Should we circumcise?
My wife and I are trying to have a baby. One of the biggest concerns we have if it is a boy is circumcision. I am circumcised and my first reaction is to say "Well I wouldn't go back so it is the right choice". But unfortunately there is more to it than that. Circumcision started, in my mind, to remove sexual pleasure from the male because sex was the road to sin and only for reproduction and should not be enjoyed. Many nerves are removed from circumcision and I have heard sex is more pleasurable for males not circumcised, but unfortunately that is hard to know for sure.
Then there is the idea that it is a part of our culture now and completely acceptable. But what is it really other than male genital mutilation? They say that is is healthier, but I have also heard that the data for that claim is inconclusive.
Female circumcision disgust me and yet many cultures practice it. To them it is normal. I am sure that uncircumcised females in those cultures have "ugly" vaginas to them just as a lot of women have told me that an uncircumcised penis is "ugly".
I have seen a circumcision and it is horrifying. I dont know if I should do this to my future son. There is the part of me that thinks it is normal and I should. Then there is the part of me that sees it as another brutal religious act setup by an ancient brutal god to remove our sexuality that we, for some reason, still practice like idiots. Then we go through all this trouble to "prove" it is healthy to mutilate sex organs to justify the insane act.
What are some of your thoughts on this?
Tags: circumcision, mutilation
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on -
Actually Dogly, that's what I was taught as a little boy myself, but when I had my own little boy, I learned the hard way that many, if not most, little boys cannot and should not pull back their foreskins to clean until they are older, and it can be done comfortably. For some reason, the glans does not seem to separate from the foreskin until later.
I oppose circumcision too, but pulling back the foreskin to cleanse is not the answer in little boys, and I got that straight from the doctor who told me I shouldn't have done it. No, she didn't bitchslap me, but my little boy's screams certainly had the same effect.
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Permalink Reply by Dogly on -
Yes, archeopteryx, I know you are right. I did not mean that a small child's foreskin should be pulled back. Doctors have given that very bad advice. I just meant gentle washing. Thanks
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on
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No problem - understand I didn't say it to make you wrong, I just didn't want some new parent rushing out to do it.
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Permalink Reply by Dale Headley on
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Jaret; I am uncircumcised, mostly beause my parents were too poor to afford it. And I must tell you that I can’t imagine how being circumcised could possibly leave me with a more intense satisfaction than I feel when I have sex or when I masturbate (which is what the practice was initially intended by religious, right wing, American busybodies to discourage).
Secondly, the U.S. is the ONLY country in the world that routinely circumcises their boys. Even Israel, where it is common as a religious ritual, does not practice it to the extent we do in this country.
Thirdly, the overwhelming majority of medical opinion is that there is NO clear-cut, medical justification for removing the foreskin. The specious claim by some traditionalists that there has been a cause-and-effect link established between non-circumcision and penile cancer has not been demonstrated.
There is one overarching reason that the practice, which began in America in the 19th Century for radical religious purposes, continues is that insecure men seem to feel that their sons MUST look just like them.
How is it that you consider female circumcision disgusting, but not male circumcision? They are both disgusting, cruel, and unnecessary. Does your wife believe that, if you have daughter, she should be circumcised so she will look like her? I think NOT!
One more thing: Ifyou want an enlightened professional analysis of the folly of circumcision, google “Dr. Dean Edell circumcision.”
My opinion? My plea? Please don’t mutilate and torture your son just to satisfy your vanity. Or perhaps, because you might be a Republican.
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on -
You mentioned male penile cancer. What about HPV? That's a cancer males give females.
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Permalink Reply by Heiko Knipfelberg on -
When daily hygiene is not practiced there is always a danger of infection for female as well as male. A male can contract HPV from a female as well. All children should be taught daily hygiene. It should also apply before sex. Sorry for all of the spontaneous people out there, but if you have sex with out washing up first you leave yourself open to infection. Don't misinterpret that you will contract an infection if you don't wash, merely that your chances increase.
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Permalink Reply by Unseen on
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Advice only very strange people will follow. By strange people, I mean people who don't see sex as romantic but view it merely as a bodily function. Which it is...but most of us don't like to look at it this way. You can add washing up to the long list of things responsible adults should do before having sex, such as inspecting their partner's body for evidence of disease, asking if they are sexually active and asking when they last were tested for HIV and other STD's, determining if they are married, asking for age ID in the case of a young partner, yada yada yada.
Now, anyone who is a little bit prudish about sex, stop reading right now. I don't know about how females feel about fellatio, but when I go down on a female, I kind of like to find a taste down there.
But then, we should be using a dental dam, shouldn't we.
The fact is, nobody wants to be 100% responsible about sex. It's hard enough to simply make sure to use a condom in the heat of the moment.
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Permalink Reply by Jaret on -
Well I have been desensitized to male circumcision and not female circumcision. I guess it is the same thing as I think drinking cows milk is fine and find drinking chimpanzee milk disgusting. In a logical world we would buy human breast milk at the store instead of animal milk.
I do not care if my child looks like me. I just want to do what is best for them. I am glad I am circumcised. However, if I wasn't I would not want it done now. It just seems like such a permanent decision for me to make for them and it won't affect me either way, but it will him so I don't feel I have the right to make the decision. Which I suppose not making it is leaving him uncircumcised which I think I am going to do.
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Permalink Reply by archaeopteryx on
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Ask this little guy --
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