OMG, it's a circumcision debate!

[conuly]

Man, I haven't seen a good one of these in ages, people are all too polite!

And already we've got some good comments. "I'm so happy I was circumcised!" leads to "That's great, good for you, but you didn't have a choice in the matter." leads to "YES HE DID! HE SAID HE'S HAPPY, DIDN'T HE????"

Apparently this guy never learned that babies can't consent for shit. Not for necessary things (appendectomies) nor optional things (circumcision).

But my favorite has to be the comment or two talking about how people with their penises in the natural state "risk" the horrors of smegma. (Gosh that's a fun word to type. Smegma, smegma, smegma.)

After my shocked and horrified comment that one should never ever ever ever EVER retract their darling baby's foreskin (EVER!) until their darling baby can do it himself (at which point you still shouldn't be doing that because, dude, let's not play with our kids' penises!) I wandered off and looked up "smegma" at Wikipedia.

Aside from confirming that it's not a guy-only thing (I knew that) this is what they have to say on the subject:

In males, smegma helps keep the glans moist and facilitates sexual intercourse by acting as a lubricant.

I am shocked and appalled that this happens. Shocked. And appalled! The horrors! We must never let anybody have this happen to them ever again. Because that sounds terrible.

Okay, I mean, it does in that bodily secretions always *do* sound kinda gross - but honestly, if you're wondering now whether or not you should circumcise your son or yourself, I suggest you don't lose too much sleep over the smegma issue.

Comments

[leora.livejournal.com]

I was looking up info on smegma recently actually (these things happen), and I learned something interesting. Females (well, uncircumcised ones) tend to produce more than males (circumcised or uncircumcised). One of the points made to all those women talking about the horrors of smegma is - how do you deal with your own? What would you do about a baby daughter and all that evil disgusting smegma she'll produce?

Actually, I got a bit annoyed at some web sites. Some reported smegma more neutrally as a secretion and so forth and some stated it is foul. It turns out, many people actually don't find it foul. In fact, I bet a lot of those people ranting and raving about how horrible smegma is and cutting their baby boys have been dealing with it either by simply washing their own regularly or quite possibly sexually enjoying their partner's in all sorts of ways.

But mainly, I am bitter. Women are often made to feel bad when there isn't enough lubrication for sex and artificial lubrication is needed. This shouldn't be happening anyway, but it does happen. Now I find out that not only does this happen, but men have been turned into slackers who were supposed to be providing some of that lubrication and now most of them do not. Maybe there'd be enough lubrication if women weren't expected to do their part and his part. Maybe it's not that she's too dry but that he is. The slacker. (And no, it's not his fault, and it's not that hard to get artificial lube, and he's the victim here, but I hadn't realized women were also being cheated and then blamed for it until recently. So, I've been long against forced mutilation, this other part is kind of a new issue.)