Wayne was the one of the co-founders of NORM and its executive director until he passed away on March 17, 2017. This article was first published in UNCUT magazine, July 1988.
I was born in San Francisco in 1933. I have a brother four years my senior, a sister eight years younger, and a brother fourteen years younger. My dad, my brothers and I are all circumcised. Having seen my dad and my brother naked, as well as from observing other naked men in the course of my life, I can say that my dad, my brothers and I had some frenum and a small amount of extra skin under the glans. We were not skinned as tightly as others are. When I masturbated, I could always pull some skin up on my glans, and I always tried to pull more over, but with limited success.
I have always been fascinated with those who are not circumcised. However, I have never had any hang-ups, or been angry at my parents or anyone else because I was circumcised. It was a fact of my life, and I have always enjoyed my private parts. I remember when I was in Scouts that two of my friends were uncut. The father of one of them was on the group’s committee and during a conversation that included men and boys, the subject of circumcising or not circumcising came up. He was very adamant about the fact that circumcision was done away with at the time of Christ and should not be practiced any more by Christians. The conversation went on quite a while with pro and con arguments from the adults. I didn’t have any opinions at that age, except that I really was envious of my friends’ uncircumcised status!
I married at 21, had twin boys (one was stillborn), a girl, another boy, and another girl. Had I known then what I know now, I certainly would not have had my boys circumcised. I was divorced about eight years ago [around 1980]. Being single and being a very sexual person, I enjoy sexual activity as often as possible. One day, I was browsing some reading material and came across information about NOCIRC and the BUFF method and began to think about foreskin restoration. I did a lot of research.
In September 1987, I decided to start some form of restoration. I ruled out surgery. I tried the strap-over-the-top method for a week. But I felt I had too much loose skin and nothing was happening. I am somewhat impatient. I tried using a half-inch tape ring (at the tip) and benzoin. The benzoin irritated my skin somewhat and the half-inch tape was too awkward to remove. I started cutting the tape to one-quarter inch strips. This served me much better. I used about six-inches or so of tape. I start halfway around on the bottom side, go around and back over the tape. I fold a piece of the end of the tape on itself to make a tab to facilitate removing the tape ring. I had to switch to wearing boxer shorts. When I urinate, I release the tape past the area of the urethra so that I can retract the foreskin. I have tried urinating with the foreskin forward, however the fuss of blotting up so as not to dribble later is inconvenient at a public urinal.
In a letter from a friend, I was told that someone had used a marble to add stretching and weight. As a construction inspector, I went to the ball bearing supplier and got two stainless steel ball bearings. One is 1″ in diameter and the other is 1-1/4″ in diameter. I took tape and hung the two balls together, with 1/4″+ space between them. I wear Levis to work in the field and although ‘everything’ is in plain view, no one has noticed or said a thing. During the day, I have this tandem weight (now called FOREBALLS) suspended from my new foreskin. I have been using this device for about a month (March 1988) now. Together, the two ball bearings weigh about seven ounces. On occasion, I have had some discomfort and removed them. It has taken a little practice to get the tightness of the tape ring just right, so that now I can go all day with it in place. At night, I only have the tape ring on. I always remove the FOREBALLS to urinate, and with the long tape ring it is easy to put them back in place. Only once did I have the tape give way, in an elevator filled with men and women. I was standing in the back comer and I grabbed my thigh and turned and reached down inside my jeans to recover them before they hit the floor.
Another incident happened recently (May 1991) while standing in the doorway of an associate. I could feel the tape giving way and the FOREBALLS slipping down my leg. I quickly turned aside into the passageway. Thank goodness no one was walking down the way. The FOREBALLS dropped to the floor, I picked them up quickly and put them into my pocket. My associate asked with much concern what was wrong. I replied that nothing was wrong, I just had a hole in my pocket and something had dropped.
After the first two months, I was able to keep my “new” foreskin in place, when the tape had just been removed. If it was after a shower, when I had cleaned the glans, the foreskin did not want to stay in place. Now, however, when I am flaccid, I can keep the foreskin forward over the glans. I must say that the feeling of having my glans protected is a satisfying feeling, much more comfortable than I ever imagined it would be. Now when the foreskin is retracted, my glans is sensitive enough to feel naked and uncomfortable. My foreskin now extends beyond the tip of my glans about 3/8″ of an inch. (As of this edition, I have almost 1″ of overhang.) I am sure I will have to keep up the stretching procedure for the next year or so. Or until, when I am erect, my skin covers the glans without first having to stretch it into place. (Now, 1991, although it does not stay forward when erect, there is enough skin to pull over the glans and have it remain there temporarily.) It sure takes a commitment to do this, but the results have been outstanding. Sometimes after my evening shower I will not re-tape my foreskin but lay down for a bit and perhaps fall asleep. I am a light sleeper. If my glans becomes uncovered, I feel uncomfortable and wake up and get up and put on the tape ring.