To Cut Or Not To Cut

Great Debates
1

The foreskin. It doesn’t mean any harm. Sure, it ain’t good for much, but is that any reason to slice and discard?

I am a standard American circumcision survivor, from a long line. My 2-year-old son, however, remains fully sheathed. My SO and I did a lot of research and heard a lot of yammering from both sides:

“Circumcision is nothing but ritualistic mutilation, and subjects infants to unnecessary pain.”

“Un-circ’s get infections.”

“Cut weeners lose sexual sensitivity due to constant stimulation.”

“If you don’t cut, he will look weird to the other kids in gym.”

“If you cut, he will look weird to every other gentile in the world.”

“Well, my pappy’s circumcised, and that’s good enough for me.”

My wife’s own two brothers weighed in with their very own late-in-life snipster accounts, one for medical reasons (which was not horribly painful) and one for cosmetic (which was). Neither have circumcised their own sons.

Beneath all the extremes, however, was a more sensible undercurrent, whose consensus seemed to be that there was no compelling medical reason to cut, and likewise no ruinous aftermath for those who are anyway.

In the end, we didn’t buy the social arguments. As a kid, I never even knew what a foreskin was, much less spend time checking out other locker room shlongs. Besides, more and more parents are opting against, so my boy is less likely to be the lone scabbard-bearer. Why lace the already traumatic experience of womb-eviction with more pain and indignity?

That’s how we figured it, anyhow. How about y’all? Do we spare the scalpel and spoil the son? Or should we just leave shorty be?

2

I left the final decision up to my husband and we decided to get the circ for the following reasons, roughly in order of importance:

  1. Although the health benefits are small (lower cancer rate, fewer urinary infections in infancy, less risk of AIDS infection), they do seem to be real, and there are no complementary non-circ. benefits.

  2. Although the numbers are starting to balance out, most kids in our particular demographic are still being circ’ed. My husband thinks it might still be a class issue around here.

  3. We heard a lot of stories about people needing it done later in life, usually not pleasant.

  4. (This is my husband’s reason). Surveys have shown that circumcised men are more likely to have oral sex with their (female) partners.

So we went ahead with it. In spite of all the hoo-hah it was a very minor thing. My ob-gyn did the first day at the hospital, with anesthetic, and it was healed within a few days.

I hope he doesn’t become one of those guys who goes online to whine about how his life was ruined by circumcision. What a bunch of head cases (so to speak).

3

This was funny, and didn’t seem to be aimed at me. However, having jokingly refered to myself as a

…I just wanted to set the record straight (for the teeming nones who give a crap about this thread).

I am perfectly happy with my own circumcised willy. I find the whole Foreskin Reclamation camp to be creepy in the extreme. (Weights? Elastic bands? Shit, do they also wish their eyelids were long enough to flap over their chins?)

What’s more, I can’t imagine resenting the loss of any sexual sensitivity. I mean, the last thing a guy like me needs is more prompting to pull the damn trigger, if you follow me, and I think you do, wink wink.

4

If our second child is a boy, we will circumcise him for mostly the same reasons as Cher gave above.

It happened so long ago, I do not even miss it.

Jeffery

5

No, Dirt, it wasn’t aimed at you–you seem perfectly well adjusted about the whole thing. I’m talking about the guys that form circumcision support groups and tie weights to their willies in an effort to grow a new foreskin. What kind of hobby is that?

6

I’m snipped. My SO and I are working on having a rugrat, and if a boy I reckon we’ll not have him circumcised. I don’t see the issue. The health issue is unclear at best–research is inconclusive about a greater chance of infection. Sexual potency/sensitivity seems to me a silly issue. The social aspects (class issue, locker room ridicule) also seems silly. It smacks of Star-Bellied Sneetches to me.

The only concern I could possibly have is with the fact that I, as a circumcised male, will have to teach my son how to keep a foreskin clean. And that’s not nearly enough reason to me to worry about it.

As Dirt said in the OP, the poor foreskin doesn’t mean any harm. Why bother?

-andros-

7

You mean you didn’t SAVE it?

8

“Sure, it looks like a wallet, but when I rub it, it turns into a suitcase.”

Thank you, we’ll be here all week, tip your servers.

9

Thanks, cher.

And you’re right, I do feel pretty well-adjusted about my absent foreskin. Though separated, I feel we still share a certain bond. The Skin is currently working as piece of fried calamari in a popular Seattle seafood restaurant, and we enjoy an occasional correspondence via email. :slight_smile:

10

Um, thanks, Dirt. Now I know to refrain from eating Italian the next time I’m in Seattle. :stuck_out_tongue:

11

I’m with the mutilation group. How would you react if someone came along and chopped off the tip of one of your kid’s fingers? Not too well, I imagine. I understand the religious reasons, although I don’t agree with them. I don’t understand chopping off a piece of your kid’s body for purely cultural reasons. Just my .02.

12

So I take it you’re against having your ears pierced too, eh?

Frankly, while I don’t plan on having a kid anytime soon, if I did I’d probably be on the side of snipping. Medical reasons aside, it’s just more aesthetically pleasing, and I’d imagine easier to keep clean.

13

As the only one here has not been circumcised, let me say that keeping my genitals clean is not an issue at all, I just pull back my foreskin in the shower once and that is it. Cher3, can you come up with cites for some of those reasons in number three? Although that oral sex statistic seems a little dishartening, intercourse between a female and a male that is not circumcised is less likely to require artificial lubrication.

You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.

–Lyndon B. Johnson

14

Threemae:

They are from the AAP policy statement that came out last year. As you probably know, they concluded that there is no reason to recommend routine circumcision, but the statement contains information about the research behind the findings concerning cancer, UTI’s and STD’s. Here’s the full policy statement:
http://www.aap.org/policy/re9850.html

15

I’ll check in and add myself to the droves of snipped males. My opinion: leave the damn thing alone (I’m with andros on this one). As for the mutilation issue, I’ve got plenty of piercings, but they were my choice. I’m not in the foreskin reclamation camp, but I didn’t have any say in that decision.

16

Here’s an example of one of the surveys I mentioned. I’m not saying these women are right, but de gustibus non disputandum est, so to speak:
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/2754/womenpref.html

17

Point raised by the 2-year-old:

Unsnipped dingies look more like elephant trunks, and when you’re sitting in the tub it’s fun to pull it and make elephant noises.

(I know, I know…11 years from now I’ll find him locked in the can for hours on end, claiming he’s only “making elephant noises.”)

18

Dirt:

I don’t know how to spell the noise I made when I read your post. I’m just glad no one was passing in the hall. Two-year-olds–gotta love 'em.

19

When son was born, after seeing him, telling the doctor his name, and finding out he was 100% healthy. The first thing I did was to have him circumcised.

Why ? Well to me it looks better for one thing .

And because I had watched my nephew who is 9 1/2 months older than son go through lots of pain from infections with his uncircumcised penis.

" The opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference."
Elie Wiesel

Winner SDMB Biggest Flirt (Female) and Least Shy (No Mom, I have no idea why they think that)

20

From cher’s second link:

It might be interesting to hear viewpoints (espcially on aesthetics) from our non-Yank associates. Did I say “yank”?

And cher, my guess is only we parents are able to get a kick out of such Readers Disgest-ible tidbits, but I’m glad you can relate. :slight_smile: