I read a study indicating this may (just may) be the case. Could anyone please clarify? Nope - no evidence to suggest this is the case, and quite a lot to suggest it isn't. For example, check out parts of Africa where circumcision is massively prevalent, yet who have huge problems with HIV.
The only way to avoid STIs is to wrap up, not cut off parts of your todger.
Further more, genital cancer in males is more or less restricted to the love-spuds - and removal of the foreskin has no effect on this whatsoever. UTIs only affect 1% to 2% of boys, so whilst circumcision may help reduce the chances of getting a UTI, the chances are still very slight. The chances of complications from infant circumcision are between 1% to 5% (including infection, bleeding and penile damage).
The studies on circumcision and HIV have mostly emanated from sub-Saharan Africa. According to the AAP, the evidence is 鈥渃omplex and conflicting鈥? and would not justify routine circumcision in developed countries with low prevalence of HIV.
Penile cancer is a rare disease, affecting only 1 per 100,000 in developed countries. The rarity of the condition is such that once again would not justify routine male infant circumcision. HIV is prevented by having safe sex... cutting your foreskin off wont help that. The figures in support of the idea that being cut helps prevent the spread of HIV are the result of a study that examined the transfer of HIV through vaginal intercourse. There was a slight but discernable increase in the transfer rate from the HIV+ woman to the HIV- man in circumstances where the man was not circumscised.
The figures for anal intercourse with a HIV+ male or HIV+ female showed no discernable difference in infection transfer results whether the HIV- male was cut or uncut.
I have no knowledge of the other matters. I don't believe so. UTI are infections of the urinary tract, so are not in any way associated with the presence or non presence of the foreskin. The same can also be said of HIV and penile cancer. HIV is an infection which may not necessarily be linked to sexual activity and cancer is due to changes in cellular structure, wherever it may be. By leaving a boy uncircumcised, if he's not satisfied with it he can always get cut and end up satisfied in the end. One survey found that about half of circumcised guys would have preferred to had made the decision themselves:
http://www.jackinworld.com/qow/q15.html
Circumcision has become less common. Circumcision rates were as high as 90% back in the 1960s and 1970s (that's partly why today's adults are so... brainwashed, I supposed you could say, about thinking that circumcision is better) but they have fallen to as low as 14% in some states. Here are the statistics:
http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/U...
The USA is the last developed nation doing it to a large number of newborns without religious or medical needs. (Europeans, Latin Americans, Japanese, and most Australians, Canadians, and Asians don't circumcise):
http://www.circumstitions.com/Maps.html
Christianity doesn't ask for circumcision, either. In fact, sections of the Bible are harsh against circumcision, and the Catholic Church even condemned the surgery:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcisio...
In a medical study, it was found that females are more likely to hit orgasm with an uncircumcised man:
http://www.healthcentral.com/drdean/408/...
The lubricated foreskin (on the inside... like your eyelids) slides up and down during sex and masturbation to stimulate the head (which is why you don't hear of uncircumcised guys needing lube to masturbate).
http://www.cirp.org/pages/anat/
Studies have found that circumcision reduces sensitivity (this article also mentions how it has lost popularity in the USA in recent times):
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,2855...
And despite being more sensitive, uncircumcised guys still last in the same six minute range (average) that circumcised guys do:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs...
Circumcision makes masturbation more difficult:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs...
Which makes sense, that's how circumcision was promoted in the USA:
http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/...
Increases erectile dysfunction rates:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez...
If too much skin is removed in circumcision, it can make the penis smaller since the penis needs some skin to expand during an erection:
http://drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&actio...
http://www.altermd.com/Penis%20and%20Scr...
And circumcised boys have a 10% chance of acquiring meatal stenosis, which is when the opening of the urethra (pee hole) closes up and needs surgery to reopen. (compared to a 1 in 100 chance for UTI, for example)
http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic2356.h...
There's pain involved, often why doctors don't want you in the room when it's done:
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/23/circum...
http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1f21e.htm
(you can search online for a circumcision video, too)
Circumcision does not completely stop penile cancer. The American Cancer Society has already confirmed the myth that circumcision = no cancer.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/conten...
If circumcision did stop penile cancer, then penile cancer would not be more common in the USA (most circumcised adults) than in some European nations, where circumcision is not practiced other than for medical/religious reasons.
http://www.circumstitions.com/Cancer.htm...
And a new study found that circumcision does not reduce your chances to get HIV/AIDS. Unlike other studies, this one was done in a developed nation; the USA.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22096758/
Of course, there are other risks associated, but those are typically the ones due to surgery. You can research it more here:
http://shorl.com/deprygyfrykiny
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_ba...
As far as cleaning goes, it's really simple. For the first years in life the foreskin doesn't pull back. That prevents stuff like poo/fecal matter from touching the head. Later on all it takes it 5 to 10 seconds to pull the foreskin back and rub the head; it even feels good.
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_ba... |
