Thursday, March 24, 2011

I Remember

Looking back, I remember seeing a circumcised penis for the first time in my life. I remember I was in kindergarten, and I distinctly remember rushing to the bathroom because I had to go real bad. The boy in before me had forgotten to lock the door, and I walked in to see a spectacle which was, in and of itself, interesting.
I was used to just undoing my pants, pulling it out and going. But I walked in to find this boy with his pants all the way down to his ankles, and his hands on his hips as he thrust out his pelvis to present his penis to the toilet to pee.

But I specifically remember seeing his penis and wondering “what the hell happened to you???” It was very brief. I remember the boy looking back at me giving me a dirty look, and rightfully so. (Who wants another boy staring at his dick while he pees?) I just got out and closed the door again. The boy finally got out and I was able to do my business.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had just seen a circumcised penis for the first time in my life. It was an impression that stayed with me for my whole life for many reasons. First, it was probably the first time I had ever seen another boy naked, peeing for that matter. But I distinctly remember wondering for the rest of that day what I had just seen in the bathroom. First of all, who teaches their son to pull their pants all the way to the floor like that! And how can you aim with your hands at your hips? And why on earth was the end of his penis all misshapen like that? Maybe some boys have different shaped penises, just like we have different shaped belly buttons. I have an innie, other boys have outies, so this must also apply to our penises. Or so I thought...

Now, I imagine that if a circumcised boy had never seen an intact penis before in his life, his reaction might have been the same as mine. He might be wondering what the hell happened to MY penis. What's wrong with that boy's penis? Why was it shaped like that?

But herein lies the rub:
Something DID happen to his penis, and nothing to mine. While “what happened?” might be a valid question to ask for the both of us, it only applies to me, as I have organs that were left as nature had intended them to be; it is the circumcised penis that is the artificial, contrived, forced phenomenon, and not the other way around.

That men have to live with a mangled penis  for the rest of their lives whether they wanted it or not is such a sad thought... In retrospect, what a sad, sad memory...

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