I was, thankfully, left intact because my parents abhorred circumutilation, believing that every individual has the birthright to his whole body. I never learned why my paternal grandfather, who had a fine long foreskin himself, callously allowed his sons to be butchered. Partially because of that fate, perhaps, both my father and mother realized that it is sheer primitive barbarism to rape a helpless child irrevocably of one of the best parts of his body--without his consent!--and thereby deprive the man-to-be of much indescribable erotic delight. Anyone who doubts that subtle but priceless pleasure need only compare the difference, as a rule, in time spent in foreplay by intact men on the one hand and cuts on the other. Getting there, as the Cunard Line used to say, is half the fun. I've seen too many circumcised men who can't wait to rush to orgasm--obviously because they get no real pleasure from "preliminaries"...only from the unsubtle jolt of orgasm (which, to be sure, most likely is no stronger for intacts, since it originates internally). -- Not only is circumcision profitable for the kindly "physician," but there is a veritable gold mine to be had in the commercial trade in severed foreskins (don't believe for a second that they are discarded!)...which gives the lie to the tired old "medically necessary for health" excuses for butchery. Circumcision is a "cure" in search of a disease--originally instituted in English-speaking countries in the nineteenth century to prevent (horror of horrors!) masturbation. Since then, "justifications" for mutilation have metamorphosed magically as one reason after another has been proven baseless [similar to Bush/Cheney's "justifications" for invading Iraq?]. (See icgi.org, "Circumcision Medicalization," and click on Slide Show.) One of the most frequently trumpeted current snake-oil falsehoods is that mutilation prevents HIV--giving the sadosexual perverts a butcher's field day in Africa, especially, as well as elsewhere. -- Malicious cutters' myth: an infant's circumcised penis is easier to care for. Fact: it's more difficult, not to mention the surgical danger and not infrequent subsequent infections because of the raw wound itself and because the foreskin's natural protection has been removed. -- If you are inclined to believe that penile mutilation does not diminish erotic sensitivity, watch a large number of porno vids (especially gay ones, for the larger number of cocks). In them you will see how rapidly and effortlessly the intact men reach orgasm; you will also see example after example of how much longer most circumutilated men take, using various compensatory techniques of stimulation, some of which are often so violent that they would be excruciatingly painful to intacts. -- Intactivists have no quarrel with adults who of their own free will choose to be cut--that's their indisputable right. But RIC (routine infant circumcision) of helpless little human beings is an abomination, a crime against both the individual and humanity. -- Parting shot: if you've never biologically had a foreskin or a penis, keep your mouth shut! You don't know beans about a man's pleasure...only your own selfish preferences. ---- If anyone is interested in the concise three-page anticircumcision guide to Internet sources, in easy-to-follow outline form, that I worked out for distribution to parents-to-be and even to doctors, PM me with a FAX or postal address. I'll get it to you ASAP.