I chose my words incredibly poorly,

Yeah, lot of that going around this morning.

So I'm all self-conscious about my user name now. Robert was Buff Diving, and commented "I just don't like seeing your name as Raquel." I was puzzled, and said, "But it's my name." He said, "No, your name is Rachel." "Yeah, but everybody calls me Raquel. Or Raq. YOU call me Raq." "Only when I'm writing your name. Think about it - I know when we met everyone else called you Raquel, but have I ever used that name?" (He hasn't....he doesn't use Rachel that much either.) "I just think Raquel's an extremely unlovely name, and Raq is unpleasant." "Uh, what about Rachel? Can I still be Rachel?" "Yes, Rachel's a nice name."

I'm not really sure how to take this. I mostly get that it's a measure of how much he doesn't think of me by my name, but...a little unsettling. Is this what a mid-life crisis looks like? Is this his way of wanting me to be someone else? Or is that my own paranoia/depression talking?

Anyway, I'm totally weirded out, so if you guys are tired of talking about circumcision, you can pick a new user name for me.

One example, I would think, is people who, as adults, have the attitude of "Yeah, I'm [insert religion here], because that's how I was raised, damn it!"

But isn't that more identity than faith? I mean, that's an entirely different statement than, "I believe [insert belief here] because I was raised to believe it."

you can pick a new user name for me.

Crash Bandicoot.

Sorry, I spun the mental Rolodex, and that flew out. Alternately, we have Zorababbel.

Didn't someone cite a kid who was circumcised as a pre-teen and thought wanking was more fun before?

That was me. Turkish born boyfriend circed at 13.

Doesn't condom use mitigate the bulk of the increase in HPV risk?

I've been with two uncircumcised men. Both, as all men ought, showered in a timely fashion before they had sex with me. Presumably, as all men ought, if they went pottie subsequently they performed a quick penie-tidy as well. Johns may not be as concerned, dunno personally.

I've read that instructions to pull back a baby's foreskin can be too vigorous which can cause irritation -- that it would be analagous to spreading similar bits on a baby girl and giving a good hard scrub on a regular basis. Just wipe boy bits clean and check for detrus like girl bits.

There are some Jews who knick the foreskin in a bris rather than the full peel in the name of preserving sensitivity. I wish I could find that link.

Raquel, it sounds to me as if he thinks you're wonderful and your nickname isn't. It's a comment on the name and not on you.

I don't know what to make of that, Raquel.

FWIW, it doesn't sound so much like he wants you to be someone else as that his mental image of you doesn't include the name Raquel. Like, he wants your image in the world to be more his personal image of you.

Or I could be over interpreting.

What does he call you, if you don't mind me asking?

That may well be the most demented link Betsy has ever found in her long and colorful history of creepy-link-finding.

shudders

Too too too freaky. Good grief. And what is this nonsense about the pictures not being retouched? They look like frigging Mattel dolls! With the flecks of light painted into their disturbingly wide-open eyes! And, colours aside, what's with the HAIR? And the CLOTHES? Ick! Freaky freaky freaky.

shudders again.

My sole contribution to the circumcision debate - the only circumcised penis of which I've made the acquaintance belonged to an Egyptian gentleman. Unfortunately we had this whole condom-destroys-erection thing going on, which led to not the best sex evah - so I'm still pretty much Go Team British Penis. In a non-judgmental way, obviously - I'm sure that there are all manner of John Thomases out there in various states of, ah, dishabille wrt possession of foreskins or lack thereof, and I'm perfectly sure that all Buffista menfolk have exceptionally charming and fragrant todgers. It goes without saying.

Raquel, that is most disconcerting. I tend to feel quite strongly about spellings of names, and about names in general, and I think I'd feel not great about that, were it to happen to me.

fwiw, I think both Rachel and Raquel are nice names. Rachel is more of an everyday name to me, and Raquel more of a glamorous, Sunday Best sort of name.

edited because circumcised!=uncircumcised.

Am idiot.

BF and I *never* call each other by our real names. He calls me Scrappy, and any one of a million nicknames--he called me "Death Star" last night. I usually call him Monster or Handsome.

I'm afraid I'd be inclined to say, "Stuff it," if someone asked me to change my username because it didin't match what they thought of me. This is probably just one of the myriad reasons I'm 37 and not married, though. Or living with someone. Or dating. Or having dated in the past
. . .
. . .
. . . well, Clinton was in office at the time of my last date.

Oh, dear.

OK, tellling him to stuff it may not be the way to go here.