Men's Health Information Circumcision's Effects & Consequences a public service message, courtesy of the WebMagician

The prepuce is not just a piece of skin, and it is not a separate part of the penis.  The prepuce is an integral part of the normal, natural skin system of the penis.  It is an extremely complex structure, and an organ of highly specialized functionality.  When the foreskin is amputated,  nerves, glands, and other tissue structures that comprise the prepuce,  are amputed along with the 'foreskin'. The amputation of the prepuce has a radical, highly destructive, long-term physical effect on the penis, and a severe psychological impact on the child - and ultimately the adult male. Circumcision radically alters the penis, disrupts the normal, natural physiology of sexual intercourse, ingrains lifelong psychological patterns upon the newborn, and has produced very disturbing sociological effects upon men and our society.

Sexual Damage: Loss of Erogenous Sensitivity The prepuce is 'sensory' tissue: it is a 'sensory organ'. Amputation of the prepuce deprives a man of upwards of 90 percent of the erogenous sensitivity his penis was designed to feel. In addition, amputation of the prepuce externalizes the glans. The glans is an internal organ. It was meant to be protected by the prepuce. The glands contained within the preputial tissue secrete natural emolliants which moisturize and maintain the sensitivity of the glans. Once the prepuce is amputated, the glans is exposed to the elements, and it quickly develops a thick layer of keratinized (dead) skin cells to protect it from abrasion. This 'callousing' deadens the sensitivity of the glans to external stimulation, further reducing the erogenous pleasure a normal penis was meant to provide a man. *     *     *     *     * Men who have been circumcised in adulthood report phenomenal loss in sensitivity after circumcision. They describe the loss by comparing sex before and after circumcision: prior to circumcision, every stroke, every movement of the foreskin over the glans, every thrust of the penis, produced the wonderful sensation they now experience only when they climax. prior to circumcision their orgasms were shattering, 12 on a scale of 1 to 10, whereas after circumcision they barely reach a 2. Men who've been circumcised at birth can't begin to imagine the tremendous gift of pleasure that's been stolen from them.

15 Square Inches Of Erotogenic Tissue . . . Gone!

Physical Changes Caused By Circumcision Bowing (curvature) Bowing of the penis is one of the more common problems caused by circumcision.  Because the baby's penis is so tiny, it is very difficult to amputate the foreskin evenly. Consequently more skin ends up being cut from one side of the shaft than the rest (top or bottom, left or right, or a combination). As the penis grows, the skin tightens more in the area where the most foreskin was removed, causing the penis to pull to one side.  Because there is less tension, the cartilage inside the penile shaft grows longer on the opposite side, and ultimately the penis develops a bowing characteristic. Hair Another common problem is pubic hair growing well up onto the penile shaft.  A normal penis does not have hair growing on the shaft.  Because circumcision removes from 50 to 80% of the skin which normally covers the penis, the baby's penis is left virtually skinless.  As the penis grows from childhood through to adulthood, skin is pulled from the base of the penis onto the shaft.  Foreskin tissue is different than the skin found on the scrotum.  The prepuce is extremely thin and smooth.  The skin tissue on the scrotum contains hair follicles, and so the skin which grows to cover the denuded penile shaft ends up with a substantial amount of hair in it.  Obviously a hairy shaft is rough and causes abrasion inside the vagina during intercourse. Loss of Natural Lubrication The prepuce contains an abundance of glands which secrete natural lubricants to keep the glans moist and sensitive. This natural lubrication also serves an important role during intercourse - to reduce friction and chafing. As a direct consequence of circumcision the penis loses all of that normal lubrication. The sale of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of artificial lubricants in North America attests to the huge problem which is created by this loss of normal penile lubrication. Disruption of the Circulatory & Immune Systems The removal of several feet of blood vessels and fifteen square inches of highly vascularized lymphatic tissue, severely disrupts the way nature intended blood circulation in the penis to function. In a normal penis, there is a complex network of arteries, veins, and capillaries moving blood into and out of the penis. For one thing, this helps maintain the penis at normal body temperature: a circumcised penis often feels chilled or cold to the touch. The rich abundance of blood vessels in the prepuce is also necessary to deliver an adequate supply of blood to the cavernosal tissues inside the shaft of the penis, in order to achieve and maintain an erection. A circumcised penis often cannot maintain an erection throughout sexual intercourse; after it becomes erect it will often 'go limp', disrupting intercourse at the most inopportune times, requiring a period of time to regain its erect state so that intercourse can continue. These are not simply the effects of a man 'growing older'. These are direct results of the loss of such an enormous amount of vascularized, veinous tissue from the penis. Without its rich network of veins and arteries, the penis cannot maintain the proper blood pressure necessary to keep the penile tissues engorged with blood. Circumcision also disrupts the lymphatic system - the body's immune delivery system. Disruption of immunological protection in such a vital area of the body will obviously have a serious impact on one's health. The amputation of the foreskin destroys the immune system of the penis and effectively renders the glands and organs in that region of the body completely defenseless against disease. The prostate is the gland which produces the ejaculate fluids, and is therefore an integral part of the 'sexual organs'. As a result of circumcision, the prostate is left unprotected against any diseases which may begin to develop. Elevated Risk for Prostate Cancer Circumcision is a major contributing factor in the incidence of prostate cancer. Yes, you heard right. Circumcision is a major contributing factor in the incidence of prostate cancer. Statistics on various diseases, based on the intact or circumcised status of the patient, are difficult to find, and the medical profession is especially careful about hiding any information regarding the circumcized status of prostate cancer patients. But the correlation can be made using the cancer statistics themselves: the incidence of prostate cancer in Asian and European countries - where circumcison rates are low - is tiny compared to what it is in North America - where circumcision rates are high. The foreskin tissue contains thousands of sexual nerve endings which collectively form nerve pathways that run from the penis through the prostate gland into the spine between the lower cervical vertebrae and up into the brain. During sexual activity these nerves stimulate the prostate gland, a process which helps keep the prostate healthy. There are also nerves running from the prostate back to the penis which act to trigger the pubococcygeus muscles within the penis. These muscles are responsible for the involuntary spasms involved in the ejaculation response. The prostate gland requires regular "exercise", without which it becomes enlarged, leading to serious medical problems, including deadly prostate cancer. The amputation of the foreskin destroys the nerve channels to the prostate, radically reducing the stimulation level of the prostate, and as a result the prostate does not receive an adequate level of stimulation to maintain normal health.

Circumcision Removes More Than Just Skin When an infant's penis is 'circumcised', this is what is forever lost: 50 to 80% of the total penile skin system, radically immobilizing the remaining shaft skin.  If unfolded and spread out flat, the average adult foreskin measures 15 to 20 square inches, about the size of a postcard. Most of the erogenous nerve tissue on the penis.   The foreskin contains between 10,000 and 20,000 specialized erotogenic nerve endings of various types, which can discern slight motion, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations in texture.  The amputation of this highly-innervated tissue reduces the sensitivity of the penis to that of ordinary skin. The densely innervated Ridged Bands, a specialized, extremely erogenous section of the prepuce located at the juncture of the outer foreskin and inner mucosal tissue. Approximately half of the smooth muscle sheath called the Dartos fascia. Thousands of coiled, fine-touch receptor cells, including Meissner's Corpuscles. An estimated 240 feet of microscopic nerves, including branches of the dorsal nerve. Several feet of blood vessels, including the frenular artery and portions of the dorsal artery, the loss of which interrupts normal blood flow to the shaft and glans of the penis, severely damaging its natural function. Lymphatic vessels, the loss of which interrupts the lymph flow within the body's immune system. The entire immunological defense system of the soft mucosa which produces antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as lysozyme, the same as found in mother's milk, and plasma cells which secrete immunoglobulin antibodies. Ectopic sebaceous glands, which lubricate, moisturize, and regulate a healthy pH balance, thereby maintaining the erotogenic sensitivity of the glans. The apocrine glands, which produce pheromones, nature's powerful, silent, invisible sexual signals/stimulants. Specialized epithelial Langerhans cells, an immune system component. Estrogen receptors - the purpose and value of which are not yet fully understood. The connective synechiae, which fuses the foreskin to the glans while the penis develops during infancy.  It is destroyed when the foreskin is torn from the glans during the circumcision operation. The frenulum, the sensitive 'V'-shaped tethering structure at the base of the glans on the underside of the penis, is also usually amputated, severed, or destroyed. The protective covering of the glans, which is actually an internal organ.  The foreskin shields the glans from abrasion, drying, and callusing, and protects the glans from dirt and other contaminants. Loss of sexual sensitivity in the glans.  The glans of an intact penis is normally a soft, moist, delicate organ, similar in texture to the smooth skin lining the inside of the lips of your mouth.  When the foreskin is amputated it no longer provides protection to the glans against abrasion, or even exposure to the air.  This causes the glans to dry out - imagine what would happen to your eyeballs if your eyelids were removed.  It also causes the skin on the glans to thicken and harden as a protection against abrasion.  This 'callousing' effect - known as keratinization - causes any remaining nerves on the glans to become buried under many layers of skin cells, severly reducing the sensitivity of the glans to external stimulation - such as a soft touch.  The sensitivity continues to decrease over time, until eventually all sensitivity is lost. 10% to 20% of the penis's circumference, because its double-layered wrapping of loose foreskin is now missing, making the circumcised penis thinner. As much as one inch of the erect penis's length due to scarring, and shrinkage from loss of the mobile, richly-vascularized foreskin. The gliding action of the penis within its foreskin. The foreskin's abundance (15-20 sq.in.) of specialized, self-lubricating skin gives the natural penis its anatomically unique ability to smoothly slide back and forth within itself, thereby permitting non-abrasive intercourse, without drying out the vagina. The deep pink to red to dark purple natural coloration of the glans. There is considerable evidence that a circumcised penis loses its capacity for subtle electromagnetic communication that occurs only during contact between mucous membranes, an interaction which contributes to the sense of the healing power of sexual ecstasy.  In other words, circumcision forever diminishes the intensity of both the male and female orgasm and its physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. Many babies die as a result of circumcision, a fact the circumcision industry obscures and conceals. Thanks to   G.L. Harryman  and many others for their work in compiling this list.

Effects Clearly Visible In Society The circumcisors within the medical profession offer various and sundry lies in order to promote circumcision, and they denounce any ill-effects.  But one only has to look at what is happening in society to see the consequences of circumcision.  The facts cannot be hidden by the lies. First, the vast majority of circumcised men are NOT AWARE of the PHENOMENAL LOSS their bodies have been subjected to.  This is not the same as saying that the vast majority of circumcised men do not have problems with their circumcised penises.  In fact, quite the contrary is true.  20/20 News (ABC TV) featured a special segment in their March 20th, 1998 telecast.  They reported the current statistics that over 18 million men‡ in the United States suffer from impotence, and that tens of millions of other men suffer from various other sexual dysfunctions.  The facts clearly indicate that millions of men are indeed experiencing sexual problems because of their circumcisions.  The problem is that men do not talk publicly about these problems - except of course to their doctors, who are busy either denying that any problem exists or blaming it on "old age". ‡ Note: The January 2003 issue (pp. 51-52) of Good Housekeeping magazine reports it's now estimated that between 20 and 30 million men in the U.S. are affected by Erectile Dysfunction (impotence). Such overwhelming numbers of sexual dysfunction are unique to North America.  Statistics from European countries where circumcision is virtually non-existent are minuscule in comparison. Comparisons of statistics for violent crime, especially rape and other violence directed towards women, reveal the same lopsided proportions when evaluating crime in North America compared to European nations. Divorce rates in North America have exploded over the past 20 years and incompatibility (ie: problems in the bedroom) heads the list of reasons given.  Certainly it is much easier to get a divorce than it was 20 years ago.  Prior to that, people stuck it out (amicably or not) primarily because of the stigma associated with divorce.  So the ease of getting a divorce accounts for the rise in the number of divorces - but doesn't answer why so many people are seeking a divorce.  While this might sound sexist, the majority of divorces are the direct result of the males seeking out new female sexual partners.  And they're seeking those partners because sex is not satisfying with their current partner - and they blame that current partner for the problem.  In reality, it is the male who has the problem: his lack of a foreskin results in an inability to fully sexually bond with his mate, the inability to become aroused as he gets older because of the keratinization of his penis, and because the sexual orgasm pleasure center in his brain has atrophied he is unable to ever be fully satisfied in his sexual couplings. The inability of his body to feel sexual satisfaction leads to compulsive sexual behavior.  One example of this behavior is the insatiable consumption of pornography in North America.   Tens of millions of the American population are sex addicts, and more than 520 chapters of Sex Addicts Anonymous have been founded in the United States and Canada.  This is indicative of the serious and significant neuropsychological problems which result from circumcision. Despite the staggering odds of contracting aids or some other sexual disease, millions of men make use of the services of prostitutes every year.  The need to fill that unsatisfied sexual craving within the brain is extremely powerful.  It's like an itch that can't be scratched, and it overrides normal, rational thought.  Even Presidents are not immune to this fundamental psychophysical need. When the drug Viagra was introduced to the American public, sales went ballistic. In less than a month, over 900,000 prescriptions for the drug were issued. Sales are expected to exceed 1 BILLION dollars the first year in the U.S. alone. Obviously there are a LOT of men out there who are experiencing serious sexual functionality problems. Unfortunately, Viagra will only provide the man with an erection - it will not increase the sensitivity of his penis, nor will it restore any of the amputated erogenous nerve tissue.  In addition, Viagra poses serious health risks to a large percentage of the men who will use it, and it is going to lead to extremely serious health problems down the road for all of those users. To learn more about the major medical problems that the manufacturer warns about its own drug, please refer to this Viagra information link. *     *     *     *     * And still the doctors claim "there is no problem with circumcision".

Enzymes Produced by the Foreskin Kill HIV NEWS FLASH !! The foreskin secretes many proteins and enzymes. Newly announced research reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (USA), Volume 96 Number 6: Pages 2678-2681, 1999 Mar 16, indicates that one these enzymes KILLS the HIV virus! Please click here to access this announcement!

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