Friday, July 26, 2013

FORESKIN AS A CURE FOR RACISM

The first time you zone out, get lost in your own world in the midst of dozens of people in this conference holding in Austria is when someone mentions how one European country banned circumcision for men. It occurs to you for the first time in a long time that the practice of circumcision has roots in the Abrahamic religions. Someone in Europe thought it was smart to reflect the separation of religion from state by letting men walk around with foreskin. You have read of all the health reasons why foreskin should be cut off. And for you, nothing is uglier than a penis with foreskin.

You cannot look at any of the men from that country at the conference the same anymore. You do not want to file after them during break when they go to the bathroom--you do not want to be tempted to turn and look and traumatize yourself for the whole duration of the conference. Chris Abani’s 'Becoming Abigail' comes to your mind. The character Derek, with dirty habits, loved by the protagonist Abigail. She knew when Derek hadn’t taken his bath because “of the way his penis would smell and taste when she rolled back the foreskin”.  A room full of Dereks. That’s where you sat. People whose foreskins held tales of their hygiene or the lack of it.

Anyone who knew how seriously you were thinking of this issue of foreskin even as you walked to use the bathroom would not believe it. You think of how a simple decision like cutting off excess skin at birth makes the difference between how you feel now and how you think these European men feel now. As you pee, you look down and feel in that instant a sense of gratitude for this thing your parents did without thinking , because that was what the hospital said, and that was what everyone else was doing. It would have been horrible you think, to do what Michael, one of your neighbours growing up did--get circumcised secretly at 25 because his parents' church forbade circumcision and he couldn’t bring out his penis in a toilet full of black men without someone bursting into uproarious, uncontrollable laughter that would eventually spread through the room full of peeing men. He let a nurse cut his foreskin at 25 and exchanged a life of ridicule for one of peace.

One day after the conference in Graz, you walk into a big supermarket to buy cheap casual shoes for your trip to Venice. You need something flat and light because you are going to have to drive five hours and your host has told you it is against the law to drive without shoes. You find something that fits for 20 Euros. It feels like a bargain until you do the conversion to Naira in your head. Then the smile leaves your face. As you approach the elevator you notice a man inside trying to close the doors. You are faster than him and you walk in before the doors close. Then he runs out. He will not share an elevator with you. At first it is funny, the way he runs into the second elevator which opened at the same time. It is funny before it hits you that you are black and he is white. You grit your teeth and your nose trembles. But almost immediately the thought comes that heals you and makes you smile again. He is probably carrying foreskin around. You are circumcised and he is not. Suddenly all is well with the world again.

12 comments:

  1. Foreskin is awesome. Why are you insecure? Intact penises rule. Something is wrong with YOU.

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  2. He's insecure because he's mutilated. 

    Sorry about your junk pal. Interesting drivel you shit out there; though incredibly ignorant. Lmao @ the part where the white man thought you were too inferior to share an elevator with you. I was like, "u mad bro?" as I imagined your flaring nostrils. By the way, you're a homosexual? Surely you are - to think so fully on other men's penises.

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  3. I give you a C for your mediocre writing, meandering sentences, and lack of coherence in your sentence structure. My foreskin gives you a D for being a jealous hater.

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  4. Foreskin feels REALLY good. Seriously, it's the best part.

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  5. wow. This post really brought out the haters! :-O

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  6. An excerpt from http://www.academia.edu/2274700/The_foreskin_a_lip_with_rich_sexual_functions_and_thus_an_organ_its_ablation_is_a_mutilation_updated_07.24.2013_

    Symmetries and dissymmetries

    Freud affirmed that the clitoris is the second sexual organ of woman . Along with it, the foreskin is the human person's specific organ for personal pleasure(*). In manusexuality, it provides a complementary pleasure, different from that of the glans. Handled with delicacy, notably through sole exterior, dry caresses, man's feminine sexual organ brings as exquisite as infinite joys since its presence favours (or even allows) the without ejaculation, isolated and over and over again repetitive orgasmic contractions (120 in 10 minutes, that is 1 every 5 seconds), comparable to clitoral orgasms. Known by Tantrism and recommended by it, this delicious pleasure brings a pleasant enjoyment avoiding too frequent ejaculation. The circumcised seems to scarcely know it but we have the example of a circumcised who could reach it after surgical restoration. The opponents of the foreskin will call us histrionic; let them say. The erotic function of the clitoris and the foreskin is such that the psychoanalyst Elisabeth Roudinesco affirms:

    "…masturbation… allows unlimited pleasure,…"

    The organs for pure pleasure, the clitoris and the foreskin present the same symmetry as the vagina and the penis. If the clitoris is the specific penile organ for woman's personal pleasure, the foreskin is the specific vaginal organ for man's personal pleasure. The phallic organ of woman is a mini-penis, the part of the foreskin in autosexuality looks like that of a mini-vagina. The clitoris and the foreskin are the organs of the enjoyment of the foreplay, indefinitely renewable. Nevertheless, whereas the clitoris is exterior to the vagina, the foreskin, in personal pleasure, plays a part similar to that of the vagina, so that masculine manusexuality presents some likeliness with coitus. Consequently, like that of woman's virile member, the excision of man's feminine organ is a mutilation. However, if the clitoris is useless to masculine pleasure, we are going to see that, in spite of unfounded rumours, the foreskin benefits to women.

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  7. Although circumcision is customary in Nigeria due to the presence of many Muslims, it leaves emotional scars in its victims, that are clearly indicated by this writing.

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  8. OMG @ the comments. This is some serious stuff Elnathan.

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  9. In my culture circumcision is actually pre-Abrahamic. And me and foreskin have agreed to disagree. Probably forever!

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  10. Beef. New studies have shown that circumcision prevents H.I.V transfer to a greater extent but so does washing your manhood with methylated spirits before the deed... :) To cut or be uncut, that is the question.

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  11. People are so forceful here... SMH.

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  12. Amusing article. It's funny how the uncircumcised are up in arms and making rude comments on this article - I guess readers "in the country of the uncircumcised" make up a goodly number of readers eh?

    They give "penis envy" a whole new definition! Lol!,

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You fit vex, bet abeg no curse me. You hear?