Sitcoms
It happens remarkably often. You'd think a circumcision episode was obligatory.

The stories convey some interesting underlying themes/myths:

• "If circumcision of a baby is discussed, baby will be circumcised." (Ari [Zighelboim]'s Law).
• "The foreskin is disgusting." (In "Marked in Your Flesh" Leonard Glick traces this view back to Jewish reactions to Christian polemic against circumcision in the second and third century C.E.)
• "Anyone may be as insulting as they like about the foreskin or the man who has one. They have no feelings or rights."
• "American gentiles are not routinely circumcised: Jews circumcise - and gentile men who want to marry Jewish women." (Judaism specifically forbids converting in order to marry a Jew, but that is never mentioned. Other Jewish rules concerning circumcision are also ignored - because the Jewishness of circumcision on TV is only a plot device - a deus ex machina - to explain and justify the otherwise inexplicable American circumcision.)
• "Circumcision is highly controversial and (paradoxically) no big deal."
• "Circumcision is safe, quick, painless, and beneficial."
• "Circumcision is harder on the parents than the baby."

Foreskin restoration is a recent element. It is always presented as surgery. (When non-surgical restoration enters sitcoms the comedy will doubtless be based on the public and noisy loss of huge weights, shaming the restoring man and convincing him that restoration is foolish.)

Game and Talk Shows
Game shows generally refer only to Jewish circumcision.
Talk shows promote circumcision through ignorance and misinformation.

(Additional contributions are welcome. email me.)

Related pages:

• "That Thing" - portrayal of the foreskin and circumcision in popular media
• Circumcision in the movies

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