Random Wednesday: Blog Announcements, Inspirational Stories, and Endangered Penises

Photo: darkmatter

It's not yet time for our road trip back to the west coast (nor the Big-Ass Road Trip Giveaway that goes with it) but I'm headed out of town for a few days with the Lobster. The Lobster has a businessy thing to attend off-Cape, and we thought we'd take advantage of the travel opportunity and do a little hiking and camping and see some New England fall colors.

So this is one of those disorganized posts with a bit of this and a bit of that. Thank goodness Cranky Fitness has other more reliable co-bloggers besides Crabby McSlacker!

Wait, cobloggers? Plural?

Yes indeed. Plural!

Which leads me to one of today's blog announcements. So just who is the mysterious second co-blogger and when does she arrive?

New Co-blogger News!

Remember that very amusing review of the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD that I linked to a while back? Well, the author of that post, Gigi of Chunky Monkey Mama, will be joining the Cranky Team as a contributor, along with Jo from Head Nurse (whom you've already met).

Gigi starts this week, in fact, if all goes as planned. But we have a temperamental template, and I'll be out of town, so if somehow nothing pops up from Gigi? Blame the Crab and I swear I'll fix it when I get back.

If the Shoe Fits... It's Probably Being Worn by a Dude or a Lesbian:

Okay, the study did not say anything about sexual orientation, but from personal experience... I've noticed that many of you straight gals (not all, certainly) have this weird thing about footwear. As in, the more painful and impossible to walk in a pair of shoes appears to be, the more likely many of you are to want to stuff your feet in those babies and pay dearly for the privilege.

Well, according to a study reported by the New York Times:

"Researchers found that women who had mainly worn supportive footwear like sneakers or athletic shoes in their early years cut their risk of foot pain later by more than half, compared with women who had worn shoes that gave average support, like hard-soled or rubber-soled ones.

"But both of those groups were in a minority. More than 60 percent said that in the past they generally wore high heels, pumps, sandals and slippers, all of which researchers rated as higher risk. Women who wore those were at the most risk of hindfoot, ankle and Achilles’ tendon pain."

Don't say I didn't warn ya!

So What Was That About Endangered Penises?

I know it's quite adolescent of me to find this amusing, but the headline said "Rescue Team Uses Saw to Free Trapped Penis!" and I couldn't help but click on the report.

It seems that in an attempt to increase the size of his penis, a man put it "through the hole of a steel, ring-shaped dumbbell weight fastener." After two or three days, his penis had swollen a lot (more gross details here) and a fire department Urban Search and Rescue team had to come in and saw it off. (The weight fastener, not the penis).

The Department Battalion Chief carefully explained the procedure: "They slid a little piece of metal between the collar and his thing, so if it slipped past it wouldn’t hit his thing.”

Crabby No Longer Juiced Every Week:

So my contract is up at The Juice and this is my last week posting there. Thanks, all, for patiently putting up with all those sponsored plugs I was throwing at you this summer!

However, if you were ever going to wander over and actually watch one of the videos, this week's interview with Terri Tate would be a good one to check out.

If you are shallow like me, you might notice that while Terri is very articulate, she has a slight speech impediment. Then, a short while later, you hear her story and you find out why this is, and then feel like a total asshole for noticing.

Yep, she had oral cancer; went through drastic surgeries; lost half her tongue and lower jaw and a bunch of other body parts. She was given only a 2% chance to live. And yet she fought back and survived and put her life back together again. She's a nurse, stand-up comedian, speaker, and an award-winning performer of her own one woman show, which is on available on dvd if you're curious.

Watching these sort of interviews, or hearing similar stories of people who face unimaginably scary, painful, horrible and life-altering situations with optimism and good humor, I always think: Holy crap. How the hell do people do that? If you've been through something tough yourself, maybe you can tell me, because I just don't know how I'd ever cope.

But it does make me want to take a moment to remember that if something awful happens, suddenly the best-case prognosis might be to get only part of the workings of my old life back. And to somehow learn to be happy with that. I might have to fight like hell just to be able to speak or walk or read or eat, and I could be living with pain the entire time. The "happy ending" that so many brave survivors hope and pray and fight for? That's the very life I have now!

What great good fortune I have to be healthy! It would be such a waste to take that for granted, even for a moment. (Not that I promise to stop whining... but it's good every now and then to try to get some perspective.)

Stay tuned for Gigi and Jo, and have a great week!

Today's Uncomfortable Subject: Circumcision!

(Photo: s0crates82)

It seemed impossible. But at last I've discovered a health issue that has recently appeared in the news, is hotly debated, and is extremely controversial--and yet I have formed absolutely no opinion about it!

Yep, it's male circumcision. The whole cutting-off-the-foreskin thing. Wait, guys? Guys? Where'd y'all go?

So according to the New York Times, U.S. public health officials are thinking of changing current guidelines and starting to encourage routine circumcision for all baby boys. This is in order to reduce H.I.V. risk.

However, there are many out there who feel the procedure is not only medically unnecessary, but that it's painful and unethical and should be not be performed on unconsenting infants.

I'm hoping smart readers may have some thoughts, arguments, statistics or observations about the whole circumcision question, because I'm spectacularly ignorant on the whole subject. Penises? What do I know about penises? This, unfortunately, leaves me bereft of an opinion on a controversial issue. Please, dear readers, help me form one, so I can get all irate when people don't agree with me!

At the moment, all I can do is round up a few random circumcision-related items. Just in case you had a strong opinion about the issue but can't remember what it was.

HIV Risk:

Reading the New York Times piece, it appears the whole HIV risk-reduction issue is pretty complicated.

In African countries, circumcision dramatically reduces risk of HIV; studies suggest that circumcised men reduced their risk of infection by half. But these studies were of heterosexual men who were at risk from female partners. In the U.S., the men who are at greatest risk are those having sex with other men. And in the U.S., most adult males (almost 80 percent) are already circumcised. Worldwide, it's much lower; more like a third.

But... circumcision has been growing less popular in the U.S. since World War II. By 1999, rates were down to about 65 percent of newborns; then rates fell further when many states started dropping medicaid coverage for the surgery. Now once source has rates down to 56%. An additional concern is that black and Hispanic males, who are at higher risk for HIV, are less likely to be circumcised than whites.


Other Medical Issues:

Two fairly mainstream sources, Mayo Clinic and Web-MD have compiled some pro's and cons to the surgery. Uncircumcised males are more likely to get urinary tract infections, sexually transmitted diseases and penile cancer (which is still very rare). However, circumcision can lead to some complications, like bleeding, infection, irritation, and damage to the opening of the urethra.


Pain

I'm guessing that even with anesthesia, it probably hurts.

Photo: Topdog1

Do any parents, medical professionals, or males with extraordinary memories (or who had adult circumcisions) have any idea how bad it is? How brutal are we talking here? That might impact my opinion quite a bit.


Psychological Issues

Seems like this is a tricky issue as well. To be "different" always sucks, and if most guys around you are circumcised I can imagine it would be unpleasant to feel like your privates were not standard issue. Hell, when you're a teenager, you can freak out if your toenails aren't exactly the right shape. But with declining rates of circumcision, what's "normal" for guys these days?

Not having been in any male locker rooms, I have no idea what the average male appendage looks like. My only information comes from the occasional X rated movie I've seen. That's where I learned that most men are "cut," not "uncut." Oh, and that's also where I learned that most guys shave off all their hair down there, and their penises are usually about ten or eleven inches long! That's, um, "normal," right?

I also hear that some guys feel very resentful that they had no choice in such a personal sort of surgery. There are apparently a growing number of "intactivists" calling for an end to circumcision. And many doctors are starting to question the ethics of the procedure, like the sensible-sounding radio guy, Dr. Dean Edell.

But then a whole lot of other dudes seem to scratch their heads and wonder what all the fuss is about.


Religious Issues

I know even less about religion than I do about penises. I have heard, however, that most Jews and Muslims tend to circumcise their sons. As a general principle, I don't buy the notion that "because my religion says I should" is a legitimate reason to do something that is abusive or violent. But then we're back to: is circumcision abuse? Or is it just a minor, incidentally painful childhood nuisance, done "for your own good," like vaccinations or piano lessons?


Aesthetic Issues

Do men, or their sexual partners, have strong feelings about which "look" they like better? I wonder if there's any kind of strong majority opinion. Even if there was, should that matter?

I know some of you readers are males, or are the mothers of sons, or are partnered with guys who have opinions about foreskins. What do you all think: is it good or evil for parents to circumcise their sons? And should public health officials be promoting it?

"Men Worry More About Penile Size Than Women"

At first, Crabby was just going to mention this penis study in passing, to file under Department of the Obvious, along with this one, "Heavy-Drinking College Kids Make Worse Decisions."

But there were too many interesting findings in the study not to share just a bit more. (Actually, it wasn't a study but a review of a bunch of previous studies. Do we really care?)

The lead guy, Dr. Kevan Wylie (penis size unspecified), concluded: "While men often have a better body image, genital image and sexual confidence if they have a large penis, women don't necessarily feel that bigger is better."

That women "don't necessarily" feel bigger is better seems hardly controversial, yet this idea often appears to come as a huge surprise to men.

Some highlights:

Average erect penises ranged from 5.5 to 6.2 inches in length and 4.7 to 5.1 inches in girth. (Small quibble: isn't an "average" a number, not a range?)

Ninety per cent of women prefer a wide penis to a long one.

Two thirds of men said their penis was average sized. However, 22 per cent said "large" and 12 per cent said "small." (Hmm).

Eighty five per cent of women were satisfied with their partner's penile size, but only fifty five per cent of men were satisfied.

"Small penis syndrome" is much more common in men with normal sized organs than those with "a small micropenis with a flaccid length of less than 2.7 inches." (Hmm again).

Gay guys had larger thingies than straight ones.

Korean guys probably don't want to read the part about racial differences.

Crabby is trying very hard to explain how this study is "health and fitness related," other than she found it filed that way, but she trusts her readers don't care all that much.

There's always room for a good wiener study.

Weigh in about anything below, relevant or not. (Relevant might be fun, but don't let the topic scare you off. (Give you the willies?). It's also great when folks just stop in to say hi over the weekend, with absolutely nothing Penis-related to report.