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And I thought it sucked being an altar boy...

This article says that circumcision reduces the risk of AIDS/HIV:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/background_briefings/aids/newsid_434000/434880.stm

Male circumcision significantly reduces the spread of the HIV virus to men, according to research.

In terms of infectious disease, Aids is the biggest killer in Africa, with HIV frequent in the sexually-active populations of many countries.

But the study, carried out by European and African researchers, found that uncircumcised men were at least three times more likely than circumcised men to contract the virus.

They looked at four cities, from different parts of the continent, and noticed marked differences in the incidence of HIV.

This, said researchers, could not be explained away simply by differences in sexual behaviour.

However, in some of the cities, circumcision, in which the skin covering the tip of the penis is removed, was far more common, and these had far lower rates of HIV.

Anne Buve, an epidemiologist at the Insititute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, said: "We did find that circumcision confers certain protection against HIV, in that it seems circumcised men do not get HIV as easily as uncircumcised men."

Although the reason for the extra protection has not been proved, the research team suspects that the skin on the glans of the circumcised penis is tougher than that of the foreskin.

It is therefore less likely to suffer small abrasions which increase the chances of HIV being transmitted.

The study focused on Benin's capital Cotonou and Cameroon's capital Yaounde, where circumcision is a widespread cultural practice.

These towns were compared with Ndola in Zambia, and Kisumu in Kenya, where it is not.

Maina Kahindo, another researcher, urged Kenyan health authorities to act.

He said: "Both at national level and at ethnic leadership level, the issue of circumcision needs to be discussed and encouraged."
 
It seems that there is a lot of conflicting information about this subject

When the raw data are combined, a man with a circumcised penis is at greater risk of acquiring and transmitting HIV than a man with a non-circumcised penis (odds ratio (OR)=1.06, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.12). Based on the studies published to date, recommending routine circumcision as a prophylactic measure to prevent HIV infection in Africa, or elsewhere, is scientifically unfounded.

http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/vanhowe4/

Therefore, universal male circumcision should be considered as a preventive measure against HIV infection."

http://www.circumstitions.com/HIV.html


I guess the only real way to no get AIDs is to wear a condom and not to rely on the fact if you have 4skin or not, i know that 4skin can rip while having sex (ouch) and this would be a virus's dream come true.
 
Circumscision does decrease the chances of those things, since it enforces the level of personal hygene that one is supposed carry out as part of maintenance. I remember reading, however, that it also increases the incidence of infections ot the urinary tract and prostate, and cancers of the prostate, since, in uncircumcised males, the infections are caught by the foreskin, rather than passing straight down the uthera. In desert tribes, I can see that circumcision maybe handy simply from the POV of sand. Gritty...

Otherwise, I'm with Rynner :D

8¬)
 
Urgh

Circumcision is a barbaric thing!

Who wants to cut off 90% of the nerve endings in that part of their body?

Niles "Whole and Complete" Calder
 
Niles Calder said:
Who wants to cut off 90% of the nerve endings in that part of their body?

No one Niles, at least when they are an adult!!!

But remember the fable of Aesop, of the Fox who Lost His Tail".
 
Niles Calder said:
Who wants to cut off 90% of the nerve endings in that part of their body?
Surely the foreskin doesn't contain 90% of the nerve endings?
(If it does, I've been doing one or two things wrong)
 
Dark Detective said:
Is this a practice confined to Judaism and the US only?

Regarding the US, Americans do tend to be a little more squeamish about things biological. Any hint of a natural odour, body hair or whatever is mercilessly purged with chemicals, and no-one will even drink from the same can as you without pulling a face. The scientific basis for this practice, if there is one, seems tenuous at best.

I think moslems do too ?
I have heared that in the US women are always washing themselves out , seems really unhealthy to me ,if you have no infections you shouldn't smell anyway and you would wash away all the natural bactericides and fungicides .
I think routine circumcision was common in the UK until maybe WW2 ? Perhaps it became less fashionable when the NHS really kicked in - early cost cutting ( or not cutting LOL ) . Circumcision was a big Victorian thing , according to my mother the US is still a bit in love with things Victorian .
 
beakboo said:
Surely the foreskin doesn't contain 90% of the nerve endings?
(If it does, I've been doing one or two things wrong)

Not wrong, merely missing out on some of the fun :blah: ... However, 90% is a slightly high measure of the proportion of nerves in that area. If my memory of anatomy serves (God bless Dr Gray...) its around the half mark, although the density of the nerves is different.

The difference between having it done as a baby and having it done as an adult is mostly around the fact that adult males tend to belly ache around minor aches, let alone a discomfort in their Johnson :) Babies can't and you tend not to notice any werriting about it against the back drop of 'I'm hungry!' , 'I've be-pissied meself!' 'I've pooed, fix it!', 'I'm bored!' noises. THe noise a baby makes during the procedure is not nice BTW... and quite different from the other noises they make.

8¬)
 
Circumcision must have been practiced in some African tribes, as well.

Remember ROOTS? When Kunta is about to be circumcised at about age 15 with a sharpened rock?

That image will stick in your head for a while.
 
Its a common practice whereever you have a lot of heat and sand and a tradition of not letting eveything swing free. Places with lots of vegtation and thorn bushes tend to leave well alone

OK, so its not a scholarly breakdown, but its the end of a huge amount of waffle I could have posted.

8¬)
 
Ogopogo said:
Circumcision must have been practiced in some African tribes, as well.

Remember ROOTS? When Kunta is about to be circumcised at about age 15 with a sharpened rock?

Roots, is far from accurate once the story leaves the shores of Amerika! Political & financial consiterations, meant that the auther was going to get a good story!!!!!
 
To change the subject slightly...

In my local 'English ' pub (I live in Germany at the moment) you can get potato skins with a variety of toppings... or fourskins... makes my husband and I laugh every time we go in there.... haven't dared tried it yet though!
 
I remember a story, I'm sure it was in FT, of UK toursits in Turkey who complained about a restaurant where as a touch of local colour 100 young boys were ceremonially circumcised in front of them.

Which reminds me its time for dinner, a bit of Thai I think.
 
David said:
Or as one Royal Marine drill instructor demonstrated on TV a few years ago, one washes under the: "bell end".

Doesn't everyone call it that? Oh, okay.
The whole 'chopping off the most fun bit of your body' thing can be avoided by using soap,surely? I mean, really, doesn't it totally spoil wanking?
 
Inverurie Jones said:
Doesn't everyone call it that? Oh, okay.
The whole 'chopping off the most fun bit of your body' thing can be avoided by using soap,surely? I mean, really, doesn't it totally spoil wanking?

It would if they operated mid-stroke.:D
 
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