No Such Thing as an Unbiased Opinion on Circumcision

I no longer believe that there is such a thing as an unbiased opinion on circumcision. People try to present their own beliefs as some sort of eternal truth, and even present logical arguments in favor, but since they never agree with each other they cannot all be true at the same time.

There are arguments about the health benefits of circumcision, and counter arguments why the health benefits don't really matter in modern society, but none of these are overwhelming. You can choose whatever you want to believe and you are probably just as right as the next guy.

There are human males who feel more comfortable having their glans uncovered (either by keeping their foreskin permanently retracted or by getting a circumcision) and there are those who cannot stand it.

There are those who are biased in favor of circumcision on religious grounds and there are those who are opposed to it, citing either the perfection of creation, or the perfection of evolution as proof that man is meant to have a foreskin, and he better keep his glans fully covered at all times with the possible exception of during sex.

I can't argue with religion since faith needs no proof and no amount of logic can change it. I can argue against the false statement that just because evolution has created the foreskin (and failed to get rid of it) it is a kind of proof that a foreskin is necessary. In fact I did that on this very blog in the article titled: Evolution, Pleasure and Circumcision. Of course even that does not prove that you need to be circumcised, it only proves that the evolution based argument why you should not get a circumcision is false.

On top of that the topic of circumcision is highly emotional. Some of us have deep seated positive emotions about our circumcision, or even experience euphoria just thinking about the fact that we are cut and see it as an enhancement.

I am probably in a minority in the sense that for me getting a circumcision was subjectively a completely disproportional improvement. Being circumcised isn't simply better for me but it feels like infinitely better than having a foreskin. I have encountered people who are probably in the same category based on how they describe how they feel, although I do not believe everyone perceives it as such a huge improvement. Nevertheless some amount of bliss seems to be fairly common.

On the other end of the spectrum some people experience a kind of grief, they hate the fact that they were circumcised, and what they feel is remorse and anger that it was done to them (often without their consent) and they may even feel mutilated.

I have no idea if there is any factor that predisposes people to fall to one or the other end if the spectrum. Is there any biological, psychological, cultural, etc. difference why the same small modification of one's body produces such a big difference in perception? I have no idea but even a casual scan on the Internet of virtually any discussion on circumcision clearly shows participants with pretty much irreconcilable difference of opinion.

Of course there are some who are fairly neutral or simply regard it as a medical/health issue, but a lot of people are on one or the other extreme end and either regard circumcision as the greatest blessing or the worst curse.

Basically everything that people ever say, or do, or believe about circumcision is colored by their personal beliefs, superstitions, prejudices, and cultural biases that are not based on any objective reality and are not subject to change.

I have started this blog in part to be a voice on the side of positive attitude towards circumcision because in recent years it is getting increasingly vilified, but I am not sure if there is even hope that the two sides will ever converge.

Nobody seems to even want to come up with some rules that everyone can live with, everyone just wants to force his own opinion on everybody else.

Of course my opinion is just as biased as the next guy's. I  do think that circumcision is great and most of the argument against it, and the hatred some people express towards circumcision is unwarranted. On the other hand I am sure that people on the other side of the argument are just as stunned by our attitude towards it. After all how can someone feel positive about slicing off a piece of skin from one's dick of all places? I am also certain that some "try it and you may like it" argument is just not going to fly with them.

A visceral recoil at the thought of a blade slicing into your dick is most certainly real, just some of us don't yield to the animal fear and we don't act on instinct alone.

But the hate filled arguments all over most public forums when people ask if they should get a circumcision are alarming.

After getting circumcised, or rather after getting my circumcision redone properly, I was convinced that it was such a great thing that it would be impossible for anyone not to like being circumcised if they could just get over their prejudices and go for it (this was in Europe, so I wasn't fully aware yet at that time that peer pressure goes in the opposite direction in North America). It was only a couple of years later that I have learned that there is such a thing as people hating the fact that they are circumcised, often for seemingly no good reason. They don't just dislike how their circumcision has turned out, but they object to being circumcised on principle.

I have learned to live with it but it is hard to say nothing  when they advocate for banning circumcision outright or go around trying to brainwash happy and healthy circumcised people that they are victims of mutilation, medical malpractice, or countless other types of abuse.

My opinion on circumcision may be overly enthusiastic but all that vitriol coming from the opposite side isn't some unbiased truth either. And my opinion is just as valid as theirs.