# Penile circumcision-- are today’s young parents opting out of this for their babies? (Read note in OP.) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773 "2024-10-14T17:21:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/21 "2024-10-14T21:16:30Z")
I was born without a foreskin. Despite this and despite the fact that my parents were totally unreligious, they had a ritual circumcision and the mohel insisted on drawing blood. My first son was circumcised at the recommendation of her Swiss doctor who had his own son circumcised (he wasn’t Jewish), but recommended a special clinic in Zurich for the purpose. So unless you consider Switzerland not in Western Europe, it is not true that there is no circumslcision in western Europe. Our second son was like me and we didn’t have him circumcised. Think of it as evolution in action. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/22 "2024-10-14T21:17:28Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > This is a website run by men who are angry that they were circumcised as babies. This site should provide the necessary argumentation for my position. These guys seem like loons to me. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/23 "2024-10-14T21:17:46Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Maybe. Go look for it, I guess. Nah. You made the claim. You provide the cites. And no, a blanket statement from AMA doesn’t (ahem) cut it. ETA: > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > So unless you consider Switzerland not in Western Europe, it is not true that there is no circumslcision in western Europe. If that was directed to me: I didn’t specify what part of Europe and I didn’t say it doesn’t happen, just that there’s a large amount of men that could possibly serve as a comparison. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/24 "2024-10-14T21:19:07Z")
> [@Nightaudit](#): > > I’m nipped at the tip… and honestly I don’t even think about it. 1. And there are other people who resent it. One of my premises in life is that rights and liberties - including protections - exist for those who want and need them 2. You (and not only you) talk like the time when you were being circumcised and quite possibly suffering excruciating pain counts for nothing. Just because you don’t remember it now doesn’t mean that it’s OK that you suffered it at the time. You were equally human when you were a baby. 3. The foreskin is not just dead weight - it serves a function, including one contributing to sexual pleasure. And there are people who have had botched circumcisions with irreversible damage to their genitals - or who have even died from it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/25 "2024-10-14T21:20:06Z")
There was an excellent study in South Africa showing that circumcised men were less likely to catch HIV. I didn’t think that’s a compelling reason to get circumcised in most of the world, though. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > That’s why neither one of our boys is circumcized. If they want that they can choose it on their own. But they will not be able to choose infant circumcision, which is enormously less traumatic than post-puberty circumcision. 🤷‍♀️ There are a lot of choices parents make for their kids. What’s your native language? Did you get infant vaccinations? Where did you go to school? What kind of food are you accustomed to eating? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/26 "2024-10-14T21:20:46Z")
I’m sorry, you mistook this for Factual Questions or Great Debates. I have zero interest in playing No True Scotsman data gathering with you where you get to arbitrate what counts as “clear evidence” or what “cuts it”. You have the same access to Google that I do. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/27 "2024-10-14T21:24:06Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But they will not be able to choose infant circumcision, which is enormously less traumatic than post-puberty circumcision Also, the cancer prevention benefits of circumcision apply only to neonatal circumcision. Being circumcised later in life doesn’t offer the same benefits. (FWIW, the rate of penile cancer in North America is around 0.56 per 100,000 and 0.92 in Europe, though there’s variance between regions (1.2 in the UK, 1.3 in Poland)) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/28 "2024-10-14T21:27:55Z")
For what it’s worth, I was born before the current trend away from circumcision in the US, and I wasn’t. Mom figured that Dad was better able to decide that particular question, and Dad figured that if they didn’t, and I ever decided later in life that I wanted it, it could be done then. And it never really made any difference to me. Most boys in the locker room would rather die than make any sort of comment about another guy’s penis, and I figure that by the time any woman sees it, she’s already made up her mind if she wants to have sex with a man. I might have noticed that it looked different from Dad’s, but then again, I also noticed many other ways that I looked different from him, and I suppose I eventually asked, at which point my parents explained. Being an uncircumcised male among the circumcised just wasn’t ever any sort of big deal. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/29 "2024-10-14T21:31:48Z")
> [@Charlie\_Tan](#): > > You made the claim. You provide the cites. Sure. Googling “circumcision hiv study” will give you lots of results, but here’s a recent one > **[Medical circumcision reduces HIV risk for gay and bisexual men - but only for...](https://www.aidsmap.com/news/jun-2024/medical-circumcision-reduces-hiv-risk-gay-and-bisexual-men-only-tops)** > > Male medical circumcision reduced the risk of HIV acquisition by 91% in gay and bisexual men who predominantly took the insertive role in anal intercourse, a randomised study carried out in China has reported. It’s interesting in that it was a randomized prospective study (men were randomized to be circumcised immediately or in 12 months) where most of the studies are observational or non-randomized. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/30 "2024-10-14T21:40:02Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > The foreskin is not just dead weight - it serves a function, including one contributing to sexual pleasure. What function? We used to have a few posters who were one trick ponies on the subject of circumcision being wrong and evil. The best any of them could come up with is that without a foreskin, the head of the penis becomes slightly keratinized and somewhat less sensitive… Is that the function you are talking about? Or are you claiming something else? ---
**Author:** ![sunacres](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@sunacres](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunacres)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/31 "2024-10-14T21:44:36Z")
I was circumcised at birth and neither of my parents were asked about it, the hospital just went and did it, same as my two brothers, all of us at different hospitals in different states. That was back in the 50’s. My son was not circumcised and has not had any problems, socially or medically. My partner is a doctor and she has shared some really shocking tales of entrenched habits of the medical profession - especially around childbirth protocols. There has been some progress there, but like most professional associations these days the AMA works hardest to protect the financial position of its membership over the best interests of their clients. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/32 "2024-10-14T21:50:30Z")
> [@sunacres](#): > > the AMA works hardest to protect the financial position of its membership over the best interests of their clients. Ironically, you can find the same position being made about Europe (neonatal circumcision isn’t routinely performed because of the cost to the nationalized healthcare systems versus return on dollar for benefits) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/33 "2024-10-14T21:51:10Z")
\*\* story my mom told me. I was too young to remember. My dad wasn’t circumcised. He had problems with rashes and tenderness. It’s hard to clean inside the foreskin. It’s moist and a great environment for bacteria. He finally got fed up, and was circumcised in his early thirties. As you can imagine, the recovery was extremely painful. Babies heal much faster. I was circumcised as a baby. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/34 "2024-10-14T21:55:00Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But they will not be able to choose infant circumcision, which is enormously less traumatic than post-puberty circumcision. 🤷‍♀️ There are a lot of choices parents make for their kids. What’s your native language? Did you get infant vaccinations? Where did you go to school? What kind of food are you accustomed to eating? You could use that logic to justify giving parents a free hand in making any awful decisions they see fit and not doing anything about it. Just because parents _do_ make all these decisions doesn’t mean they need to make all of them or should make all of them for their children. By your logic, parents should be allowed to have all their children’s teeth pulled in order to avoid cavities and possibly very dangerous oral infections later. Surely you don’t think parents should have such decision-making power? You’re naming a decision here that needn’t be made because if it weren’t a cultural thing (in the USA due to medical quackery, in Jewish, Muslim and certain other communities due to religious mandates), no normal adult man would _think_ to have his foreskin removed. In most European countries (I can speak from experience in the matter of the Czech Republic, where I live now), normal men do not see their foreskin as anything problematic and would not think to have it removed, nor to subject their sons to it. The proof is in the pudding. Foreskins are not a harmful part of the body. With normal hygiene, the average man will have no major issues with it. > [@themapleleaf](#): > > The foreskin is not just dead weight - it serves a function, including one contributing to sexual pleasure. What function? We used to have a few posters who were one trick ponies on the subject of circumcision being wrong and evil. The best any of them could come up with is that without a foreskin, the head of the penis becomes slightly keratinized and somewhat less sensitive… Is that the function you are talking about? Or are you claiming something else? [/quote] The glans is soft tissue. When not erect, the foreskin protects the glans from abrasions and other injuries. It also actually serves a hygienic purpose, particularly in infants who are not yet toilet trained, protecting the glans from fecal matter. The question of sexual pleasure with or without a foreskin is a matter of debate, but it does contain certain sensitive nerve endings. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/35 "2024-10-14T21:57:28Z")
Cecil in 1994: > **[Slice of life: the circumcision debate](https://www.straightdope.com/21342047/slice-of-life-the-circumcision-debate)** Later that same year: > **[The last word on circumcision](https://www.straightdope.com/21343495/the-last-word-on-circumcision)** Presented for reference only. That said, I see little or any qualitative change in the controversy. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/36 "2024-10-14T21:59:16Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > The question of sexual pleasure with or without a foreskin is a matter of debate, but it does contain certain sensitive nerve endings. You have a cite that it contains “certain sensitve nerve endings”? ---
**Author:** ![Nightaudit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightaudit/32/17181_2.png) [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/37 "2024-10-14T21:59:23Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > You (and not only you) talk like the time when you were being circumcised and quite possibly suffering excruciating pain counts for nothing. Just because you don’t remember it now doesn’t mean that it’s OK that you suffered it at the time. I don’t have any memory of that experience… but I do remember the time when I smashed my finger in the car door when I was 4… it felt like the entire world had clamped down on my right ring finger and the pain shot up my arm and through my elbow (like when you bump your funny bone and your pinky hurts too…) I remember that feeling but I don’t hate the engineers at Mercedes Benz who designed the weird “peg hole door locks” on a 77’ 350 SEL over it. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/38 "2024-10-14T22:01:54Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > You have a cite that it contains “certain sensitve nerve endings”? [This study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23374102/), for example. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/39 "2024-10-14T22:03:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And it never really made any difference to me. Most boys in the locker room would rather die than make any sort of comment about another guy’s penis, and I figure that by the time any woman sees it, she’s already made up her mind if she wants to have sex with a man. This is very sensible thinking. 👍🏼 > [@Chronos](#): > > I might have noticed that it looked different from Dad’s… I never saw either of my parents naked, even partially. (I had a thread about this a few years ago.) * * * I saw this item on amazon and it made me cringe… Even if a grown man has no conscious memory of the event, the fact that there was enough pain and need for recovery to benefit from protective underwear… 😟 Up til now, his penis has been a good-feeling thing-- now it hurts? How to make sense of that? > **[Amazon.com: Circumcision Underwear for Boys - S Size, Foreskin Cut Underwear...](https://www.amazon.com/Circumcision-Underwear-Boys-Ventilation-Post-Surgery/dp/B0D7D83FY4)** > > Buy Circumcision Underwear for Boys - S Size, Foreskin Cut Underwear with Ventilation Holes for Kids, Reduce Friction - Men’s Post-Surgery and Sports Recovery Protection for Home Use on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders ---
**Author:** ![Nightaudit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightaudit/32/17181_2.png) [@Nightaudit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightaudit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773/40 "2024-10-14T22:05:14Z")
gromco clamps are cheaper than I thought….$340.00 plus s&h on google search 🤔 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/penile-circumcision-are-today-s-young-parents-opting-out-of-this-for-their-babies-read-note-in-op/1008773.md?page=3)