tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post4417336054424836009..comments2023-09-07T04:33:32.961-07:00Comments on What I'm Missing: Part 29, Ignorancekurt_thttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11976326822025517963noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-66397226536813946942013-07-21T20:01:10.880-07:002013-07-21T20:01:10.880-07:00I am absolutely astonished at the number of guys (...I am absolutely astonished at the number of guys (on personal-ads websites) who mis-categorize their own circumcision status. Mostly, it's cut guys who file themselves as uncut.Uncutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-58222810085117986482013-05-19T21:52:51.107-07:002013-05-19T21:52:51.107-07:00Anonymous, your experience is probably not as unus...Anonymous, your experience is probably not as unusual as you think. Your comment reminds me of a part of Ed Wallerstein's book where he mentions a study that indicated that a significant percentage of American women, when asked their husbands' circumcision status, got it wrong, and even more surprisingly, a percentage of men got their own circumcision status wrong. I think for the men it was something like six percent. That particular study was one of the studies that cast doubt on previous studies that had indicated that women with intact husbands were more likely to develop cervical cancer.kurt_thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11976326822025517963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-58935719322133578892013-05-19T11:53:46.038-07:002013-05-19T11:53:46.038-07:00I'm looking for a term that describes the stat...I'm looking for a term that describes the state of partial knowledge/partial ignorance I had lived in most of my life. <br /><br />I only *truly* found out about circumcision and the male anatomy at age 43! On a whim and out of boredom one day, I did a google search of the word "circumcision" and I saw a photo of an intact penis for the first time. <br /><br />I was completely floored. <br /><br />My whole life I never realized I was missing something or that that weird, ugly ring I was looking at all those years was a scar. Yet if you had asked me prior to that day on my status, I would have told you "yes, I am circumcised". I just had no idea what it was. So, I wish I could find a term that describes this level of awareness without having to take so many words in order to describe it. <br /><br />I've even talked to a fellow intactivist who gave a surprised reaction when I told him my story. But then I explain, yes I knew "I was circumcised" and that I do feel stupid for not knowing what circumcision was until such an advanced age. But then again, I find myself explaining further, I don't really think I am to blame, since my protracted state of ignorance was a result of the culture that cut us in the first place. <br /><br />So, prior to that day of discovery, how did I know "I was circumcised"? It's strange, I don't really know why I knew that, yet nothing else concerning it. <br /><br />Now I look back and I recall many clues that came up along the way, any one of which could have led me to finding out earlier, if only I had pursued them. <br /><br />One example is as a youngster, I recall looking at a cross-sectional diagram of a penis in an anatomy textbook. There were the perfunctory names of the various parts with a pointer showing where that part was on the diagram. I remember going through all the terms which pointed to parts which matched up with my own body- yet when I got to the "foreskin", I was like "huh? where is that on me?" Being a cross-section, it was difficult to visualize where this could be on a "3-dimensional me"; the cross section of a foreskin is represented in such diagrams as just a line that follows the contours of the glans and just sort of hangs there in space. I scratched my head over this. "What is that line doing there?? What is that? How does it stay there?" But as a kid I just let it go and didn't pursue it any further than that. <br /><br />I can cite many more such "clues" along the way until my life-changing discovery at age 43. I've been going back trying to recollect them, and I'm thinking of doing a blog post to recount them all. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-28195366450829888772012-09-15T23:00:33.416-07:002012-09-15T23:00:33.416-07:00Yes it's a great text! It touches very importa...Yes it's a great text! It touches very important points, like the fact that nobody really talks about it.dreamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14708824168962037873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-21367498890392997962012-09-15T15:54:42.836-07:002012-09-15T15:54:42.836-07:00Oh my goodness. I guess I should resume this blog...Oh my goodness. I guess I should resume this blog, huh? I have followers and everything. OK dreamer, roger, atlantina, nevema, I'm on it.kurt_thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11976326822025517963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-54576949535069040322012-09-14T19:35:55.476-07:002012-09-14T19:35:55.476-07:00Man.... Wow...
I can understand it though. I was ...Man.... Wow...<br /><br />I can understand it though. I was circ'ed around age 5, so I was very aware and I always related it to fear, frustration (of the doctor ignoring that I didn't want to be cut, that I couldn't ran away fast enough), sense of loss... But I came to realize this year (I'm 41) that this was something that never was spoken about in my family. Nobody ever told me anything about it anymore. And even though I lived in a country where circ was not prevalent, when my friends saw me they knew I was circ'ed but they never asked why. The only people I ever said something about it where the few girls I had sex with. <br /><br />In 5th grade I went to the doctor. He asked if I had surgeries. I said no. When he saw me nude he asked why I said no, given that I was circ'ed. I said: I didn't know that was a surgery.<br /><br />I only started talking about this this year, as I've been becoming vocal intactivist. When I learned about J.H.Kellogg and the rationale behind American circumcisions, I just couldn't believe it. It angered me so much.dreamerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14708824168962037873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-59894498322398438852012-03-18T14:40:38.333-07:002012-03-18T14:40:38.333-07:00The states of mind you went through in the 1960s a...The states of mind you went through in the 1960s and 70s were quite similar to what I experienced growing up in the American heartland in the 1950s and 60s, with a signal difference: I was intact.<br /><br />You are correct. American obstetricians circumcise with a vengeance, so that 1940-90, 95% or more of boys born in urban hospitals to middle class parents, were cut at birth. But American parents would not talk about this with their boys. If the subject came up, parents were elliptical and evasive. American popular culture was deeply silent about all the cutting going on, so much so that I read and heard remarks while growing up implying that circumcision was still a Jewish peculiarity. Diagrams in health and sex ed materials, even medical texts, depicted the penis as having no foreskin. Sex ed typically did not mention circ. My wife had her moment of truth as a 12 year old girl, while studying the diagram of the male reproductive system in the Encyclopedia Britannica.<br /><br />The boys I grew up with had a lot of dirty jokes on their minds. And boy were they quick with the off-color metaphor and turn of phrase. But they NEVER mentioned circumcision or foreskin. I first heard circumcision talked about in college. I never heard a human speak the word foreskin until I met my wife in my late 30s. I was 23 when I first heard an off-color remark about the ring scar. I have concluded that few parents explained to their sons that their penises had been altered.<br /><br />We now know that during 1940-85, many obgyns and urban maternity wards circumcised every boy born in them without asking the mother. The bill was sent to the health insurer, who paid for circ without question. It was too much trouble to explain to unsophisticated mothers what circ was and why it was supposedly a good idea. When the main reason was to make circumcised America feel good about itself by removing all awareness of natural anatomy from the American mind. Millions of Americans last century went through their whole lives without ever seeing a normal penis in the flesh.<br /><br />While this does not depress me, it does go a long way towards explaining why we intactivists keep slamming into a mental brick wall. For millions of Americans, a short arm with a long sleeve is impossibly weird and sexually off-putting. To them, being intact is like a disability.roger desmoulinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-55528636453573317582011-11-13T01:48:22.623-08:002011-11-13T01:48:22.623-08:00The boys I grew up with had a lot of dirty jokes o...The boys I grew up with had a lot of dirty jokes on their minds. And boy were they quick with the off-color metaphor and turn of phrase. But they NEVER mentioned circumcision or foreskin. I first heard circumcision talked about in college. I never heard a human speak the word foreskin until I met my wife in my late 30s. I was 23 when I first heard an off-color remark about the ring scar. I have concluded that few parents explained to their sons that their penises had been altered. Sex ed typically did not mention circ. Diagrams in health and even medical texts did not depict foreskin. My wife had her moment of truth studying the diagram of the male reproductive system in the Encyclopedia Britannica, which did include foreskin. <br /><br />We now know that during 1940-85, many obgyns and urban maternity wards circumcised every boy born in them without asking the mother. The bill was sent to the health insurer, who paid for circ without question. It was too much trouble to explain to unsophisticated matters what circ was and why it was supposedly a good idea. When the main reason was to make circumcised America feel good about itself by removing all awareness of natural anatomy from the American mind. Millions of Americans last century went through their whole lives without ever seeing a normal penis in the flesh.<br /><br />While this does not depress me, it does go a long way towards explaining why we intactivists keep slamming into a mental brick wall. For millions of Americans, a short arm with a long sleeve is impossibly weird and sexually off-putting. To them, being intact is like a disability.roger desmoulinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-38466964267019464562011-10-13T12:39:27.618-07:002011-10-13T12:39:27.618-07:00Holy shit, there are people who don't know the...Holy shit, there are people who don't know they're circumcised?! It's as if he doesn't even know the meaning of the word, and didn't bother to find out what it meant.<br /><br />Man this world we live in is depressing sometimes.JBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18338745977144528056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-59142371408043797602011-10-04T17:01:16.327-07:002011-10-04T17:01:16.327-07:00Nevena, thank you. That was such a thoughtful com...Nevena, thank you. That was such a thoughtful comment. And you're so right about "The more I know, the worse it gets." I think you pretty much summed up the experience of a lot of circumcised men right there.kurt_thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11976326822025517963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-50261357322523563642011-09-29T04:46:19.306-07:002011-09-29T04:46:19.306-07:00Hello!
I only recently (few months ago) found ou...Hello! <br /><br />I only recently (few months ago) found out about circumcision in USA. And it's exactly as they say: The more I know, the worse it gets. To someone from Europe it's just horrifying. <br /><br />Anyway, I wanted to let you know I love your stories. You write in an entertaining way about a sad subject.<br /><br />Greetings from Balkan PeninsulaNevenanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8089764516424066290.post-84933941689576826902011-09-22T11:00:04.451-07:002011-09-22T11:00:04.451-07:00Wow. I think you've really touched on somethin...Wow. I think you've really touched on something here... I think this is EXACTLY what those doctors are thinking.<br /><br />It's EXACTLY what doctors TODAY are thinking.<br /><br />They're thinking "If we just circumcise as many people as possible, the foreskin will cease to exist in the minds of people, nobody will ever know what it is, and nobody will ever think to question it."<br /><br />That's why doctors are so busy trying to circumcise everybody in Africa.<br /><br />That's why doctors are so busy trying to make sure all the boys are circumcised here.<br /><br />They're trying to erase human anatomy from existence and replace it with contrived, artificial version of it.Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14190648498809795551noreply@blogger.com