Post transferred from the other blogsite:

I am an American male, son of an immigrant (and uncut) father, and I deeply resent being cut. (It was done in the 70’s without any parental notification; welcome to the USA.) To be totally frank, it is the one ‘body issue’ image that I have - and I really do suffer from it. I don’t like to see myself naked in the mirror because of it. My penis doesn’t look “right” to me - and I can accept all the other differences that I have from other folks, except that one. I’d do just about anything to change what happened - wish I could go back in time or something. I’m middle-aged now, and growing old with style - don’t mind my greying hair or slight pauch, any of that. But what I do mind - and have minded since the time I was a little boy and discovered it - is that someone took off part of my body for no reason, and without even asking.

I am in a supportive, settled relationship with a great woman who’s had lovers of both varieties, and tells me not to worry - though if we have any children, they are remaining uncut (as we both agree). I think I’d kill anyone who tried to harm my child in this way.

To all those folks, cut and otherwise, who think it’s not a “big deal,” I say fine - for you it may not be. But if there’s a small chance that your kid will have a reaction like mine, you shouldn’t play with fire. It’s just not fair to him - if he wants to be cut later, he can go ahead and do it, no big deal - I WISH I could reverse the process and heal the scar so easily. But he can’t get back what you take from him as a baby, and he may decide that he wants it back very much.

Our feelings about our genitals are such basic, private, and personal matters. Even family members will never really understand what’s at stake for any individual, and parents shouldn’t be so arrogant as to imagine otherwise. You feed your child; you don’t feel for him, certainly not once he’s grown up and out of the house. But your actions can have continuing consequences. Parents, doctors and religious leaders are merely guardians for us while we’re small; they won’t ultimately live in the bodies they are supposed to look after. It seems painfully obvious that they should do no harm while they have power over smaller people.

It’s too late for me - I realize that I will probably die unhappy about the fact of my circumcision (even though happy about many other things - my wife, job, etc.). There’s just no way I can easily get over this in my head, though believe me, I’ve tried. Don’t do that to anyone else, even if it’s only a small risk they’ll end up feeling like I do.