A DESIGN REACTION TO PENIS MUTILATION

There seems to be general agreement in the civilized world that female "circumcision" is a violation of human rights. For more than you may want to know about this practice, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_cutting

Surprisingly, male circumcision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision has defenders. On the primitive level they may simply defend it as the command of a god or as an essential ritual for achieving mature manhood. On a more sophisticated if nonsensical level it is defended as a hygienic step and a protection against disease. One might as well propose pulling the teeth as a preventative measure. After all, brushing and flossing are much more onerous than cleaning the foreskin.

From a designer's point of view it is obvious that the foreskin has a primary protective purpose, particularly when it is noted that all male mammals have it. It very likely also has a pleasure-enhancing function which comprises part of the biological reproductive incentives on the basic level and purely sensual incentives on the interpersonal, non-reproductive level. One would think the human species had learned from the overly quick removal of tonsils and the loss of their immunological contribution that natural parts of the body are not to be tampered with except for the most serious reasons. Similarly, the appendix, formerly thought to be vestigial, is now known to serve important developmental, immunological and restorative purposes. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermiform_appendix

I thought it would be useful and amusing to design a small cylindrical object to go over the sharpened point of a pencil or the point of one of those inexpensive ball point pens which have an annoying separate cap. The cylinder would slide back and forth in imitation of the foreskin, covering and uncovering the point. The combination might be called the "Forepen." My theory is that this object would, by analogy, teach the obvious purpose of the foreskin and help bring an end to the barbarous practice of circumcision.

Going one step further, one wonders whether an artificial foreskin for the circumcised penis might be a worthy design. I don't see it as a concealed replacement like a breast form for a mastectomy but rather as  a personal statement a person might want to make in the locker room of a gym or in a bedroom. Perhaps this design object might also have the attributes of an adornment. There may be room here for adding color or graphics. The first step, I think, is to decide on the appropriate material.