SLATE OMG!
Yesterday I came across this piece about circumcision on Slate: How Circumcision Broke the Internet.
Surely you can see from the headline, that this is an entirely fact-based, neutral and rational article ;)))
I don't have an opinion on that issue, except that I don't respect religious motives for anything ... but that has to do with my anti-religious stance and nothing to do with a love for foreskin.
The argument made for safety are the ones that interest me: if circumcision really contributes to lowering the risk of AIDS and other STDs, by all means, cut it off.
I did however not agree with following paragraph.
Men circumcised as adults also almost universally report no adverse effect in overall sexual satisfaction following the procedure. (That fits with what my colleague Emily Bazelon found when she asked readers for their circumcision stories a few years ago.) And genital sensitivity in response to erotic stimulation is identical in circumcised and uncircumcised men. Don’t trust individual studies? A systematic review of all available data on circumcision came to the same conclusion. Intactivists, then, aren’t disputing a few flimsy studies: They’re contradicting an entire field of research.
and instantly penned following comment:
As someone who's been around the block a few times I bedded a fair number of men, who were circumcised. All of them needed lube or at least spit to masturbate. (Not that this isn't nice for non-circumcised penises too, but they can do without). Also, compared to non-circumcised penises, circumcised penises were less sensitive, and during masturbation they did handle their penis rougher as well. NONE of them reported an increase of sensitivity.
I am not against circumcision (or for it). If it serves a medical purpose (less AIDS, etc.,) is it mutilation? I only find it amusing that ALL the circumcised partners I had (15-20) were exceptions.
Re: Consent. Two of the men who were circumcised as babies (not for medical reasons) regretted being circumcised. Both stated they would have not given their consent complaining about a lack of sensation. Of courseI can't say if they would not have had the same lack of sensation with their foreskin attached.
I also gravitate towards letting boys decide for themselves-maybe shortly before they reach sexual maturity-if circumcision isn't necessary but as a female I can't say how painful the operation and recovery is.
The comment did not get published and I actually asked Slate why. (Remember I have been sick for almost 4 weeks now! If anything I have time and I am bored beyond belief!)
So, this is the answer I received:
"This seems to have been caught by either our spam or obscenity filter, but I'm actually going to keep it unpublished because I think it's a bit too explicit for the piece.
Regards,
-Jeremy Stahl, Slate Social Media Editor"
Can anyone else appreciate the irony that the topic is about penises, but my comment gets flagged as "obscene"? :D