Strollerderby

It's not my foreskin, it's not my husbands foreskin so unless there is a medical emergency regarding it's removal, I'd say the choice of whether it stays or goes belongs to my son.  

I am due with "Baby #1" in November.  My husband is circumcised but as we are en vogue as wanting to do attachment parenting, practice a vegetarian lifestyle, breastfeeding, cloth diapers (and all that stuff that people brag about but shouldn't because who cares how you raise your baby and I raise mine?)  I personally felt that leaving his willy au natural was the best choice.  One of our midwives gave us an extensive package on the pros and cons of the procedure and we have both since decided to keep Baby B as he came.  After reading all the research, my husband is actually jealous that he doesn't have a foreskin ("I'm missing a lot of great feelings down there apparently"!)

I never even considered getting my boys "snipped," and I'm happy to say that no one at the hospital even asked. I'm not saying you're evil if you get it done... I just couldn't.

I don't see the need for it ( unless it's a religious reason).

As a woman I find men who are not "snipped" very unattractive and as a nurse who has had to clean "unsnipped" elderly, patients who are unable to care for themslves, it is almost offensive.  I had no issues with having my son "snipped".  And I know from "woman's conversations"  that most females like the look of a "snipped" man.  Sorry guys!!!!  

We went back and forth with our son too.  But in the end, we decided to leave him as nature intended.  We did extensive research and the only data that show higher incidence of HIV is from Sub Subsaharan Africa.  The author states that it's nobody's decision except "theirs", as in the parents.  We actually left the final decision to our son.  If he wants to get cut when he's older, then so be it.  We left the choice completely up to him.

Data also shows that the number of circs is decreasing as more people become better educated.  

from a female's perspective, the fact that circumcised penises may be somewhat de-sensitized could go to the "pro" argument.....

After I gave birth to my first born son I fell inlove at first sight. All I wanted to do was protect him and do what was best for him...The next day the nurse came in and asked when I wanted to get him circumsized, all I could think about was how they strap their bodies down to a table and cut off the tip of their penis...It made me sick and very upset to even think about. My son's dad (who is now out of the picture) was hell bent on circumcision, but I was determined to stay strong and not let anyone talk me into hurting my baby. My son is now 4 and I am so glad I didnt get him circumcized. He is beautiul & healthy and if men were not supposed to have a foreskin God would not have given them one...To better help you make your decision, you can view a live circumcision online.

Mom of 2:

I agree with you, struggle not to fall in love with you.

Wouldn't we (rightly) tar and feather any man who sought to circumcise his daughter? Please don't anyone suggest it's any more righteous to do this to our sons.  

I think uncut men are gorgeous!

It's their body, and circumcision brings risks, please see:

www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org

Here's a quote:

"A piece of skin the size of a quarter

contains more than three million cells, 12

feet of nerves, 100 sweat glands, 50 nerve

endings, and almost three feet of blood vessels."

The Human Connection

Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson

McGraw-Hill, 1979

BTW, the American Pediatric Association no longer recommends routine circumcision, and North America is practically the only place in the world where circumcision is still routinely done for non-religious purposes.

Why would anyone subject their baby to such a barbaric practice is beyond me...or might it be an economic issue?

I prefer intact (not circumcised) men, myself - as do all of my female friends who have experienced both. Foreskin contributes wonderfully to foreplay!

I personally think it's horrific to cosmetically alter a baby's body based on his parents' sexual preferences and potential medical benefits that are infinitesimal at best. Any son of mine will keep what he has and will be able to alter his penis (as well as any other part of his body) as he sees fit once he's over the age of 17.

I actually agree with the comments here. We had our son circumcised, but I don't think I would make the same decision if I had it to do over again. At that time, I went with what my husband wanted (and what was familiar to both of us). I also knew that a member of my family had to have a circumcision as an adult for medical reasons, and that it was quite an ordeal. The general message I got at that time is that he would have been better off if he'd had it done at birth. Now I realize how rare that situation is, and I sort of wish that we had researched more thoroughly before deciding.  

This article was ridiculous! The way circumcisions are done is the baby is strapped to a "circ board" to immobilize him and the doctor gives a shot of novocaine to the penis head. Then the doctor cuts the foreskin with scissors-first down and then around. The notion it's done with a string and the foreskin is allowed to shrivel, dry up, and fall off, the way farm animals are sometimes "wethered" is not even possible. Where would the pee go? I was present for my son's circ. His father wanted him to be like him. It was a horrible experience I beat myself up over for years and the doc did a terrible job. My son is 17, is sexually active, and hasn't complained. Is the trauma lodged in his memory. No doubt.

Honestly, circumcision is weird and unnatural.  Men are much nicer intact, thank you.

The idea of cutting parts off of children for aesthetics seems rather self centred and disgusting if you ask me.

I am a nurse and if someday a health care worker has to take care of cleaning your penis, such as when you get older and have dementia, alzheimers, or are in the hospital for surgery and unable to do hygiene cares yourself, in an accident, etc.  then I suggest a circumcised penis is the best way to go.  

If you aren't thinking that far down the road, then maybe you should.  Then men that I take care of that are of the WWII generation never thought they would live to be this old either!  Some of the men are mortified that I have to provide their perineal care and pull back their foreskin and get it clean in there.  I have also seen two mens foreskin close up and they had to be circumcised in their 80's!  OW!

And the "experts" say we are all going to be living longer lives.  So, in my health care WORKER opinion it is better to have it circumcised.

Jamie, so you are recommending to cut it off just to make it easier on the nurses???? That is your job!! If you don;t like cleaning up after older people then you should change careers

Regarding the following quote:  (I am a nurse and if someday a health care worker has to take care of cleaning your penis, such as when you get older and have dementia, alzheimers, or are in the hospital for surgery and unable to do hygiene cares yourself, in an accident, etc.  then I suggest a circumcised penis is the best way to go).  

What do you do for women who have dementia, Alzheimer's or are unable to care for themselves and they need to maintain their genital hygiene? Should women have their vagina's sewn up so workers like you won't complain?

With your attitude, I would not want you around my family or me. My two sons are natural(intact foreskin)and they do a great job of maintaining their personal hygiene.

'"Will Make Son Look More Like Daddy" Assuming daddy is foreskin-less as well.'

Yeah. They never use that argument for keeping him intact if his father is - in fact in an episode of ER, the mother berated her intact husband for wanting his son to look like him: when he's intact, it's a BAD reason. Does anyone seriously believe a boy would rather have part of his penis cut off to look like his father than keep it? When he asks why they are different, and you say "Your father had that part of his penis cut off" the kid will say not, "Oh, I wish I had part cut off too!" but "Poor Daddy!" See also www.circumstitions.com/.../looklike.gif

Pamela: "The notion it's done with a string and the foreskin is allowed to shrivel, dry up, and fall off, the way farm animals are sometimes "wethered" is not even possible. Where would the pee go?"

Sometimes that's a very good question, and a boy died in Ontario two years ago when a misplaced Plastibell(TM) ring blocked his urethra, but the grooved inner ring usually holds the string off (and stops it cutting off his glans completely). See www.circumstitions.com/Glossary2.html Contrary to circumcisionist mythology, the Plastibell(TM) method <b>does</b> involve cutting and <b>is</b> surgical.

Jenny Q.: "from a female's perspective, the fact that circumcised penises may be somewhat de-sensitized could go to the "pro" argument....."

Not really. Circumcision is like ripping out his accelerator pedal and leaving an on-off switch. More nerves mean more feedback, and hence more control.

colhran: "I had no issues with having my son "snipped"."

The question is, will <B>he</B> have issues with it?

"And I know from "woman's conversations"  that most females like the look of a "snipped" man.  Sorry guys!!!!"

Anecdotal evidence. Certainly not true where circumcision is not customary, and who knows where your son will end up living? And as someone said, wouldn't you be outraged if men talked that way about cutting girls (surgically, sterilely, anaesthetically, the way it was done in the US until the 1970s, nothing like Africa)?  

And anyone who calls circumcision "snipping" should be required to watch a live one. Failing that, video.google.com/videoplay

I should have included this in the article: only 1/6th of the world's men are circumcised. So cut dudes are in the overwhelming minority.

I was done as a baby. Over the years I didn't think much of it because almost everyone else I knew (or noticed, at least) had been done too.

We didn't have it done when my son was born, and I don't regret that.  But I do have to say that he needed to retract his foreskin at a much earlier age than I might have thought, that smegma accumulated fom the age of 5 or so, that he he has had not insignificant problems with itching and minor infections. He has excema, and I suspect that has exacerbated matters.  But I do have to say that he's had many, many more problems than I ever had. Again, though, I don't regret not having him done.

I say this because I think people are too glib about the challenges of cleanliness for the uncircumcised. It's a chore, and I wonder what people used to do when the norm was weekly baths (say 40 or 50 years ago).  I suspect that's what the nurses in this blog are referring to. Maybe it's not a good enough reason to snip, but let's not pretend that there are no significant cleanliness advantages.  If people do not acknowledge that there are some advantages (even if they don't outweight the disadvantages), then we're dealing with ideology, not with reason.