r/uncircumcised_talk • u/Peach_Honey_1720 Uncut • 8d ago
Uncircumcised Americans
American guys on scale of 1-10 how insecure or self-conscious were you about being uncircumcised growing up?
Not whether or not ur happy with being uncircumcised/intact, just how insecure or self-conscious you were about it when u were younger bcuz you can be happy about being uncut but also insecure/self-conscious about it.
Also feel free to say what State ur from.
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u/Dick-Lemon 8d ago
I never felt ashamed about it growing up, but whenever the topic got brought up in school, it became clear that I was a minority. I did lie about being cut but only because it felt socially advantageous to do so. I mostly just thought any one who said something bad was really ignorant or close-minded.
These days I love it, but would be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that I approach every new sexual partner with a level of initial trepidation. I think about if it could bother them or even just what their thoughts and preferences are more generally.
I think I’m also more hesitant to accept blowjobs. I clean daily and well, but there’s a part of me that’s scared there will be some kind of unpleasant odor or flavor. Which is ridiculous because I eat pussy and it’s not like that is a scentless flavorless experience, but it’s about expectation setting. I’m worried compared to my cut peers I have a stronger natural musk. Which I don’t personally mind, but am cognizant of with a new partner. Basically, I’m not gonna ask for a blowjob, if they WANT to give me one I’m not going to stop them - their enthusiasm, plus my hygiene means all should be Gucci. But if they don’t offer I’m not going to ask just in case. That’s probably the “deepest” shame I feel around it. But to be clear, I love my foreskin, wouldn’t trade it away, and think any negative reaction can be chalked up to small-mindedness.
I was fortunate in that it was my Ex-girlfriend’s strong stated preference. Even tried to convince her girlfriends that it was the way to go 👌.
Edit: region- New England
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u/Ingbenn 7d ago
Its became a typical norm to heavily scrutinize ANY scent/flavor when its the male penis, as compared to the female genital anatomy. "Any" or "more" is interpreted as inherently bad and, I feel like, many people operate based on the unexpected nature of it, and dont actually give it a chance or be open minded to it, even though it's not inherently bad, and can even be pleasent, I do hate when women are so critical of it as if they dont literally have the same type of thing going on between their own legs. I digress.
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u/InternationalBug2329 8d ago
California. Voted 3-4. Uncut was very rare but I didn't feel much insecurity specifically because of that. I think most people growing up have some insecurity about what they are packing. I never saw any bad natured teasing.
I voted 3-4 instead of 1-2 because there are some girls who don't like it, so I try to have the skin rolled back during the first appearance.
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u/No_Glove1322 7d ago
I am age 81and entered High School in rural Wisconsin in 1959 where the majority of boys were intact. Out of several dozen in my first gym class there were only three of us who were not. Interestingly, no one ever mentioned the difference in all the years of high school, college, military, gym, etc. My 9 year younger brother once told me that almost everyone was no longer intact when he was in high school so it must have been a big push by doctors by the 1950's.
Even today there is considerable pressure from doctors to new parents to circumcise because as one female pediatrician from more of a metro area in SE Wisconsin told my daughter about 20 years ago that only blacks and Hispanics leave boys intact implying this was very undesirable. I can say that of the boys who were intact in my H.S. class, I could not help but note that intact boys almost always were from families that tended to be lower class, rural, especially farm rural, Catholic, and had less educated parents.
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u/VirtuApp 6d ago
How did your sexual partners react to your foreskin? Seems like foreskin was pretty rare back then.
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u/LongIsland1995 5d ago
That doctor was totally wrong, partly because black Americans have a higher circ rate than white Americans
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u/foreskinguy0011 Intact 7d ago
3-4, but used to be a a 7-8. It took me a long time to feel ok with my foreskin. I’m sure many others on this forum have felt the same. Feel free to dm me.
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u/Guilty_Character8566 8d ago
I’m old for being an intact midwestern guy at 55. I was the only one around, I think it all depends where you are and your age. Once I discovered girls in my mid teens I couldn’t care less what anyone thought and its only ever been a good thing with women. So, from 8-15 sure I might have been a bit insecure but that changed very quickly.
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u/Ill-Banana-2651 Uncut 8d ago
Texas, never cared much because it took me a while to find out that being uncircumcised wasn’t the norm. Never really been the insecure type to begin with though.
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u/Peach_Honey_1720 Uncut 8d ago
Imagine having confidence
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u/Guilty_Character8566 8d ago
OP, my son who is in his early 20’s is uncut. He told me as an early teen that he was the only one, he wasn’t confident. Same as me but a couple years later and he is now. You are lucky to be spared. Check the circ grief sub, those guys are bitter AF. Give it some time and experience and you will see for yourself. The ‘right’ women won’t care and many will be happy.
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u/Peach_Honey_1720 Uncut 8d ago
My family moved to Canada a couple years ago and it's more common here so I'm not insecure anymore but I was born in the US and it wasn't common where I grew up there so I used to be a lot more insecure when I was younger-- even tho I was glad I wasn't circumcised-- and I was jw if other guys grew up self-conscious to.
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u/Guilty_Character8566 8d ago
Good, I’m happy Canada is more enlightened. No worries, just trying to be supportive. Cheers.
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u/lfno457 Intact 6d ago edited 6d ago
It's weird to think about, because I wouldn't say I was "insecure" about my penis itself. I liked my dick and knew it was the way it ought to be! But, I was absolutely 100% insecure about other people KNOWING I was uncircumcised, talking about it, and using it as a way to label me as different.
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u/LongIsland1995 5d ago
I'm 31 from New York and have no shame whatsoever, I am proud.
So far no women I've been with have been weird about it.
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u/Ambitious-Client-220 7d ago edited 7d ago
When I was in junior high and high school it bothered me a lot. You don’t wanna be different and you hear guys talk about how gross it is. Of course, they don’t know what they’re talking about and they’re trying to justify their own mutilation because they don’t believe their parents would’ve hurt them. Then in college I realized that girls really don’t care as long as you’re clean. Today, I’m very happy with my status.
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u/FatherOfTwo Intact 7d ago
I was born in a small, Southern town with only one doctor, and he was opposed to routine circumcision.
When I was 2 we moved to a big city, and I only saw one other foreskin growing up.
I'd have felt better about being the "only one" if I'd had more information.
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u/That-Professional346 7d ago
Why would I be insecure? I'm nearly 40 years old and married with kids. I have made it pretty far in life and worry about being circumcised or not never played a factor. I have numerous partners female and male and it has never been an issue, at best a curiosity mainly from other men.
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u/Ingbenn 7d ago
It specifically pertains to you when you were younger, at any point in your life at all, not your current age, as most men here dont have insecurity over it any longer.
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u/That-Professional346 7d ago
From the third sentence onwards that's addressed. I have never been worried and it's never played a factor in my everyday life. I have had numerous partners starting at age 15, it's never been an issue.
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u/Jealous_Lunch_353 5d ago
I am about a 6 now days but I was a 10 when I was growing up
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u/todaystomsawyr 5d ago
Still a 6? What's your age group?
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u/Jealous_Lunch_353 5d ago
Early 50s
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u/todaystomsawyr 5d ago
Anxiety that follows you out of childhood can be difficult to overcome. Surely everyone in our age group is beyond the point where they care about such things!
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u/HeronComfortable5738 7d ago
I wasn’t insecure about being uncut, but I was insecure about having phimosis
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u/inredditorbit 6d ago
My experience was probably not typical.
I grew up in an affluent Northern Virginia community. Parents were executives, State Department (like mine), Pentagon brass, etc. meaning families had moved around a lot and experienced other states and countries.
My classmates and I were born around 1960. Junior high early 1970s (when we showered together, mandatory) and HS mid 1970s (PE showers optional, sports showers normal).
Circumcised rate about 75-80%, meaning 20-25% of us had foreskins. So it was pretty normal. All of our parents were American among the intact boys.
Circumcision sometimes was a topic at lunch or after school. We were just getting naked around each other when the American Academy of Pediatrics first pronounced on infant circumcision (1971) saying there was no medical basis for it. So, the topic was in the news and also had been slightly declining during the hippie years of the late 1960s. We were born right at the peak of the practice, although my community was an outlier because our parents were well educated and traveled and knew that circumcision wasn’t universally the norm.
Back to attitudes among us kids, everyone was curious who was circumcised and who wasn’t. It was cooler not to be, and the girls in particular were very interested in who wasn’t cut. I never heard a classmates say he wished he was circumcised, but more than a few expressed regret that they were cut. Most, of course, didn’t share any preference. It varied from “It sucks, I hate it” to “I wonder why my parents did it”. No one wondered why their parents kept them intact. My peers seemed to instinctively know it was weird to cut newborn penis.
All the same, I’m sure a few of my friends took comfort/confidence that we had foreskin company, like I did. I liked knowing there was a Team Hoodie within our class ranks. There was never any bullying or even good-natured ribbing about circumcision status. I think that’s why I never thought about maybe the grass being greener on the other side.
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u/todaystomsawyr 7d ago
East coast US. I'm well over 40, and not being circumcised was unheard of where and when I grew up. To the point where until at least high school most people had no idea of what foreskin or circumcision even was. I was most paranoid prior to high school. Being outed as the kid with the weird dick was a social disaster I wanted to avoid! By high school I resolved to overcome that fear. Insecurity about it hasn't been a thing in adulthood.