In Praise of Penis
April 30th,Why are people scared of the uncircumcised penis?
I’m a few weeks behind the curve on posting this — first there was all the sex I’m having, and then the HC debacle. But I will always love penises! Penises are timeless. So I bring you this via Jezebel, where two posters on Jewcy take on both sides of the debate: pro-foreskin and anti-foreskin.
I fit right in here in New York, purely by virtue of my nose. But I’m an oblivious, uneducated, non-practicing, only-by-accident-of-birth Jew. It took me an entire semester at a Jewish college for me to remember that circumcision was a Jewish thing. I’d never realized religious preference would be problematic if one preferred a certain type of penis. Or really, that one would.
Reading those Jewcy posts made me feel like I was reading about another world: a frightening world, located on the basement floor of a Jewish girls’ college dorm. Imagine feeling like your partner would prefer your cock if it was de-foreskinned! That makes me think of the way I’d feel if my partner asked me to have my labia trimmed. (For reference: hurt, mortified, and raging mad.)
In the United States foreskins are practically endangered, but I’ve encountered my share of them. Yeah, the first time, there was an uncanny resemblance to one of those water-filled children’s toys that slips through your fingers when you try to hold it. (Notice how, unlike those oh-so-hip Jewcy editors, I’m not posting an illustrative picture of such.) But I didn’t take long to figure out that these were different. For one, they tend to thrust back into my fingers when they slip out. If they remind me of toys, they are the best toys ever.
Uncircumcised cocks look the same when they’re hard, participate in all the same activities, and function the same with condoms. Hell, if the lights are off you might not even notice. Why do we care so much what they look like, as long as they work?
The first time you saw a penis or a vulva, you were damn well prepared to be excited by whatever it was you saw. You’d been excited for years, merely knowing that such things existed. You had intentions on it that preceded any familiarity with shape or form.
It probably looked funny. (They all do.) You got over it. (Like you do.) Eventually, you grew to be excited by the mere sight of it. Perhaps you even came to find it beautiful, and to establish it as a standard for such. And then (da-da-DUM!) you came upon a different one.
I like the idea of backtracking the logic to that so-often-romanticized first moment of discovery. Why can’t this be magic, too?
Those of you wishing to argue the functionality or ethics of circumcision, take a number and stand in line, but that’s outside the scope of today’s argument.
April 30th, at 11:22 pm
Hehe, I remember the first time I saw a penis. And I’m glad he was tied up and blindfolded so he couldn’t see me giggling. Now I love ‘em all, though I do admit to a slight preference. However, I have only ever encountered one uncircumsized dick, and the person it was attached to may have swayed my opinion. Just sayin’.
Though, while I won’t get into the ethics of it here (though I have rather rabid opinion on the topic) I can say it was a huge bone of contention in me and Franklin’s relationship when the discussion of ‘the future’ and ‘children’ came up, because we both fell firmly on opposing sides of the argument. No amount of debating could change our minds.
May 1st, at 6:23 am
So, just gotta throw this in. When I did my peds rotation not too long ago I watched a number of circumcisions… They line the kids up outside the little room and bring them in one at a time. I have to say, the kids didn’t seem to mind much. LOL. I think it was more traumatic for us watching then for them. LOL.
May 1st, at 6:33 am
And, FWIW, I definitely think some are prettier than others. LOL.
May 1st, at 8:34 am
Uncircumcised penis also lends itself to CBT very well - a whole added dimension of creativity.
May 1st, at 9:53 am
Hmm…
I’ve frequently (albeit silently) noted the aesthetics of one penis over another, but I can’t say it ever had anything to do with the presence, or lack, of a foreskin.
A notable exception was one uncircumcised man who apparently hadn’t had his weekly dunking. In that case, the presence of a foreskin merely enhanced what was already unacceptable.
May 1st, at 9:55 am
Yes! Can’t we just love all penises the way they are and stop complaining about whether they have too little or too much foreskin? Like you said, they all work - so why bother worrying about it?
May 2nd, at 2:16 pm
I mainly wish the anti-snipping community wouldn’t be so… annoyingly vocal. They lose all credibitility with me when they unilaterally proclaim that my loving parents were guilty of some horrible abuse when they had it done to me. Or that I will be so when I do so to my (hypothetical) son.
Also, the implication that I have been somehow crippled or diminished by the proceedure is, frankly, insulting. I wish they’d just live their lives, not have kids with people who might disagree with them, and shut the fuck up about it.
Also, I wish they’d get over the fact that some people aren’t going to like the way an uncut cock looks. Aesthetic preference is not some sort of foreskin-racism, and people are perfectly entitled to have and follow it. Just like people are allowed to have preferences against naturally crooked teeth, or a “natural” 6th finger.