Scottredleter, I've been fighting this battle for decades. I went to see my son right after he was born. I had to put on a gown, and wash up with special antibacterial soap. I heard a blood curdling scream in the next room. I really thought a baby was being murdered.
It was 'just' a circumcision. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand to this day, 35 years later.
Fast forward 3 years. My boy gets a little redness at the tip of his foreskin. We take him to the doctor. The doctor says, "It's infected, he needs a circumcision". Now, a reasonable pediatrician will tell you that the foreskin is red because it's fighting an infection. I pushed back. "Can't you give him an antibiotic?". "No, he's got phimosis, It will be like wearing a condom for the rest of his life". Me: "Is there any chance the condition will correct itself over time?". Him: "No". Nowadays, it is common knowledge that the foreskin will retract by itself for 99% of the population, somewhere between birth and puberty. We took him to 3 other doctors, and they all gave us the same untrue story. We had him done. It broke my heart. He was fine with it, partially because he was 3, and got anaesthesia. The second son, we had wised up that the doctors were covering for each other, and that son #1's surgery was unnecessary. He was left as he was. He thanked us both profusely later.
Later, my frenulum had a minor tear. I wouldn't stop sex or masturbation, and it wasn't healing. I saw three doctors. The first two suggested that circumcision would cure it.
Me: "How?". Doctors: "By removing the whole area". Dr #3, one with a Jewish surname, suggested I leave it alone, and it would heal just fine. He was right. It was never a problem again.
If men knew what the parts which get cut off felt like, they would hunt down the doctor and kill him. It really is as simple as that. The best, most feeling part is not the head. The most feeling parts are the frenulum, and the inner foreskin. Both are damaged or removed in circumcision. Then, the circumcised very often become the circumcisers. Like Bill Gates, donating huge sums to circumcise Africa. How many circumcised American men died of AIDS? What does circumcision really prevent? Not one disease. It may delay, but it does not prevent. If you have to wear a condom to be safe, why get rid of the body parts that feel so good, anyway?
Americans cling to circumcision, like it was their favorite blanket, teddy bear, and best recreational drug combined. Why, I have no idea. It started out with medical propaganda in the 1870s, but has gone way beyond that now, stronger than religious belief in dogma...
I would say unshakeable, but Canada was the same way, and their rate dropped like a rock. The rate is declining in the US, despite each new African half-study which proclaims that it is the answer. I wonder how many of the circumcision studies that say there is no loss of feeling are designed by uncut men? Do those 20,000 nerves, and half the skin on the penis, actually do nothing, I wonder? If so, why did evolution put them there? Mammals have had foreskins for 120 million years. Most of the kinks have been ironed out, or they got dropped from the gene pool. I wonder when there is going to be a real, double blind study, done in a country which has lawyers? Answer, never. It is a multimillion dollar business. When only 14% of the babies get anaesthesia, despite the AMA and AAP's strong statements that it is required, this really amounts to torture of those who can't protect themselves. All in the name of ego...so daddy doesn't get his feelings hurt, or mommy believes its cleaner, because that's what she's heard.
It is interesting that Europeans don't have any of these problems of being squeamish about hygiene, feeling that an uncut one looks like a dog's penis, or any hesitation to put one in their mouths. Their infection rates are lower than those of circumcised America,
Bizarre on bizarre, is all I can say. Thanks for bringing it up.