Cutting Woes

Dear Doctor Dear
By Doctor Dear (Obviously)

At 23, I am still not circumcised.  This is mainly because I was brought up overseas, where getting cut isn’t an issue for social inclusion/exclusion.  Having returned to the Philippines, though, I have been made aware how my supot status is a source of, well, everything – from concern to disgust to ridicule to whatever.
What’s the fuss about?

David J.
San Antonio Village, Makati City

I was told I could have had more feelings on my penis had I not been circumcised.  Is this true?

J.J.
New Manila, Quezon City

For as long as I started getting a hard on, I have always been in relative pain.  Checking closely, it’s because of my tight foreskin wrapping the head of my dick (glans penis).  I am uncertain how to deal with this – at 32, I feel too old to get circumcised now; plus I love my dick skin.  What’s there for me to do?

J. Pollon
Notre Dame Village, Cotabato City

Can I get sick if I don’t let my Dad have me circumcised?

Dennis L.
Salcedo Village, Makati City

Feminists were right: When men talk about their dicks, it’s as if it’s the beginning and the end of everything.  I’d have to say, though, that in some cases, it REALLY is the beginning and the end of everything – at least of many things, e.g. pride (try comparing dicks), identity (size queens will understand this), et cetera.

This makes the penis, and discussions of it, important (sorry...).  And nowhere are discussions more focused than on DICK LOOKS (appearances, that is, which should include SIZES, which I know many would say are most discussed about dicks than anything else).  And when it comes to discussing how penises look, the cut/uncut argument almost always surfaces.

Here’s my take on this.

CUT WHAT?
WHY?

Originating from the Latin words circum ("around") and cædere ("to cut"), circumcision involves the removal of some or all of the foreskin (prepuce) from the penis (Wikipedia.org).  The reason for the practice vary – e.g. religion dictates it (as in Judaism, wherein it is a commandment from God); hygiene, thereby eliminating possible infections of various diseases (as in the supposed greater risk of human papilloma virus or HPV infection among uncircumcised men); and social pressure (in the Philippines, for example, male adolescents get cut together, usually during summer, so those who won’t will be left out, inevitably considered an “other,” teased for being unlike everybody else by being uncut).

		The merits of the reasons are still being discussed, however. AN INHUMAN ACT? Accordingly, especially when done on babies (neonatal circumcision), circumcision “violates the individual's bodily rights, is medically unnecessary, adversely affects sexual pleasure and performance, and is a practice defended through the use of myths,” Wikipedia.org states.
TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT Many men, especially in the Philippines, get circumcised mainly because of societal pressures. But with even the United Nations claiming it's a form of genital mutilation (though it claims, too, that circumcision lessens HIV infection), should you get cut or not?.

Adds Anastasios Zavales in Male and Female Circumcision, Human Rights and the Restoration of Spiritual Integrity and Freedom, a presentation at the 4th International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations in Switzerland in 1996: “The world community is increasingly educated on crimes against humanity, in particular, about individuals practicing genital mutilation, commonly termed circumcision.  Genital mutilation affects more than two million girl-child victims and more than 13.5 million boy-child victims annually throughout the world. Every two seconds, one child-victim endures genital destruction and sexual torture as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment.  (Genital mutilation) deny millions of children their reproductive rights to genital integrity and restitution, and sexual liberation.”

Thus, the American Medical Association, among others, stated in 1999: "Virtually all current policy statements from specialty societies and medical organizations do not recommend routine neonatal circumcision, and support the provision of accurate and unbiased information to parents to inform their choice."

Also, the United Nations (UN), through The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and “subsequent UN texts and programs, (stress) the social benefits of eradicating all forms of genital mutilation.”

IN SICKNESS AND IN...

Removing the skin is, obviously, not everything it is claimed to be, with not many discussing how the forcible retraction of the skin, especially in boys, can lead to infections; and how in the US, the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey done from 1994 to 2004 showed that more circumcised men have been diagnosed with genital warts compared with uncircumcised men (4.5% and 2.4%, respectively).

However, and admittedly, keeping the skin intact can have risks – e.g. because the foreskin may harbour bacteria, so infections can set in if not cleaned properly.  Aside from HPV infection, the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2007), the Joint United Nations Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2007), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2008) cite the indications that “male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex.”

ON THE GLORY OF SEX

According to Boyle, et. al. (2002), "The genitally intact male has thousands of fine touch receptors and other highly erogenous nerve endings — many of which are lost to circumcision, with an inevitable reduction in sexual sensation experienced by circumcised males.”
This is one of the widely accepted reasons not to get cut.

But according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, “the effect of circumcision on penile sensation or sexual satisfaction is unknown. Because the epithelium of a circumcised glans becomes cornified, and because some feel nerve over-stimulation leads to desensitization, many believe that the glans of a circumcised penis is less sensitive... No valid evidence to date, however, supports the notion that being circumcised affects sexual sensation or satisfaction."

CUT OR UNCUT

As a cut man myself (I was under 12, if I remember right, when I was cut – I didn’t know I had a choice), I do not really advocate cutting. 
Or not getting cut, for that matter.

I believe this should be made by the individual, befitting his status (whatever that may be).

If you grew up comfy having skin, then by all means, keep it.  If you are in pain when you get erect, then see your doctor – no, you are never too old to get cut, if that’s what you want; though there are procedures that can be done, too, for you to keep your foreskin, just make it not cause you pain.  And if it’s dirt you worry about (which can cause infections), that’s what the shower is for.

No matter the status, after all, it’s just dick (salute to feminists).

Now enough talk about dicks.

At least for now.

Dr. Dear is, obviously, a doctor of sorts, and is the regular medical voice of the gayzine. Ask, he said, and you'll get your answers “in print so everyone can share – and perhaps even learn from what it is you want/need to know about.”