For many people considering having their sons undergo a posthectomy (modern circumcision) they are worried about ridicule that their son may have to face in a locker room setting. Here is some information on locker rooms and young boys.

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Locker Room Culture

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Here are some selected quotes from a NY Times article describing a cultural shift.

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“In the last 20 years, maybe 25 years, there’s a huge cultural shift in people that ultimately affects gyms [and locker rooms],” 

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"Showering after gym class in high school became virtually extinct in the ’90s."

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“Old-timers, guys that are 60-plus, have no problem with a gang shower and whatever,” Mr. Dunkelberger said. “The Gen X-ers are a little bit more sensitive to what they’re spending and what they’re expecting. And the millennials, these are the special children. They expect all the amenities. They grew up in families that had Y.M.C.A. or country club memberships. They expect certain things. Privacy, they expect.”

Men's Locker Room Designers Take Pity on Naked Millenials New York Times.

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Study Questions:

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For Parents

• What might your son's school locker room experiences be like?

• Could it be more private than your locker room experiences?

• Does he have less or more of a chance of being ridiculed?

• What do you tell him if he is ridiculed for something else like the color of his eyes etc?

• Posthectomy (circumcision) rates are dropping, in many places they are much lower than 50%. Might he be ridiculed if he has been posthectomised (circumcised)?

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Study on Locker Room Teasing

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Here is an excerpt from a study done in the midwest and published in 2015. (The midwest has the highest rates of circumcision in the US).

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"Parents of young boys seeking circumcision or circumcision revision commonly cite concern that their sons may be teased in middle or high school due to the appearance of the penis. There are no current data to substantiate or refute the likelihood of such teasing. We explored the validity of this concern by investigating the extent and frequency of teasing regarding penile appearance.

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"A total of 290 men completed the questionnaire. Mean subject age was 19.2 years (range 17 to 24). Of the individuals surveyed 98% were required to participate in high school gym class and 96% participated in a school sport. Of the subjects 10% were teased about their penile appearance and 47% reported witnessing someone else being teased. The most common characteristic singled out was penile size. Having an [intact] penis or a 'strange' penile appearance accounted for 33% of the witnessed penile teasing. Only 3% of the cohort wished that they had a different penile appearance.

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Teasing in the locker room about penile appearance occurs frequently. While our study is limited to one Midwestern university population, it appears that parental concerns regarding teasing related to penile appearance are valid, although most causes of teasing may not be alleviated by surgical therapy."

 

Alexander, Siobhan E. et al. "Teasing in School Locker Rooms Regarding Penile Appearance." The Journal of Urology, Volume 193, Issue 3, 983-988. Accessed through Saving Our Sons
 

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Study Questions:

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• Might people misplace their anxiety about penile size teasing with intact penis teasing?

• What can we infer from the finding that only 3% of those studied said they wished that they had a different penile appearance?

• Might a posthectomy actually increase the chance of teasing because the surgery is literally a 'penile reduction surgery' where flesh is removed?

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Note that this argument is ultimately one of appearance. Read our section on cosmetic surgery.

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