The dissatisfaction of some circumcised men can be described in detail. It has been expressed in an increasing number of letters from men all around the country to the Circumcision Resource Center and to several other organizations that educate the public about circumcision. Moreover, in a recent issue of a major medical journal, twenty men signed a letter saying, “We are all adult men who believe that we have been harmed by circumcision.”( 1) We do not know how widespread the discontent is, but that these feelings exist at all is a noteworthy development and reason for concern.

Following are some statements about circumcision excerpted from letters written by dissatisfied circumcised men and received at the Circumcision Resource Center:
 

My penis feels incomplete, deformed, maimed.

Circumcision has given my life a much diminished and shameful flavor.

The single most traumatic event of my life with the greatest psychological damage was my circumcision as an infant.

Circumcision: it’s taught me how to hate.

Being circumcised has ruined my sex life.

I feel violated and abused.

I have felt unhappy about it all my life.

I am very angry and resentful about this. I’ve had many physical, psychological, and emotional problems all my life.

No one had the right to cut my foreskin off!

I feel cheated at having been robbed of what is my natural birthright.

I never mentioned it to my parents.

I’ve always felt I’m missing normal male experience, and I’m embarrassed when in public dressing rooms.

I feel like the best part of me was severed from my body, and I have ugly scars to remind me. I am so ANGRY!!
 

sense of loss, deficiency, diminished body image

disbelief, lack of understanding, confusion

embarrassment, shame

sense of having been victimized, cheated, robbed, raped, 

violated, abused, mutilated, deformed

fear, distrust, withdrawal

grief, sadness, pain

envy, jealousy of intact men
 

See Why Most Circumcised Men Seem Satisfied.  

1. Warren, J. et al., “Circumcision of Children,” British Medical Journal 312 (1996): 377.
2. Hammond, T., “A Preliminary Poll of Men Circumcised in Infancy or Childhood,” BJU International 83 (1999): 85-92.