Studies are conflicted on whether it reduces risk of diseases, but what’s definitely true is that removing the foreskin removes most of the nerves associated with pleasure for the penis.
Of course it doesn’t take away all sexual pleasure, but people who get circumcisions later in life report that their sexual pleasure from sex and masturbation is greatly reduced from before the circumcision. This likely also applies to babies, although there’s no conclusive evidence to support that since people who were circumcised at birth report “normal” amounts of sexual pleasure, though it’s unknown if they and uncircumcised people have the same “normal”.
The reason circumcision became popular in the Western world outside of Jewish and Muslim culture is because of John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of Corn Flakes, founder of the Kellogg cereal company, and activity against “immoral” sexual activity like masturbation. He invented Corn Flakes as a food to deter masturbation, as he believed that a cause of “unnatural” sexual appetites was flavorful food, so he made a blander source of nutrition to combat the urge to masturbate. He also heavily advocated for circumcision for both children and adults because he believed that it would decrease sexual pleasure for the penis, which would also discourage masturbation.
Take it from a Jew who’s been jerking the gherkin since he was 12: It doesn’t work. Don’t circumcise your baby unless it’s for a religious reason, or if the baby is born with a condition that requires it.
Oh, and among people who both enjoy sex with people with penises and care about whether or not it’s circumcised, it’s pretty evenly split about which variety they actually prefer, with the biggest factor in the preference being that individual’s culture.
Edit: There are a lot of non-Jews criticizing the practice in Judaism. I completely understand, and your criticisms are valid. All I can speak for is my own experience and what I’ve been able to look into. In my case and the case of many Jewish men that I’ve talked to, both religious and non-religious, the rates of resentment for circumcision are much lower among them than among non-Jews who have been circumcised. I understand if you still believe it to be wrong, but do not put out hate speech in the comments. This includes name-calling and generalizations about any particular cultures. If you still believe that it’s wrong for Jews and Muslims to do it, and that religion doesn’t justify it, you are entitled to your opinion. Just please be respectful about it.
Another edit: To build on the first point, consent of the child is a big issue that many parents face when deciding whether or not to circumcise. All I can say about that is that it’s a lot less risky to health to do it in infancy rather than as an adult. Again, I can only speak for myself, but if I hadn’t been circumcised as an infant, I’d be saying a struggle today about whether or not to do it, and it would be painful, mentally traumatizing, and risky, even if done with anesthesia. Yes, it is medically unnecessary in the vast majority of cases, which is why I reiterate that NON-JEWS SHOULD NOT DO IT. Please talk to Jews and get their perspectives before you judge because I can guarantee that they had the same considerations that you’ve had.
Third edit: If you’re not Jewish, there will just be aspects of the Jewish experience that you won’t understand on an intrinsic and fundamental level, just like there are things that I’ll never understand about your culture because I don’t belong to it. It seems that so far, I’m the only Jew who’s given a perspective on this, so these debates on the morality of circumcision are missing a crucial element.
I can’t help but think it’s literally exactly the same as ChatGPT telling someone to go commit violence, and then they do.
People realize the person is delusional and corrupted by their fantastical stories and beliefs that AI told them.
When AI does it, people have the wherewithal to recognize the made up stories telling them to commit atrocious acts are the problem, and the person is mentally compromised for believing those made up stories.
And this is no different. Just, AI here is Abrahamic Indoctrination.
CLARIFICATION REPLY TO EVERYONE I AM DISCUSSING THIS TOPIC WITH: I need to clarify that I am not trying to defend the practice of circumcision, only that I understand from my perspective as a secular circumcised Jew why so many do it. I think the vast majority of people shouldn’t do it and even that many Jews shouldn’t. That’s why I made this post in the first place. I can’t in any good conscience recommend it to anyone, but I also don’t have any kind of authority to advise Jews against it. I can advise non-Jews against it because they ARE NOT JEWISH and therefore DO NOT HAVE A CONNECTION TO THE PRACTICE. I agree with your points on a general moral level.
If it was as simple as “The book says to do it, so we do it,” I’d be inclined to believe you, but as a secular Jew, I believe that the stories told in Jewish scripture are just stories. Many of them have good morals for the modern day, many are clearly products of their time and have outdated morals. However, one of the few things that secular Jews maintained to hold on to their cultural identity as Jews in the face of the history of threats to our way of life was the practice of circumcision, because it’s the strongest way to tie us to that identity, as has been shown through thousands of years of evidence-based practice. Of course circumcision doesn’t make you a Jew, as the question of “Who is a Jew?” is its own can of worms, but it’s the thing that makes Jews “feel” the lost like Jews. It’s why, even among secular Jews, resentment for circumcision is much lower than the unnecessarily circumcised non-Jews: It connects us to something greater than ourselves and makes us feel like we’re part of it. Even if we don’t practice, even if we don’t believe in God or that the Scriptures are true stories, a Jew is a Jew. Coincidentally, “a Jew is a Jew” is the only answer to the question of “Who is a Jew?” that every sane and rational Jew can agree on.