Locker room - Page 2

[jennybean0722]

My brother and his friends teased boys in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL if they weren't circ'd. They were horrible....one of them he knows for sure got circ'd later and they still teased him, b/c he WAS uncirc'd at one time. How pitiful and mean. OH, and they didn't see his penis in the locker room....it was the BATHROOM. What about that? I would think boys would see lots of genitalia there, whether or not they wanted to see it.

We did not circ our boys. It was interesting to see my brother's reaction and we fought about it alot. I won when he finally talked to a Priest about it and the Priest told him he was uncirc'd! Ha ha!

If my boys ever wanted to get circ'd...I wouldn't let them. If they still wanted to at age 18, then its their decision. If it ever got really bad, I'd take him out of that school if that is what my DS would want. Of course I'd have LOTS of words with their parents

[hakunangovi]

The locker room excuse is just that - an excuse with no foundation. I spent all 12 years of grade school in boys boarding schools. Until high school the "gay" thing was not even on anyone's radar. We all looked and knew everyone's 'status' - even had names - you were either a cavalier or a roundhead. Not once did I ever witness one single episode of teasing based on circumcision status. It just seemed to be accepted that some had a foreskin and some did not.

[brant31]

Originally Posted by calngavinsmom

When circ was popular and "everyone was circed" 30 or so years ago, people justified it by saying they wanted to spare their sons embarassment in the locker room.

Now that the majority of kids being born are being left intact, the parents who choose to circ don't seem to care about the potential of their sons being embarassed anymore.

What are your thoughts?

My thoughts? Not so surprising for a fad whose medical and social "justifications" shape-shift like Power Rangers or the Animagi in Harry Potter. It would be amusing if it weren't so annoying.

I predicted a couple of decades ago that when the circ rate dropped below 50% in Canada or the US, the arguments would change, too. And sure enough, they're starting to. From the previously convenient "the majority does it" and "he'll be teased for being different", the circumcision diehards have changed to "Well, it hasn't dropped in my area!"* and "I'd rather my son be clean and attractive!" Ho-hum. Whatever. They never told the truth to begin with.

This falls in the category of "b-b-but, he'll be traumatized if he doesn't look like his daddy!", which completely ignores that dead nothing of the sort happened when we went from a nation of intact dads to circumcised sons.

Locker rooms are a bogey man anyway. North America has gone from 90% of high schoolers getting naked and showering for gym to less than 10%. The happy truth is that circumcision doesn't stand a long-term chance in any society that places a high value on personal autonomy, which is definitely the direction the US and many other countries are going. More and more guys are going to grow up and ask, "Why me and my junk, huh? Was there a problem at 2 days old?"


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* Gerrymandered "area" meaning: every third house down the left side of Elm Street, then both houses with green minivans on Second Ave, and my sister-in-law's house on the other side of the main library.

[incorrigible]

Originally Posted by calngavinsmom

Even at at 50% rate, like in the states, don't you think that a kid who is missing half his penis would be more likely to be teased than one who still has a whole one?

I was just thinking about this this morning and it really helps reinforce what a selfish decision circumcision really is.

What are your thoughts?

Between bathrooms and the showers at summer camps and things, my intact boy sees plenty of genitalia in the states. His thoughts on the matter, back when he became aware of it - "Most of my friends have not got any of their foreskin cut off. I only know 2 boys that had part of their penis cut off, but I don't make fun of them. I feel bad for them. I think it's wrong because it's mean." We actually lived in an area with high circ rates. Ds just didn't realize it at the time. The circ'd boys tended to be more likely to wear swim trunks to shower. I doubt it was related to circ at that age, but I guess it could be. When they're younger, the boys aren't shy about comparing at all. The way camp showers are set up, they can be heard but not seen. So, when the one boy makes all the others fall over laughing by ballooning his foreskin and declaring himself "da bomb", before releasing it and yelling "boom"....we all got to laugh at his mom, and then explain what just happened to the parents of the circ'd boys.

Ds's been rumbling a bit about adding a new entry to his old mini-blog, which has my thoughts on the subject a bit too.
http://angry8.livejournal.com/

[4chunut1]

Originally Posted by laughingfox

According to DH-

No one gets made fun of in the locker room because no one will admit to looking at someone else's penis.

Exactly..! When I was in school, there was an unwritten "protocol" in the dressing room... When showering, you had to be totally casual...no excessive modesty, and certainly no staring... You could glance, but not stare, or you would be accused of being a "pervert," or "queer." (This was before the word "gay" came to mean what it does today) Everyone pretty much knew the circumcision status of the other guys, but the glancing was more to compare "size" than to see whether a guy was intact or not...