Circumcision?

Question

I have never had any doubt that I would have my son circumcised when he is born....until I googled it and found pictures of the procedure and the poor, screaming baby strapped to a board! Any thoughts about the process or pro's and con's?

Answer 1

Thank you for re-considering!

It may be hard to imagine, but your newborn boy will grow up to be a MAN, and he will want to have sex. Circumcision reduces pleasure for the man in two ways - first, the constant rubbing of clothing on the exposed glans (which is considered an internal organ) desensitizes it. A kind of scar tissue develops, to do the protective job a foreskin is supposed to do. The problem is this scar tissue can't be retracted when the man has sex, so the loss of sensitivity is great. Second, the foreskin is very rich in nerve endings and is in itself a source of great pleasure. The foreskin also keeps the area moist and soft, which makes for a much better sexual experience for his partner.

The pro-mutilation people say that cutting off the foreskin decreases the incidence of cancer of the penis. I doubt it, but the fact remains that penis cancer is very, very rare, and more people die each year from botched circumcisions than from penis cancer! And anyone with access to soap and water can keep the area nice and clean - hygiene is just a made-up "problem."

Non-medical circumcision of infants is outlawed in Sweden! It is common only in parts of the U.S. and in Israel and Muslim countries, where it is a religious requirement - in the rest of the world boys get to stay WHOLE. Don't do this barbaric thing to your helpless child!

Answer 2

Ok you are going to get the pro-circs saying the boys are not strapped down for surgery. ARE THEY NUTS. I WAS STRAPPED DOWN WHEN I WAS CIRCUMCISED AT THE AGE OF 6, I remember because that was to me the first warning that I had made a mistake submitting to this. IF THEY DON"T STRAP THE BOY DOWN, THEY RUN THE RISK OF CUTTING HIS PENIS OFF IF HE MOVES. Look at the penis of a newborn boy, it wouldn't take much of a movement to cause a disaster.

Some doctors think that you can take a boy without a penis and make a girl, dumbass doctors have been proven wrong time and again, a boy without a penis is not a girl it is a suicide. Google the story John/Joan. This attrocity was perpetrated by Dr John Money, and others, of Johns Hopkins. A well respected institution that I would not trust with a hang nail.

I see popbidz and scuba happen to agree on this one.
Imagine that, are they the same person? I have seen the same recycled answer posted by both, I wonder?

No, I do not wonder, I know it is the same ***** with a blood lust. She has a thing for the blood from a baby boy's penis.

Answer 3

I don't believe in surgery that isn't for a medical problem. A foreskin is what kids are born with and it's a normal part of anatomy not a defect. Cosmetic surgery on an infant just seems cruel. Of course I know there might be some benefits, but for the most part good hygiene makes an uncircumcised penis as clean as a circumcised one. If I were going to do it I would wait a little while and certainly not do it on a brand new baby. We are expecting a son in March and he will not be circumcised unless he decides to when he is older.

Answer 4

First of all, they are not strapped down. I also saw those web sites and freaked out. Those sites are there to scare parents, and it's very misleading. That may have been a procedure long ago, but not now. After my son was born, they asked us if we wanted to have him circumcised, and had the Dr. come in who was going to perform it. We were told how the procedure would go and we were assured that they would use pain medications. It healed in 2 days, and he is now 7 months old and there have been no complications. Good luck to you, regardless of what you decide.

To Dave below me, cutting off the clitoris of your daughter is not the same. Female circumcision has been done through the years as a way to prevent women from having sex until marriage, it's usually done when she was hitting puberty and fully aware of the procedure. It's barbaric. There is no comparison. If it was true that being circumcised reduced a mans erection, there would be no circumcised men.

Answer 5

Hey, kids get held down and scream when they get a shot, too -- doesn't mean you shouldn't do it :) It's extremely quick, and while not painless nobody ever remembers it if done shortly after birth.

There is still considerable debate about the pros and cons -- the AMA goes back and forth between recommending it and recommending against it every now and then, not even the doctors can make up their minds. There was just a recent study showing a number of benefits for it -- but the truth is that foreskin or no foreskin probably isn't going to make a whole heck of a lot of difference in any person's life :)

I had my son circumsized, mainly because I do think it's cleaner and also because *I'm* circumsized. It just "looks right" to me, if ya know what I mean! I watched the procedure on my son -- took all of 1 minute, he wasn't strapped to a board (I helped hold him), and it healed in a few days. No big deal.

Answer 6

Hi Valerie,

I've seen the video and clips your talking about....that is how circumcisions were performed 20 to 30 years ago.

Most circumcisions are done painlessly:

News video on painrelief:
http://www.news10now.com/content/health/healthy_living/?SecID=101&ArID=75223
(be warned actual procedures:)
http://www.circumcisionvancouver.com
http://newborns.stanford.edu/Gomco.html

Plus there are good health reasons to have it done.

Try watching the UN aids study:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast...

This is also a great link that shows Std transmission is cut in half by circumicion:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15593753/...

new medical news about circumcision.

Circumcision is definately an earlier the better sort of thing! I would ask around, but I would expect it won't be hard to find a doctor to do the circumcison; and the longer you leave him uncircumcised the more likey he is to get a foreskin problem, and the more difficult a circumcision may become.

I had my sons circumcised after my youngest brother had tons of problems with his foreskin and needed to be circumcised!

It is much easier on a baby and its a good preventative step to future problems!

Lots of love,

Sara
[e-mail]

I've done a lot of research so feel free to email me if you need anyone needs some advice.

Answer 7

Valerie, Circumcision is immensely beneficial. Nowadays, circumcisions are done with the use of a local anaesthetic and are painless. Babies just scream because they din't like being kept completely still while they are being circumcised. The videos and pix which you have seen are very old and out of date and have been posted by rabid anti-circumcision campaigners, who will lie and say anything to support their message. They are psychotic people and should be ignored. Unfortunately, I was not circumcised as an infant and had to have adhesions between my foreskin and glans broken when I was 8 in order to be able to retract my foreskin fully. That DID hurt. My mother wanted me circumcised at the same time but the UK NHS refused to do it. The NHS was and is virtually bankrupt and avoids doing anything which costs money if it not considered essential. Accordingly, I had to wait until I was an adult to have my circumcision, which I did at my wifes suggestion and for no medical reason. Afterwards, I benefitted from enhanced comfort, hygiene, appearance, self-confidence and sex was FAR, FAR BETTER for both me and my wife. As far as we are concerned circumcision is wholly beneficial and 20 years on from mine, there are simply no "cons" I wish that I had been circumcised as a baby and had experienced all the benefits from the beginning. Go ahead with confidence and give your son the gift of circumcision - ALL MALES SHOULD BE CIRCUMCISED ROUTINELY

Answer 8

Every male in the histore of all humanity has been born with a penis and it does not need the help of a sharp blade to be normal. It takes no extra care then your vagina. It began in enlgish speaking countires in late 1800's to stop masturbation, including in females. Since then people forgot how to care for a normal penis and have faulty info in regards to it. Ask yourself why is it not ok to mutilate any part of a body, whether male or female, unless that is a penis, then too bad, you can't have a say in whether or not you can keep the whole thing. Health problems are rare so leave his body the way it's suppose to be. Only america does it for non religious reason, other then that it's pretty well muslim/jewish countires who do it. I can give you pro's and con's as to why you should have his teeth removed, why to cut off peices of his ear etc, but you would say that's ridiculous. It's ridiculous to cut your son's penis so leave it alone. It's not hair is an organ

Answer 9

yes looks pretty painful, IT ISN'T modern medicine has various forms of anesthetic for a reason. most of the video clips of this procedure on the internet are from 10+ years ago when it WAS common practise to not use pain killers.
IT IS however all healed and over with within a week or 2 in an infant. and the kid WILL NOT remember it. trauma from that as a newborn? being squeezed out of the mother would have been alot more traumatic and who seriously remembers that.

Answer 10

Three sons - All circumsized - no complications. One husband not circumsized many complications so he got one as an adult. OUCH.

They can put topical lotion on before procedure. You can put neosporin with pain reliever after. Their little bodies have been through a lot of crunching at birth and the circ didn't disturb them greatly. Cried a few minutes and got over it. The strapping down they hate, even before the procedure. Being stretched out is not something they are use to.

My husband went with the boys, I wasn't up to it. Obviously they will neverremember it anymore than the remember having thier head smashed through a pelvic opening which caused considerable brusing on my babies.