I've really been pissed off lately that I was circumcised at birth, reading all the negative websites on how it reduces sexual pleasure, etc.
But I've realized that those sites are all extremely biased and more than likely can't be trusted.
It's good that you realized that. Most of those websites are meant to deter people from having their children circumcised. That's obviously a good thing, but as a result they often make it sound as if a man who's circumcised can put a nail through his penis and not feel it. Millions of circumcised men will tell you that they can in fact feel their penises. Personally I think they should do whatever it takes to get people to stop mutilating their children, but the unindented consequence is that a lot of circumcised men end up feeling even worse about something that in many cases they had no way of stopping in the first place. (A lot of guys don't understand this, but finding out that you were mutilated as a child can be very traumatizing.)
The "amount" of difference between an intact and circumcised penis is something that can't really be measured, because it's a matter of perception. No one can tell another person what he "would have felt" or "will feel". Even a person who has been circumcised as an adult can't really compare the two states because once you're circumcised, you no longer have anything to compare to. And you can't compare one person to another - a circumcised man might seem to have less sensitivity and "less intense orgasms" to his sexual partner than an intact man, but no one can say with any certainty that the circumcised man would have had more intense orgasms if he has been left intact or if the intact man's intense orgasms are directly related to his foreskin. People are different. Similarly, not all intact men have "explosively sensitive" frenula the way many websites make it sound (not every intact guy can just blow on his frenulum and have an orgasm - some can, some can't, and some circumcised men can), and not all intact man have glandes that look like wet plastic and have the smooth texture of the inside of your cheek. Many do, but a lot of intact men have "dry" heads that look similar to those of circumcised men, particularly when their foreskins have been retracted for a while.
The idea that an intact penis is capable of more feelings and more intense feelings than a circumcised one seems to go without saying - any body part that's been so significantly altered by surgery will tend to be less sensitive than it was before. Circumcised penises are missing a lot of structures intact penises have and scar tissue obviously inhibits sensitivity; there's no point in trying to sugar-coat it. But you definitely shouldn't "lose sleep" over it. Don't let other people give you a complex! If you're really bothered by it, you might consider foreskin restoration (which, granted, is usually a long an arduous process, but it might be right for you).
A lot of people who've had sex with both intact and circumcised men will say that the intact men had "more intense orgasms" or that they were "more sensitive" (or that the circumcised men were less sensitive). I'm not sure how someone can judge what someone else is feeling well enough to actually make that kind of determination (like I said, everyone is different), but I've personally asked a lot of gay men about it and while some have said the same thing, others have said it wasn't true at all. (One guy even came right out and said it was "b*llshit".) I find that difficult to believe (it's preposterous to think a circumcised penis is exactly as sensitive as it would have been if it were intact), but it does show that not everyone is as hung up about it as we may think and that the differences aren't necessarily as significant as those websites make it sound. I've also found that a lot of intact guys have compassion for men who were circumcised , and many others don't consider it to be an issue at all.
I apologize for not reading most of this thread to see if these things have been stated before, but it seemed to instantly devolve into the same type of morality argument and petty fighting most threads about this subject become. The original poster just wanted to know if he should allow himself to be bothered by this issue. He was looking for support, which is what this forum is supposed to be about. :wink:
