Circumcision
 

A friend on FB just posted about watching her baby get the snip, how horrific it was for her, how he cried etc. The 30+ comments that followed were along the lines of "poor you!", "brave little boy" etc.

I'd forgotten this barbaric practice is considered normal here. Is there any reason beyond a few lines in the Bible?

Re: Circumcision
 

Mr Kellogg, the cornflakes inventor, thought that circumcision discouraged masturbation so he promoted it widely and it caught on.

If you live in a desert wearing no more than a dress than I can see how sand under the foreskin is not desirable, but with regular washing and inventions such as underwear it is not necessary at all even in the desert states.

Re: Circumcision
 

It gives doctors extra income, so it is pushed in some hospitals. There is a lot of literature around in some hospitals stating the benefits.

Re: Circumcision
 

It's an obscene practice. There's a massive (understandable) outcry over female circumcision but for some moronic reason it's apparently ok to do it to males. If God is so great and created man with a dick with a foreskin why do religious ****wits feel it's his will to chop it off?

Re: Circumcision
 

I (UK citizen) am in an awkward position. I am thoroughly against the practice, due to my links to the medical field and view on basic human rights. My wife (US citizen) has two sisters who routinely circumcised their kids, as is 'normal' here. She is adamant its fine and the child (just to be clear, son) will be bullied if we do not do it.

I do not want a huge Thanksgiving style row with her family over the matter, either. Not sure how to proceed. I feel I am fighting against a cultural norm. here, one that has no scientific reason (apart form reduced male to female HIV transmission rates, according to published literature).

Re: Circumcision
 

The 'he'll be bullied...' argument is, to my mind, by far the weakest argument out there, especially given that US circumcision rates are only slightly more than 50%. Depending where you live, an uncircumcised penis could well be in the majority in the locker room.

Stick to your guns - please. I could never contemplate putting a child of mine through that horrendous procedure without any medical indication.

Re: Circumcision
 

Masturbation.

And then they spent the next hundred years trying to find scientific evidence to support the practice. If you throw enough darts, some are bound to stick...

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Besides, if you've got a bunch of people looking at your penis in the locker room then you've got bigger problems than whether you have a foreskin or not.

Re: Circumcision
 

Its shocking. The best argument is that it will stop bullying, which is no better than blaming victims of bullying. When do these kids get to look? I dont think many schools have sports where they change in front of each other or take showers together any more.

Re: Circumcision
 

Its her son's own knob, if, at some time, he wants or needs to be circumcised, it must be his decision, and his alone. I think there are some emergency conditions where circumcision is necessary, but I bet they are very rare these days, with better hygiene.

For what its worth, my sister (USC in Fl) point blank refused to let my nephew be mutilated - to some consternation from her obstetrician, who tried to push the procedure on them.

Re: Circumcision
 

It's never once come up for my son as an issue, in two states (one of which was Arizona and included regular swimming classes as part of PE). Plus they don't even seem to do the sort of low grade, tiresome bullying that went on in his Swiss school - grabbing someone's hat and tossing it around the classroom out of their reach, say - and they are squirmingly prudish, so I can't possibly imagine them doing the sort of bullying that starts with admission of having looked closely at another boy's penis.

Re: Circumcision
 

Agree, apart from that its our son. When he is 18 they can chose to follow or practice anything they want. Actually if I'm honest, from when they are 16.

Re: Circumcision
 

Oh boy! This again.

Re: Circumcision
 

What? Not up for a good lets-mutilate-the-kid thread? ;)

Disgusting practice.

Re: Circumcision
 

If female genital mutilation is frowned upon, then so should male genital mutilation.

Whenever my OH and I have children together, if we have sons, that's not happening, by a long shot.

I'd even go as far to say that the foreskin will be more beneficial for my would be son a few years down the line when he becomes of age and becomes sexually active... ;)

Re: Circumcision
 

Some US girls find a foreskin fascinating, maybe he would end making some of the boys jealous.

All surgical procedures have risks, why take unnecessary risks?

Long-term problems can include:

Damage to the opening of the urethra, which leads from the bladder to the tip of the penis (meatal stenosis).
Scarring of the penis from infection or surgical error. For example:
The entire foreskin may not be removed, leaving portions of it attached to the penis (skin bridge). This may cause pain during erection.
Scar tissue can grow outward toward the tip of the penis from the cut edge of the foreskin. Repeat surgery on the penis may be required to improve appearance or to allow normal passage of urine if the opening from the bladder has been blocked by this scar tissue.
The outer skin layer (or layers) of the penis may be removed accidentally.
An opening that is too small for the foreskin to retract over the penis (phimosis) can happen if too little foreskin is removed.
Major problems are very rare but can include:

The removal of more skin from the penis than the doctor intended.
Too much bleeding. Stitches may be needed to stop the bleeding.
Serious, life-threatening bacterial infection.
Partial or full removal (amputation) of the tip of the penis. (This is extremely rare.)

Remember this is the country that murders people slowly by injection and pulls the claws out of animals. This is what we call civilization.

Re: Circumcision
 

This! That's all.

It shouldn't be legal unless either (i) medically necessary or (ii) requested in adulthood by the owner of the penis.

I suspect that much of the issue in stamping out the procedure in the US is that it would infringe on a certain well-connected minority's "religious freedom".

Re: Circumcision
 

So you object to the end being cut off, but you are quite happy to throw darts at it. :eek:

Re: Circumcision
 

Only with full disclosure :lol:

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It's just a little prick...

Re: Circumcision
 

Speak for yourself! :lol:

Re: Circumcision
 

I would ban tattoos and body-piercings as well. And make intolerance a capital offence.

Re: Circumcision
 

Her family has no say and really no right to even be aware of what you do. It sounds like his highest risk of bullying is actually coming from your in-laws.

I have two nephews born in the US. One was circumcised, one was not. Neither had any problems. Both are now adults.

Re: Circumcision
 

I think it's crap. My father wasn't circumcised, there was no doctor around in the deep woods of Maine that day when he was born. The nurses who delivered him didn't know how to do the procedure.

I dated an American male who was born in Dallas and he wasn't circumcised. He was born in the 50s and his mother didn't feel well and postponed the "procedure". Apparently she just never got around to it and everything was fine ... forever. His brothers were both circumcised. The only bullying he ever received was from his own brothers because nobody else ever saw his dick until he started having sex with women --- I didn't complain because it was no big deal and he was frikkin gorgeous. ;)

This is all anecdotal but, as Wintersong stated, it's no unusual at all in the US.

Re: Circumcision
 

A guy I dated (who shall remain nameless, as there's a slight possibility that he might read this and be be mad at me for mentioning it, and I hate it when my husband's mad at me) apologised to me for his state of intact-ness. I couldn't work out why he would do so, but then I moved over here and it all made perfect sense :lol:

Re: Circumcision
 

even more reason not to shorten it.

Re: Circumcision
 

The guy I dated didn't mention it and I didn't notice for a while. For quite a while, I only saw it when it was hard and I couldn't tell the difference. :rofl:

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Let's face it - with or without the extra skin, they're pretty bloody ugly things anyway ;)

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They're best hidden! ;)

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The dick can be pretty, it's the balls that ruin the picture.

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I don't mind them but they should never, ever, under any circumstances, be shaved. :eek:

Re: Circumcision
 

both my boys were born in the uk where it never entered my mind to mutilate them. they have had no issues of comments about in over here (they are in 7th and 4th grade now)

Re: Circumcision
 

Never would I let this happen to any son of mine.

Re: Circumcision
 

My USC wife had no problem with not putting her baby boy through unnecessary pain and suffering. It was easy for me, but her catholic friends insisted on their kids being done. We had our boy at a catholic hospital, hence maybe the big push to convince us.

I think Catholics just have a thing about small boys.

Re: Circumcision
 

And masturbation. It makes you go blind, don't you know?

Re: Circumcision
 

Pretty is not the first word that springs to mind, I have to be honest.

Unless we're talking about this (very, very nsfw and probably on its way to being deleted) - https://smilesandhappiness.files.wor...eu42o1_400.jpg

Re: Circumcision
 

Only if you're an altar boy. I think it's OK if the priest helps out.

Re: Circumcision
 

Saves your immortal soul, I'm guessing.

Re: Circumcision
 

:goodpost:

Re: Circumcision
 

Glitter ball(s)!