Circumcision

[Defiant47]

(nicely structured quotes are for losers)

You can't complain about something you don't have (this sentence is so false).



Except I'm so old-fashioned that I refuse to remove my wisdom teeth.

 

[Narz]

Yes, but does circumcision remove "lots," compared to what's left? All the studies I've shown tend to show conflicting results, with some saying there's loss of sensitivity, but with many others saying it's about the same, or even increased sensitivity.

Can you show me some of these?

This is an area where there really hasn't been enough study to say for certain - which is why both sides here are way too dogmatic.[/quote]

From what I can tell, there's no correlation between circumcision and sex drive or interest in sex. If circumcision caused a substantial loss of nerves that rendered sex significantly less enjoyable, one would think that you'd find circumcized men less interested in sex. (Perhaps not noticeably individually, but over millions of people, even a slight difference tends to add up) I don't see any evidence that this is the case.

It still feels very good & the release of ejaculation feels nice. Even if you could somehow reduce sensation to zero men would still crave sex for the release of tension it created.

To draw a parellel, many of the biggest food addicts scarf down food & barely even seem to taste it while people who enjoy food the most often do not overindulge. Point is drive for something doesn't necessarily coorelate with enjoyment of that thing.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

You wake up one day with an infant next to you in your bed. It's a boy. You go to the police and in the records it says that he's your son; the mother is, for all intents and purposes, dead.

No, I still don't see it happening. Conceiving of a 40mm grenade lodged in my cerebral cortex is easier, and that's saying a lot, since my thought centers would be severely impaired in that situation.

 

[Elrohir]

Can you show me some of these?

Wiki has a nice rundown, although I'm sure they're missing a lot.

It still feels very good & the release of ejaculation feels nice. Even if you could somehow reduce sensation to zero men would still crave sex for the release of tension it created.

To draw a parellel, many of the biggest food addicts scarf down food & barely even seem to taste it while people who enjoy food the most often do not overindulge. Point is drive for something doesn't necessarily coorelate with enjoyment of that thing.

Yeah, but they can get sexual release through masturbation too. And yet, circumcised men still date, marry, and pay for sex with prostitutes every day, and as far as I can tell, in exactly the same rates as noncircumcised men. If you have any evidence that this isn't so, then please, share it - but as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Anyway, I'm really not interested enough in this topic to argue further. So I'll just leave it at that: I don't think it makes much of a difference.

 

[Yared]

No, I still don't see it happening. Conceiving of a 40mm grenade lodged in my cerebral cortex is easier, and that's saying a lot, since my thought centers would be severely impaired in that situation.

You'll rue the day you said that when you wake up one day and find a baby next to you.

Still, this scenario goes out to all of you.

 

[Ulyaoth]

There are people that cut their hair frequently and consequently never have long hair their whole lives.

Althernatively, wisdom teeth. Or removing teeth for braces. Or tattoos.

All those are done for function or in the case of tattoos, decoration decided upon by the person themselves. Would you be fine with parents molding their babies soft little skulls into coneheads?

 

[LucyDuke]

No, I still don't see it happening. Conceiving of a 40mm grenade lodged in my cerebral cortex is easier, and that's saying a lot, since my thought centers would be severely impaired in that situation.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=283166


@Ulyaoth: I would donate money to that cause.

 

[Narz]

Wiki has a nice rundown, although I'm sure they're missing a lot.

I saw those, not really what I'm looking for.

Yeah, but they can get sexual release through masturbation too. And yet, circumcised men still date, marry, and pay for sex with prostitutes every day, and as far as I can tell, in exactly the same rates as noncircumcised men. If you have any evidence that this isn't so, then please, share it - but as far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

That doesn't mean it doesn't make a difference, it means sex & companionship feel incredibly good. This doesn't speak to the side effects of circumcizion anymore than the observation that a man with a damaged tounge still eats & has favorite foods.

Anyway, I'm really not interested enough in this topic to argue further. So I'll just leave it at that: I don't think it makes much of a difference.

We'll have to agree to disagree, see you later.,

 

[El_Machinae]

I'll give a quick lesson in neuroscience.

Pleasure is a percept, it occurs in the cortex portion of the brain, due to inputs from outside the brain. That's a given.

Removing the foreskin at an early age will decrease the number of nerve endings. However, it needn't reduce the pleasure totals. Signals from the foreskin area travel to the brain, and then stimulate a portion of your cortex. In a baby, the size of the cortex devoted to the penis needn't change, even though the number of nerve endings to the region decrease.

The nerve endings that are remaining may branch into the cortex, and assume the connections that were originally 'destined' for the severed nerve endings. And so, the total brain area devoted to 'feeling' the foreskin area needn't change.

This means that the discrimination levels may change: there are fewer nerve endings with which to collect information. But the total amount of stimulation from the remaining nerve endings does not need to be lower.

I hope that's clear

 

[Defiant47]

Yep, you pretty much win through science.

 

[Narz]

I'll give a quick lesson in neuroscience.

Pleasure is a percept, it occurs in the cortex portion of the brain, due to inputs from outside the brain. That's a given.

Removing the foreskin at an early age will decrease the number of nerve endings. However, it needn't reduce the pleasure totals. Signals from the foreskin area travel to the brain, and then stimulate a portion of your cortex. In a baby, the size of the cortex devoted to the penis needn't change, even though the number of nerve endings to the region decrease.

The nerve endings that are remaining may branch into the cortex, and assume the connections that were originally 'destined' for the severed nerve endings. And so, the total brain area devoted to 'feeling' the foreskin area needn't change.

This means that the discrimination levels may change: there are fewer nerve endings with which to collect information. But the total amount of stimulation from the remaining nerve endings does not need to be lower.

I hope that's clear

It all sounds well and good but if nerve endings don't matter at all how come people suffer numbness at all anywhere? The brain seems to be able to compensate only to a certain point.

Your argument could be used to justify a lot of horrible things, IMO.

And again, it's not necessarily about the nerve endings in the foreskin it's the fact that what the foreskin protects is very sensitive & constant exposure (rubbing agianst one's shorts, etc.) is going to necessarily decrease sensitivity.

Circumcision could be compared I suppose to removing the clitorial hood (on females) while leaving the clit intact but not really because the whole outside of the vagina is so sensitive & also the clit can be stimulated from the inside via the g-spot (IIRC they are connected somehow, anywayz, I try to cover all the bases & it seems to work well ).

Even if your justification were 100% sound such extreme body-modification should be the decision of consenting adults only.

 

[Leonel]

You'll rue the day you said that when you wake up one day and find a baby next to you.

Still, this scenario goes out to all of you.

Why would a baby suddenly appear in my bed next to me when I wake up?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Maybe you got really drunk the night before and it awakened your latent pedophilia? I don't know, the situation doesn't make much sense.

 

[innonimatu]

Biopower at work: from controlling movement with the excuse of terrorism, down to regulating dicks with the excuse of HIV.

 

[TheJ0K3R]

According to our Holy Koran people should be circumsized.So i'm circumsized too..With my all respect to any other religions,i'm saying 'what parents do to their kids is none of my business'

 

[Lord Gay]

I'm casually opposed to it. I don't have any hard evidence for or against, but the few anecdotes I've heard and one I encountered lead me to lean against the practice.

 

[Flying Pig]

Biopower at work: from controlling movement with the excuse of terrorism, down to regulating dicks with the excuse of HIV.

Sledgehammers and walnuts anyone?

 

[Narz]

Biopower at work: from controlling movement with the excuse of terrorism, down to regulating dicks with the excuse of HIV.

If they just castrated the infants instead then they'd really do a number on the AIDS virus.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Even if your justification were 100% sound such extreme body-modification should be the decision of consenting adults only.

If I understand his explanation correctly, it wouldn't work with adults. Circumcising adults will affect sensation since their brains are already well-developed and will "miss" the foreskin, but a baby doesn't have the brain development to know it's missing. So rather, it should only be done to babies, if it is done at all.

Unless I interpreted him wrong.

 

[Yared]

No, I still don't see it happening. Conceiving of a 40mm grenade lodged in my cerebral cortex is easier, and that's saying a lot, since my thought centers would be severely impaired in that situation.

Just because I don't see me being stranded on an island ever happening doesn't mean I can't think what I'd do if that happened.