As a European, I come from a country and continent where virtually no one is circumcised. I mean Muslims and Jews are, and some guys get the cut for medical reasons, but that’s about it. It’s always been rather odd to read American forums like Reddit discussing penis aesthetics — this is an actual thing, apparently. Some girls (mostly American ones) will say stuff about how an uncut, intact member is “ugly” or “dirty”. Uncircumcised guys are a running gag in many a low-brow comedy flick.
There’s no such stigma in Europe — it is rather unheard of for any family to get their sons cut unless for religious reasons or out of medical necessity. Circumcision, especially of a newborn, is not a safe practice in all cases. I read a newspaper article once of a boy in Nigeria whose penis was accidentally cut in half during a botched procedure.[1] And then there’s the David Reimer case in America, a case that needs no introduction; poor kid lost his entire junk and was raised as a girl without being told. Ended up taking his life. Of course these are extreme cases. But to pretend there are zero risks involved and infants don’t very much feel the pain of the procedure, is naive.
Anyway, I see discussions online about parents where one parent wants to get their son cut and the other doesn’t. It’s weird as hell — no European couple would ever fight over such a thing. They’d just leave it up to the son to decide when he’s grown up.
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