From: aa358@yfn.ysu.edu (Ken Richards)
Subject: Re: Adult circumcision
Organization: Youngstown State University/Youngstown Free-Net
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 23:40:12 GMT


Peter,
 
This was taken from the NOCIRC Newsletter Vol 6, No 2.  Please,
please, please rethink your idea to get circumcised!  I was
circumcised at birth and I am now attempting to restore my
foreskin by stretching the penile shaft skin.  
 
 
"I feel it is an insult to presume that a child who will grow up
to trim his nails, blow his nose, brush his teeth, and clean his
anus would be too stupid to learn how to retract the foreskin and
wash the glans of the penis!"  Thomas J. Ritter, M.D.
 
 
 
                     THE FORGOTTEN FORESKIN
                     ----------------------
 
In America alone this year, 1.3 million boys will sacrifice their
foreskins to the surgeons knife--1/2 inch of discarded penile
anatomy.  What is this thing which is treated with so much
disdain by so many?  Has the supreme being made a minor blunder
in his blueprint for the male of the species?
 
              WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED A FORESKIN?
              -------------------------------------
 
The penis is not just a club to be used to batter its what
through the portals of love.  It is a wonder of natural hydraulic
engineering equipped at its tip with a dense mat of nerve endings
that make it one of the most sensitive organs in the male body,
designed to fire off impulses to our pleasure center in the brain
and spinal cord with the slightest touch.  It is clear that such
a delicate and sensitive piece of machinery should be protected
from the ravages of nature and its local environment when not in
use--a function provided by the foreskin.  Whether it be on
request of on its own initiative, this guardian of the male
member gracefully slides back to expose its sensitive core,
charged and ready for action.  To call it a skin is to do it an
injustice because it is far more.  To remind us of its sexual
significance it is equipped with an intricate biochemical
apparatus that makes it responsible to the male sex hormone. 
Indeed human foreskins have been studied by hormone researchers
for many years in an attempt to unlock some of the secrets of how
the male hormone acts.  It also contains highly specialized
glands that squeeze out an oily substance on the penile head to
prevent it from drying out and to hinder attack by bacteria and
fungus.  Some have suggested that this oil may also serve as a
sexual perfume to attract and excite the female during sex play. 
Let us not forget that women too have foreskins, small and well
hidden but nevertheless fulfilling the function of its male
equivalent...
 
Man has slit, skewered and hacked pieced of his penis since he
first discovered it hanging between his legs.  How much skin he
removed from it depended on the culture to which he belonged... 
Why? you may ask.  In some cultures it appeared to represent an
initiation ceremony at puberty.  Boys could show how macho they
were by smiling while their genitals were being mutilated. 
Experts have also pointed out that this ritual spilling of blood
may also represent a symbolic menstruation--a sign of the happy
times to come.  Other societies had more religious reasons.  As
mentioned earlier, circumcision can be though of as a symbolic
castration that was the ultimate offering to the gods.
 
The bad news starts from the day we say good-bye to our
foreskins.  Not only are there complications of the operation
itself, such as bleeding and infection, but also our newly
uncovered glans in now uncomfortably exposed to ammonia and other
harmful chemicals from urine and feces, and suffers the abrading
influence of toilet paper and clothing.  The result can be
painful sores and a condition called meatal stenosis, which is
the hardening and narrowing of the urethral opening.
 
With the loss of the foreskin the man loses a natural gliding
mechanism that helps with the sex act.   With the foreskin it is
possible for the shaft to move back and forth within the loose
outer skin.  This is especially helpful during sex with women who
have poor lubrication because the reduced friction during
intercourse is less irritating...After circumcision, the delicate
and sensitive skin of the head of the penis gradually changes
character.  After years of rubbing against underwear and denim
jeans, it begins to resemble normal skin and loses some of its
sensitivity, with a reduction in the intensity of sensations for
the man during intercourse as a possible result...
 
If it is not yet obvious to the reader, the message is clear and
undeniable:  Our foreskin, like our tonsils does have a purpose
in live, and it is time that one-sixth of the worlds population
faced the reality of that fact.  Happily, in America if new
attitudes persist and current trends continue, the coming
generation, unlike the previous one, can revel in the new
experience of having sex with a foreskin!
 
     -Kenneth Purvis, M.D., Ph.D. 
      THE MALE SEX MACHINE, AN OWNERS MANUAL
 

Think about it!  PLEASE!!

Ken Richards
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