Never mind. On further reading, circumcise is the proper spelling and I’m an idiot.
yep.
cut at 10 days.
nope.
I regret nothing
My sons will be cut and so will their sons and so on.
“You don’t want the mark of the Covenant twixt you and G-d? Would it also please you to go visist the grave of your Zeyde (yiddish for Grampa) and defecate upon it? I blame myself. Where did I go wrong? How did I fail to raise you as a Jew?”
Are you circumsized? yes
If so who old were you when it happened (infant, child, teen, adult)? infant
Was it your choice? I don’t remember the topic coming up in conversation.
Why were you circumsized (religion, tradition, medical, etc)? In Cleveland in 1958 I expect this was the norm.
Do you regret or resent your circumcision? No
Would you have your son circumsized? In fact we did. We had a long talk with the doctor and decided to do it. It was done as minimally as it could be.
If so would you have it done while he was an infant or would you wait until he could make his own choice? **A lot of the reasons for doing it, relating to health, peers, etc., come into play before the kid would be old enough to make the decision. **
I am. Happened when I was a kid. Not only was it not my choice, but it wasn’t even my parents–appearantly my mother fell asleep after I was born, and when she woke up, I was, um, looking a little different down there. I don’t really resent it, but I’d rather it hadn’t been done. I wouldn’t have it done to my son; if he wanted it for whatever reason, he could have it done himself.
I’m not, and found I was quite the novelty when I visited a suburb of Chicago one time. I’ve never had so many women (though only a handful really) wanting to get inside my pants (albeit out of curiousity…).
Actually Hadrian forbade Jews to circumcise their slaves or converts, not their own sons.
Uncircumcised, in the event I should have a son (given its not really probably I’ll have another child) I wouldn’t have him circumcised unless it was a medical necessity, which for me wouldn’t count as any studies showing reduced risk of HIV infection amongst Africans or the like.
No, and neither’s my son. It’s the craziest unnecessary medical procedure ever. IMHO.
Nope; I have an aardvark, not a helmet.
I have no sons, but I wouldn’t have had them “done” either.
[SinCitymode]
Are you circumsized? Yes
If so who old were you when it happened? I was a few days old when a marauding band of nurses and Drs caught me sleeping in my crib. I took down three of them before they got me, but I still managed to drench the rest with pee. Bastards.
Why were you circumsized? I’ve often thought that it was a plot to decrease the sexual satisfaction of women in America in future decades, but Cigarette Smoking Man died before I could beat the truth out of him.
Do you regret or resent your circumcision? Bitterly. I’ve tracked all but one of the bastards down to their various Florida retirement communities, but I won’t rest until I find their leader and master-mind, the insidious Dr. Patel… (not his real name)
Would you have your son circumsized? Why, what did he do?
[/SinCitymode]
No.
As to the rest, the only one I can answer is what I would do with my son. I don’t have one, and we haven’t talked about it. So, I guess that would be “I don’t know.”
[Dutch perspective]
In the Netherlands, and I believe in most European countries, circumsizion is not standard operating procedure. Very few Dutch men (non-Jews, non-Muslims) are circumsized.
[/Dutch perspective]
I was circumcized when I made the mistake of flashing my brights at a car that was driving at night without their headlights on. I didn’t know at the time that this was an initiation ritual for one of Montgomery AL’s seven meanest Hasidic Street Gang, “The Samsonites*”; new members had to bring 50 new foreskins to join up.
*
*So called due to Samson’s Philistine foreskin collection and the old joke with the punchline “yeah, but if you stroke it for a while it goes from a wallet to a suitcase”.[/1]
I am circumsized. I was when I was a baby. I don’t resent it and I would probably have my son circumsized, but it is a hard thing to say because I won’t ever have a child.
Aww, man, I meant to move this to IMHO yesterday, but I slacked off and forgot to do so. I guess I couldn’t cut it.
I was circumsized on the eighth day by a doctor (not a moehl) even though my family are not Jewish. I don’t remember the event, but my father told me that I howled bloody murder when it was done. He always said that with a laugh. Easy for him, since he wasn’t afflicted by the covenant himself.
I blame my grandfather for the removal of what some doctors now say was greater sensitivity of the penis. Grandpa was a nominally Christian minister, but his sect kept a Saturday sabbath, eschewed the so called “Christian” holidays of Christmas and Easter in favor of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, and consequently generally screwed up my access to childhood activities like Boy Scouts and Little League because they were mostly done on Saturdays.
If I were not so fat that I haven’t actually seen my “member” in years (for obvious reasons, I avoid mirrors when I’m naked), I would have a constant reminder of the wonderful gift of circumcision given me by my parents when I was too damned small to stop them. The practice should be classified as child abuse and outlawed in every civilized country.
I’m only partially kidding here.
Circumsized shortly after birth – it was routine in the U.S. in 1963 (and in all years since, I have no doubt). I guess I would have the same done to my son. Why not? Foreskins are useless and are reputed to accumulate “smegma” – dead skin cells cum skin oils and sweat, such as you’ll find under your big toenails whenever you cut them.
Yup, as an infant (non-consensually, of course). I imagine it was a combination of all 3 (relig/trad/med) that motivated my parents, it wasn’t until years and years later did I realize not everyone went through it (I assumed it was standard practice for boys). I don’t regret the circumcision, and I’ve certainly got lots of compliments from women who prefer that look, but if I were to have a son (I won’t, but if…), I wouldn’t get one for him at all. Some recent studies aside, I haven’t seen anything comvincing enough to compel me to subject my offspring to such a procedure. YMMV.
Throwing my information into the pot:
Circumcised right after birth because of whatever prevailing reason there was in the mid-80s (‘Everybody does it’ plus something about health and hygiene, IIRC). I don’t resent it at all, though I occasionally wonder if I’m missing out on anything during sex. For my future son(s)? I dunno. Unless there’s some new convincing reason that people learn in the future, my default is to avoid any unnecessary medical procedures. Why bother?
SNL skit from the '70s:
I went to the rabbi, who sent me to the mohel
But the mohel was clumsy and he made me a goil!
Now you’re doing the Castration Walk!
Old Jewish joke:
A guys is walking down a street in Manhattan and notices his watch has stopped. He sees a shop with a clock in the window and walks in.
CUSTOMER: Can you have this fixed by Tuesday?
SHOPKEEPER: I should fix this? I’m a mohel! I circumcize people!
CUSTOMER: Then why do you have a clock in your window?
SHOPKEEPER: What would you have in your window?