The public circumcision debate on the advantages and disadvantages of circumcision is heating up as more people question the wisdom of the practice. Even presidential candidates like Andrew Yang came out against circumcision. The foreskin is the only part of the human body Americans routinely amputate in the absence of an immediate health threat. The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a 2012 statement biased in favor of circumcision while not recommending it. This reversed their previously neutral stance on circumcision. The AAP, faced with declining circumcision rates and health insurance payouts for their members, sought to encourage parents to make the circumcision decision.

The AAP’s actions forced intactivists to increase their educational advocacy about the harm done by this unnecessary procedure.

The AAP’s endorsement of circumcision cites medical issues which may be more prevalent by a few percentage points (sometimes fractions thereof) in the intact male: urinary tract infections, increased chances of STDs including HPV, HIV and others, as well as reduction in penile cancer. However many experts contest there claims. These alleged claims of medical benefits are all contingent on possibility, not probability. The advantages and disadvantages of circumcision are still highly debated.

What expectant parents must do is weigh the danger in these (mostly) adult threats against the safety of their newborn and his adult sexual health. Expectant parents must also consider the side effects of circumcision, and consider the idea that circumcision is harmful to babies.

While Debating Circumcision Advantages and Disadvantages, Parents Can Be Oblivious to Future

When we think about infants, we do not like to think about the sexual beings they will become. Instead, we think of their safety, protection and innocence. What parent wants to think about their baby growing up and having sex in the future? But infant boys grow up to be men. All adults, men and women alike, deserve their full spectrums of sexual function and pleasure. The sleeve-like structure that is the male foreskin serves a sexual function. When a doctor removes a child’s foreskin is a permanent alteration of the male sexual anatomy.

The penis can function (and has for centuries) without the foreskin, But little thought is given to the long-term effects of its removal. Can a man experience sexual pleasure without his foreskin? Millions of men have but it is the quality of the sexual experience that serves both psychological and biological functions. (Prolonged periods of heightened sexual pleasure produce stronger orgasms in both men and women, making conception more likely.) If the plumbing works from infancy through the teen years, what problems could possibly exist? But it is often later in life that cut men start to experience problems.

Disadvantage Circumcision | It Affects Function

A study released in the April 2007 British Journal of Urology International (Volume 99, Issue 4, pp. 864–869, Morris L. Sorrells, et. al.) concluded that the “five locations on the uncircumcised [intact] penis that are routinely removed at circumcision had lower pressure thresholds.” In other words, the parts removed in circumcision are more sensitive than the parts which remain. The study also notes that the head [the glans] of the uncircumcised penis is more sensitive than the head of a cut male.

Further Evidence Points to Loss of Function

A Belgian study released this year reached conclusions similar to the Sorrells study; a circumcised penis is less sensitive than an intact one. (Bronselaer GA, Schober JM, Meyer-Bahlburg HF, T’sjoen G, Vlietinck R, Hoebeke PB., Department of Urology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.)

The removal of the specialized mucosal tissue which protects the glans penis also causes, over time, keratinization. This is a process through which skin cells lose moisture, making them tougher and less sensitive.

Some people may not consider a loss of sensitivity as important. But a Danish study considered the issue of how the loss of foreskin affects sexual function. The study was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in October 2011 (Frisch M, Lindholm M, Grønbæk M.). In that study, circumcised men reported various types of sexual dysfunction 3x more often than intact men. According to Morten Frisch, who led the study, “there were differences… the circumcised men reported orgasm difficulties much more frequently than [intact] men.” The most common problem was unnaturally delayed ejaculation and even anorgasmia (inability to achieve orgasm.) Female sexual partners of those men were 10% more likely to report incomplete sexual fulfillment.

Doctors Weigh In on Circumcision Advantages and Disadvantages

Christopher Guest, M.D, co-founder of the Children’s Health & Human Rights Partnership (CHHRP) calls the AAP’s statement “seriously flawed.” In a press release picked up by Reuters and other online publications, Guest states: “‘Circumcision alters the structure of the penis, which inevitably alters function. Long term harm to men from infant circumcision has never been studied.’ He referred to a growing body of anecdotal evidence collected by the Canadian-based Global Survey of Circumcision Harm. Guest said that in the past 12 months over 900 men have answered the online survey to document their harm.”

I was damaged by my circumcision too. I learned as an adult that I came home from the hospital with stitches in my penis. When I examine my body, it is clear that a major vein was severed. It was cut too deep. Basically the doctor removed too much flesh from one side. The surgery left me with scarring and extreme sensitivity which causes irritation during certain sexual activities. This sensitivity has grown worse as I get older. My personal issue can be looked at as a combination of the two main arguments against circumcision. The risks are the immediate danger to the infant, and the long-term symptoms to the adult.

After the Circumcision Debate | Days of Future Passed

My complaint may seem an ungrateful one in relation to the grotesque damage on view in images of severely deformed penises resulting from botched circumcisions. Some of these are unbearable to look at it. My own sex life has been basically normal. My body was damaged by this excessive cut. But because Americans are so accustomed to the circumcised penis, some scarring and disfigurement almost seems normal. I don’t know anything other than the sex life I’ve had. But I can’t help but wonder what my sex life could be like had I been allowed to keep the body nature designed.