Cut or Uncut? The Joys and Perils of the Foreskin

When you answer personal ads, guys always ask three things:
1. Top or bottom?
2. Size?
3. Cut or uncut?

I don't have a preference.  The foreskin retracts during sex, so who cares?

There are advantages to uncut:

1. It looks bigger, because of the extra covering.

2. You're not brushing up against underwear all day, so you're extra sensitive.


3. You finish faster.  I don't know if that's an advantage or disadvantage.

4. In the U.S., 79% of men are cut, so you become unusual, exotic, sought after.

And disadvantages:

1. It's harder to fit a condom over it.

2. If you don't keep it clean, a waxy buildup develops.  But you can clean it as easily as any other body part.

Why are so many men in the U.S. cut?  Jews and Muslims practice circumcision as part of their religion, but most people in the U.S. are Christians, who don't.

On this map, Green means over 90% circumcized (Muslim countries and South Korea).  Yellow is 30-90% (the U.S.,, Canada, Australia, and mostly-Muslim countries).  Red is less than 30%, usually far less (Europe, Latin America, India, and East Asia).

The rates in the U.S. vary: rich, white, and young are cut more often than poor, black or Hispanic, and old.

And by region:  90% of the boys born in the Midwest, and less than half of the boys born in the West (maybe because so many of them are black and Hispanic).

But why?  What is the origin of this custom of non-religious circumcision?




Turns out it was invented in the late 19th century by doctors who were horrified by masturbation.  They thought the practice caused any number of physical ailments, sterility, insanity, and "homosexuality."

Since circumcision cuts down on sensitivity, they thought it would keep boys from "self-abuse."

There was also some claptrap about preventing the transmission of venereal disease.

Through the 1950s, circumcision was regularly practiced, with or without parents' explicit consent.  It was a standard medical procedure.

Today most physicians don't push for circumcision anymore.   Yet parents still opt for it most of the time.  Studies show that they're not worried about the infant's health.  They're worried that he will be bullied and harassed for his difference, feel an outcast.


They're worried about the guys in the locker room staring at their son's penis in 15 years?

If it's a problem to have your penis stared at, shouldn't they be more worried about its size?

In case you were wondering about me: uncut.  But my brother is cut.  I've never asked my parents why.

And the guys on my Sausage List: #5, #7, #9, #10, and #14 were uncut.

See also: My Sausage List