It’s no secret that I’m an opponent of infant circumcision – and not without good reason. But rather than bitching about the many, many reasons why circumcising day-old kids is bad, perhaps I should do something positive instead – addressing a few common misconceptions about foreskins!
I believe this would be valuable because the most common reason parents and doctors continue to promote circumcision is ignorance.
They simply aren’t familiar with how an uncircumcised penis operates (which isn’t really surprising, as about 80% of kids were circumcised up until only a few years ago.) This is why parents are so keen to get their kids circumcised in the first place – and so ready to believe American doctors when they tell them they “need” to get the procedure done.
When my mother-in-law was up visiting my boys, for example, she was definitely out of her comfort-zone being faced with two uncircumcised kids – and some of the things she thought you were supposed to do during bath time, etc. were not just ignorant, but potentially dangerous (more on that later.)
Likewise, I’ve heard dozens of parents tell me that they’d left their kids uncircumcised, but later doctors had told them they’d “had” to get their kids cut because of “complications.” These sort of “complications” don’t occur as frequently (if at all) in Europe, where almost all boys are uncircumcised, which suggests that the problem isn’t foreskins, but American doctor’s ignorance about them.
So without further ado – here are answers to three of the most common questions people ask about foreskins:
I believe this would be valuable because the most common reason parents and doctors continue to promote circumcision is ignorance.
They simply aren’t familiar with how an uncircumcised penis operates (which isn’t really surprising, as about 80% of kids were circumcised up until only a few years ago.) This is why parents are so keen to get their kids circumcised in the first place – and so ready to believe American doctors when they tell them they “need” to get the procedure done.
When my mother-in-law was up visiting my boys, for example, she was definitely out of her comfort-zone being faced with two uncircumcised kids – and some of the things she thought you were supposed to do during bath time, etc. were not just ignorant, but potentially dangerous (more on that later.)
Likewise, I’ve heard dozens of parents tell me that they’d left their kids uncircumcised, but later doctors had told them they’d “had” to get their kids cut because of “complications.” These sort of “complications” don’t occur as frequently (if at all) in Europe, where almost all boys are uncircumcised, which suggests that the problem isn’t foreskins, but American doctor’s ignorance about them.
So without further ado – here are answers to three of the most common questions people ask about foreskins:
Excellent article. It's scary just how much ignorance and misinformation there is out there, especially amongst the medical community.
Another excellent article! I've never seen a circumcised penis before actually. I love giving oral and using fun tongue tricks on that wonderful flap of skin! It always got a nice reaction from my ex.
Thanks for a great, informative article. As a Brit living in the USA, I was surprised at how uncommon uncut males are and I was my wife's first. Those common misconceptions you address tend to come up a lot!
I actually had no idea about the age (10-11) very interesting and informative article!
"about 80% of kids were circumcised up until only a few years ago"?
That is terrible considering that about 50% of kids are born female. Either the Muslims have been doing a great deal more "female circumcision" in this country that I was aware of, or you really should have said "boys" rather than "kids".
Great article! My boyfriend is uncircumcised and I absolutely love it. He has always thought he was gross or weird for having a foreskin and I often try to reassure him that I love it. Of course he probably thinks I'm just trying to make him feel better but if I'm being completely honest I'd be devastated if he didn't have it! He's brought up adult circumcision a few times and I am always so sad that he feels that way.
I love this article! I am so glad I did not circumcise my son! I always felt any modifications to his body should be his choice not mine.
I didn't know that about the foreskin being attached by a membrane. Great article. Uncut all the way!
Thank you for this article. There are so many misconceptions involving intact foreskin that it can it be a hard thing to wade through to find out the truths.