Is there any purpose for male circumcision? health or religious-wise?

Answer 1

health- easier maintenance and less infections- if any

Answer 2

The stuff you talk about here does not happen to every man who was circumcised. (The skin bridge, chaffing, the hardening of the skin...) You say "Circumcision removes a functioning part of the penis" but it actually doesn't. That skin is really a part of evolution that serves no purpose. There aren't nerves in the skin- the nerves are under the inside of the penis. I'm not trying to say that everyone should go and get circumcised. I just think you shouldn't judge parents who do this with their kids. And I hope that you meant to say FEMALE circumcision is banned-- Really there is NO medical reason whatsoever to circumcise a male or a female. It is an unnecessary procedure unless the male has a severe hypospadius in which the foreskin can be used to fix it, but I don't judge parents who have their male kids circumcised.

Answer 3

On the basis of health, the operation is done out of misconception. As other responders have said, it was once considered a helpful thing to do if baths were only taken occasionally, but it a modern world there is no reason to do this.

While it is true that male urinary tract infection is 10% higher in uncircumcised babies, you would have to take nearly 200 infants foreskin away to save 1 boy from infection. Not worth it at all.

Infection rates can also be caused, sadly, by uninformed mothers and even doctors who force an infants skin back for inspection. This is extremely painful, as the skin is held to the head much like your fingernails are held to your fingers. A male may never have his foreskin roll back until well into his teens, which is totally natural.

As for cleanliness, think of an infant or toddler wearing diapers. Not the ideal location for cleanliness. But a foreskin will provide cover for those sensitive parts. Mothers, do NOT pull the skin back to clean. There is nothing under there anyways, as long as the skin has not been forced. In adult males, only a few extra seconds in the shower will provide the equal level of cleanliness to that of a circumsized man. Why not remove all your teeth to prevent tooth decay? Thats just personal hygiene. Uncircumsized males are just as clean as the rest as long as they take that responsibility too.

Answer 4

I'll start off with the religious point of view:

If you are Jewish, circumcision is a customary thing to do on the eighth day of a boys birth during a ceremony called a bris. The ceremony is to honor the covenant Abraham made with god (old testiment) that all of his descendents would be circumcised. You'd have to look it up to get a more detailed reason why. But long story short, they originally removed only the tip of the foreskin off of the penis so that blood was spilled and the symbolic sacrifice made. However, as some Jews later wanted to assimilate into the Greek mainstream, they felt that their circumcision made them stand out as Jews and many of them stretched their remaining foreskin over to recover the glans, making them appear uncircumcised again. This was frowned upon in the Jewish faith as it suggests that they were not representing their religion. So the procedure was modified so that the entire foreskin was removed during circumcision and that procedure is what has endured to this day.

For Christians, circumcision is irrelevant because as far as Jesus Christ was concearned your circumcision status didn't reflect whether or not you were a good person who worshipped God. Also, since he is the messiah in the Christian faith, the way to heaven is through belief in Christ and that would have nothing to do with being Jew, Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised. Therefore Christians don't circumcised their boys out of a religious practice. Some denominations (Catholics) are actually likely to consider that type of thing mutilation and unnatural which would be a perversion against god. But for most Christian denominations circumcision really doesn't mean anything one way or the other.

Health:

From a medical standpoint, circumcision was popularized in the US from the idea that it was a cure to masturbation, which a century ago was considered to be harmful and led to all sorts of diseases and ailments. It was assumed that without a foreskin a boy couldn't manipulate himself to orgasm. Of course we know that isn't true today, but the idea was so popular and widespread that most boys ended up being compulsorily circumcised in the hospital as soon as they were born. Decades later, the majority of males in the US were circumcised and foreskin anatomy had disappeared from medical texts. Doctors continued to advocate it (mostly out of ignorance) but also because there was a significant fee for surgury for including a circumcision with birth. Today most US surgeons still believe that circumcision is better, although most pediatricians do not.

Circumcision does offer some benefits but they are largely overrated and there are also things that are lost due to circumcision. Neonatal circumcision is considered unnecessary and not recommended in most pediatrics societies around the world (including the United States). The only known health benefits to being circumcised is the risk of contracting a Urinary Tract Infection is slightly lowerd and it decreases the risk of contracting STD's when having unprotected sex. However, UTI's are still very rare even for uncircumcised boys and since nobody should be having promiscuous unprotected sex anyway, that argument is kind of moot. A circumcised penis is easier to keep clean compared to one with a foreskin because smegma (antibacterial secretion) and the subsequent oder never builds up without a foreskin. But cleaning an uncircumcised penis is so easy (and pleasureable) that this argument is pretty moot as well. Depending on location/region, some people find a circumcised penis to be more asthetically pleasing than one with a foreskin.

The disadvantages to circumcision are that it's painful, it decreases sensitivity (due to the glans being constantly exposed and the loss of the nerves on the inner foreskin), it leaves a scar, and it removes the gliding motion that the foreskin offers which is slightly less comfortable for most females during intercourse and makes male masturbation more difficult without lubrication.

Circumcision is more common among the Jewish people, muslims and people from the United States and some countries in the pacific islands. Everywhere else in the world, it is relatively rare and most men (80%) in the world don't get circumcised and never have a problem. So it isn't medically necessary and even though it was once considered so in the US, that attitude has changed in recent years to the point where healthcare no longer covers it. Due to that reason and the influence of immigration the rate of circumcision in the states has fallen from 90% in the 70's to about 60% and falling today.

Answer 5

Religious reasons only, any claims that it is healthier is bogus--that is why so many US males are circumcised as opposed to the rest of the world, a way for doctors to make more $$. Given that it is the natural state of the penis, and well over 2 BILLION males are uncut, any claims to benefits are just claims to justify male mutilation.

Answer 6

The Jewish religion does require circumcision, I'm not entirely aware of the reasonings.

Although a circumcised member is at slightly less risk of infection through life, that's not considered a legitimate reason for cutting. It's mostly just done for looks.

Answer 7

Personally, I don't think so. I think it's a cruel thing to put an infant through for no real purpose.

Back when people only bathed a few times a year it helped with cleanliness. Now that people shower every day, it's not a big deal as long as boys are taught how to properly clean themselves with the foreskin on.

Answer 8

No. Though I'm sure you will get a ton of answers that say otherwise. But I did a paper on it in college (medical ethics) and there is absolutely NO legitimate reason for circumcision.

Read this:
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-circumcision.html
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/cutting-kids.html
http://www.mothering.com/sections/experts/milos-archive.html

And if you search "circumcision" on that web site there are many more articles.

Male circumcision is just as barbaric as female circumcision, which is commonly called Female Genital Mutilation, which is condemmed by nearly everyone, and is illegal in the U.S.

Answer 9

There is absolutely no purpose to it. Everyone is always coming up with "hygenic " reasons, but believe me, i have seen some circumsised penises that is more dirty and infected than any uncircumsised penis.
THe foreskin, other than protecting the glans of the penis, also plays a part in keeping the penis clean.

Answer 10

It was a cleanliness thing originally and a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God. Now it is just done by most people because that is the way we culturally believe shmeckies are supposed to look.

Answer 11

The religious reasons are identification with the "tribe" (as in Hebrew tradition) or as a mark of "official" manhood (for those cultures that practice it later in childhood and not at birth). The health reasons are to make it easier to clean underneath the foreskin or if the foreskin is improperly formed and won't retract.