Finding out about circumcision

I found out I was not circumcised at around 9 in about 1969 when there was a big push for it in the medical field when my step mother took me to a new, female pediatrician and the doctor was focused on retracting my foreskin and said that it was routine now for boys to be circumcised and my step mother was all for it, but I didnt really understand the difference even seeing other boys that looked different I just assumed they retracted their foreskin before changing to go swimming at camp. My step mother continued to press for circumcision because by 12 I had realized what the difference was and I was being teased in the locker room after showering and there was only me and one other kid born in the US that I knew was not circumcised. My pediatrician did set up a consult with a pediatric urologist but when she showed what she was going to cut I was too fearful to get it done and my father agreed it was my decision and the surgical appointment was cancelled.

Before seventh grade I didn't really have much of an idea what circumcised or uncircumcised was or meant. I thought they all looked the same. Before then I had done the occasional "show me yours and I'll show you mine" with other boys my age. One time was with two friends who lived across the street, they were twins, and they showed me theirs and I showed mine. I am circumcised and any of the boys I saw were also circumcised. Any time I saw other's in the locker room they were all also circumcised. It was in seventh grade health class when I learned the difference between circumcised and uncircumcised but I think I still didn't really know what it would actually look like and how it would be different.

I can't say I was much conscious about the condition of a penis. It was sort of immaterial. However when i went to the YMCA for swimming (nude back then) I do remember being aware enough of the difference to count only 2 or 3 uncut boys like myself in the group. I think I thought along the lines 'huh, that's not many' but otherwise I paid it no mind, nor did other boys. Nothing was ever said about cut or uncut.

Now the older counselor/attendant, that was something different. He had an eye for those things.

@agracier did that councilor have an eye for cut or uncut!

I found out about my status when I was a boy playing if you show me yours, I'll show you mine with a neighbor I grew up with. We were both shocked. He was circumcised and I wasn't. We initially thought maybe boys were born this way. Some had a penis like mine, others like his. A few years later in early puberty reading about sexuality I came upon the concept of circumcision. It didn't mention when it was done but I immediately thought back to how much pain my neighbor friend would have been in but he had never mentioned it.

Found out at 11 when my pediatrician sent me to a urologist for review if I needed it.

Like @ds20e it was observing that other boys had a different looking penis from mine in the swimming change room. I just thought that boys were born differently.

Discovered however that my foreskin had been removed when we visited a newly born and circumcised cousin when I was 11 and it was openly discussed. Came as a bit of a shock

Suffered from phimosis and adhesions up to puberty, my pediatrician discussed with my parents about circumcision. I heard that word but not knowing exactly what they mean. I understood something after seeing in a medical book the baroque paint of G.Reni about circumcision. I was 6 yo and I was dreaded of what they could do to my penis. Then I had a conservative preputial surgery and avoided the radical operation. It was only at 14yo that after sport showers I discovered one of my schoolmate had it done. With a lot of embarassement we asked to our teacher and she explained exactly what it is. Listening to her talking about that was both weird and arousing.

I didn't find out about it until I was in college and one of my lovers mentioned it. I hadn't noticed he was intact.

When I was somewhere around 10 years old I heard the word in a TV show. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it and I sort of knew I had been circumcised from an earlier experience but didn’t understand what that meant. I asked my mom who I was watching tv with and she pretty nonchalantly told me that it’s when part of the penis is cut off a baby. For a long time I thought it was default and didn’t know anyone kept their foreskin really. I even saw an uncut man at some point and instead of thinking that he was circumcised, I thought he just had a deformity or disease!

My parents (more specifically, mother) told me about it. When she was bathing me, she told me to always pull it back to clean underneath. Doing so would prevent possible infection. After a swim class, she told me that other boys' dicks might look different because they had part of the skin cut off. I think she particularly referenced a Jewish classmate of mine who was taking the swim class. Anyway, she let me know in no uncertain terms that I was not circumcised, and that it was quite uncommon to be so in America. When my parents gave me "the talk," my mom said being uncut could be unpopular with future sexual partners, and if I wanted to get cut, I could opt for it and they would pay for it.

My mom also told me a few times throughout childhood that I had an unusually long foreskin -- which I don't necessarily think is the case (now that I've seen plenty in porn/online) -- but it certainly might be a surprise to an American sexual partner who either assumes foreskins pull back when erect or has never seen an uncut dick before.

I discovered circumcision while reading a book that told the story of two young Jewish boys during the Second World War. I was 12 years old. We talked about it with two classmates. One was circumcised but not Jewish and the other was Jewish but not circumcised. From then on, I always wanted to be circumcised. I waited a long time because I had other priorities. Now I am circumcised and happy to be so.

@gabrob Was the book Un sac de billes ? This may also be where I discovered how the surgery I had been made to undergo was also called (not just "phimosis surgery").

Yes, was this book. "Un sac de billes"