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When you’ve been working for couples for as long as I have, it gets to a point where nothing throws you; this includes when a relatively new client of mine approached me with a particular internalized dilemma: “Shellie, my man and I decided to wait until we got engaged to have sex, and he proposed last week. Because we were focused on not having sex, he didn’t tell me until a few months ago that he was uncircumcised. I love him, but I’ve never been with a man who has a ‘turtleneck’ before, and it’s kind of creeping me out.”

Hmph. Let me start by saying this: You can read articles like “Guess What? Guys Get 'Morning Wood' While Women Get 'Morning Bean.'” to learn just how much penises and clitorises have in common while making the time to look at your own vagina and vulva can also serve as a great PSA that no two vaginas (or vulvas) are exactly alike.


My point? I don’t know how many times I’ve said in somebody’s article, somewhere, that a lot of what (some) people think about uncircumcised men comes from nothing more than sheer ignorance and/or programming more than anything else. Lawd, there are so many myths about uncut penises that, once my client said what she did, I felt that it was well past time to address some of the misconceptions on a larger platform — so that if you happen to find yourself with an uncircumcised man, you can know, factually, just what you are getting yourself into. Once and for all.

Are you ready to learn instead of assume? Excellent. It’s time.

The Biblical Reason Behind Circumcision in the United States

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I once read that a study stated that a little over 80 percent of males within the United States are circumcised. Since the most popular religion within this country continues to be Christianity, I’m pretty sure that the two things are linked.

The reason why I say that is because, clearly all male babies are born uncircumcised. However, there is a story in the Bible that speaks to when circumcision became “a thing”. If you read Genesis 17, it addresses when Abraham was instructed to remove the foreskin of both of his sons (Isaac and Ishmael) as a sign of making a covenant with God. So yeah, there’s a huge chance that among Jews and Christians (because there were no Christians in the Old Testament; some of y’all will catch that later), circumcision is probably more of more religion-based than anything else (it’s also big in the Muslim faith…some connect those dots to Ishmael; that’s too much to break down within this article, though).

Anyway, I thought it was important to put that on record, so that, out the gate, you can grasp some of the “origin story” of why you may know of more men who are circumcised than not; that it didn’t just come out of nowhere. Ask a guy to ask his parents why they did it if you don’t believe me.

With the foundation laid, let’s get to dispelling seven really popular myths about uncircumcised/uncut men.

1. Uncut Men’s Penises Look Drastically Different

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Since the appearance of an uncircumcised penis is what tends to get discussed (oftentimes ignorantly so) the most, let’s start there. When a man has been circumcised, his foreskin has been removed so that the head of his penis (which is technically known as the glans) is constantly showing. On the other hand, when a man is uncircumcised, the foreskin remains which means that “his head” is covered up when it is not erect and only is fully seen during an erection (an illustration of both an uncircumcised and circumcised penis is located here if you’re curious).

So yes, although an uncircumcised penis looks different when it’s not erect, there’s not much difference between it and a circumcised penis when it is.

2. Uncut Men Are Unclean

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Another misconception about uncircumcised men is that they are “dirtier” than circumcised men are. That’s because, if you’ve ever heard of the word “smegma,” it’s probably only been in the context of an uncut man — and that is unfortunate. The reason why I say that is because smegma is simply a build-up of skin cells, oils and natural moisture that can occur without consistent hygiene practices. Know what else? Women as well as men can have it.

The cheesy-like substance is something that uncircumcised men have to be hyperaware of due to the fact that smegma can get trapped in their foreskin; however, the same can happen to a woman’s clitoral hood — and when’s the last time you’ve cleaned yours out (check out “7 Reasons You Should TOTALLY Be In Love With Your Clitoral Hood”)? Definitely something to think about.

3. Uncut Men Have “Softer” Erections

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I remember a woman once telling me that she didn’t enjoy the sex that she had with the only uncircumcised man that she had ever been with because his erections felt softer than circumcised men’s did. Something about that didn’t sound right and so I polled some guys who had shared with me that they were uncircumcised before. What they unanimously agreed on is that man wasn’t completely turned on, for whatever the reason, because their erections are plenty hard (thank you very much) — and a couple of them even had partners who were willing to cosign on that.

Again, once a man is fully erect, the foreskin stretches back, so being uncut has nothing to do with the quality of an erection — especially to the person who is on the “receiving” side of one.

4. Uncut Men Have More Fertility Struggles

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Remember what I mentioned about hygiene earlier? To be fair, if an uncircumcised man is not properly and consistently cleaning himself, that does increase his chances of contracting an STI/STD — however, I would think that would go without saying for hygiene across the board. So, if you heard somewhere that uncut men have a higher rate of fertility issues, that absolutely is not true.

Getting an infection from not practicing safe sex or cleansing thoroughly is the challenge. And again, that isn’t “uncut specific” (although, it should go on record that there is a slightly higher chance that you can get a UTI from an uncircumcised partner, again, if there is that type of bacteria that hasn’t been removed from his foreskin).

5. Uncut Men Don’t Enjoy Sex As Much

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Skin has nerve endings, foreskin included. And that’s why, it makes all of the sense in the world that it’s been reported that uncircumcised men tend to experience more intense sexual pleasure and orgasms than men who aren’t circumcised. The thought process is since they have extra nerves that “cut men” don’t, that causes their penis to feel more sensitive to arousal which makes climaxing feel somewhat noticeably more potent as well.

6. Sex with an Uncut Man Requires Lubricant

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If being with an uncircumcised man has you wondering if you need to use extra lubricant, you might be surprised to know that cut men produce slightly less lubrication than uncut ones do; however, when it comes to sex, the ultimate answer is up to one’s personal preference, not the state of a guy’s anatomy. In fact, as far as physical intimacy goes, most of the moisture comes from a woman’s body anyway, so if you want things to be wetter, that would be up to what your body is telling you and/or what you personally desire.

7. Sex Is Better with a Circumcised Man

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Of course, I had to save the best for last. And actually, it’s something that I’ve mentioned in other articles — you ready? Contrary to popular belief (and oftentimes ignorant assumption), many women find sex with an uncircumcised man to be better — well, let me be more specific: they find it easier to have (more) consistent orgasms with them than they do with circumcised men.

A part of the reason is because the extra skin reduces the kind of friction during intercourse that can lead to discomfort. Also, the extra skin around the head of the penis can make it easier to stimulate the vaginal opening (and the nerve endings around it) which can lead to more vaginal orgasms.

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Listen, just like I’m going to forever say that thinking you need a man with a big penis comes from programming (check out “BDE: Please Let The 'It Needs To Be Huge' Myth Go”), the same point basically applies to believing that sex is best with a circumcised man.

If you’d prefer it for religious reasons, I get that. Just always remember that so long as you have a clitoral hood, technically, you are uncircumcised yourself (hmm…) and, beyond religion, there is nothing wrong with an uncircumcised man — all men came into the world that way, after all.

And as you just read, some solid and proven perks come from that very fact. #justsaying

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Featured image by Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

 

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