RIC: Rant about Infant Circumcision

[kettunainen]

k, I've really been trying my best to hold back on this one, but after a stupidly irritating discussion at work a few weeks ago and then not being able to get the topic out of my mind for the past two days and working myself into a silent, passionate outrage, I gotta post something. I just gotta get this out of my head because I'm literally losing

Comments

[thewronghands]

Interesting read. Not planning on having a child, I had never thought much about this. In the unlikely event that I ever change my mind, I now know what I won't do. [grin] Thanks.

[indyamy]

I agree with you that it shouldn't happen. Or at the very least it should be up to the guy when he's old enough to make such a decision.

It wasn't necessarily a popular decision when I decided against it for my son in 1985. But there was no way I was putting my son through that.

I also made the unpopular decisions to breastfeed and use cloth diapers, people thought I was a weird 18 yr old.

Sadly, while living with his father, my son wound up getting a really bad infection on the head of his penis at age 7 or 8 and had to have the circumcision done then. I was very sad for him and didn't know they had done it until months afterwards :-(

[tamago23]

Sadly, while living with his father, my son wound up getting a really bad infection on the head of his penis at age 7 or 8 and had to have the circumcision done then. I was very sad for him and didn't know they had done it until months afterwards :-(

I've heard that given as a reason for infant circumcision: "it's better to have it done now than when they're older and it's a lot more painful". Well, a close friend of mine had to be circumcised in his late 30's after having a serious infection, and even he has said to me that if he had sons, he wouldn't have them circumcised. I don't think I could ever meet a better authority than someone who had to have it done in mid-life and still wouldn't perpetrate it on his children.

[heraldofchaos]

heres one more for ya

[tamago23]

the other thing that can happen, which happend to me is the forskin opening (ridge? seam?) can be tight and get tighter with out keeping an eye on it. which means peeling the forskin back regularly and getting it used to being streched (and beleive it or not useing baby oil to keep the skin soft) and not just regular cleaning during an erect state.

I just wanted to add, for anyone not familiar with baby foreskins that may have children in the future: the foreskin develops the ability to retract sometime around age 10 (for most boys). Prior to that time, LEAVE IT ALONE; it isn't MEANT to retract yet, and forcible retraction can cause bleeding, scarring, and permanent damage to the penis.

So while I agree that some extra care may need to be taken as a teenager and adult to prevent tightening of the foreskin, it is neither necessary or a good idea to do that with children. :)

[ewtikins]

Religious circumcisions I have attended have been nothing like the horrors of medical circumcision described at that site.

That said, I still wouldn't have it done to any child of mine without medical need, and this is one of the reasons I decided not to convert to Judaism.

[curgoth]

Get made fun of in the locker room? In my experience, no teenaged boy would admit to looking at another boy's penis.

[tamago23]

That's an excellent point. And with the current circumcision rate in Ontario being 16%, that means that 84% of the boys who are going to be in the locker rooms are uncircumcised! And these ignorant people are afraid the *uncircumcised* ones are the ones at risk of being teased?