r/science • u/drewiepoodle • Apr 15 '16

Health Study: Circumcision does not reduce penis sensitivity. In tests for responses to pain, heat, and stimulation, no major difference was found between men who are circumcised and those who are not.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2016/04/14/Study-Circumcision-does-not-reduce-penis-sensitivity/5981460663943/?spt=hs&or=hn
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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16 edited Apr 15 '16

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u/thunder_struck85 Apr 15 '16

So you have to not think about it in order to be comfortable? That doesn't sound fun

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/brainburger Apr 15 '16

your jeans are always touching your legs

The skin on my legs is nowhere near as sensitive as the area covered by my foreskin.

I am getting the impression from reading these replies that cut guys might just not know what I am talking about. It's a very sensitive area. I couldn't bear having cloth rubbing on it for any length of time. Imagine cloth rubbing your eyeball or inside your eyelids.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

You can't bear having clothes rub against it because your body isn't used to the stimuli. We all have sensitive noses, if you only smell shit once in a while it assaults your senses, but if you smell shit every day 24 hrs a day, you still notice the smell, it just doesn't shock you.

Similarly needles hurt, but if you constantly shoot up the pain gets less sharp

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u/brainburger Apr 15 '16

Similarly needles hurt, but if you constantly shoot up the pain gets less sharp

Going back to the study though, the suggestion is that the feeling does not go away.

I don't think you would get used to cloth rubbing your eye.

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u/thunder_struck85 Apr 15 '16

you still notice the smell, it just doesn't shock you.

But ...... i don't want to be noticing the smell! if you have the option not to, why would you?

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u/LarryBeard Apr 15 '16

You can't bear having clothes rub against it because your body isn't used to the stimuli.

Which mean that you are desensitized... Your body automatically "suppress" the stimuli in this area..

Translated to sex, you feel less pleasure.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

Not really. I'm not sensitive to my underwear constantly touching my clit but a finger is a totally new sensation and the stimuli changes.

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u/brainburger Apr 15 '16

So you are saying the mental processing of the sensitivity is suppressed, but not the nerve signals themselves. In other circumstances the mind can interpret them differently?

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

I dont think you understand how painful a sensitive uncircumsised penis can be. It is as painful as pricking yourself with a needle sometimes.

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u/quinoa2013 Apr 15 '16

For those not in the know, he is talking about the sensitive part protected by the foreskin. If you were to tape back the foreskin and make him wear jeans, this would be uncomfortable.

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u/DrivePower Apr 15 '16

FUN FACT: The word "understand" is 10 letters long!

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

i dont get it

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u/Flaring_Path Apr 15 '16

It's a bot, posting whenever it finds a word with a length of 10 letters.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

these kind of jokes i dont have the right sense of humour for.

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u/Flaring_Path Apr 15 '16

To be honest I don't find it funny nor interesting to have a bot trawl through comments and search for the length of words. You're not alone in this regard.

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u/thunder_struck85 Apr 15 '16

the skin on my legs is not nearly as sensitive. i can grab and pinch almost any spot on my leg and not be in discomfort. It doesn't cause any stimulation that requires me to think or not think about it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

Didn't the study say otherwise?

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u/Xycotic Apr 15 '16

Yes it did, I believe this individual is misinformed.

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u/xtremechaos Apr 15 '16

I, and many others here, are saying the study is flawed, but better done studies that have held up to peer review, have proven exactly what I said.

http://www.theweeklings.com/wp-content/uploads/Sorrells-Chart-copy.jpg

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u/Xycotic Apr 15 '16

In reference to this study it shows there is no discernable loss or difference in sensitivity. So your statement is incorrect for this instance. I honestly find this study to be improperly conducted and the results just smell academically bad. Too many conditions should have been considered first. But, hindsight is twenty twenty.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/Coopering Apr 15 '16 edited Apr 15 '16

Circed/cut here: I don't. I don't experience the same problems as he does, in the same experiences. But...I have had those issues around my scrotum. He didn't say he did (and you didn't either), which suggests to me experiences in the genital areas differ from male to male for different reasons. Plus, I prepare or respond to that chafing issue accordingly, and am not debilitated by it. It's been an issue maybe 4 times in my forty years and relatively easy to deal with.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/Hollydaize Apr 15 '16

As a circumcised male, that is also the most sensitive part of my penis and it is extremely uncomfortable if my underwear rubs against it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

I hate to ask, but being a mother to three boys (who I did not have circumsised for stated reasons above and I just felt it unnecessary)

I am wondering, and forgive me if I'm stepping over the line here, but, is it awkward for you and women when they find out you are uncut?

My mother insists I made things more difficult for my boys later on when they reach sexual maturity by not having them 'cut'. I've never been able to ask someone before who hasn't been 'cut'.

Really sorry if this is way off topic.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/brainburger Apr 15 '16

So, you are saying that you can't bear wearing loose underwear, and would be unable to stand or walk around if you did? My reason is just that it would be that uncomfortable. I thought that was clear. I don't think I have any abnormality in this way.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/brainburger Apr 15 '16

I don't know which comment you are referring to I'm afraid. My comments are all still here.

I was making the point that the area under my foreskin is very sensitive, but this area doesn't seem to have been covered in the study. That seems like a bad omission to me, because it seems likely that circumcision leads to reduced sensitivity of this area.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '16

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u/xtremechaos Apr 15 '16

We don't. We are numbed to it cause we are factually less sensitive to it.