Circumcision

[Wyrd of Gawd]

That convo is a short one, about a small subset of circumcisees (lol).  It's entirely common for a tribe to practice a form of ritual mutilation.  It likely developed from a consensual rite of passage, but by the time we have any written indication of the practice in jewish culture it had already been mythologized.  The purpose, however, remained clear; it was an announcement that the boy belonged to the tribe, and that any boy who was not circumcised, did not - he would be "cut off from his people".

There's a funny story in the Bible about Paul & Timothy.  Paul circumcised Tim and, as per the ritual, had to suck the bleeding blood.  Paul didn't like that so he made the rule that Gentiles don't have to get circumcised to become Christians.  The main reason for Tim's circumcision was that it was the custom for Jews to whip out their penises when meeting other Jews to show that they were members of the clique.  So Tim had to get circumcised in order to be accepted as a member when he went on his missionary trips.

[The Grand Nudger]

If you mean the modern practice as engaged by the US of A, it never was, and didn't.  A Loon™ who peddled cereal and yogurt enemas thought that maybe it would stop youngins from pulling their meat.
(spoiler alert: didn't work, all it did was leave us with a country full of mutilated peen incapable of fully feeling the joy of coitus...lulz)

Never bothered me any.

How would you know?  Hate to be the one to break this to you, but it did..and not just a little, alot.  May as well have chopped off all the fingers on your hands and said "haven't noticed a difference". Well...ofc you haven't, because you;re missing the very bits that would have helped you notice that difference. That's -why- weird ass loons thought it would stop the youngins from pulling their meat.

Just another thing to thank your parents for.

[Aegon]

I was wondering, how did circumcision become a religious practice?

---

Never bothered me any.

How would you know?  Hate to be the one to break this to you, but it did..and not just a little, alot.  May as well have chopped off all the fingers on your hands and said "haven't noticed a difference".  Well...ofc you haven't, because you;re missing the very bits that would have helped you notice that difference.  That's -why- weird ass loons thought it would stop the youngins from pulling their meat.

Just another thing to thank your parents for.  

I think it would bother me more to have less fingers...

[The Grand Nudger]

I bet, but that's the nature of indoctrination, not of fact. You (we) have been taught to conceptualize it as normal, and no big deal...but I picked that comparison for a very specific reason.

[Rev. Rye]

Never bothered me any.

How would you know?  Hate to be the one to break this to you, but it did..and not just a little, alot.  May as well have chopped off all the fingers on your hands and said "haven't noticed a difference".  Well...ofc you haven't, because you;re missing the very bits that would have helped you notice that difference.  That's -why- weird ass loons thought it would stop the youngins from pulling their meat.

Just another thing to thank your parents for.  

At any rate, it turns out that several studies have been done on the subject and the general consensus is that, as sensitive as the foreskin is, in fact, circumcision has a negligible effect on sexual pleasure, and this Psychology Today article explains why this could be. It turns out our body has quite a bit of excess in the number of parts it has. Think about how many bodily organs we have two of, and how many of them we can remove one of and still function normally (like the kidneys or the lungs). The foreskin is much the same in this regard. It may add a bit extra to sex, but if it's removed, it won't likely lead to a serious detriment.

Fun fact, since you brought up fingers, the article I linked to brought the analogy up:

Consider how it feels to pet a cat with five fingers. You feel the soft luxuriousness of the fur. You feel the cat purr. Now imagine that you lose one finger. After you’re all healed, you pet the cat with four fingers. You have 20 percent fewer touch-sensitive nerves in that hand, but does petting feel any different? The same goes for penile sensitivity. Men don’t need foreskins to enjoy ecstatic lovemaking.

Also, it turns out we have a lot of sensitive skin that can certainly help augment sexual arousal and the foreskin makes up only a small part of it. Look up erogenous zones to see what I mean.

Granted, the benefits of removal of the foreskin are negligible at best (the best I've been able to find is a possible reduction in HIV contraction, and that's really questionable), but, if done properly (by a doctor, preferably with anaesthetic), it shouldn't cause much of a problem years down the line.

[The Grand Nudger]

It shouldn't cause much problem down the line, if done by a doctor, to have the labia or clitoris removed either.  One wonders, though, why anyone normalizes either practice.

In any case, sure, petting a cat always feels like petting a cat...but petting a cat with four fingers isn't -quite- the same as petting a cat with five fingers. You (and anyone inclined to do so) can negotiate with yourself on this point all you like, but some of us have no need of negotiation. Sex, for me, isn't -quite- the same as sex..for you. I consider my experience the biological baseline, for obvious reasons. Sure, you have other nerves. I have those too....but also....

[Wyrd of Gawd]

I was wondering, how did circumcision become a religious practice?

---

How would you know?  Hate to be the one to break this to you, but it did..and not just a little, alot.  May as well have chopped off all the fingers on your hands and said "haven't noticed a difference".  Well...ofc you haven't, because you;re missing the very bits that would have helped you notice that difference.  That's -why- weird ass loons thought it would stop the youngins from pulling their meat.

Just another thing to thank your parents for.  

I think it would bother me more to have less fingers...

The biblical Abraham was one crazy asshole.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There are methods to restore the foreskin, some of which don't require surgery.

[Wyrd of Gawd]

There are methods to restore the foreskin, some of which don't require surgery.

I'll bet that the 200 guys who had their foreskins cut off by that pervert David would have been glad to have them restored, with or without surgery.

[Foxaèr]

I am glad that I was circumcised.

No need to restore anything.