Sexual Health
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Male Circumcision: An In Depth Look

Since I see a lot of scare tactics used on GAG to deter people from having this procedure done I decided to post an in depth look on circumcisions.

Circumsion Basics

Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin, the tissue covering the head(glans) of the penis.

Male Circumcision: An In Depth Look

When Is It Done?

It is usually performed on the first or second day after birth. (Among the Jewish population, circumcision is performed on the eighth day.) The procedure becomes more complicated and riskier in older babies, children, and men.

Procedure Time and Healing

If done in the newbornperiod, the procedure takes about five to 10 minutes. Adult circumcision takes about one hour. The circumcision generally heals in five to seven days.

The Benefits

  • A decreased risk of urinary tract infections.
  • A reduced risk of some sexually transmitted diseases in men.
  • Protection against penile cancer and a reduced risk of cervical cancer in female sex partners.
  • Prevention of balanitis (inflammation of the glans) and balanoposthitis (inflammation of the glans and foreskin).
  • Prevention of phimosis (the inability to retract the foreskin) and paraphimosis (the inability to return the foreskin to its original location).
  • Circumcision also makes it easier to keep the end of the penis clean.
  • Men who got circumcised after age 35 had a 45 percent lower risk of prostate cancer versus those who kept their penises in tact

The Risks

Like any surgical procedure, there are risks associated with circumcision. However, this risk is low (less then 1%).

  • Pain
  • Risk of bleeding and infection at the site of the circumcision
  • Irritation of the glans
  • Increased risk of meatitis (inflammation of the opening of the penis)
  • Risk of injury to the penis

CDC Endorsement

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its first-ever draft guidelines on circumcision that recommend that doctors counsel parents and uncircumcised males on the health benefits of the procedure.

But "the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks," Mermin said.

Circumcision involves the surgical removal of the foreskin covering the tip of thepenis. Germs can collect and multiply under the foreskin, creating issues of hygiene.

Clinical trials, many done in sub-Saharan Africa, have demonstrated that circumcision reduces HIV infection risk by 50 percent to 60 percent, the CDC guidelines note. The procedure also reduces by 30 percent the risk of contractingherpes and human papilloma virus (HPV), two pathogens believed to cause cancerof the penis.

The guidelines do point out that circumcision has only been proven to prevent HIV and sexually transmitted diseases in men during vaginal sex. The procedure has not been proven to reduce the risk of infection through oral or anal sex, or to reduce the risk of HIV transmission to female partners.

Circumcision does reduce the risk of urinary tract infections in infants, according to the CDC guidelines.

The most common risks associated with the procedure include bleeding and infection.

There is no doubt that circumcision does confer health benefits and there is no doubt it can be performed safely, with a less than 1 percent risk of complications," Dr. Susan Blank, chair of the task force that authored the AAP policy statement. "This is one thing a parent can do to protect the future health of their children."

Source:

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20141202/cdc-endorses-circumcision-for-health-reasons

https://www.webmd.com/sexual-conditions/guide/circumcision

https://www.menshealth.com/health/circumcision-prostate-cancer

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Most Helpful Guy

  • There is a lot of wrong with it.

    1. What about my body my choice? Does that not count for boys?

    2. Phimosis is easily treatable in most cases without surgery.

    3. While the American organisations are pro-circumcision (probably because there is a lobby earning millions from the stem-cells), pretty much all european health organisations claim the risk for such a surgery never outshine the number of still questionable benefits.

    4. The handful of studies about decreased STDs are still questioned as they aren't the most scientific

    5. More kids die on the procedure (usually by infection) than kids who will later have issues with phimosis. Worth it?

    6. Circumcision is one of the procedures with the biggest numbers of errors and negative aftereffects (skin-bridging, etc)

    7. Underneath the foreskin - just like inside the vagina - there is its own bacterial benefical fauna

    8. "Circumcision also makes it easier to keep the end of the penis clean." - That is utter bullshit. Every intact penis is easily cleanable by simply pulling the foreskin back. And frankly - you dont want to be with a guy who is incapable of properly cleaning himself no matter if cut or uncut.

    9. There is not a single country out there who does female genital mutilation but not male circumcision. male circumcision potentially layers the foundation for female genital mutilation.

    10. It is comparable with removing the clitoral hood. You want your clitoral hood removed because it might be a bit cleaner despite all the risks? No? Then why do you want to justify it done to guys?

    11. Infant circumcision rates are higher than 10% in the following nations: USA, Israel, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Kenya.
    Definitely role-model nations we got there.

    12. Infants can't be properly anaesthetised so they will have to endure most of the pain on one of the most sensitive body-parts. See here: edition.cnn.com/.../

    So get the fuck out before you try to justify any further to mutiliate our sons.

    • Agree with you. My body, my choice. The take is just bs.

    • @SilenRose PLEASE, GET REKT.

    • @QooLipBite The most absurd thing is that she has an avatar for being pro PlannedParenthood, but apparently "my body my choice" is only viable for women out there. Why am I not surprised over the hypocrisy?

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Most Helpful Girl

  • Oh, this is informational. Nicely written and I like how you cited your sources. Generally, I don't care whether a guy is circumcised or not. My guy had the procedure as an infant, but he doesn't seem to care much when I asked him about it. Honestly, a penis is a penis. 😊

    But however, I think the guy should have the right to choose whether or not he wants the procedure done, it's only fair.

    • We lose 1/3 of our erogenous nerve endings in circumcision. This take is a pro-circ piece, and not balanced at all. The dangers and costs to a man's sexuality go WAY deeper than the take owner lets on.

    • @Transigence The take is fair but you going around and spamming everyone's post with unsubstantiated comments is a problem.

    • @Transigence I already knew that. Didn't you read the end of my opinion? @SilenRose :P I don't even know anymore.

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What Girls & Guys Said

21 78

  • Put me in the "Save the Foreskin" club

  • I'm against circumcision, and prefer an uncut penis. However, I haven't had hands on experience with both, so this is just based on second or third hand knowledge.

    • Fair enough.

  • I have to commend you on your detailed take because that picture makes me shudder. :/ It's kind of crazy to think that it's such a common practice. Yet some men grow up and wish it was circumcised. Like that singer Omarion who tried to get his circumcised as an adult and they ended up cutting off an inch of his d*ck or something crazy

    • And why do some men want it done? Because some American women refuse to sleep with uncut men.

    • @broadsword Don't whine to me. -_- You need to ask them personally instead of acting like I'm the official spokesperson for all women.

    • This is a one-sided pro-circ take. The "risks" section is essentially fake. Some of those are risks, but there are many more, like the risk of death. Then there are the costs, which include 1/3 of the boy's erogenous nerve endings.

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  • Child mutilation is so wrong. Your facts are so deeply floored. Good personal hygiene means it is not necessary. It's also proven that circumcision desensitized the penis head and can cause a man sexual relationship issues. Religious believe or indoctrination is the only reason Americans still believe in it.
    All the sources you quote are American based.
    Iam not surprised as your nation still all so believes in the right to carry a gun. one day you will wake up to the fact that more Americans have been killed by Americans than in the 2 world wars but together. Your insistence means that everyday there is chance that another school full of children could be murdered. If you can't see these simple facts yet then it will be millennia before you understand genital mutilation is simply wrong. It is not my intention to offend anyone but this continuous insistence that circumcision is right is offensive to me and millions of other caring humans.

    • As expected some women disagree and think it's far more healthy and have been indoctrinated to think it looks better. I wonder how they feel about female circumcision. In some backward thinking countries and for religious beliefs young girls have their clitoris and parts of their labia removed. It diminishes their sexual pleasure. Makes them supposedly less susceptible to straying because of it. Cases of cystitis and yeast in infections in these women are far lower than women who have not had it done. Western society says it's barbaric and totally unnecessary especially on religious grounds. So true yes it is horrific but one of those western countries is so hypocritical because it's right to still do it to boys. I cannot imagine why any mother would want to put her son through this needles operation and instead neglect teaching him simple good hygienic practices that negate any normal requirement for this male mutilation of a minor.

    • My mother had me butchered, and when confronted the only reason she could offer is, "It's just what everybody did. Nobody thought anything of it." The practice is down to about 60% here, and even lower in Australia, so things are really looking up. But we have to push back against political agents like the take owner.

    • @Transigence iam very grateful for a cut man coming forward to say he wishes his family hadn't. It must be hard to express your opinion. My greatest concern is the education of the women in these countries. Who say it looks nicer and I won't sleep with an uncut guy its not hygienic. They have been indoctrinated by their own governments into believing that the figures used by biased American study groups correspond to them. When all of the research comes from the 3rd world like south afrcan poverty stricken countries. That have poor sanitation , poor education and little or no access to birth control. They barely have enough water to drink little lone wash. It's so biased to use these figures in a a modern western society where most people shower twice a day. Have fresh running water in their homes. For me I look at the diagram above and simply think how cruel how can any learnt be right in they head to wand that done to their baby boy. It counters their whole argument.

  • But seriously, what's the point in chopping parts of your body off when there's really no need? Why bother? If you really didn't need/needed to remove the foreskin, you'd simply be born without one...
    Honestly, I don't think people should bother with circumcision unless they (personally) really have a desire to, or for legititmate health reasons (e. g. getting rid of an infection- not because it may prevent something in general)...

    • "If you really didn't need/needed to remove the foreskin, you'd simply be born without one..." Not true. Humans have plenty of parts we can do without. For example: Wisedom teeth.

    • @ras144 wisdom teeth don't impact a life time of sexual pleasure and a fore skin doesn't hurt get infected or not fit in your mouth with to many other teeth. Modern dental practises mean we keep our teeth when Juan were evolving there was a good chance we would loose teeth so having some more adult teeth available was evolutionary.

    • @broadsword I'm pretty sure circumcised men still feel pleasure.

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  • Why are people saying uncircumcised penises look like freaks of nature? That makes no sense. Wouldn't circumcised penises look like freaks of nature, because foreskin is natural, not having foreskin is unnatural lol. I don't believe in any kind of cosmetic surgery unless it's a medical necessity, like a skin graft or facial reconstruction.

    • I know right? Circumcised gents should be called 'freaks of nature' for butchering their (used to be natural) dîçkś. It's because 99% of pornography material with males in have a circumcised dick. Thus having the exposure. The first time I was exposed to such materials, I looked at that thing and I was literally like "Wtf is this sh*t?"

    • @QooLipBite Oh my goodness, the ending of your comment is so funny. :D

  • I don't care what stats you pull it's cutting off bits of your kids dick. IT'S FUCKED UP! How can you promote genital mutilation? Learning to wash yourself properly is not difficult, the body would NOT have made the foreskin for no reason, it serves a purpose and cutting it off is vile.

    • "Learning to wash yourself is not difficult". Neither is learning to clean your apartment yet - how many bachelor pads have you been in that are complete shit-holes?

    • @Thor696 hardly comparable to allowing your penis to fester and rot. I live in the UK... I've not encountered an epidemic of dick rot. People manage just fine without chopping parts off, nature knows what it's doing.

    • Nature certainly knows what it's doing... that's inarguable. But man intervenes on nature all the time with breast implants, ear piercings, tummy tucks... etc. Not to mention abortion and fertility treatments, hormone replacements... etc.

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  • The benefits outweigh the risks, but is it worth it for the average guy? Probably not.

    Also, this unnecessary procedures on the penis should not be done on infants. It's the guy's skin, let him decide what to do with it.

    • You say the benefits outweigh the risks, but certainly that is for each to decide with their own values, right? And you didn't go into the costs. Would you give up 1/3 of your erogenous nerve endings, have your clitoral hood removed, and have your clit left out to dry and rub against your environment until it dried up and lost sensitivity? That's essentially what happens to us. The glans is supposed to be a moist, red, internal organ, not a dry, pink, piece of leather on the outside.

    • Dude, read the second and third sentence. Nevertheless, thank you for providing more reasons on why infant circumcision is bad. @Transigence

    • I understand your position. I'm not trying to convince you circ is bad, I'm trying to add to your understanding of why. Most people don't know about how many erogenous nerves are cut away, which itself, in my opinion, makes this a huge deal.

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  • This is so wrong, on so many levels but @hellionthesage covered most of it. Forcing circumcision on a child is disgusting in my opinion. If something along these lines was being done to women (in Western Culture), activist would be losing their fucking minds over it.

  • I personally agree with the view that it is a man's body so it is his choice if he has it done or not. I personally have had it done about 8 years ago or something. I was having way too much trouble with the foreskin being too tight and not being able to get it back over the head so I had it done. So I am now a circumcised man.

    • I had no problems with the procedure and am now better off for it. :)

    • Glad you had no problems. :)

    • I am pleased to hear there are women that like men that have had it done. :)

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  • I agree with most guys here. Infant Circumcision is immoral and wrong in my opinion. I've been circumcised and I don't have a problem with it. The opinion of "Ive been with circumcised men before and they don't mind it" is a little bias. They don't mind it because they have lived with it their whole lives. I'm the same. I don't have a problem with being circumcised because I've been this way my whole life. I think it should be a choice. As someone has already said, it serves a purpose. If it didn't we would stop being born with foreskin.

    • Hear hear.

    • Biased is something something can be. Bias is something something can have.

  • reduction in urinary tract infection is less then 1%(and males are still far less likely to get it then women) Many of these stats have been used to justify female circumcision, which as we all know has never been excepted. It does not make it easier to clean except for the fact that their is less to clean. This is like suggesting Mastectomy on women because its easier to clean their chests. Its illogical. As for disease prevention, their are ample studies that show their is no reduction in the ability to catch diseases (in fact removing the foreskin removes the membrane surrounding the tip of the penis that has antimicrobial properties, not unlike the acidity of the female vaginal mucus membranes). In fact one could argue that the notion that circumcision is healthier as absurd since in nature if something increases your risk of death and reduces probability of reproduction either the species dies or it evolves to not have that feature. We have it and their fore must presume it has a function, then taking into account that the vast majority of the world has had, as of yet, no issue with being uncircumcised one can conclude that this is a cultural push, not a medical/health one. Dr. Harvy Kellogg initiated American circumcision in order to reduce pleasure (their are massive quantities of nerves in the fore skin) due to an absurd belief (probably due to religious reasons) that masterbation and sex lead to disease. The fact is it is against the individuals will (which if it was done to women would be abhorrent) it has traditionally been done with no anesthetic (they didn't start using it regularly until the 2000s) and is a form of genital mutilation which is illegal (only of course if your female). Nothing you said was in fact accurate.
    www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/sidler2008/
    www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/.../...nt.html
    jid.oxfordjournals.org/content/200/3/370.full
    www.psychologytoday.com/.../more-circumcision-myths-you-may-believe-hygiene-and-stds
    www.psychologytoday.com/.../doctor-ignorance-male-anatomy-harms-boys
    cdn.psychologytoday.com/.../pro-circumcision-culturally-biased-not-scientific-experts
    www.askdrsears.com/.../does-circumcision-prevent

  • Great take, just sad that uncircumsised guys have those problems with admitting to the loads of benefits, it's not even like anyone is blaming them for not being circumsised lol it's ridiculous.
    Like telling an obese person the benefits of being healthy and they are like "I had never had a heartattack, either!" 😂

    • Haha, thank you!

  • I love the fact that we have a woman telling men how good circumsicion is... lol

  • Nice take, good to learn a little more about it. Still child abuse :P

  • The answers to this have already covered everything I would like to say but here's a REALLY quick synopsis: We Europeans are not cutting kids up and we are doing just fine.

  • I'd prefer if my man wasn't circumcised because I hate imagining how he was mutilated in such a way without giving consent :/

    • I get compliments on my mutilated cocky all the time... thanks Mom and Dad

    • exactly, same here.

    • pain is jusst a feeling what's the problem i dont even fucking remember the process, but i remember jest on a hospital bed just a small lovely family core memory @iamshelly

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  • This should be done to every male. I have it, my 3 sons have it.
    I would do it again.
    in the USA, most women would think an uncircumsized cock is nasty.
    so not only are the health benefits alone worth it, but it allows men to look normal and not like a freak of nature.
    anyone that thinks it should not be done is a complete fuckhead

    • "Allows men to look normal" & "Not like a freak of nature" Hey kid, are you aware that you and every single male is born with a foreskin? THAT IS NATURAL MATE. How can you say circumsision will make our dîçk look "normal"? Do you even know the definition of normal? Yea okay, normal to people living under rocks but how can something that's been altered from it's natural state be NORMAL? Even when it's a MINORITY? The rest of the world should actually be thinking you and your sons are "freaks of nature" for butchering your dîçkś. I believe I'm a complete "fUckhead" for making sense and being logical.

    • @QooLipBite They do. In the UK, they're (we're) called "leatherheads." I know, I fucking choked on my saliva when he said that uncircumcised men look like a freak of nature and that circumcized men look natural.

    • I don't think I care for your wording. Here's some wording for you: If you come near my son with a scalpel, I _should_ break your hand and plunge that scalpel into your neck and cut you open like a pig. The reason you did it to your sons is because you don't care about their suffering and you're a bigot. And you know nothing about penises. Moron. You talk like you'd be in favor of a law that requires this. Well I'm in favor of laws already on the books that protect babies from harm, and allow their parents to kill for them in defense.

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  • https://www.intactamerica.org/learnmore

    You got it all wrong.

  • "-A decreased risk of urinary tract infections."
    Never had that. I am uncut. Women get them too. It's not a reason to butcher a penis. It doesn't even stop it, just decrease chances. That's if the stats are accurate.

    "-A reduced risk of some sexually transmitted diseases in men."
    That's if you are having unprotected sex with diseased people. I have never had STDs

    "-Prevention of balanitis and balanoposthitis"
    That's like saying if we cut your left arm, your left arm will never itch. Of course it won't !

    "-Prevention of phimosis"
    You don't get the surgery done to prevent it, you get it done IF you have it. It's the only good reason to get it done.

    "-Circumcision also makes it easier to keep the end of the penis clean."
    How hard is it to keep a penis clean. I am no genius and I don't walk around with an unclean penis. It takes 2 seconds more in your whole day.

    "-Men who got circumcised after age 35 had a 45 percent lower risk of prostate cancer versus those who kept their penises in tact"
    If women who had their children had their uterus removed, it would prevent 100% of uterus cancer in those patient. I don't see them lining up to get it.

    Circumcision has no use unless you have phimosis. THEN you have a reason to. Otherwise, why would you do that? The unclean penis argument is stupid. Stop butchering your babies for no reason.

    • It does reduce risk of infection. However, the bigger reason men get UTI less often, is because of having a six-inch urethra as opposed to a one-inch one.

    • @ObscuredBeyond How many times will I get that in my life keeping in mind that at 37 I have never had that? How hard is it to get rid of the infection? It will have to be really painful and happen really often for me to accept having my dick cut.

    • Don't let anyone trap air in your urethra, and your odds are very slim. The male urethra's very design makes it very hard, outside of that, to get a UTI. Women, with one-inchers, are very prone.

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