ask adri

I know you’re a girl, but I have a few questions about circumcision.

1) They say that guys who aren’t circumsized experience sexual pleasure more than guys who are. How is it even possible to “calculate” that?
2) Do girls care?
3) Does it make sense for a father to have his son circumsized if he is as well?

–Curious Guy

1) I wasn’t sure what to say to this one, so I asked Mr. Science:

There have been studies done where you look at the fine touch pressure sensitivity of the head of the penis.  So, how you do this is to take a set of filaments of different stiffnesses, from super-flexible to stiff, and press them against the skin.  Then you ask, how stiff a fiber is necessary for you to feel anything?  And they find that circumcised men, on average, are less sensitive; can start to feel the fibers when they are stiffer than those that uncircumcised men can feel.

That’s one way that you measure sensitivity.  Now, it’s not exactly the same as sex, but it’s reasonably similar.

Well, there you have it. Uncircumcised men feel the fibers first.

2) You’ll always find someone who cares. I know people who rave about the merits of a circumcised man and I’ve heard folks tell otherwise. Although, I would say that people who are into uncircumcised men are far more aggressive in pointing out the differences. They are Macs to the circumcised PC. But, generally speaking, I’ve never heard anyone say “I am not attracted to this man’s foreskin (or lack thereof).”

3) No action makes sense based on that argument alone. If you’re religious and foreskin removal is part of your faith, then so be it. But if you want to physically alter your child’s body for no other reason than that it was done to you, I think you should do some research. A lot of people think that circumcision is bad for your health and body development and other folk think that’s it’s good, that it prevents diseases. I’ve heard both and I’m not sure, but then again, I’m not planning on making any such decisions in the future. I do know that foreskin removal is not without its consequences.

Good luck, Curious Guy. And don’t lose your head.