As most of you may know, I am about 5 months pregnant. First off, this is not a religious issue for me, neither I nor my husband have any theological direction on this topic.
I have been doing some readin, and it seems needlessly cruel to put a newborn baby boy through this.
What are your viewpoints? If you have a son, did you choose to do this? Why or why not?
We’re Jewish, but we decided not to circumcise the Beansprout. (there are a few threads in IMHO about it if you’re feeling diligent.)
I think that the risks and drawbacks outweigh the supposed benefits. Simple as that.
Where is JDT when you need him…?
ouch
JUST KIDDING!!! 
I am not a mother, and therefore have no son. I do, however, have a boyfriend who isn’t circumcised, and have had ex’s who were and some who weren’t. I prefer the “natural” look. I don’t think germs or infection due to uncleanliness is really an issue, and it looks better, IMHO.
My husband was circumsized, badly, with a plastibell clamp. He had infections of wound and as a result has sebaceous cyst like things all around the scar and has a narrowed urethral opening. More than one doctor linked the circumscision to the genito-urinary tract infections hubby had that lead to his infertility. If were not my my gf knocking me up, I would have had to go to the sperm bank.
If I have a son, he will not be circumsized. Complications of circumscision include loss of the penis and death. Yes, they are rare, but they happen. Any problem with the foreskin can treated if need be, and treatment may include partial or complete circumscision, but such complications are also rare and do not indicate routine circumscision.
Most of the benefits of circumscision can be duplicated with good hygiene.
Also, If your son doesn’t like the uncut look, he can choose to have it cut later. My brother, the idiot, did when he was 13. He said it wasn’t too bad.
Having had sex with cut and uncut men, I prefer uncut.
Circumcised father of two uncircumcised boys. Have you seen how they do it? It’s like a medieval torture device. They little Gaffers can opt for it when they are old enough to make the decision for themselves.
Sorry, that would be the little Gaffers…
BTW, Congratulations and good luck.
No way! But I live where it is no longer a routine operation. Off the top of my head, NZ had a circ rate of 5% and most paeds won’t do it. Australia’s higher but it’s getting harder and harder to find a paed who will perform this needless operation.
If it is medically indicated, that will become obvious and then it’s time to do it. Not as a routine introduction to the world for a helpless baby.
…since I’m not entirely sure of what the difference is (being a chick and not really sure of how to ask my current SO or my ex), I wouldn’t. I mean, if it’s working, why remove it?
Definitely don’t do it. There’s no reason to, and heck, a foreskin is NIFTY! I have one, I can talk:) As Ol’Gaffer pointed out, your kid can decide for himself when he’s old enough.
I’ve been reading pregnancy message board discussions about this issue (7 months pregnant with a boy) and those who circumcise for non-religious reasons due so because:
Dad is circumcised and he wants his son to “look like him.”
The uncircumcised penis is unattractive (there have been discussions in which women have stated that if they were confronted with an intact penis in a sexual situation they would leave the relationship), or unclean (odor/smegma), and dangerous (misinformation that inflates the risks of cancer, UTI’s, infected foreskins, and STD’s are used as justifications).
They don’t believe their son will be capable of engaging in adequate hygiene.
Since we are fairly certain that my husband will not be engaging in penis comparison checks with our son, that no valid medical reasons exist necessitating the procedure, that our son will be taught and will engage in proper hygiene, and that unnecessary cosmetic procedures shouldn’t be performed on infants, we’ve decided not to circumcise. I’ve also looked up some pictures of the procedure and it was not a pretty sight.
I’m not, my brother is. There are certain cases where the ‘chop’ may be necessary to relieve discomfort in times of ‘heightened excitement’ but should this be the case you’re not going to know about whether the little fella needs it for a few years anyway. I’m with the majority of other posters in leaving it for him to make the choice - would you pierce a daughter’s ears (or nose, or anything else) while they’re still in a pram (please don’t say yes)?
Don’t everyone yell at me, but my son is circumcized. I don’t know whether it was the right thing to do, but it basically boiled down to hygiene concerns and that “everyone else does it.” (Not really everyone, but most.) I know that’s not a good enough reason, but it was done properly, there were no complications, and everything is fine.
We didn’t, but our situation was a little different in that our son arrived home “uncut” from South Korea at 6 months.
But I wouldn’t have done it if he were newborn either.
As to “everyone else does it” its getting less and less common. Often insurance won’t pay for it. Your child will not be the only “gentile looking” kid in the locker room.
(Besides, my intact husband points out that it isn’t really good manners to look at or comment on another man’s penis in the showers. In junior high and high school, the other boys wonder why you were looking.)
I was circumcised at birth. Couldn’t walk for a year…
Sad but true. As the parent of 3 boys, 2 who aren’t and one who is, I avoided the issue and let the fathers decide. (Two marriages) Cowardly, I know, but the path of least resistance is the best when pregnant, I found.
I would never say I felt guilty over son no. 3, he is young still and I don’t want him to think there is something wrong, or to grow thinking he was abused by being circumcised. I think that is a real danger with prevailing attitudes and it really is a matter of choice or even fashion.
Don’t do it. It’s genital mutilation. Do you wonder why there aren’t hordes of 18 year olds finally getting their foreskin chopped off now that they’re adults? Because it’s a horrible procedure that shouldn’t be done just because the child has no say in it.
Absolutely not… unless there is a religious or physical condition that warrants it.
Regardless if you like the appearence of it or not, the baby goes through pain… and lots of it.
Responding to the 3 reasons that Romola said were common at the other message board: (BTW–these were arguments that were given to me when we didn’t circumcise the Sprout, too.)
**1. Dad is circumcised and he wants his son to “look like him.” **
Well, the kid isn’t going to look like Dad anyway. Dad has pubic hair. Dad is a whole lot bigger. Dad is an entirely different person. He isn’t going to look like him anyway.
2. The uncircumcised penis is unattractive (there have been discussions in which women have stated that if they were confronted with an intact penis in a sexual situation they would leave the relationship)…
Charming. I wonder what it would be like to be that shallow? Frankly, if some shallow bitch doesn’t want to date the Sprout because he has a foreskin, that’s fine with me. He should find a less idiotic girlfriend anyway.
**3. They don’t believe their son will be capable of engaging in adequate hygiene. **
Well, you have to teach them. You have to teach them not to pee in their pants, too. And not to stick raisins up their nose. And everything else. This type of hygiene doesn’t seem any harder than anything else.
I feel really kind of bad that the whole Jack Dean Tyler incident set circumcision-related discourse on this board back a couple of years. It’s been a taboo topic for far too long. I’m anti-circumcision, and I have been so reluctant to say so for fear of being associated with that looney. I oppose circumcision, but I don’t think it’s going to ruin anybody’s life either. So, I’m glad this topic was opened. Thanks.
My son was circumcised and he’s had no problems because of it. The majority here seems to be not to have it done but my advice is to do the research, talk to your husband, and make the decision between the two of you. It’s really no one’s business why you do or don’t have it done.
There was a similar post to this awhile back.
As I stated then, withing a few years of each other, two very good friends who were not circ’d were both taken to the hospital in the middle of the night (of passion) in great pain and had to have emergency surgery. Both were quite happy with the results afterwards.
I had a bizarre roommate in NY who gave himself a circumcision. I still get the heebiejeebies thinking about it.