Are you circumcised?

[TylerDurden]

Out of boredom, I decided to ask a quirky question about RPF members, here!

[Sully]

I am not. The skin seems to protect my head. Just pull it back when I have to pee.

[goodsamaritan]

Yes.
In our country it is unacceptable for a Filipina woman to marry or entertain in courtship a Filipino man who is uncircumcised.
I got circumsised when I was 13 years old.

[wodgina]

ouch! never knew that,  i guess its worth it though

[wodgina]

I don't think anyone in my age group was circumcised in the UK at that time unless the parents asked them to.

[xylothrill]

Yes but I wish I hadn't been. I agree with Sully that it protects the head. The most sensitive part is exposed and becomes desensitized as a result. An analogy would be running barefooted vs running with shoes. Protected feet are more sensitive. I'm sure that if foreskins served no purpose, there'd be no need to be born with them. 

[xylothrill]

Yes.
In our country it is unacceptable for a Filipina woman to marry or entertain in courtship a Filipino man who is uncircumcised.
I got circumsised when I was 13 years old.

Edwin,

I just have to ask. How is she to know? Is it acceptable for her to check first? 
I agree with Andrew... I'm glad I don't remember the experience! Ouch!

Craig

[goodsamaritan]

If they are still teenagers or even older, any of her male friends or relatives may try to verify.  It's not uncommon for high school students to compare the different kinds of circumcision cuts they have.

There are doctor checkups and everyone in the school will hear about who is still uncircumsized.

For teenagers, boys joke about who is uncircumsized, and shame falls on who is not. 

Shouting expletives at one another, you can shout "supot" / uncircumsized to your "enemy".  You can also shout "kupal" to your enemy... "kupal" is that milky white dirt that smells bad on the uncircumsized if he does not know how to clean his uncircumsized penis.  This is what makes Filipinos in general think the uncircumsized is unclean.

If the man and the woman are older, it is assumed that the Filipino man is circumsized.  If he is a foreigner, usually they are not circumsized and I think many Filipinas will be accommodating that the foreigner is uncircumsized but he just needs to know how to clean his penis so there is no bad smell and no "kupal".

I'm thinking about whether to circumsize my sons or not.  My wife is vehemently FOR circumcision.  I said that if nature meant men to be circumsized then men should have been born circumsized.  But my wife will not hear any argument for not circumsizing our sons.

I would most probably have my sons circumsized.  Too much societal pressure.  Imagine not being able to court a girl because you are "supot" and in those teenage years, that kind of pressure is unbearable for boys.

Edwin,

I just have to ask. How is she to know? Is it acceptable for her to check first? 
I agree with Andrew... I'm glad I don't remember the experience! Ouch!

Craig

[TylerDurden]

Yes.
In our country it is unacceptable for a Filipina woman to marry or entertain in courtship a Filipino man who is uncircumcised.
I got circumsised when I was 13 years old.

That surprises me. I'd always thought that Roman Catholics were much less likely to accept circumcision, due to the whole notion of the integrity/beauty of the whole human body(also St Paul was vehemently against it:-
http://www.cirp.org/library/history/

I know that there are Muslims in the Phillipines but I'd assumed that they were in a minority, compared to the Roman Catholics, there. Perhaps this is a practice left over from before the Spaniards arrived?

Circumcised at 13? That must have been frightful. The usual reason given for why circumcision is OK, is that it's done during infancy when the baby is not fully self-aware.

[TylerDurden]

I don't think anyone in my age group was circumcised in the UK at that time unless the parents asked them to.

It seems to be very rare in the UK. It's only practised, really, by Jews and Muslims and some of the African immigrants.

[TylerDurden]

Yes but I wish I hadn't been. I agree with Sully that it protects the head. The most sensitive part is exposed and becomes desensitized as a result. An analogy would be running barefooted vs running with shoes. Protected feet are more sensitive. I'm sure that if foreskins served no purpose, there'd be no need to be born with them. 

You do know there is such a thing as "foreskin restoration/foreskin reconstruction"?

[goodsamaritan]

Circumcised at 13? That must have been frightful. The usual reason given for why circumcision is OK, is that it's done during infancy when the baby is not fully self-aware.

The circumsize when born trend was being done by some people around the 70s and 80s, but beginning the 1990s, the trend is back to the more traditional circumsize at around 10 to 12 years old.

Basically the reason is the baby is too small, the doctor might chop off is penis; and the baby is fully self-aware and gets into horrific pain at such a young age.

At 10 to 12 years old, it is a right of passage that every Filipino boy is mentally conditioned to go through with.  I had to remind my father to circumsize me, that is why I felt I was overage at 13 to be circumsized.  We did laugh at a rather tall high school classmate when he was found out to be uncircumsized at a medical check up.  He had his circumsicion at 16.  Man, that is old.

Traditionally, before medical times, the boys in the province at around 10 to 12 years old on summer break would line up to be circumsized by the local healer who wielded a very sharp axe and "CHOP" one by one.  The boys are asked to chew guava leaves while in line.  Then CHOP.  The boy spits his guava leaves on his just chopped penis foreskin as an antiseptic.  Then jumps into the clean river just beside the line.  Then he goes home for healing and wears their mothers' dusters.

My circumsicion was done in a hospital.  My dad's and my grandfathers' circumsicions were done the traditional way.

It will be a painful 2 weeks.  But it is a rite of passage every Filipino boy has to go through.  After that, he feels he is going to grow up to be a REAL MAN and has the confidence to court women now that he is circumsized. 

I never thought of a religious connection with circumsicion, it may be a Filipino tradition which has nothing to do with Christianity or Islam.

Here is a nice web page http://www.circumstitions.com/Philippines.html

Learn more about circumcision in the philippines when you search for the words: circumcision Philippines

[TylerDurden]

Basically the reason is the baby is too small, the doctor might chop off is penis; and the baby is fully self-aware and gets into horrific pain at such a young age.

At 10 to 12 years old, it is a right of passage that every Filipino boy is mentally conditioned to go through with.  I had to remind my father to circumsize me, that is why I felt I was overage at 13 to be circumsized.  We did laugh at a rather tall high school classmate when he was found out to be uncircumsized at a medical check up.  He had his circumsicion at 16.  Man, that is old.

Yes, that makes sense, as one of the key points made by anti-circumcision groups is that there is a small chance of failure due to the knife slipping etc.(0.2 %/2.0%?), a figure which is even higher outside the US. And babies can experience trauma.

There's something to be said for rites of passage. Some hunter-gatherer tribes have been pretty brutal in the past re subjecting their sons to such rituals. The argument is, apparently, that the tougher the "test", the more value the person will place on becoming a fully adult member of the tribe/society, facing up to responsibilities etc. - like Groucho Marx stated(more or less - no one wants to join a club where just anyone can become a member). Cults and secret societies also go for elaborate,tough rituals in order to  gain respect from the new member. Hazing in US colleges is such an example. Still, I'd far rather have done a really dangerous puberty-initiation-rite such as the Masais'(ie killing a  lion with a spear), than more drastic alterations.

[Sully]

The funny thing is, the skin didn't come all the way back untill I started to go through puberty. In about two weeks after going through puberty when I was younger the skin was able to retract all the way back after I fiddled with it for a bit.

[povarby]

Yes, sure!

[DameonWolf]

My mom never saw the logic in hacking off a part of the penis. She kind of saw it as a barbaric ancient religious practice that would reduce a males sexual pleasure for sadistic purposes. I some what share her belief, all those arguments they give to get it done are kind of outrageous. I've never had problems, and I don't think I ever will.

[RawZi]

I made a thread about it on 'my' old raw community.  http://www.giveittomeraw.com/forum/topics/1407416:Topic:291430?id=1407416%3ATopic%3A291430&page=2&feed=yes&xn_auth=no  Some members are no longer members, so their replies disappeared, which can make it a confusing read.  I called it FGM/MGM there (female genital mutilation/male genital mutilation); because I think raw vegans are mostly opposed to it.

[TylerDurden]

Interesting that Germany is finally trying to ban male circumcision:-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18604664

About time.

[CitrusHigh]

In tact, thank you very much! One of like 5 things my mom did (or didn't do, since I just found out she actually tried to, but the jew wouldn't do unjewish babies, thank lucifer christ for that little bit of dogma) right in raising me.

I used to be embarrassed in the locker room with the other chappies but now I'm pretty proud that I wasn't mutilated.

[Sully]

Here's a cool video where Daniel Vitalis discusses circumcision. I am honestly glad to say I wasn't circumcised. It makes sense to keep it covered and sensitive until an erection for sex. I don't wear underwear even with jeans, and have no issue. But my friend said when he wore no underwear with jeans, it made his head raw from the rubbing. Simply cause he was circumcised. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wHwsygNWW2s#!

[Dorothy]

To me circumcision especially to babies is akin to the barbaric ritual of binding a girls feet in japan that must cause deep unconscious issues. It is a cultural mutilation practice to keep males subdued. I can't believe any modern woman would want to do that to her son let alone the boy's father! After going through a cultural sacrifice I'd think males would want to spare their sons. Any other body parts you want to cut off while you're at it? I bet if we cut off the left thumbs of our males they'd be better behaved too.

[ys]

first, feet binding is practiced in China, not Japan.  second, comparing taking off little skin and limb mutilation is really silly.  as far as i can tell there is no functional issues.  maybe a little less sensitive but no loss of functionality.  while feet binding can make one disabled.  to me it is no more barbaric than ear piercings.

[LePatron7]

first, feet binding is practiced in China, not Japan.  second, comparing taking off little skin and limb mutilation is really silly.  as far as i can tell there is no functional issues.  maybe a little less sensitive but no loss of functionality.  while feet binding can make one disabled.  to me it is no more barbaric than ear piercings.

I don't think comparing it to piercings is really accurate. But I get that it's not cutting off a finger.

Still, I don't think circumsion is really logical. It just doesn't make sense to make alterations to a natural physique like that.

It's my understanding it used to be done to make sex less pleasurable. And now today I've seen websites (likely government or public health related) saying it can prevent STD's. Which is likely bull.

here's one such link - http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/womens-health/articles/2009/03/25/circumcision-guards-against-stds

Any body care to comment on whether there's any merit to circumsision actually preventing STD's?

[TylerDurden]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-a-rizvi/male-circumcision-and-the_b_249728.html

and so on.

The notion that circumcion hardly affects sex is just pure rubbish. On an anecdotal level, women who've had sex with both types of men report that sex with uncircumcised men was far better. The reasons are as follows:- the extra foreskin apparently allowed women to have sex with less lubrication needed in the vagina. Also, the reduced ability re stimulation in  uncircumcised males causes them to insist more on oral and anal sex in order to achieve orgasm, and vaginal sex is more violent in order to achieve orgasm:-

eg:-

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Eeeb_Sub2G8J:www.noharmm.org/bju.htm+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

The only  apparent "benefit" of circumcision is that sex with condoms when one is uncircumcised is less pleasurable. Which is why many men ask sex workers, with virtually zero chance of success, to not force the use of condoms during sex.

[goodsamaritan]

"Experienced" ladies I've talked to say circumsised  taste and smell better and cleaner... it's the culture in my country.

Yesterday my 11 year old was asking about circumsision and I said NO.

I said it was a bullshit harmful tradition that had to stop.

For him I had all the excuse with his current healing eczema.  I said what if you were cut and your penis didn't heal?

And for the Filipinas who culturally prefer circumsised?  He asked.

I said in his generation the people will be informed that circumsision is bullshit.

The too sensitive head part is true for some men.  My driver says he ejaculates in only 4 pumps.  That is a possible side effect I cannot yet explain to my boy.  I don't have that problem.  But it's a good concrete example I can explain to him.