Re: Circumcision - a male view

mouse,

I just found this information that will definitely disturb your mind and my goodness do NOT let your boyfriend read it:

"While Jews did not invent circumcision, they did invent foreskin restoration. The earliest records of restoration are among Jewish males of the Hellenic era. The original Jewish circumcision (bris millah) only circumcised (literally, "to cut around") the tip of the foreskin, leaving most of the foreskin intact. This was enough, however, to expose the penile head (glans), which was frowned upon in Hellenic culture, much the way some people today are offended by public exposure of women’s breasts. In an effort to not offend the surrounding culture during nude sporting events or in public bathhouses, Jewish men kept their foreskin remnant stretched over the glans, eventually re-covering it. [Many circumcised men today use this method to regain their genital integrity. The process, called epispasm, is today a medically recognized technique (on other body parts at least) to grow new skin.] In 140 A.D., however, rabbis became aware of this "obliteration of the covenant" and instituted a radical procedure that stripped away the entire foreskin from infants, making any attempt at adult restoration exceedingly difficult. This drastic removal of the entire foreskin cannot truthfully be called circumcision.

What most Jews practice today, and what became the model for "circumcision" in America, is actually radical posthectomy [posthe=Greek for foreskin + ectomy=to cut off or out].

While male and female genital mutilations in tribal cultures are associated with puberty or pre-marriage rituals, circumcision in Western English-speaking countries began only 100 years ago as an anti-sexual Victorian attempt to prevent or cure self-gratification.

self-gratification was erroneously believed by the public and physicians to cause a wide array of mental and physical ills. Circumcision was carried out on boys and girls. Intact males of the time knew instinctively, though not scientifically, that the gliding mechanism of the nerve-laden foreskin during intercourse and self-gratification is highly pleasurable. They naively believed that amputating the sensual gliding mechanism of the foreskin would make it impossible for boys to spank the monkey. As the U.S. custom of circumcising boys grew, so did all the medical myths with which North American culture still struggles.

A more detailed history of ancient and modern circumcision is discussed in the scholarly book, The Joy of Uncircumcising! by Jim Bigelow, PhD. It also discusses the methods and rationale for foreskin restoration."

http://www.noharmm.org/FAQ.htm#Circumcision%20Beginnings