Scrolling through Instagram, I came across a little meme.

“When you show up for your dick appointment and he’s not circumcised,” it said. Right under, there was a photo of a the Scream mask, grotesque and distorted. The implication, of course, being that uncut cock is scary.

“OMG, the WORST,” said some dumb human.

“Hate it when that happens,” blurted another.

This is how I found out you can’t punch Instagram.

They’re not alone, though. The internet is awash with foreskin phobia. A quick Googling of the term “uncircumcised” will reveal it to be associated with words like “repulsive,” “smelly,” “unclean,” and “just really not pretty.” The aversion to men in the raw is so popular that a recent Adam and Eve survey revealed 54 percent of people prefer a well-trimmed dick. .

“You can't be mad at us if we recoil in fear and confusion during sex when face-to-face with an uncut member! It's not our fault, we're American!”, the inane Your Tango article where I found that stat explained.

… (please hold for vomit).

Why, in 2016, is anyone body shaming men in their natural form; who had no choice whether their cocks ended up cut or not? And more interestingly, while women are more often the targets of body shame, why have we chosen foreskin as the rare male focus of such a sentiment?

In short, fear of the unknown. In this country, we’re ignorant about about the extra flesh because we’re not used to seeing it. Despite the fact that men evolved to have foreskin, eighty percent of Americans cut it off. Meanwhile, eighty percent of the world leaves it on. In ‘Merica, we’re not used to seeing men how nature intended them to be seen.

Why does this matter? Because fear of the unknown is what’s gotten the world in the tense, uncomfortable position it’s in right now/. When people make aggressive statements or take violent action against people they simply don’t understand, whether that be via racism, sexism, body shaming or any other sort of bias, it creates a vitriolic cycle of hate and shame that helps no one and hurts everyone. Being afraid of what we don’t know highlights the differences between us, and that’s how shit hits the fan.

Let’s not drag dicks into that.  Let’s also remember that the dick in question is attached to a human being, and ignorantly rejecting them has real, tangible effects. More broadly, let’s equip ourselves with the right knowledge about foreskin-ed men so we don’t have to “recoil” when one sashays into our sphere.

With the health benefits of circumcision long since past relevant, the only reason why we cut men anymore is for the socially constructed reasons of religion or aesthetic flourish. Many Americans think of male circumcision as an issue of hygiene. Not so. The vast majority of men throughout human history have kept their intact penises clean without any extraordinary effort; they’re no smellier, dirtier, or less holy than cut ones.

Many Americans think that the foreskin is useless skin, too. Not so, again. In an intact adult male, the foreskin is the most sensitive and erogenous 12-15 square inches of his body and it contains 10,000-20,000 fine touch nerve endings. In fact, according to a study in the Journal of Sex Research, circumcision resulted in diminished penile sensitivity and less sexual gratification. Not only that, but the sensation of having sex with an uncircumcised dick is arguably more pleasureable than with a circumcise on. The gliding skin and extra texture alone is enough of an stimulate to make you feel things in your vagine you never thought possible.

And we’re making fun of men who are capable of deriving more pleasure from sex because … ?

If you like cut weeners, that’s your god-given right. You don’t have to like them. But don’t tear down turtlenecks just because they don’t fit your own personal fantasy. Perhaps if you updated your fantasy to include relevant knowledge on circumcision rather than blind disgust, you’d have more interesting fantasies. And stop allowing outdated fears about foreskin get in the way of your own pleasure and happiness, especially when they’re as inconsequential as whether that dick is dressed for summer or winter.