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Oh, I’ve heard many reasons why we should circumcise a baby boy. Some of the popular ones are:
I want him to look like me.
He’ll be a freak in the locker room.
You have to. Boys who aren’t circumcised are dirty.
Jennifer’s post last week, WTF? Baby Boys’ Circumcised Foreskins Used for Wrinkle Treatment made me laugh out loud. Mostly it was her shock at upcycling foreskins.
As I commented on that blog, I’d already known they “reused” foreskins. My sister had been involved with a skin grafting on a foot that used those circumcised scraps. If feet and penises combined for life aren’t your idea of fun, perhaps you’ve already hopped on the no-circumcise bandwagon.
Still not sure? Here are 11 Reasons to Avoid Circumcising Your Son…
1. It is not your body. This is a huge reason to leave your son intact. It is his body, and he should be allowed to choose whether to have surgery on his most private parts. If you choose now not to circumcise, he can always make a different choice later in life. Not so if you snip.
2. For the dads: Your son will never “look like you” in every way. Boys rarely see their fathers’ penises past a young age, and no matter what, grown men’s penises look very different in size and hair content from their baby boys’. Daddy, that “because I am” argument is a pretty poor one. Your mother made the decision to circumcise you in a culture very different from ours. Would you also have your wife not breastfeed if your mother did not?
3. Trauma. I’d say being born was a pretty hardcore experience, wouldn’t you? At least from the mama’s end, it’s hard work. I can only imagine how rough it is for that little guy to work to get out! And how do we give him the big “congratulations”? By cutting off a part of his body! Good job, young chap…Now, you won’t be needing this anymore.
4. It’s cosmetic surgery. Would we get him rhinoplasty, too? Actually, lets have the circ doc toss that one in for free, shall we?
5. Locker room fears: if 40% of boys are now left intact (and more in some places), your son won’t look much different than others in the locker room. And anyhow, why would boys be checking each other out in the first place?! I should think that the one poking fun would be the guy with the real problem!
6. On the supposed increased risk for urinary tract infections: UTIs are rare in boys, much less common than for girls. Recent studies suggest there is no difference in the amount for circumcised boys than for intact boys.
7. On the supposed increased risk for STDs: Some of the studies suggesting that the risk for HIV is lessened by circumcision are flawed, in that they concentrate on populations in Africa, where HIV rates are much higher than Western countries. A 2007 study offers that it is the percentage of female sex workers in the female population, not the incidence of male circumcision, that determines the level of HIV infection. As an alternative to cosmetic surgery, I suggest you teach your son to respect his body, choose partner(s) wisely, and always use protection.
8. And another medical “reason to circumcise”: phimosis, or a foreskin that won’t retract. The foreskin gradually becomes retractable between infancy and 18 years of age. For most kids it’s in the first few years. It’s nothing we should either rush or worry about. In fact, only 1 percent of males over 18 still have an unretracted foreskin, and then it can be easily treated with a topical steroid cream. The risks of this happening, however, are small, because stimulation of the foreskin during adolescence helps this happen naturally. (And that’s something that no adolescent boy minds doing!)
9. Have you heard it decreases the risk of penile cancer? Yeah, I got that one a bunch, too. My argument was this: breast cancer in females is much more prevalent than the risk of penile cancer for males. So tell me, when your daughter begins to develop breasts, will you cut those breast buds off…just in case? And according to the medical dictionary from the National Institutes of Health (which I was delighted to see use the word “smegma”),
Uncircumcised men who do not keep the area under the foreskin clean and men with a history of genital warts or human papillomavirus (HPV) are at higher risk for this rare disorder.
10. The cleanliness thing. A boy is not dirty who bathes regularly. Given a little soap and water, he should stay clean. Incidentally, this “dirty” thing is the same argument used by proponents for female genital mutilation.
1l. And, finally: Would you circumcise your daughter?
Actually, you’re lucky I’m not going all hardcore on you, and posting a video of the process. It’s quite horrific. If you can stomach it, look and pics and videos before you finalize a decision that your son will have to live with for the rest of his life.
As one pro-intact group says:
Circumcision is a solution in search of a problem.
I mean, we all believe in recycling, but how ’bout if they use that soft foreskin on a middle-aged woman’s wrinkles? What fun!
This wasn’t an easy decision in my house when I found out I was having another boy. I went a little bit more into our “debate” over the matter in my original post discussing circumcision at Nature’s Child blog.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
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“Brettney” said: “Weren’t you the one who told me about the foreskin reconstructive surgery? So no it’s not life long since it is now reversible.”
I’ll give you that one if you’ll give me one. The only time I’ve seen a cost of this surgery, it was approximately $45,000.00 in the late 1980’s. Today, I suspect it would be in the range of $70,000.00 accounting for inflation. Also, there were only two locations that offered the procedure, one in California and the other in Canada so most would have travel and lodging expenses for a minimum of two trips and lost time from work. I can see that the total cost would be in the range of $75,000.00. Would you back a requirement that parents who choose to violate their child be required to put this amount in a trust fund for the child?
“Brettney” said: “In the US, Jewish, and Muslim populated countries males are more likely to suffer from self esteem issues being uncircumcised then circumcised.”
I’ll give you that one for Jewish and Muslim boys but with the circumcision rate at nearly 50/50, it is more likely that circumcised boys will have the self esteem issues especially with the high profile of this issue now.
“Brettney” said: “Which as Tori said on February 24th, 2009 at 1:29 am, “The clitoris is a tiny penis without a urethra. The hood around the clitoris which extends into the labia minora are very much like the foreskin.” Which would equate to male circumcision with having the whole penis removed.”
Here you are making the mistake of believing form follows function and you are wrong. The glans clitoris is a tactile sensory organ and the male frenulum is it’s sensory equivalent. The frenulum is always disabled and or removed in infant circumcision so male circumcision is the exact equivalent of a clitordectomy.
Frank
Brettney:
It would appear that you believe yourself educated sufficiently in both the male and the female sexual anatomy that you believe yourself able to advise and educate the rest of us masses in their function. I would like to ask you a few questions to verify this for myself and others here.
I would like to ask you a few questions to verify your knowledge if you will humor me. These questions relate to the various components of the male and female anatomy and their function sexually. I am not asking for answers about appearance or reproductive function, just that recreational use of them referred to as “Sex.”
First, what is the sexual function of the female vaginal sphincter and what is it’s functional equivalent in a male?
This next one should be easy because I provided the answer in a previous post. What is the sexual function of the clitoris and what is it’s male equivalent?
What is the sexual function of the DeGraffenreid spot and what is it’s male equivalent?
Finally, what is the sexual function of the labia and what is it’s male equivalent?
I think once we establish these functions, we can engage in a more productive discussion.
Frank
“Mario” said: “If it were truly a heinous mutilation, with so much information out there & people clamoring for unbiased answers, by now the American Medical Association & American Academy of Pediatrics would have reversed it position of:”
Mario, there is a problem with The AAP in that it’s policy making body has been taken over by group interests. The AAP established a taskforce in the early 1970’s to address this issue. By the early 1980’s at a minimum, this group was taken over by Jewish interests and since, has been majority Jewish in it’s membership from 60% to 88%. Additionally, the chairperson of The Taskforce on Circumcision has been Jewish continiously since the early 1980’s. Additionally, the current President and past president of The AAP have been Jewish. I have not found who was president before then. With Jews comprising 1.7% of the population, I can not accept that these continuing majorities are happenstance but instead strongly suspect this is by design.
I will give them credit that they have not adopted a policy of universal circumcision but their statement that culture, religion, etc should be taken into account clearly shows their bias in the issue.
It is time The AAP address this situation. This is untennable and The AAP should get back to pure science and medicine and get away from religious politics.
Frank
circumcision is very important for man. make men to be free from fore skin. Uncircumcise penis keep some dirt in folded skin. be clear be wisecircumcision is best for men. you need to reaise the truth even if its not from your culture.
“Be wise men be circumcised”
Shabani: you’re wrong. My culture does indeed support the awful practice of circumcision, which is why I wrote the response to it. There are no good medical reasons to circumcise a boy, and the American Academy of Pediatrics agrees.
I stand by my decisions for my family. My boys are healthy, and as they grow up I will teach them the most important disease prevention tool: respect your body, respect your partner; use protection.
Frank O’Hara,
Bravo, bravo!
I couldn’t agree with you more.
Your thoughts are very well expressed.
Having a foreskin is a joy, and it is everyone’s birthright.
Mammals have had them for 120 million years. They are not an evolutionary mistake. They are pleasurable for both partners.
If circumcision protected against HIV, the US would have a much lower HIV infection rate than European countries. Instead, the US has a higher HIV infection rate.
If foreskins are so much trouble, or hard to keep clean, why do women never complain about their clitoral foreskins?
No newborn needs painful cosmetic surgery. Foreskins make vaginal entry easier, and gentler.
As an RN working in the neonatal field, I have been appalled by some of the sloppy circ’s done by the OB doc as well as the Pediatricians. We want our boys to grow up to be functional men, right? Well I’m not sure that those little boys will ever be able to have a proper erection because sooo much (excess) skin was removed. Never was there local except for some topical gel. And don’t EVEN try to tell me those babies didn’t feel pain. Most screamed until they had no breath left. I have 2 sons who are intact, and yet this had been a huge argument btw my husband and I. He wanted it done for all the usual reasons. I told him that if he could carry a child for 9 mo., and love it beyond all measure, then he could whittle it up any way he wanted. But no child coming out of my body was going to get unnecessary surgery for any reason. And as for the cleanliness issue, teaching a boy how to clean himself is no more difficult than teaching how to wash his face, armpits or toes. My oldest is almost 18 and I have asked him about what “most” boys looked like. He responded “Geez Mom, I don’t look at them, and they don’t look at me !!” So I don’t think the lockerroom issue is that big either. And lastly….(big breath) If the Creator didn’t want that little piece of skin to be there, for whatever reason, it wouldn’t be there.
Kellie,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience and perspective. Obviously, I agree. I didn’t go into too much detail here, but it was a big argument between my dh and I as well. I wrote about it here:
http://cate-et-al.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-fight-for-foreskin.html
It’s still a touchy subject, but he’s not so resentful anymore. I’m sure he wishes his son “looked like him”, but he can just give the baby boy some dreadlocks too, if it means so much to him.
In response to the mother of two boys who seems to place a really huge amount of significance to the
“natural state” of her sons’ penises I would ask if there is a father in the picture. My wife is a medical health professional and she and I both did a little research when our first son was born and concluded that there is far less likelihood of the problems with UTI and cancer for circumsized men than for those ” uncut “. So both our sons have been circumsized. If every physician we know has had their own sons circumsized it is a no-brainer to us.
Cate: A large majority of women on both sides of the Atlantic have no basis for an informed opinion about the sexual or esthetic merits of both kinds of penises. The vast majority of women have known Biblically only one kind.
For that matter, even I, as a str8 male, have no business for commenting on the sexual merits of both kinds of penises. The only penis I know intimately is my own, which happens to be intact. The only humans with substantial experience of both kinds of men are some gay men, and a minority of women with a rather risky sex life.
Many women have only had a handful of lifetime sex partners. What partners they have, have been from their own social stratum. Many human communities (religion, eduction, economic class) are either entirely cut or entirely uncut.
Many women in the past did not know if hubby is cut or uncut. First, it is very wise if a woman insists that all casual sex take place with a condom. But if she does this, she will learn little if anything about cut vs. uncut. Even without condoms, uncut will not necessarily intrude into her sex life. The foreskin is very easy to miss when the penis is erect, and many husbands are invariably erect when naked with their spouses. A woman will notice a foreskin if she rolls the condom on, or HJ is a standard part of her foreplay routine. But I am confident that for many women, neither is true.
The only opinions that really matter are those of women who:
* Have had multiple sex partners of both varieties;
* Unwisely disdain condoms;
* Include HJ as a regular part of her sexual activity. This is the only common sexual act that fully betrays the foreskin.
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