find out what hobbies his dad has, start doing that hobby, befriend his dad, tell him this story, see if you can get his dad to start calling him Gaylord Cockstarer.

Women who are grossed out...I've had a few hesitate to give me oral, but were willing to try. One, in her own words, wanted to wait until next time so she could "look up how to handle one of these." And she did, too. To the women who would be disgusted at my intact anatomy, I have one question: What part of your body am I allowed to demand you slice off? Kind of a monstrous thing to think about someone, isn't it? Why haven't you cut that part of your body off? If that's what she thinks of men, she can never deserve any dick.

Handjobs and foreplay stuff are more fun uncircumsized, like giving a dick a hoodie and pretending its a jedi.

Never even crossed my mind.

women who are generally grossed out by uncircumcised men

And this must be an American thing, because I haven't met one and from what I've been told, most women find uncirc more attractive.

And as for bullying, in my school, if anything, the circumsised would have been bullied for having "half dicks". Not that I ever saw anyone be bullied over their dicks, that's just fucking weird.

American Penis owner here, uncircumcised. So fun and no issues.

Nope. Heavens no. It’s a feel-good part of the body, hell no.

The only requirement is to keep it clean. Parents shouldn’t shy away from educating your boys about this and have some open conversations about it.

Might as well ask if you wouldn’t mind having one fingertip shaved off at birth, the difference being you’d know what you were missing because you have the other fingers to compare it to.

I was circumcised at 40 for medical reasons, due to phimosis. That was a blessing after several years of issues with having normal intercourse and having little operations done that were ultimately ineffective.

Anyway, it's definitely different and I am much less sensitive. I definitely prefer being uncircumcised, just not, you know, with phimosis.

I've never wished that I was circumcised. And anyone who thinks my dick is gross doesn't sound like they'd be fun to fuck, anyway.

I sure as hell didn't get my son circumcised. Don't do it, let your son make that choice himself when he's old enough.

I am circumcised since infancy. I’m not bothered by it, but given the choice at this point in life I would not have had it done. In the past I’m not entirely sure. I did not have any boys, but I would not have had them circumcised if I had

What. The. Fuck.

As a circumcised male, please don't. Like countless others have said, it's a bizarre cultural practice that leads to a desensitized tip, and most of the world thinks it's fucked up. There's literally no benefits.

Wtf why. I only learnt americans are circumcized from online forums, keep your retarded habits to yourself guys

My partner just asked me this the other day. Answer is nope, never had a reason to want it.

Never had a partner with a problem with it either. If someone was ever grossed out by something that's just the way I was born then they can learn to deal with it, or fuck off.

I'm 42 and uncircumcised, born and raised in America. My entire life the total sum of what it's amounted to from locker rooms to relationships is pretty close to "huh, ok then". I can't promise it will be the same for your son but it's been a total non-issue in my life.

Nope. Don’t mutilate your child.

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.

No.

Forskin ins there for a reason. It's protecting the head of the penis. Cutting it off is just a poor way of not having to deal with the problems if you don't wash it properly.

Hell no

No. It's child mutilation. Just. No.

I'm American and not circumcised, my wife and I chose not to circumcise our son because there really isn't anything to gain from it. In my mind it's no different than the removal of the hood from around a womans clitoris, it would cause a lot of pain and discomfort until the area is more "desensitized" by constant overstimulation. As someone that has only ever had a penis, and never a circumcised one, it's all just speculation on my part.

Ok, so I'm a 38 year old uncircumcised Canadian male and on this issue, I have two opinions:

1.) Circumcision for moral, traditional, covenantial, or social cohesion reasons is child genital mutilation. Full stop, no second guesses...

2.) I have a larger-ish penis with a proportionally smaller frenulum and tighter foreskin. I am not bragging about size, I wish I was smaller because, when I get very aroused it can be quite painful. The foreskin frenulum pulls right against the tip of my penis and bends it down. If I were to excuse the frenulum and loosen my foreskin, I can imagine having sex when I am very erect would feel much better. This would be great because right now it feels like I'm trying to fuck with reigns on.

I have been exploring the idea of the loosening surgery, but obviously this is my choice, for aesthetic and pain management reasons.

The child has no choice, it's abuse. I have a choice, it's a medical procedure.

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

If you want your child to resent you for mutilating them with unnecessary surgery without their consent, go for it. If you want to be a good parent, don’t.

My 2¢: don't

I was circumcised at birth by my parents, and it's a source of frustration I have with them. Since it's irreversible, there's nothing I can do about it though.

Personally, I think circumcised penises look unnatural and weird.

Can't say I have ever wished for that. Confused on why I would

As an American adult that is uncut and was also semi bullied back in the day, don't do it. Let your son decide when it's his decision to make. Now that I'm in my late twenties I'm glad that I never had it done people generally stop caring as we get older. Eventually the benefits start to outweigh the downsides and most of the downsides are just social and not physical. If anything the physical benefits are amazing. Makes it all extremely more sensitive and makes naughty times way more fun. Something like 3/4 of the nerve endings die in the tip on circumcised men. And when it comes to partners it all comes down to preference, which is always a factor regardless of what your junk looks like. My last girlfriend thought it was fun and really enjoyed it, but I've also met someone that didn't like it because he had a bad experience once.

There are two major reasons why people find it gross. One can be fixed and the other is just unnecessary stigma. The most important advice I'd give is about hygiene. Too many men neglect it and have to learn the hard way that you actually have to clean underneath, that's where most people get turned off by it. The other reason people are grossed out by it is because they've never seen it before because it's so uncommon. I say be the change you wanna see in the world. Circumcision is slowly falling out of fashion because we are all slowly starting to realise it's pretty dumb and kind of brutal to do to a kid.

And if it comes to it, it's a lot easier to remove one than get one back. Let them make the choice.

he got a circ as an adult. Apparently crazy painful recovery.

Yeah, no. That was probably due to someone's more complicated circumstances.

Did it myself as a young-ish adult due to worsening phymosis and recovery was normal, couple of weeks or a month like any stitched wound's healing would do. Only weird and uncomfortable thing was the initial sensitivity of the tip, which completely waned off for the recovery period. I read plenty on other cases as I considered the circumcision myself, and nobody mentioned a painful recovery, recoveries sounded about same as mine.

Circumsizing your children is not really a thing in my country, except for muslims, but even if I had a boy I'd guess personally I'd leave it to them to decide if they need it when becoming an adult.

Don't do it man. I live in the US (born and raised) and I'm uncircumcised and I've never in my life been challenged about it. There is zero reason to do it to fit in culturally. And fuck any culture that encourages you to mutilate the genitals of your child.

Don't do it.

Even if it's for your religion, let your kids decide whether they want to be circumcised at the age of 18.

I'm not a parent but I think in general unnecessary cosmetic surgery should be left up to the individual especially when it is related to genitals. I understand wanting to help them conform to norms to try to give them an easier life and there are some surgeries I think make sense like a cleft palate or an infant with burns, but if it's not necessary you're taking away their bodily autonomy and I think that's a very important line morally. You need to determine if you think it's necessary or unnecessary, and if the discomfort of a possible later in life surgery pushed it past the moral boundary or not.

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'll trade fore some skin

I'm genuinely upset about not getting a say in the matter.

When a person gets circumcised they lose a ton of sensitivity and feeling from their dick, and it permanently degrades the quality of any sexual gratification they will have in their life.

And that's not even touching on how fucked up it is to mutilate a child's genitals for a religon that they can't even consent to.