Anthropological Study

"Does your penis look like this?" Yes, I said it and Rich demonstrated it. Coming from the USA, I've found it interesting to talk about the male anatomy with my new foreign friends. It occurred to me during a discussion with the Brits that in all of my sexcapades, I have never seen an uncircumcised penis (however I am a country bumpkin and the locals definitely wouldn't debunk the trend of circumcising; "aghast how embarrassed lil Billy would be if his pee pee didn't look like everyone elses", imagine that being said in a really bad southern drawl). I really didn't think it was that strange until I realized that most other countries don't circumcise boys unless they are Jewish. Huh? Circumcision is (should I say "was") a very common practice in America. After further discussions with my friend and new mother Tori, I realized that the Japanese don't circumcise either, hence her new baby isn't. Soon after these discussions, I came across some articles (#1, #2, and #3) stating that the rate for circumcision in the US is dropping. Only 57% of newborn males were circumcised in 2004 and currently about 1 million infants are circumcised each year. Apparently the hospitals don't charge for it. Initially they said that the procedure was needed for health reasons. Now that hygiene is not so much of an issue in developed worlds, the necessity to chop isn't really high. There is still some discussion about uncircumcised men and the transfer of HIV and other diseases, but it appears that many of those studies are biased and data wasn't taken in more than one culture and area. Anyway, I find the entire thing interesting and how a certain fad catches on and for what reasons and beliefs. To circumcise or not to circumcise; that is the question for new parents. Really this post is about the more scientific look at the trend; NOT SEX. Maybe I should go back to college???