Circumcision

Ryan Roberts

The first known drawing of a circumcision is on the wall of a 6th Dynasty tomb at Sakkara, Egypt, about 2400 BC, or 4400 years ago. Presumably, the practice began long before that. It is therefore a primitive blood ritual, and has no place in modern medicine Far to much information about foreskins here[^]. The excuses given for it are many, one of the first 'medical' reasons was to prevent masterbation(therefore insanity, drunkeness and countless other forms of moral weakness). Its a hideous practice. Would you consider doing it if you had a daughter? On a side note - didn't Sweeden attempt to ban male circumsision recently? Bloody brave move.. Ryan.

Bassam Abdul Baki

We just had our first born in August last year and the doctors in Virginia asked us yay or nay. We said yay since everyone man in both sides of our families has done it and we've never had or heard of any side effects. It's been around for thousands of years, and whether it's healthier or not I can't say. But since we're only familiar with this approach, we chose it for our son. Leaving the choice up to your kid implies letting him keep it. What are the chances that an adult male is going to cut off a piece of himself from down there? :-D It's like asking to be kicked in the groin. Personally, I think it's now or never. We opted for now. "For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you would never have considered. That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebula, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence." - Q (Star Trek: The Next Generation) ^ Blog

Tomaz Stih 0

I propose you add reducing oral sexual pleasure to your argument list against circumcision. :rolleyes: I would decide against it. If there will be any troubles, you can always cut it later. :sigh: Tomaž

Rama Krishna Vavilala

For a detailed research on this topic look at this site http://www.healthcentral.com[^]. There is a complete section about the topic

Hope he read the bug fixes - Chris Maunder (Chris Maunder in Acrobat Reader info) No excuses for this: he had plenty of time while he was waiting for Acrobat Reader 6 to load - Daniel Truini

Megan Forbes

Thanks Rama :)

Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
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Alvaro Mendez

I'm for circumcision. I didn't have it done when I was born and I always had hygeine issues. It was painful having to pull the foreskin all the way back to keep it clean and rid of yucky white secretions. Then at age 11 I had a circumcision and these problems vanished. Regards, Alvaro

You know what they say about arguing over the Internet...

jonathan15

No, No, No. Don’t do it. My little boy is 18 months old and I would never subject him to any form of surgical procedure unless it was proven that it was absolutely necessary. Believe me there will be plenty of opportunities for hospital visits when he falls when climbing up the cupboards or runs into a door frame etc etc. Just my opinion, I wouldn't want to tell anybody how to raise their kids. Jon

wrykyn

First of all, Congrats on the baby! :) I remember reading somewhere that if its done right after birth it reduces the risk of penile cancer about 15% but if its done after a week or so post birth it has no effect whatsoever. And anyway that's the rarest form of cancer out there (so rare its almost non-existent) so I vote that you not opt for circumcision. "One of the Georges," said Psmith, "I forget which, once said that a certain number of hours' sleep a day--I cannot recall for the moment how many--made a man something, which for the time being has slipped my memory."

David Wulff

If you are worried about cancers that if they do come about won't form until the mid to later part of your sons life then leave the descision up to him when he is old enough to decide. (Assuming it doesn't become a prohibited form of mutilation in the mean time, which it eventually will.) Being a parent that doesn't really help you much, but ultimately you are going to have to let go one day. Penile cancer should be the last of your concerns though, it is almost completely avoidable with care, keeping him out of dirty inner city areas during the first sixteen years of his life will do more for his quality of life than any cosmetic surgery will. Circumcision was (and still is somewhat) popular in the States because propper penile hygeine requires you to - shock horror - touch your dick and that is taboo. Realistically, with propper daily hygeine and only twenty seconds under the shower it isn't necessary, but I'd suggest you get your husband to show him how to go about it when it is practically possible for your son to do so. To wander a little into specifics, smegma (that white stuff that was mentioned above and the core ingredient of every Red Dwarf joke) is necessary for a healthy penis. It comes from the foreskin not the penis so if you cut it off... you do without. It acts like both tears to keep the head clean and a protein/repair wash similar to that your eyes get when you're sleeping. It is also an anti-bacterial agent that helps prevent the nasty bacteria your body has just pissed away from coming back in again. What boys typical experience before puberty is not the same stuff - that's dead skins cells from the seperation of the foreskin from their penis and sebum which decreases over time - that is why it would hurt like hell if they tried to clean under their foreskin (they'd basically be ripping the layers apart, and causing all sorts of nasty infections). Thankfully I missed that experience myself! In fact, before they start producing smegma it is best to leave it be because they will be more prone to irritation and infection by their own urine until it starts getting produced. (At the very least if you do get your son circumscised *always* change his nappy/diaper as soon as he wets himself because he won't have that natural protection against the bacteria anymore. Over time it will dull his senses because his body will have fought one too many wars againt all the nasty bacter

JoeSox

My ex-wife and I circumcised our son [by a doctor of course:-O]. I had to sit down and she started to get cry, if I remember correctly. I think sound reasoning is just be the same as the Father, or at least that was my ex's reasoning. It makes sense to me, I would hate for him to desire a circumcision later in life.:omg::) Later, JoeSox "It is not the same to talk of bulls as to be in the bullring." -Spanish Proverb CPMCv1.0 ↔ humanaiproject.org ↔ joeswammi.com/sinfest

Shog9 0

Heh... I've been tempted to recommend the process ever since, with the rational that somewhere out there a dude named Martin will be slightly more irate... :rolleyes:

Shog9

I'm not the Jack of Diamonds... I'm not the six of spades. I don't know what you thought; I'm not your astronaut...

Dan Bennett

JoeSox wrote: I would hate for him to desire a circumcision later in life Is that likely? Why on earth would he? :wtf:

Megan Forbes

Interesting, thanks David. It would be a nuisance if a whole bunch of reasons for circumcision had been posted in response here as we would have had to start our reasoning process all over again! As it is my mind has been put more at ease by the replies that we are making the right decision - hopefully time will prove this to be correct.

Look at the world about you and trust to your own convictions. - Ansel Adams
Meg's World - Blog Photography

Shog9 0

Megan Forbes wrote: Why? Was he a doctor in his spare time or something? If i remember correctly, he felt that his sex life wasn't all it could be, and blamed it on his parents' decision. Given that he was also big into Neuro-Linguistic Programming as a technique to pick up women, i have a feeling he was mistaken... X|

Shog9

I'm not the Jack of Diamonds... I'm not the six of spades. I don't know what you thought; I'm not your astronaut...

Brit

Ryan Roberts wrote: Its a hideous practice. Would you consider doing it if you had a daughter? (roll eyes) Female circumcision is not like male circumcision. ----------------------------------------------------- Empires Of Steel[^]

Ryan Roberts

Brit wrote: Female circumcision is not like male circumcision The procedure is admittedly less severe than clitordectomy, and generaly takes place at a younger age. But it remains an unnecessary mutiliation of the genitalia to conform to cultural norms. Simply because some cultural norms are more familiar(and in some countries widely adopted) to western eyes does not excuse the practice. Clitordectomy was practiced in Britain, at around the same time medical male circumscision was pioneered, for similar reasons. "It is a second error to assume that if a woman desired to continue filthy habits this operation would stop her. The organ removed is but one amongst many susceptible of intense excitement" http://www.cirp.org/library/history/medicaltimes1867/[^] Ryan.

aplope

We had our first son circumcised and plan to have our second son (due in about a month) circumcised. We had no real opinion on the matter with our first until our birth class instructor told us about men going through basic training having to take up to a week to recover from circumcision. Seems all the training and such led to not being able to keep the organ clean enough and getting lots of infections. So the men would then elect to have the circumcision which from what I have gathered is more traumatic later in life than it is for an infant. Plus, you can't really count on little boys having great hygenic practices. Also knew a women married to an uncircumcised man. She said she had lots of yeast infections and female issues because of her husband. :suss: Knowing what I know of this woman now, this information may be circumspect, but still might be true. Something to consider. Given the right pain medications and such, I don't believe there is any harm to the boy to have him circumcised. As for reducing sexual performance, interest, etc., I find it hard to believe from what I observe in society and my own marital relations. Good luck! Pegmeister

Member 96

What a wierd bunch of responses you got! Out of all the male friends I have ever had in my entire life as far as I know only one was un-circumcised and he has zero opinions on the matter. Where are all these irate people coming from, what kind of personal failings are they trying to blame on such an innocuous procedure. Here (in Canada, well in B.C. anyway) it's generally accepted that all children will be circumcised. I am and am quite happy with the results. I think the wierd rhetoric you are hearing is completely out to lunch. Some are claiming it's maiming or worse, hogwash! What a bunch of ridiculous statements. If you fail to do it you are in effect putting off what will be quick short term pain now for what he will (assuming he's enlightened) have to go through later as an adult. We have no need for our appendix either, is it maimimg a person to remove it? Speaking as a circumcised person, the thought of smegma or whatever is just disgusting, what kind of cruel parent would sentence their child to that for life? Get him circumcised, ask any doctor! The responses you got here for the most part are not based on logic, they are based on emotion only. On another topic entirely, what you really do have to watch out for is the breast feeding nazis and marketing leeches that will be all over you shortly after birth. Decide in advance about the breast feeding thing, because if your hospital is anything like our local ones you will get some crazy eyed ladies bugging the hell out of you to commit to breast feeding. They put up signs all over the maternity ward (no, the hospital and it's staff do *not* put up most of the signs you see in a hospital, it's people with axes to grind). Secondarily you will be pressured by smily marketers disguised as something else trying to get you to sign up for a lot of great free stuff for you and your baby. If you really press hard enough and for long enough you will eventually discover that what they are in effect doing is attempting to sign up your baby for a lifetime of marketing. To hard core marketers there is nothing more precious than a newborn. They firmly believe that what a child is raised on will affect them for life so they are incredibly interested in marketing directly to your baby via the mother. When weird strangers start popping in and asking how your baby is etc etc kick them the hell out immediately!!!!

Member 96

Ryan Roberts wrote: Its a hideous practice. Would you consider doing it if you had a daughter? Perhaps the extra skin is taking blood flow away from your brain? :)

Brit

Ryan Roberts wrote: The procedure is admittedly less severe than clitordectomy, and generaly takes place at a younger age. But it remains an unnecessary mutiliation of the genitalia to conform to cultural norms. Simply because some cultural norms are more familiar(and in some countries widely adopted) to western eyes does not excuse the practice. Female circumcision is opposed because it severely restricts the ability of a woman to feel pleasure during sex. As far as I've seen, male circumcision (and I did hear about a study which tried to compare circumcised and uncircumcised male's subjective experience of sex) has no significant effect on a man's pleasure. Uncircumcised males do not experience more pleasure than circumcised males and they don't, on average, climax any earlier. If you want a fair comparison, you should compare female circumcision with the rare male circumcision that goes bad. A while back, I read about a male who, through a batched circumcision, had the entire head removed. He was never able to climax during sex. I would consider that to be more comparible to female circumcision. But, that's not what male circumcision is. ----------------------------------------------------- Empires Of Steel[^]