Is there evidence of this? Brits seem to do OK! I'm surprised something which caused problems with sex wouldn't have been dealt with by natural selection.
The same as with other vestigial parts. I've just been reading and apparently, rather than shrinking, evolution made it grow. Considered beneficial for reproduction: http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=15 …
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the human prepuce is not "vestigial" but is, in fact, an evolutionary advancement over the prepuce of other primates. This is most clearly seen in the evolutionary increase in corpuscular innervation of the human prepuce...
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...and the concomitant decrease in corpuscular receptors of the human glans relative to the innervation of the prepuce and glans of lower primates." http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/cold-mcgrath/ …
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That's philosophy, not science. There is no evidence that circumcised men reproduce any worse, so needed it is not. On the other hand, that we don't need something is no indication removal is *necessary*.
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Well, no. We don't need our little toes either and they are actually going and our foreskins might be too now we have underwear. No need to cut either off tho.
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But evolution isn't philosophy. There is much evidence that human foreskins grew longer and more complex than that of the other apes and there must have been some benefit to this even if there isn't one now (there might be).
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Observation that human foreskins are pretty large doesn't mean they're pretty useful. They would be modified exactly *because* something about them is in the way.
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Only stuff that gets in the way of reproduction [by killing the bearer of the gene, or making him unlikely to reproduce] gets changed by natural selection. Things that are fine the way they are remain static for the same reason.
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Yes, I know. This is evolution 101. Although it only needs a slight advantage/disadvantage to make a difference over evolutionary time. The foreskin got bigger and more complex in humans. There must have been some reason for this.
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Evolution is way too messy for small advantages to have much of an impact. Otherwise our spines wouldn't be such a fucking mess.
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As to the 'growth' of the foreskin: the tactile improvements of the foreskin over other mammals would be a fine adaptation if the foreskin was hindering the glans from doing its job... [wild hypothetical here, I admit]
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