Foreskin Retraction

I think I must have been about 15 when I discovered that I COULD retract my foreskin.

I am assuming this means that no doctor ever retracted your foreskin during a physical. Is my assumption correct?

I am assuming this means that no doctor ever retracted your foreskin during a physical. Is my assumption correct?

You are indeed correct. I was living in the U.K. when I was 15, and don't recall having many physicals. Living in N.America now, I have had many, and have never had it retracted by my GP (nor has he asked me to do so). I think I commented on another thread that I am now convinced that the exam is not complete without at least a brief look at the glans.

This is amazing--I did exactly the same thing! being uncut and American, born 1949, I was the only uncircumcised guy around and did not know why--my parents never explained anything. i would also pull my foreskin back before gym showers, and also did so before doctor visits. Sometimes it did slip back. Funny story--it made me very nervous before medical exams, and my blood pressure went up. For years, my doctor treated me for high BP, even though it went away when I was not nervous about my foreskin!! NOW, at 67, I LOVE my foreskin and all the pleasure it gives me and my wife, and am very r=proud of it--wish I knew what I know now 60 years ago!! I think this is one reason why I now have a medical fetish--I love doctors examining my penis and foreskin, maybe because i feared it so much as a kid!! Anyone up for an exam (pun intended--wish i knew how to find people--I live near New York).

I think this is one reason why I now have a medical fetish--I love doctors examining my penis and foreskin, maybe because i feared it so much as a kid!! ).

I can imagine the awkwardness of having an uncircumcised penis as a kid and teen in the U.S., but, if it makes you feel any better, I have always feared having a doctor see my penis and I am circumcised. I am sure the fear of having my penis inspected is the reason for my medical fetish as well. It is so strange that a surgically altered penis is the norm in this country. I know it is the fact that the circumcised penis is surgically altered that I find it so fascinating.

It is so strange that a surgically altered penis is the norm in this country. I know it is the fact that the circumcised penis is surgically altered that I find it so fascinating.

Indeed. I find this so strange about the USA. For most there is no religious reason for circumcision so why has it become so prevalent? Very weird for sure..

Indeed. I find this so strange about the USA. For most there is no religious reason for circumcision so why has it become so prevalent? Very weird for sure..

You could write book after book on the subject probably.

But a very short and concise answer would be that it was most likely a cross of worries (well, more like hysterical scares) about the adverse effects of masturbation - which in the 19th century was thought to be the cause of many kinds of illnesses and debilitating diseases, running the whole gauntlet from TBC to feeble-mindedness and anything else quacks and religious preachers and teachers and nutcase doctors (think J. H. Kellogg for instance) could think up.

If you couple that to an easy to do, fast and reliable surgical procedure, you also get a lot of doctors making easy money off of worried and concerned parents.

So, make parents scared their male kids will end up scarred for life or prematurely dead or devastatingly ill, then get them to pay for a small surgery and then hope for the ball to get rolling that social conformity will take care of the rest.

The biggest impulse for almost universal circumcision in the US were also the two 20th century world wars. Men were drafted into mass armies and doctors were convinced that for reasons of in-the-field hygiene, all recruits should be circumcised, whether they liked it or not. In some branches of the services it was mandatory and in others it was not even an elective procedure. A commanding (medical) officer could order it done and it was also often performed surreptitiously, when a soldier was undergoing other surgery.

So, by the late 1940s circumcision had become neigh universal in the US through a combination of scaremongering quackery, an opportunity for docs to make some easy money with little risk and the desires of the armed forces to keep genital health problems to a minimum.

Of course it is more complex than this alone, but it's a good framework to work from.

Indeed. I find this so strange about the USA. For most there is no religious reason for circumcision so why has it become so prevalent? Very weird for sure..

Agracier is almost certainly correct about the reasons circumcision became so prevalent in the U.S. I think Americans became accustomed to the look of the circumcised penis and it became our cultural norm so it continues with high frequency today.

the reasons circumcision became so prevalent in the U.S.

Here's a good article regarding the scaremongering aspect that was so liked to masturbation in the past ..

https://aeon.co/essays/the-body-as-amusement-park-a-history-of-masturbation?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=064f5afcfd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_04&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-064f5afcfd-68941117

I went with my best friend to his physical recently. He has a younger doctor. I'd say he is around 27 or 28. He started to exam his uncut penis and didnt retract his foreskin. He did the turn your head and cough. Felts his testes... He seemed like he was about do move on. So I stopped him and told him I wanted him to retract his foreskin and be totally checked. He kinda paused for a moment... and he went ahead and did just that. He retracted him back and looked closer. Everything seemed to be fine. But I was insisting that he check him out well!!!

I must say, I LOVE having a doctor retract my foreskin! Gives me an erection just talking about it!!! And then a sloooooow exam, look, siding back and forth...mmmmmmm!!

Agracier: My impression is that in France, until recently, doctors held to the belief that unless the kid could retract his foreskin at quite an early age (4 ?) then terrible things would occur (infections etc.) so they forced the matter — hard pulls, then advice of circumcision if unsuccessful.

Indeed. I find this so strange about the USA. For most there is no religious reason for circumcision so why has it become so prevalent? Very weird for sure..

Probably the biggest reason was Dr. Kellogg of cereal fame. He was against masturbation and promoted whatever he could think of to stop little boys and girls from doing it. This mainly consisted of removing the foreskin on both sexes sometimes called a hood on girls. He and other doctors who joined him proposed all kinds of bad things that would happen if it wasn't done.

I must say, I LOVE having a doctor retract my foreskin! Gives me an erection just talking about it!!! And then a sloooooow exam, look, siding back and forth...mmmmmmm!!

I have never had a doctor retract mine in 3/4 of a century. I would think one of them would have as it seems to me that bad things could happen under there and looking in there ought to be part of a checkup.

In the showers in junior high we all knew what each other looked like and I don't remember anyone making a big deal of any differences. We knew some were bigger than others and accepted that as normal just as some were taller than others. I would estimate that about half of us were intact in the early 50s so maybe my town escaped the cutters fever. It did seem that the cut guys were usually larger which I personally attributed to not having a foreskin to keep the blood squeezed out of it and possibly having a partial erection all the time from the glans constantly rubbing on their pants. I don't remember anyone making any derogatory comments about being cut or uncut.

I have never had a doctor retract mine in 3/4 of a century. I would think one of them would have

Well, I'm not that old but I too cannot remember any instance of a doctor retracting my foreskin. Certainly not after my family moved to Belgium when I was 13. The expectation would be that some doctor at some time in the US must have done so, but I really cannot remember it happening. So, especially since joining Zity and reading all the accounts, I often wonder if my recollections are complete. Have I forgotten any instances? I would suppose so, but then, if so, why? Were they very traumatic or completely routine and uneventful? No idea at all.

Until I was in my mid 30s I hardly ever saw a doctor. In my family you didn't go unless you were so sick you thought you might die. I had chicken pox when I was about 3 or 4 and measles when I was 7 so I probably saw one on those occasions. When I was young those were community diseases and if the neighbor kid got them your parents sent you over to visit so you could share in the misery. I didn't begin having regular checkups until I was probably in my 40s. The only time I remember retraction for medical reasons was "short arm inspection" in the army. There were about 40 of us all lined up standing naked facing a medic. We were told to "skin it back and milk it down" That meant skinning it back and slowly squeezing it forward to force out whatever might be in the urethra so they could see what came out. They were looking for VD symptoms. If anyone was shy, the army did away with that. The hospital building looked like a sow with her piglets laying up to her suckling. The front was a main connecting corridor with long rooms connected to it going to the rear. To get from one room to the other you had to go out into the corridor and over to whatever room you were heading for for the next check. We were usually naked while doing this so anyone in the front corridor which was the main entrance got a good look. The hospital also treated dependents so wives with kids might be out there too. Some of my married friends wives refused to go there because they didn't like seeing naked GIs and they paid a doctor in town. Some thought it was a treat. I noticed the 200 foot long rubber mat they had in the corridor because I needed some of that stuff to cover the metal benches we had in the classrooms in the radio repair school. I got a pickup truck from the motor pool and grabbed a couple slick sleeves (privates) and went over there carrying a clip board and measuring tape. I had them measure off what I needed, cut and roll it and away we went in the truck. I don't know if they ever figured out what happened to their floor runner but I had covers for my benches.

I had a bit of a foreskin issue when i was a kid but also confused. all the cocks i saw around me were circumcised. my dad, my uncles even my best mate. so i didnt understand why my cock didnt look like theirs being uncut with over hang. but i really liked how their cocks looked and wanted mine to look like theirs.

when i was 8 i discovered i could pull my foreskin back and boy was i chuffed when i saw my cock head. thing was i couldnt pull the skin back when i was erect only when i was soft. but i couldnt get the foreskin over the head when i was erect. as soon as i pulled my foreskin back i would get an erection. the feeling of the air on my glands use to get me so horny. but i didnt quite know what to do.

the confusion was i thought circumcised people left their foreskin back thats why it looked like that so at first i started sleeping with it skinned back. i would usually wake up and masturbate then pull the skin back over the head. one day i left it for longer and it swelled up like a balloon. it was like i stuck my cock through a doughnut.

my mum had to take me to hospital and they knocked me out when i woke up the skin was back over the head and they gave me cream which i use to apply in the livingroom but also masturbate myself with it at the same time using it like lube. they were good memories

@spengle Paraphimosis? You are lucky they did not circumcise you.

It seems to me there is much more sensitivity (sorry, couldn't resist) about the circumcision status of boys in the USA than anywhere else. I don't see why anyone should feel any pressure to pretend to be circumcised in order to feel they fit in among their peer group.

No, I don't think that this is strictly an American thing. On German forums, I can recall users discussing techniques to keep their foreskins retracted.

The reasons for this vary. Some do it out of peer pressure (Germany has a growing Muslim population and in some districts, they're already the majority). Others do it because it looks more “mature” when it's retracted, or just because they like the look and feel.

No, I don't think that this is strictly an American thing. On German forums, I can recall users discussing techniques to keep their foreskins retracted.

The reasons for this vary. Some do it out of peer pressure (Germany has a growing Muslim population and in some districts, they're already the majority). Others do it because it looks more “mature” when it's retracted, or just because they like the look and feel.

There also seems to be an assumption is some European countries, certainly in Belgium where I live, that circumcision can also be a specifically gay thing. Of course, not every gay male wants to go through with an actual circumcision, but may feel there is a certain expectation to fulfill …

Keeping a foreskin retracted has nothing to do with the presence or not of any degree of Muslim population. It's not as if they have the habit of exposing themselves in public for goodness sake. Nor would they expect random passersby or neighbors to reveal their circumcision status.

If anything, I'd say being exposed to (American produced) porn on the Internet shows many circumcised males and this probably arouses some men's curiosity. That along with spurious claims about protection against diseases and conditions that circumcision supposedly gives.

Keeping a foreskin retracted has nothing to do with the presence or not of any degree of Muslim population. It's not as if they have the habit of exposing themselves in public for goodness sake. Nor would they expect random passersby or neighbors to reveal their circumcision status.

It does have an effect on the peer pressure boys might be feeling when showering together with their classmates or teammates. All I wanted to say with this is being circumcised in Germany used to be an exception and now it's becoming the norm in some districts and schools. So yeah, I think the peer pressure is growing.

It does have an effect on the peer pressure boys might be feeling when showering together with their classmates or teammates. All I wanted to say with this is being circumcised in Germany used to be an exception and now it's becoming the norm in some districts and schools. So yeah, I think the peer pressure is growing.

The same can be said of circumcision in Belgium due to an increasing number of second and third generation Muslim immigrants. Obviously the percentage of circumcised boys in school will increase due to their presence.

But if anything, the consensus in the general native population is that most people want nothing to do with the practice of circumcision. Parents certainly do not wish their children to be mistaken for Muslim. It could be argued there is a sort of negative peer pressure. It is not as if the native population looks up to or admires Muslim immigrants. Therefore there is little incentive to imitate their customs. And certainly not such a permanent thing as circumcision.

Nor is there much of a custom of showering in schools. To begin with, physical ed and sports are not taken seriously in schools here. They are mandatory by ministerial requirements, but at one hour a week they are a joke and schools do not devote much resources to sports. Therefore hardly any showering facilities.

In all my many years in Belgian schools, I never ever went to a school with showers for after sports.

I already knew by middle school that I was the only one in my circle of friends that was not circumcised and after gym class and after athletic practices taking showers it was noticeable because I was the only one aside from a couple foreign born boys. Fortunately I am more of a shower than a grower and someone made fun of me once saying why is your dick like that? And laughed and I said why is yours like a baby boy and everyone laughed harder. I was teased relentlessly by my step sister however after I refused to get circumcised at around 12 years old but thats what kids do but I never bothered to try and keep the foreskin retracted. I do think that being in the minority doctors not only brought up circumcision but always retracted the foreskin even as an adult some were not used to it.