# Non-religious circumcision, if you had a son, to cut or not to cut? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767 "2002-10-18T01:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/21 "2002-10-18T18:15:49Z")
Wow. I’m really quite shocked at a lot of the hostility towards circumcision and people who choose to have it done to their kids. Millions of people have been circumcised, with little or no ill effect. I was circumcised, and seem to be a relatively normal adult human being. ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/22 "2002-10-18T19:00:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eonwe \* > \*\*Millions of people have been circumcised, with little or no ill effect. I was circumcised, and seem to be a relatively normal adult human being. \*\* But then again neither do you know what you are missing. Only a daughter so far but if I have a son he will never be cut anywhere on his precious little body without a damn good reason. Elective surgery on a newborn, ah! now there’s a good idea!:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/23 "2002-10-18T19:21:41Z")
My son is not. I couldn’t bear the thought of mutilating his sweet little body. Hygiene? I taught my son to pull back the foreskin and wash every time he bathed. If you can teach one to brush their teeth, you can teach them to wash their penis. I read an interesting article in Men’s Health several years ago about men wanting to re-create a foreskin. Something about the head being more sensitive when it is protected by the foreskin. They did all kinds of strange things such as attaching weights to the skin to stretch it. Whew. Eonwe: weren’t you shocked when you leared of the African practice of clitorectomy (sp?)? Same thing. You should not mutilate your children. If they were born with it, they should keep it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/24 "2002-10-18T19:29:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eonwe \* > \*\*Wow. I’m really quite shocked at a lot of the hostility towards circumcision and people who choose to have it done to their kids. > > Millions of people have been circumcised, with little or no ill effect. I was circumcised, and seem to be a relatively normal adult human being. \*\* Well, speaking for myself, I am not _hostile_ towards anyone that does it for their kids, especially if there is a **need** for it… be it religious or physical. However, doing it “just 'cause” is not a good enough reason to subject the boy to it. IIRC, Anesthetic is not usually used. How would you like a knife/razor slicing up your pecker now? Do you think it feels much different to the little ones? Sure, you’ll get over it, but that wouldn’t make you feel any better at the time? Do your research. Its a very personal decision. My .02 ---
**Author:** ![trishdish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d2c977/32.png) [@trishdish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trishdish)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/25 "2002-10-18T19:43:17Z")
I’m 4 1/2 months pregnant myself. I told my husband, even before we were married, that there were a few things I was pretty adamant about and one of them was not circumcising any boy children I might have. I look at it this way - I wouldn’t cut off the clitoral hood of my infant daughter so why would I cut off the foreskin of my infant son? Babies are brought into this world perfect and whole and complete. There’s no reason to start messing around with them. And I definitely wouldn’t say I’m “hostile” about this issue. Hell, my friend, who is Jewish, will require me to attend her child’s bris if/when she had a boy. And I would go. But I might be in the other room during the actual proceedure. ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/26 "2002-10-18T20:43:19Z")
Circumcision isn’t important to me religiously but I would do it. Sure uncut looks nice but if you have ever gone to suck off someone who is uncut, it tends to just be smelly and gross tasting. Blech! It is even that way if they wash well. Sorry for the spoiler. I figure some people don’t want to read sexual things here. Well maybe not judging by how many hits sexual topics here get. I am so funny. You must laugh at me. Teehee! ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/27 "2002-10-18T20:48:22Z")
Oh, I’m not saying that if I had a son I’d have him circumcised, but its statements equating it to genital mutilation, and (since my original objection) clitorectomy really get my goat. Circumcision certainly does not equal clitorectomy, nor does it equal mutilation, any more than a piercing. ---
**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/28 "2002-10-18T20:53:32Z")
It may not cause a severe functional loss, therefore making a comparison to a clitorectomy invalid. However, it is certainly mutilation. It’s a cosmetic operation with no valid medical basis except in a few cases. In cases where a circumcision IS a medical necessity, by all means, do it. But doing it simply for “looks” or tradition is, IMHO, irresponsible and cruel. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/29 "2002-10-18T21:41:22Z")
I was cut and have never had any problems. I don’t buy into the idea of boys being emotionally scarred by it or having repressed memories or anything else of that nature. I just view it as basically unnecessary but (usually) harmless. Having said that, I don’t see any reason for it, and if I had a son I wouldn’t have it done unless there was some truly compelling claim for it as a benefit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/30 "2002-10-18T22:54:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Romola \* > **3. They don’t believe their son will be capable of engaging in adequate hygiene.** How can anyone imagine that any normal boy will not pay attention to his own penis when bathing? And what the HELL is all this ‘looks nice’ business? > [@](#): > > _(Kryten, a mechanoid, has just become human)_ > **Kryten:** Ah yes, now, I wanted to talk to you about something. Something about, um, well, something I know we humans get a little embarrassed about. It’s a bit of a taboo subject - not the sort of thing we like to sit around and chat about in polite conversation. > **Lister:** Kryten, I’m an enlightened twenty-third century guy. Spit it out, man. > **Kryten:** Well, I want to talk to you about my penis. I knew it, you’ve gone straight into smirk mode. > _(Kryten produces a polaroid photo and passes it to Lister)_ > **Kryten:** I want to know, is that normal? > **Lister:** What? Taking photographs of it and showing it to your mates? No, it’s not! > **Kryten:** Well, but is it supposed to look like that? > **Lister:** Well, yeah. > **Kryten:** It’s hideous! That’s the best design they could come up with? Are you seriously telling me there were choices, and someone said “Ah, there, that’s it. That’s the shape we’re looking for: The last-chicken-in-the-shop look?” Shakespeare had one? Einstein? Perry Como sang “Memories are Made of This” with one of those stashed in his slacks? ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/31 "2002-10-18T23:11:39Z")
I must say that the **dorkusmalorkusmafia** statement about fellatio does not resemble my experience. It may not be like removing a clitoris, but at prepuce is a prepuce and I would no more remove my son’s than my daughter’s. Uncut seems to be much more sensitive and tasty, but not so sensitive that it causes problems. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/32 "2002-10-19T01:36:31Z")
If it is supposedly done for “health” reasons, why not have his tonsils and appendix removed at birth? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/33 "2002-10-19T01:54:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NinetyWt \* > \*\*I read an interesting article in Men’s Health several years ago about men wanting to re-create a foreskin. Something about the head being more sensitive when it is protected by the foreskin. > > They did all kinds of strange things such as attaching weights to the skin to stretch it. Whew. \*\* Oh, I just can’t resist an opportunity to post this link: [www.tugahoy.com](http://www.tugahoy.com) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/34 "2002-10-19T04:43:41Z")
Actually, **Czarcasm** , I’ve wondered that myself. If you were really paranoid about appendicitis, why not get it removed on your own or something? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/35 "2002-10-19T04:54:30Z")
You know **Czarcasm** , that might be exactly what I’m thinking (although I know you were being sarcastic). Would anyone truly claim mutilation if their appendix was removed when they were a baby? It might not make a whole lot of sense to do, but it also would not be necessarily a Bad Thing. ---
**Author:** ![Profane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@Profane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/36 "2002-10-19T05:51:13Z")
My son is curcumcised. Anecdotal evidence from family and friends led to the decision. Both of my younger brothers are uncut and both had to have later surgical intervention (IIRC, due to the foreskin not retracting.) His best friends sons had to get circumcised at 8 and 10 because to recurrent infections. I know that chances are my son wouldn’t have these problems, but Mr. Sea was worried, and was convinced getting it done was the best thing. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/37 "2002-10-19T12:50:04Z")
Depends. My foreskin is _definately_ too tight. Its uncomfortable when I have an erection and hygiene can sometimes be a wee bit of a problem. I got a referral from my doc to have it looked at so I might be going for the chop later in the year. If it is too tight then it could be a better thing to do for your sprog when he young and unlikely to remember/complain. I wish I had it done shortly after birth but my mum (who accidently opened my post) reckoned the doctor at the time wasn’t too big on things like that apparantly ---
**Author:** ![privard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@privard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/privard)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/38 "2002-10-19T14:40:30Z")
“But then again neither do you know what you are missing.” Well, I’m cut, and if there’s more sensation to sex than I’m getting now, I don’t want it–it just might kill me. Seriously, the “mutilation” argument does seem a bit silly to me, but if you feel that way, don’t do it to your kid. But there seem to a lot of people with absolutely no tolerance for people thinking differently from themselves. Why are you so quick to judge other people and their motives? Who are you to decide who’s a bad parent? Ever since the Christian Coalition became big, everything has to be a moral argument. Sometimes the world is complicated and you have to give people the freedom to make their own decisions, and those for their children. Is circumcision so terrible–in the same league as female circumcision and leg amputation–that we have a right to tell people what to do? Only the tiniest fraction of people who’ve had this “inflicted” on them would say so. And, by the way, for those of you dismissing the old STD argument, take a look at the most recent research. It’s still being argued, so I wouldn’t tell you what to do based on it, but to dismiss it because you don’t want it to be true seems pretty ignorant. There is some evidence (again, not conclusive yet) that the uncut are more likely to spread clamydia and are somewhat more vulnerable to AIDS infection (not because of uncleanliness, but due to clustering of T-cells, which are the favored targets of the virus, in the prepuce). Judge for yourself (and your kid) but don’t jump all over everyone who comes to a different conclusion than you do. By the way, some cultures DO pierce their kids’ ears right after birth. ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/39 "2002-10-19T15:08:05Z")
So, **Eonwe** , instead of just saying how shocked you are that people could possibly call circumcision mutilation or compare it to clitorectomy, how about you explain why circumcision is nothing like these things. The way I see it - you’re chopping things up down there - mutilation. You’re removing part of the male sexual organ in one case, you’re removing part of the female sexual organ in the other. And finally, if it really is no more serious than a piercing, how many of you are going to start giving your kids clitoral piercings or testes rings? > [@](#): > > _originally posted yb privard_ > And, by the way, for those of you dismissing the old STD argument, take a look at the most recent research. It’s still being argued, so I wouldn’t tell you what to do based on it, but to dismiss it because you don’t want it to be true seems pretty ignorant. There is some evidence (again, not conclusive yet) that the uncut are more likely to spread clamydia and are somewhat more vulnerable to AIDS infection (not because of uncleanliness, but due to clustering of T-cells, which are the favored targets of the virus, in the prepuce). Judge for yourself (and your kid) but don’t jump all over everyone who comes to a different conclusion than you do. Unsubstantiated claims don’t hold much weight round here. If you can’t support it with evidence (a link etc), don’t post it. > [@](#): > > _dorkusmalorkusmafia_ > if you have ever gone to suck off someone who is uncut, it tends to just be smelly and gross tasting. Blech! It is even that way if they wash well. Oh, I stink now, do I? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767/40 "2002-10-19T16:02:51Z")
I don’t have kids but unless there were some immediate compelling medical reason to perform a circumcision, I would not have it done. You’re chopping off part of your child’s body for no good reason other than American cultural norms. Would you cut off your child’s earlobe or finger? Of course not. I don’t see a difference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-circumcision-if-you-had-a-son-to-cut-or-not-to-cut/132767.md?page=3)