Finding out your friends' circumcision status

A close friend and I went through radiation and hormone treatments for prostate cancer at the same time. His cancer was a lot worse than mine resulting in twice as many treatments.

On the way he told me he was going to be circumcised because of sever phimosis caused by the radiation treatments. By the way he is 84 years old.

Poor guy.

I have never heard of any treatment other than hormonal, causing an alteration in the size of a man's genitals. So how would radiation affect the size of a foreskin?

It may have been the hormones. I can only pass on what he told me. To say the least he was upset about the whole matter.

@agracier:

The radiation can cause damage to the skin that is over or close to the target area. The principle itself is somewhat comparable (although not the same!) to severe sunburn inflicting skin damage that sometimes leads to scaring, too.

Up until the 7th grade, I had never seen an uncircumcised penis and no, I am not jewish. That was the year I started junior high school and our not very nice gym teacher made us take showers. For the most part, all of the black guys and the low-income white guys were uncircumcised. I found their penises fascinating but was also confused because at that time, I didn't know what circumcision was and didn't know until we had sex education in the 8th grade.

@turnheadandcough

I'm very surprised to read that about uncircumcised men because in USA the circumcision it very popular.

I'm very surprised to read that about uncircumcised men because in USA the circumcision it very popular.

The circumcision rate in the US for newly-born has been dropping for many years now. Latest numbers are given at 64%. Which makes it still above average as far as 'popularity' goes. But the trend is still dropping and is surmised to continue to do so.

Hi @agracier . I am not surprised to hear that the percentages have gone down in the U.S. We started to see lots of immigration from Mexico and Latin America in the late 80s and early 90s where circumcision is rare. Same with all the immigration that continues from Asia.

I am not surprised to hear that the percentages have gone down in the U.S. We started to see lots of immigration from Mexico and Latin America in the late 80s and early 90s where circumcision is rare. Same with all the immigration that continues from Asia.

It's not only through immigration, though that does influence percentages. And don't forget that immigration also comes from regions where circumcision is a religious requirement.

But as you can read from many comments here, under-age and especially routine newly-born circumcision is slowly, but surely coming to be identified as being a form of unnecessary male genital alteration. Underage female genital alteration of any sort or degree is already considered beyond the pale. There is a virtual consensus on this.

Newly-born circumcision of males is also coming to be put into this category. If I were to take a guess, just a guess mind you, I'd venture to say that the more highly educated in the US population is coming around to this view.

We may very well be seeing a sort of class divide on the subject of circumcision in the future. High-income, high education and status coming to discard the practice more and more.

But as I said, this is just a guess on my part, But it is based on reading from various sources, not only from Zity.

In my early twenties I had a British friend and I always assumed he was circumcised. We worked together and one day just before lunch we used the urinal and during a very quick glance I noticed he had a foreskin. I was surprised by its presence as he was an individual that tended to fit all the parameters and expectations of being circumcised.

I noticed he had a foreskin. I was surprised by its presence as he was an individual that tended to fit all the parameters and expectations of being circumcised.

What would those parameters and expectations be? Apart from two religious affiliations, I wouldn't be able to think of any you could be truly sure of.

It happened to me once living in the US At the age of 13, most of my friends were always from different nationalities and cultures. I used to have a friend from Colombia and I thought he still had a foreskin. I had seen him several times in his underwear and never noticed anything. One day on the beach, being Spanish and having grown up on beaches where modesty is minimal, it was easy for me to change in front of him, he kept covering me with the towel,When I took off my swimsuit, he exclaimed, I thought that in Spain the boys were intact. I gave him my usual answer, you're not wrong, I'm an exception and then he drops the towel, revealing his circumcision.