[If you do not see a blue menu bar on the right, click here. You are at "Sight Without Color/How Men Feel".]

As the issue of circumcision has become more well-known and talked-about, more and more men are discovering what was done to them at birth. While your average man will tell you he has no problems with being circumcised, there are increasing numbers of them who wish that their choice was not taken from them, or they have wondered from childhood about the scar on their penis, or they have noticed a gradual decrease in penile sensation over the years. These men need to be heard- especially the ones who were circumcised as adults- because they are the ones who are old enough and experienced enough to voice their opinions on the subject.

"One of the biggest mistakes of my life. I feel damaged on every level. Sexual pleasure has been reduced by at least 70% both in intensity and range of sensations. . . . The testimony of men who have experienced life with a foreskin and then lost it is perhaps the most damning of all arguments against circumcision. . . . For an adult male to be misled into circumcision is regrettable, but to inflict irreparable damage on a non-consenting infant who will carry the physical and psychological scars all his life is tragic." --William E. Krueger, circumcised at 30.

Last week, I saw a documentary called The Mind Traveler on PBS about people with a rare genetic disorder of the eye called achromatopia, where the cones of the eye are missing. People with achromatopia can only see in shades of grey. They can not comprehend the concept of color, except that "blue means sad", for example, as one man said. He had memorized the colors of many things, and could tell you that a banana is yellow and the grass is green; he guessed the colors of things, based on this and on the lightness or darkness of the grey he saw. In 1984, Paul Tardiff was interviewed by Dr. Dean Edell, and said this of his circumcision at age 30 was like sight without color. A man who was circumcised as an adult "to see what it was like" has said that "sex before circumcision was like driving a luxury car with automatic transmission. I used to just glide along. Sex now is like driving a tiny, powerless compact with a manual transmission. It takes a lot to get anywhere. My penis has lost 90 percent of its sensitivity."

Are Men Foreskin, Or Against It? How do they feel about being circumcised or not?

Dr. Dean Edell asks, "Who is the Better Lover? Circumcised or Intact Men?" (Printable version. Original is linked to at the bottom, but is missing the 3rd page for some reason right now.)

"They told me there would be no pain... a tremendous flash of blinding white pain surged through my entire body... I thought I had been electrocuted and was dead... The pain was the worst I have ever had... I canot imagine any pain possibly being worse."
From a letter to Rosemary Romberg from a man in Florida, circumcised at age 25 under local anesthesia.