Research that examined the personal narratives of men who underwent adult male circumcision as it related to hegemonic masculinity as described in a Men’s Health forum. We examined the personal narratives of men who have experienced adult male circumcision through a Men’s Health forum titled “Adult Circumcision (to help other guys thinking about it).”

1.
“THIS IS MY PENIS, AFTER ALL!”: EXPLORING MASCULINITIES THROUGH
ADULT MALE CIRCUMCISION NARRATIVES
Elyse Croce, Sydney Finchum, Kaysha Iverson
INTRODUCTION
This paper examines the personal narratives of men who undergo adult male
circumcision as it relates to hegemonic masculinity as described in a ​Men’s Health
forum. ​Men’s Health​ is “the go­to source for the latest information and expert advice
about a healthy and active lifestyle.” The forums allow a place for men to communicate
about various aspects of health and lifestyle issues and concerns. We will examine the
personal narratives of men who have experienced adult male circumcision through a
Men’s Health​ forum titled “Adult Circumcision (to help other guys thinking about it).”
Adult male circumcision occurs far less often than infant circumcision (Health
Communities), with t​he most common reasons for adult circumcision being medical.
These reasons include paraphimosis (cannot return a retracted foreskin to its normal
position), phimosis (foreskin is too tight; cannot retract from the head), and recurrent
inflammation of the foreskin (ex: balantis, posthitis) (Health Communities). Non­medical
reasons for adult circumcision include social, cultural, personal, and religious factors. In
the forum examined, the most common reason for adult male circumcision was found to
be phimosis (Men’s Health). As with all surgical procedures, there is a risk for bleeding
and infection. Other risks include severe bruising (hematoma), poor cosmetic result,
and a change in sensation during sex.
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2. Consequently, we researched literature regarding masculinity as it pertains to
pain, community groups and forums, male circumcision, and health and the body.
Despite the plethora of research regarding the aforementioned information, we found
relatively less literature focusing on the actual experiences of men undergoing adult
male circumcision. Our research aims to explore masculinities as it relates to adult
male circumcision.
Once we developed a research question, we delved deeper using a content
analysis methodology. We used an initial open coding scheme to guide our research
and develop a semi­structured coding scheme based on themes we found through open
coding. Through this analysis, we used these themes to look at the relationships that
can be found between adult male circumcision and masculinities. We found that there
are different aspects of masculinity that impact the decision to obtain the surgery and
the perceived outcome of adult male circumcision.
LITERATURE REVIEW
While conducting our research, we found that there was a lack of literature that
looked specifically at adult male circumcision and masculinities as opposed to research
on prenatal circumcision. Despite this, in our review of the literature, we found there are
several different themes that emerged in relation to our topic. Through this review, we
fill a gap in the literature and use an intersectional approach to find some of the different
aspects of masculinities that relate to adult male circumcision.
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3. Circumcision
With up to 30% of the world population circumcised, male circumcision is the
most commonly performed surgery in the world (Zoltie 2012). The surgery involves the
removal of some or all of the penile foreskin (Bossio, Pukall, and Bartley 2015). There
are three reasons for males to be circumcised: therapeutic or medical circumcisions,
social circumcisions, and religious circumcisions (Zoltie 2012; Dias et al. 2013). In the
world, adult male circumcision is currently most often utilized for health reasons such as
to decrease the transmission of HIV in Africa (Collier 2012), cases of phimosis around
the world, or for aesthetic purposes in parts of the world such as Japan
(Castro­Vazquez 2012).
The act of circumcising has existed throughout history (Zoske 1998). In fact, cave
drawings suggest that circumcision is a procedure used as early as the Stone Age
(Zoske 1998). As history progressed, the upper class has mainly utilized circumcision
(Knights 2004). Knights argues that circumcision is an exaggeration of the differences
between males and females, and, therefore, represents the outward and visible aspect
of a broader patriarchal project (2004:32).
Community
One of the key findings in the literature that we found was the idea of community
(Connell 1995; Courtenay 2000; Kendall 2000; Korobov 2005; Lomas et al. 2015;
Poynting and Donaldson 2005; Reddin and Sonn 2003; West and Zimmerman 1987).
This sense of community comes from the concept of hegemonic masculinity, which is
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4. the idea that there are masculinities dominant in society (Connell 1995). Men often do,
or perform, their gender in a way that allows them to reach toward the hegemonic ideal,
and communities are a way for them to perform. Doing gender is the concept that
individuals follow an existing set of gender norms and distinctions to be perceived as
they feel they should be (West and Zimmerman 1987). Thus, the way men use and act
out their masculinities changes depending on the context (West Zimmerman 1987).
Communities of men are often close and protective of their community and use it as a
way to have a sense of control (Poynting and Donaldson 2005).
Korobov (2005) states that men use language to present themselves as normal
in conversational settings in society. Men are also less likely than women to look for
help with emotional challenges (Reddin and Sonn 2003), so finding communities that
support them are important to both the emotional and physical health of men (Lomas et
al. 2015). Reddin and Sonn state that the communication of narratives provides
members of a community with identities that can help them not only uphold their sense
of masculinity in relation to others but also allows for a strong sense of belonging,
feelings of normalcy, and the attainment of a hegemonic masculinity due to the
acceptance of a group (2003). Similarly, Lomas et al. (2015) describe an in­person
meditation community which exhibits the same community identities found in the
narratives depicted by Reddin and Sonn (2003). This sense of identity is important
because it allows men in an online setting such as a chat group or forum to show their
true selves because there is no sense of classification when you cannot see others’
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5. bodies (Kendall 2000). Consequently, this allows for the revelation of the authentic self
and the cultivation of inclusiveness and normalcy.
Within communities, men can challenge the societal norms of gender through
the ability to come together, as well as enable forms of gendered behavior to be
negotiated to create new, potentially healthier norms (Lomas et al. 2015). This
community is an important implication for men’s health because current social
constructions of masculinity promote bad habits and risk factors (Courtenay 2000).
Health and the Body
To understand adult male circumcision in the context of masculinities, we
needed to have an understanding of how men’s health relates to masculinity. Stibbe
argues that media presents a hegemonic masculinity to men that does not emphasize
health itself; rather it associates masculinity with negative health behaviors such as
having large muscles, eating meat, drinking beer, having lots of sex, and watching
television (2004). Men are less aware of physical and emotional distress than women
and are more likely to dismiss it (Broom 2004).
In an article about prostate cancer, Broom talks about the connection between
health and identity (2004). The results of the study showed how men perceive
expectations to be “healthy” and “well” as a part of performing their gender and that
health­related issues show weakness, are shameful, and are humiliating (Broom 2004).
Sex and the ability to perform are felt to be important indicators of masculinity and a
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6. man’s identity, and what they choose to do in a medical situation is influenced by their
masculine identity (Broom 2004).
Looking at men’s sexual health is significant to adult male circumcision in that
men place an emphasis on sexual intercourse and sexual performance as a way of
being a man. Therefore, the penis plays an important role in masculinity (Del Rosso
2011; Frank 2003; Khan et al. 2004). Khan et al. (2004) found that sexual power and
intercourse, as well as the penis, are symbols of masculinity. Men want sexual
acceptance so that they will be able to perceive themselves as powerful and in charge
(Frank 2003). The penis is important to being able to perform and have “good” sex and
is also something that causes men anxiety when they think about the size or shape of
their penis (Khan et al. 2004).
The penis is seen as the symbol of masculinity (Del Rosso 2011; Khan et al.
2004). In his study, Del Rosso (2011) notes the anxieties that men have when it comes
to their exposed penises and not having the “ideal” appearance. The study focused on
penis size, but according to Castro­Vazquez (2012) this can also be translated to
whether or not a penis is circumcised. Men are afraid to have their penis appear
abnormal because abnormal means they do not fit the masculine ideal (Castro­Vazquez
2012; Del Rosso 2011; Khan et al. 2004). In Japan, adult men are getting circumcised
at an increasing rate to reach goals of ideal aesthetics (Castro­Vazquez 2012).
According to the aforementioned researchers, examining men’s sexual health is
significant to adult male circumcision in that men place an emphasis on sexual
intercourse and sexual performance as a way of being a man.
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7. Physical Pain
As shown in the literature, men’s threshold for physical pain is an indicator of
masculinity (Anderson and Kian 2012; Lindemann 2003). Lindemann shows how
through organizational culture, particularly the culture of sport, which is a part of the
hegemonic ideal in today’s society, playing through and overcoming pain and showing
no fear constitute manliness and masculinity (2003). If a man is masculine or perceived
as such, he will take on bodily pain without complaining about it or acknowledging it,
therefore overcoming the pain in the eyes of himself and society. Men strive to uphold a
masculine warrior narrative in hegemonic masculinity, and this means denying
weakness as well as glorifying swift comebacks from pain (Anderson and Kian 2012).
Anderson and Kian describe a masculine warrior narrative as the discourse surrounding
men in positions where they are expected to embody hegemonic masculinity through a
show of boldness that is intended to impress or intimidate especially when it comes to
dealing with pain (2012).
In regards to the connection between adult male circumcision and male sexual
health, it has been found that adult male circumcision post­operatively has positive
impacts on male sexual health in the case of medical issues that caused pain with sex,
such as phimosis (Dias et al. 2014). With the main reason for adult male circumcision
being health issues, it is interesting that pain during sexual intercourse is one of the
most discussed factors for deciding to have the surgery (Dias et al. 2014). After the
operation and healing process, pain with intercourse went down, and satisfaction with
the experience of sexual intercourse went up (Dias et al. 2014).
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8. METHODS
As we were deciding on how to go about our research, we realized that it would
be terribly difficult, if not impossible, to find people around us that would be willing to talk
about a subject as sensitive as adult circumcision. This led us to online forums,
particularly,​ Men’s Health​. After searching a number of websites that advertised that
they had such forums conducive to our study and coming out empty handed, we
decided on a forum from the online version of ​Men’s Health ​because it offered a number
of lengthy narratives that we were able to access under the title, “Adult Circumcision (to
help other guys thinking about it).”
In order to conduct our study after choosing this particular avenue, we collected
every forum post from the website into a Word document that met the following criteria:
1) The narrative must mention them experiencing life post­operation. We chose this
constraint because we wanted to limit our study to the analysis of men who had already
experienced circumcision rather than someone simply thinking about getting the
operation. 2) The narrative must be at least twenty lines on the forums website. This
was decided based on the idea that we wanted more narrative to code from each post
since we were only removing forty­five stories for our study. 3) Due to the number of
self­identifying women seen on the forum offering their opinions, we made sure one of
our limitations was that it could not be written by a woman who had never experienced
the surgery, nor was planning to endure the surgery even if she was posting due to her
experience with her partner’s surgery. The number of posts that met this standard was
staggering, spanning two­hundred pages, so we decided to narrow down the sample
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9. size by randomly generating 45 numbers from 1­200. These numbers were then
matched to the page numbers of the document containing the posts so that we could
then pull one narrative per page number generated leaving us with our 45 posts.
These 45 posts were then open coded to create a baseline of themes. Our open
coding allowed us to look at the literature with fresh eyes and no pretenses to allow
those writing their narratives to speak for themselves. After going over the text through
open coding three separate times, we gathered the common themes into a more
structured set and went back over the narratives with these forty­six themes in mind.
This revealed a clear pattern in the ways these men discussed their personal
experiences in an environment like an online forum. Through these themes, we were
able to intersect our findings with the literature surrounding masculinity as it relates to
these narratives.
FINDINGS
Our initial analysis incorporates a wide variety of themes. After going over the
forum posts through open coding three separate times, we gathered the common
themes into a more structured set and went back over the narratives with forty­six
themes in mind. Upon reviewing the texts the fourth time, we compiled four main
themes consisting of bravado warrior narratives, physical pain, change, and community.
Each theme had a number of sub­themes. For example, under the bravado
warrior narrative, the sub­themes include emotional appearance, the question of being
“man enough,” and the idea that the man knows best. With pain, the sub­themes are
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10. the experience of pain before, during, and after operation, as well as contradictions in
language. The sub­themes that fall under physical change include things like sexual
sensation, cosmetic results, and normalcy. Lastly, sub­themes found in the community
are seeking affirmation, the need to share, and establishing credibility.
Bravado Warrior Narrative
For the purpose of our study, we define bravado warrior narrative as the
discourse surrounding men in positions where they are expected to embody hegemonic
masculinity through a show of boldness that is intended to impress or intimidate
especially when it comes to dealing with pain (Anderson and Kian 2012)​. ​Out of the 45
posts that were coded, we found 29 that were determined to be warrior narratives.
Within these bravado warrior narratives, we found sub­themes that include emotional
appearance, the question of being “man enough,” and the idea that the man knows
best. For example jimbob7777’s masculinity was questioned when he “held [the nurse’s]
hand like a little girl” (Men’s Health). He effectively belittles himself for not acting “man
enough.”
The sub­themes mentioned occur in connection to an overarching theme of
pride. Six of the men’s posts expressed disdain for their doctor’s advice (aka man
knows best). They outwardly questioned their doctor and eventually made whatever
recovery choice they wanted, regardless of their doctor’s direction. This is exemplified
by user Ike Green, “At age 20 I consulted for the first time, and the doctor said
circumcision was the only way to get out of this. I was terrified of this, so I did nothing
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11. for another year” (Men’s Health). This lack of trust for their doctors creates a “man
knows best” mentality within men that perpetuates the hegemonic masculine ideal.
Physical Pain
Of the 45 posts that were coded, 31 included mention or discussion of physical
pain. Narratives regarding physical pain included pain experienced before, during, and
after circumcision. Interestingly, some of the pain narratives were contradictory, with
three of them using a description in their posts that referred to feeling one way and
acting another. Additionally, many of the men viewed their physical pain as being
annoying more than affecting their daily life in any substantial way. They made a point
to downplay their concerns. For example, thecycle expresses, “How long does it take
until the head of my dick is not sensitive? It's so annoying!!” (Men’s Health). Another
user, goralondos, stated, ​“​If you have a decent pain tolerance and a good doctor, this
procedure will be almost a non event” (Men’s Health).
Change
Our analysis of the forums resulted in a large number of the posts mentioning
some aspect of change. The 45 posts included 27 mentions of cosmetic result or
physical appearance, 5 mentions of change in sexual sensation, 5 posts talking about
normalcy, and 4 posts speaking to the attachment that the men had to their penis. In
relation to physical appearance, the men in the forum expressed both concerns and
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12. admiration for the way that their penis looked at different points before and after their
circumcisions.
The concerns about their penis’ that the users had before their operations are
demonstrated through user aptorrapture:
I was very nervous leading up to the surgery. Almost to the point of having minor
anxiety attacks. This was my penis, after all! I don't generally have a problem
with hospitals, needles, or anything like that. If this was an appendix removal
surgery I'm sure I would've been fine. I was just uncomfortable with the thought
of a knife going to my penis (Men’s Health).
This individual voices his concerns by negotiating claims of his identity as a man. He
considers this surgery more significant in regards to his masculinity because he
perceives his penis as a part of his manliness. In aptorrapture’s mind, undergoing
circumcision is equivalent to castration as he compares this procedure to an appendix
removal but sees circumcision as more serious due to the impact it would have on his
masculine identity.
We found that immediately after the operations many men conveyed worry about
the appearance of their unhealed, circumcised penis. In the forum in relation to his yet
unhealed circumcision, moomintroll states:
i've set a date for 6 weeks time when i'm hoping i can finally have sex with
my girlfriend again. am i being realistic here? just hoping that when the
stitches come out it'll start to look relatively "normal" again and i dont have
to turn the lights out when we finally do it haha (Men’s Health).
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13. Many of the men in the forum mirror this concern with appearing normal in their
narratives immediately post­operation. Painfullyshy noted in a post that 72 hours after
surgery he took off his bandage and “thought it looked normal after how surgery would
be” but then after three more days he “didn’t look good” and was “afraid it will look even
more deformed, almost looking like a wart” (Men’s Health).
After the operation and the healing process, men on the forum were more likely
to talk about how pleased they were with how their penis looked. In his narrative
xAFBJONNYx posted that after two and a half weeks he was “really pleased with how
[his penis] looks” (Men’s Health). Happyap stated that two weeks after his operation he
went to his doctor for a checkup and was pleased with the result, noting that “[His
doctor] should be, it looks great, feels great and I know it will work great” (Men’s
Health). The reactions of the men on the forum to the appearance of their penis at
different points before, during, and after the operation is a manifestation of the
significance of their male anatomy to their masculine identity.
Community
The final significant theme we found in our analysis of the ​Men’s Health​ forum
was community. We found that of the 45 forum posts, there were 41 that included
mention of some aspect of community. This included sub­themes of seeking affirmation
from others on the forums, feeling the need to share, and establishing credibility. There
is a rich community within this forum. Many of the men expressed their gratitude for the
support and knowledge illustrated by their fellow peers. The men made a point to check
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14. up on one another and address individuals by username. Additionally, many men
expressed their desire to post because they felt that they owed it to the community.
Furthermore, these men believed that they needed to give back to a community that has
given them so much. As user aptorrapture conveyed, “Since this forum and thread has
been a tremendous resource when I was considering such a measure, I figured it's only
right for me to share my experience” (Men’s Health).
Even when there was disagreement between the men, they generally made a
point to acknowledge differences and wish each other the best on their journey. What is
more, these men were thankful that they could talk to each other due to the fact that
they feel that this topic of conversation is considered a fairly taboo talking matter in
society, as monty203 states,​ ​“This is not a topic that one can easily share with love[d]
ones” (Men’s Health). This sense of belongingness can be seen in Kendall’s (2002) and
Lomas et al.’s (2015) findings.
Throughout the forum, many of the men downplayed their concerns and used
humor to compensate for their fear. Despite being adamant about their lack of concern,
these men directly contradicted themselves by seeking out others to ask specific
questions and expressing their lack of trust for doctors and concerns for the future.
Lastly, these men made a point to establish their credibility early on. In the forum posts,
the men utilized the fact that they had undergone the circumcision surgery and made a
point of stating the time frame that had since passed as a way of proving their credibility
to the group. Receiving and maintaining the respect of the rest of their peers through
this credibility was important to the identity of the men in the forum.
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15. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Our initial analysis incorporates a wide variety of themes. After going over the
forum posts through open coding three separate times, we gathered the common
themes into a more structured set and went back over the narratives with forty­six
themes in mind. Upon reviewing the texts the fourth time, we compiled four main
themes consisting of bravado warrior narratives, physical pain, change, and community.
In both our review of the literature as well as the analysis of our findings in the
Men’s Health ​forum, we utilized an intersectional approach to see how the different
aspects of masculinities relate to adult male circumcision. The literature review and the
findings from the forum give evidence that when looking at adult male circumcision,
there are many factors at play and they all relate to each other.
Connected to our findings of the bravado warrior narrative, men are less likely
than women to look for help with emotional challenges (Reddin and Sonn 2003).
Interestingly, this forum gives men a chance to do just that. Reddin and Sonn state that
the communication of narratives provides members of a community with identities that
can help them not only uphold their sense of masculinity in relation to others but also
allows for a strong sense of belonging, feelings of normalcy, and the attainment of a
hegemonic masculinity due to the acceptance of a group (2003). This literature is
consistent with our findings throughout. Most notably, the concepts of man knows best
with regard to their health and feelings of normalcy within their community. Both the
literature and our findings suggest that men exhibit negative health behaviors and
disdain for doctor advice.
15

16. We also found consistency with the literature within our findings in relation to the
masculine identity. In the literature we found that a man’s penis is strongly tied to his
sense of identity and that men see their penis as a symbol of masculinity and want it to
look normal (Castro­Vazquez 2012; Del Rosso 2011; Khan et al. 2004). This is seen in
our study of the ​Men’s Health​ forum, where we have evidence of men being concerned
with the appearance of their penis before their surgery, immediately post­operation, and
upon healing.
Communities play an important part in the hegemonic masculine ideal. There
was a significant number of posts from the ​Men’s Health​ forum that revealed the need
for the online community in order to reassure themselves that they were “normal”. As
Korobov (2005) mentioned, discourse is an important part of the way men are able to
communicate their sense of identity. This also relates to Reddin and Sonn’s (2003) idea
that communities provide a means of emotional and physical health support.
In the online forum, the men who posted made a point of using their language
specifically to present themselves in a certain way. We see the same awareness of
rhetoric discussed by Kendall when talking about men in chat rooms being able to show
their true selves when given the ability to openly interact with one another.
When goralondos describes his surgery as a ​“​non event” (Men’s Health), this
directly correlates to the research of Anderson and Kian (2012) and Lindemann (2003)
in that both of their articles related the concepts of denying weakness and playing
through pain. In describing his circumcision as a “non event,” goralondos is denying
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17. weakness by stating that a surgical procedure that others on the forum admitted is
painful did not produce any pain for him.
The literature is consistent with our findings and is manifested most effectively
through user Ike Green:
I constantly avoided getting involved that far with girls, because a) I knew I couldn't
perform well in bed because it hurt; b) I'm a proud person and not performing well
was a terrible blow on my ego; c) a phimosis penis looks weird; d) sex hurt, a lot.
Also, since I knew how much it was going to hurt, I often had trouble getting hard,
which is also really bad for a guy's ego.
This excerpt perfectly encompasses all four of our themes as well as a plethora of the
literature (Anderson and Kian 2012; Kendall 2002; Lindemann 2003; Lomas et al. 2015;
West and Zimmerman 1987). It addresses normalcy, belongingness, the warrior
bravado narrative, and masculine identity.
We examined the personal narratives of men who have experienced adult male
circumcision as it relates to hegemonic masculinity as described in a ​Men’s Health
forum. ​Men’s Health​ is “the go­to source for the latest information and expert advice
about a healthy and active lifestyle.” The ​Men’s Health​ “Adult Circumcision (to help
other guys thinking about it)” forum provides men who are thinking about, who have
experienced, or who are recovering from adult male circumcision a relatively safe space
to share their stories, questions, ideas, and beliefs. Men are able to bounce ideas off of
each other, cultivate deep conversations, and ultimately receive support throughout
their circumcision journey.
17

18. We researched literature regarding masculinity as it pertains to pain, community
groups and forums, male circumcision, and health and the body. While conducting our
research, we found that there was a lack of literature that looked specifically at adult
male circumcision and masculinities as opposed to research on prenatal circumcision.
Despite this, we found there are several different themes that emerged in relation to our
topic. Through this review, we fill a gap in the literature and use an intersectional
approach to find some of the different aspects of masculinities that relate to adult male
circumcision.
Once we developed a research question, we delved deeper using a content
analysis methodology. We collected every forum post from the website into a Word
document that met the following criteria: 1) The narrative must mention them
experiencing life post­operation. 2) The narrative must be at least twenty lines on the
forums website. 3) Due to the number of self­identifying women seen on the forum
offering their opinions, we made sure one of our limitations was that it could not be
written by a woman who had never experienced the surgery, nor was planning to
endure the surgery even if she was posting due to her experience with her partner’s
surgery.
We used an initial open coding scheme to guide our research and develop a
semi­structured coding scheme based on themes we found through open coding.
These themes consist of bravado warrior narratives, physical pain, change, and
community. The overarching theme framing our research is pride. Through this
analysis, we used these themes to look at the relationships found between adult male
18

19. circumcision and masculinities and found that there were different aspects of
masculinity that impact the decision to obtain the surgery and the perceived outcome of
adult male circumcision.
Further research could include a broader sample of men who have gone through
adult male circumcision for various reasons. Additional research could also include the
experiences of the partners of adult men who undergo such surgeries. The
masculinities portrayed in the forum “Adult Circumcision (to help other guys thinking
about it)” are indicative of the way men currently perform their masculinities and
maintain the hegemonic hierarchy found in society.
19