The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #83814   Message #2873880
Posted By: bobad
28-Mar-10 - 10:49 AM
Thread Name: BS: Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know
Subject: RE: BS: Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know
"Circumcision, like many other rules of Judaism, is hygienic in origin."

"Many theories have been advanced to explain the origin of genital mutilation. One theory postulates that circumcision began as a way of "purifying" individuals and society by reducing sexuality and sexual pleasure. Human sexuality was seen as dirty or impure in some societies; hence cutting off the pleasure-producing parts was the obvious way to "purify" someone.

It is now known that the male foreskin, or prepuce, is the principal location of erogenous sensation in the human male (see Anatomy.) Removal of the prepuce substantially reduces erogenous sensation.12,16 Therefore (in the appropriate cultural context), circumcision is revealed as a sacrifice of "sinful" human enjoyment (in this earthly life), for the sake of holiness in the afterlife.12"


"Add to that the fact that uncircumcised penises are ugly as hell ...."

"It may have been at this time that the Pondus Judaeus (also known as Judaeum Pondum), a bronze weight worn by Jews on the residual foreskin to stretch it back into a foreskin,8,18,23 gained popularity amongst Jewish males. This lessened the ugly appearance of the bare exposed circumcised penis.18 This restorative procedure was known by the Greek word epispasm,8 or "rolling inward."

http://www.cirp.org/library/history/