Oh, I know the covenant with God story, that's not what I mean. I always had the impression, and this might be totally wrong, that circumcision was a thing that was done (maybe by very few people) before Abraham.

If you are capable of preventing a crud buildup in your ass, you're capable of preventing it on your dick. Not real challenging.

If you're doing it for yourself, that's one thing. It's all I can do to hold down a squirming toddler to clean the poop off his ass, let alone retracting a foreskin.

It's called basic hygiene. If you are capable of preventing a crud buildup in your ass, you're capable of preventing it on your dick. Not real challenging.

Gotta go with John on this one.

I'm not a huge proponent of it, actually. I just wondered if D. Gris' friend knew there were some actual pros above and beyond, "Well now you look just like Daddy."

There's a funny article here: [link] Well, okay, I don't think it was supposed to be funny, but this cracked me up:

The proponents of not circumcising nevertheless stress that lifelong penile hygeine is required. This acknowledges that something harmful or unpleasant is happening under the prepuce. Moreover, a study of British schoolboys found that penile hygeine does not exist [73]. Furthermore, Dr Terry Russell, an Australian medical practitioner states 'What man after a night of passion is going to perform penile hygeine before rolling over and snoring th e night away (with pathogenic organisms multiplying in the warm moist environemnt under the prepuce)'[73]. The bacteria start multiplying again immediately after washing and explain the whitish film, termed 'smegma', that is found under the foreskin. Bacteria give off an offensive odour, necessitating several showers a day by uncircumcised men, some of whom, together with their partners, find the stench so unpleasant that this smell has caused these men to seek a circumcision on this basis alone. For mothers and fathers, it is far easier to maintain cleanliness of their son's penis if it is circumcised. If their son isn't the messages are confusing: 'leave it alone', 'clean under it', 'pull it back sometimes', 'irrigate occasionally'!

And yet? Still less ooky to contemplate than freak real life baby dolls.

Never mind.

So, "doesn't magically clean itself"=bad?

Moreover, a study of British schoolboys found that penile hygeine does not exist [73].

Bwah!

You're divorced now, -t. I think there was an errant tag drop.

Yay!

It's true. I remember looking at you two at Nillyfest. I think it was when you were feeling a little overwhelmed and tired, toward the end of the evening. You were off, in the kitchen or the foyer, maybe, and he was just holding you, and it made me go all schmoopy. A lot of times, when you talk about you and Tom, I see that picture in my mind's eye. t /shipper

My borther is uncircumcised. I'll have to ask him if he takes several showers a day to avoid the stench. Certainly he didn't as a child.

Good fucking grief.

Thanks for the circumcision arguments, guys. I'll bring those up the next time I'm arguing about it, as reasons outside of religion circumcision might be a reasonable thing.

Wait, smegma only happens to the uncircumcised penis?

I think it is a six-of-one, half a dozen of the other enterprise. On the one hand, there's the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it point of view. On the other, there's the an-ounce-of-prevention-is-worth...

Oh, my. I'll stop here, before I find out if I work any more cliches into this post.