There are memes like “when you have to prove that you’re jewish” or crass jokes about people standing out due to their lack of foreskin, but i remember hearing that a huge swathes of American men are circumcised - it’s like 49%. Jesus.

If literally half of every men are circumcised, why is it even a remarkable topic to Americans? How did it become such a meme?

  • ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com
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    2 days ago

    I got pushback when I told my ex and docs no to chopping my kid despite having been so myself.

    ‘But it’s cleaner and easier to manage…’

    Don’t care, unless you can give a medical need reason he can make that choice as an adult if he wants.

    • Malica@lemmy.zip
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      15 hours ago

      So did I but I got overruled because I don’t have a penis therefore I don’t know what I’m talking about. His cries still haunt me and it’s one of my biggest regrets. I should have thrown a bigger fit but I’d just done 3 days of active labor.

      • ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com
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        10 hours ago

        That’s a damn crime, both ethically in discrediting your view, and I would guess legally if they literally went ahead despite the protests of a parent?

    • 𝚝𝚛𝚔@aussie.zone
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      23 hours ago

      “it’s cleaner”

      … is such a weird reason to me.

      Washing your knob when you shower is one of life’s little pleasures. Who’s avoiding it to the point their beanie is getting crusty under there?

      If a dude can’t even give his old feller a good scrub a dub dub, where else is he neglecting?

      Lack of hygiene in general is the bigger issue in this scenario that’s for sure.

      “easier to manage”

      I’m almost scared to ask what specifically is being managed here… It’s a dick, not an intern.

      • ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com
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        20 hours ago

        Phimosis was mentioned as I recall, that and the goo under the hood.

        There are a good number of evolutionary remnants that may not be ideal or even needed (wisdom teeth, tailbone, appendix, etc) but we don’t go performing preemptive surgery because of them.

        • kolmaskommentoija@sopuli.xyz
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          19 hours ago

          Not that I disagree with the point, but sometimes wisdom teeth are pre-emptively removed, if it seems like, they are going to grow all fucked up, from the start. So out of the mentioned, that is a bad example.

          • WaxRhetorical@lemmy.world
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            15 hours ago

            No, it still works. Because with the foreskin it’s the same, there are also rare cases where there is a medical justification. My cousin had his removed as a teen, on medical grounds. We’re Danish, so it wasn’t some religious or cultural push.

          • ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com
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            16 hours ago

            Yeah, but more the doing it ‘by default’ type premptive. None of those are things that have a ‘just what we expect’ aspect to them, only done if there’s a probable cause.

    • Mycatiskai@lemmy.ca
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      2 days ago

      When you teach a kid how to clean themselves in the bath you teach them how to clean each body part with no shame. How hard is that to manage.

      • Karjalan@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        The one “truth” is that it “reduces the risk of cancer”… Because technically chopping anything off reduces the risk of cancer, because that thing can no longer get it.

        However foreskin cancer is not exactly a high cause for concern, and by this logic cutting off your ears and nose would be more logical.

        • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Also not necessarily correct, foreskin protects from chafing and other similar micro fissures that happen daily for people without foreskin (as shown by the person above you having issues running). And while removing a part of you does lower the chances of getting cancer there, if it’s protecting another part of you from something it can increase the risk of cancer on that other part.

          • Karjalan@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Yeah fair point.

            There’s probably studies/data on some of this, but for a thinly veiled argument that people use in bad faith I wasn’t going to go that in depth.

      • forkDestroyer@infosec.pub
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        2 days ago

        It’s definitely easier to manage the sccccccchhhhmegma without the ol smegma catcher being present, but I didn’t get my son circ’d because running in gym shorts when you’re fat, with a little acorn pointing straight forward, can lead to sphincter chaffing … and I’m not very fond of that feeling. I didn’t want to pass it down to him.

        I hope he goes on to become a fast runner without the threat of penile chaffing. Good luck, my son, should you ever read this after I’m doxd