Opinions about circumsicion

[Perfect Night]

When my son was born my husband and I decided not to have him circumsized, since everyone really said there was no point to it and all.

Two years ago, when he was five, he started to have problems. We'd been keeping it clean, pulling back the foreskin, all of that grand stuff for five years and then suddenly one day the skin won't pull back and the head, where the skin was covering, turned red and purple.

We took him to the hospital, of course, and they managed to pull the skin back a bit and puss just started pouring out. The only answer we ever got was "Well, stuff like this happens sometimes." It was basically something about how the skin lays against skin, it rubs together and gets sore and creates an infection. Needless to say, we had to get him circumsized for it all to go away and, had I known anything about that before he was born, he would've been circumsized when he was younger.

When he was a baby it really wouldn't have affected him as much as it did having done it at 5 years old. The poor guy couldn't walk for like a week, just sat in the floor or scooted/crawled to get to the bathroom and stuff.

I'm not saying you should or shouldn't have it done to your child, that isn't a choice for me to make, I'm just saying that people should get as much information on it before they decided whether to do it or not.

Your kid was extremely unlucky tbh, noone I know has ever had a problem with their wang due to foreskin.

I'm certain it was just bad luck also, but had I known that it was possible to happen I would've gotten it done. Then again, I was like 16 when he was born and I was completely stupid back then.

There was actually a kid in there who said his "pee pee" was choking itself. The parents never cleaned it and such and the skin grew around half of the head and started cutting off blood flow. D:

[Kuya]

Misconceptions are just part of life, especially things like sex.

But of course, and i'm sure you agree, that does not mean we should not put forth the effort to inform people properly. I mean, if i may use this example, we surely agree that teaching people about safe sex is much better than leaving it to chance.

Misinformation is dangerous.

[Alleya]

Misconceptions are just part of life, especially things like sex.

But of course, and i'm sure you agree, that does not mean we should not put forth the effort to inform people properly. I mean, if i may use this example, we surely agree that teaching people about safe sex is much better than leaving it to chance.

Misinformation is dangerous.

Yeah, I think we can all agree with that. But then the discussion has ceased to be about circumcision. Just because there is misinformation about it does not make it an inherently bad thing.

[Ashira]

And to actually slice off a piece of your dick because girls like it seems insane to me.

To have my breasts cut open and a large pillow of plastic put in it because men like it seems insane to me.

To have needles inject poisonous bacteria into my forehead to smooth it out and look younger seems insane to me.

To inject my lips with various chemical substances to plump them up...

To have someone chop off the end of my nose/break my jaw/cut my eyelids...

To have someone stick a vacuum under my skin and suck out the fat...

The list can go on. Women kill and butcher themselves to be noticed and paid attention to and loved, and y'all whine about a little piece of skin chopped off that actually does have some health benefits to it (the one that would concern me most as a parent is the infant urinary tract infections, especially when most mothers are not taking care of their own children and cannot really monitor how often their child's diaper is changed, etc).

I mean, yes, I understand how the aesthetic value of it is based on a completely cyclical thing here. If it weren't common practice, we'd see more variety and it wouldn't seem so weird to see uncircumcised penises, etc.

If you really want to get into it, I know I've brought it up before too; it is generally thought that circumcision became common practice in the Jewish faith because it was believed uncircumcised gave women too much pleasure and they would enjoy sex more, which... well, enjoying sex is a sin, it's for procreation only, remember? I believe the Bible story that somewhat relates and gives clues in this manner is the rape of Dinah. In any case, it's that same archaic belief that basically leads to the even more brutal act of adolescent clitorectomies.

[Tristam]

I'm pretty much against genital mutilation of infants. You say it reduces chances of various diseases, fine. When the person in question is old enough, they can choose to get circumcised. A lot of these diseases are sexual related or develop in later life, so I don't see why an infant should be worried about them.

Only problem with doing it when you're older is more potential complications. Plus most people seem perfectly happy with their penises the way they are, circumcised or not, when they grow up. Certainly not unhappy enough to slightly reduce risks of being uncircumcised (which are very slight to begin with) vs. pain and risks of surgery.

However, the problems arise when misconceptions take the ballroom floor. Like i said, some women honestly believe that uncircumsized men will give them UTI and or cervical cancer. Misinformation like this is ridiculous. And there are even men who think that circumsicion will protect them from HIV.

True enough, I would certainly argue against getting circumcised purely for aesthetic purposes later in life. And the misconceptions you spoke of are just that, misconceptions that unfortunately are probably more prevalent due to complete lack of education. When I first learned about why people got circumcised way back in the day, I got the standard "to prevent disease" answer, and as I got older I was shocked to learn that circumcision worldwide was not a common practice.

In the end, I've not seen anything to convince me that circumcisions is truly harmful to the infant (or adult), or at least more harmful than being uncircumcised. Not saying that being uncircumcised is proven harmful, since even the evidence supporting a potential theraputic benefit to infant circumcision is early and needs more work, but considering everyone seems happy with how they turned out, why not circumcise?

[Shuemue]

considering everyone seems happy with how they turned out, why not circumcise?

Have you read the thread? There are several of us saying we're glad we WEREN'T done.

[Kuya]

Yeah, I think we can all agree with that. But then the discussion has ceased to be about circumcision. Just because there is misinformation about it does not make it an inherently bad thing.

Back on track then.

Parents control the lives of their kids from conception to well after age 18 in most cases, if they feel the kid should be circumcised, let 'em. Doesn't hurt.

I disagree. Parents constantly complain about tattoos and piercings and call it mutalation, and yet here we have circumsicion and yet it is not considered a mutalation to them? Proposterous. If circumsicion has not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it actually benefits all males when it comes to anything other than the parents not wanting to properly care for their son's penis, then the procedure is just that, a mutalation.

Why should parents be able to arbitraraly decide to just lop off a piece of their child's penis for aesthetic reasons? Parents don't have full domain over their children, there are alot of things we don't allow them to do to their kids. You say it doesn't harm, i say it doesn't help them.

In fact, if i remember correctly Alleya, you called piercings a form of mutalation. Why then, is circumsicion an ok thing to do, yet when a person decides to change their body in anyway, such as with piercings, it's bad?

[Tristam]

considering everyone seems happy with how they turned out, why not circumcise?

Have you read the thread? There are several of us saying we're glad we WEREN'T done.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. Everyone seems happy, so why not? Who cares? Is there really enough evidence either way? I'm not sitting here trying to convince you to get circumcised.

If not then my default position is to get a child circumcised, both through my experience that girls (at least the ones I've known) seem to prefer it for aesthetic reasons, and my nagging feeling that there *might* be some *potential* medical benefit. Other people have other default opinions, which may be equally as valid since we've obviously shown that there's no concrete reason to go one way or the other.

[Perfect Night]

The only reason I would ever say that a child honestly should have it done is because of their parents. The types of parents who really aren't going to take good care of it and let it get to the point that it's going to harm the child.


..Or we could just kill off all of the lazy ass people and it wouldn't be a problem.

[Khamsin]

"Why do you want the foreskin?"

Sadly, that question is pretty irrelevent seing as how the procedure is usually done to infants, which cannot voice an opinion, much less form one.

But when they are old enough to voice an opinion, most objectively examine themselves and come to the conclusion that they like having the foreskin removed.

considering everyone seems happy with how they turned out, why not circumcise?

Have you read the thread? There are several of us saying we're glad we WEREN'T done.

But you weren't done, so you have nothing to complain about. Most of the ones who were aren't complaining either. Everybody got what they would have preferred.

While any man can develop balanitis, the condition is most likely to occur in men who have a tight foreskin that is difficult to pull back, or who have poor hygiene. Diabetes can make balanitis more likely, especially if the blood sugar is poorly controlled.

All the more reason to do it.

[Maxxthepenguin]

People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"
Black Symphony: "Tell that to my kid who got a cock infection and had to get a circumcision when he was 5"
People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"

That's what I'm getting from this thread.

[Shuemue]

Here's a thought...

Are circumcisions covered by general medical insurance in the US, or is there a separate fee?

[Kiro]

Pretty sure it's covered by medical.

[Kuya]

People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"
Black Symphony: "Tell that to my kid who got a cock infection and had to get a circumcision when he was 5"
People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"

That's what I'm getting from this thread.

Let me clarify. Circumsicion outside of necesity. All the more reason why a surgery that is not needed, really should not be that widespread.

And FYI, the vast majority clearly don't need it. Unless half of america suddenly got smaller foreskin.

Khasim and Maxx, why in the world would you even mention that? Obviously if medical reasons require it, a circumsicion must be done, but that is not the case for most.

[Shuemue]

Just wondering if it's partly a money thing, saving money for the NHS, making money for US private healthcare etc

[Perfect Night]

People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"
Black Symphony: "Tell that to my kid who got a cock infection and had to get a circumcision when he was 5"
People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"

That's what I'm getting from this thread.

That made me seriously laugh for some reason.

When I was working at a daycare we had a woman who brought her son in. He was still small, needed to have his diaper changed and such, so she was explaining to me that he had been circumsized. I was like..ooooooook. She then went on to explain to me, for whatever reason, why she had it done.

Because when her son was older she didn't want him to have to clean around the foreskin because then he might learn to masturbate..

[Avanarius]

Even though I did have infections when I was a kid, now, foreskin is kinda fun to play with :D

[Khamsin]

Pretty sure it's covered by medical.

Insurance companies are pretty cutthroat, so they've probably determined that it's cheaper to just pay for circumcisions for all newborn babies up front than to treat any resulting infections later on.

[Obev]

the even more brutal act of adolescent clitorectomies.

And here's the second reason why I don't approve of the concept. If you want to hack of bits off your babymaker when you're a mature adult for your own health, by all means get chopping. If your parents are consenting to removing bits of your anatomy when you're either not old enough to object or being pushed into it by idiotic societal pressure, I repeat: keep that knife away from my fucking penis.

Not that I'm comparing the United States' medical establishments to backwater African tribal communities, of course. I vehemently object to both practices though, as they're both a violation of one's right to choose what one does or does not chop off from one's body. And if that's not a right, it bloody well should be.

[Maxxthepenguin]

People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"
Black Symphony: "Tell that to my kid who got a cock infection and had to get a circumcision when he was 5"
People: "It's for cosmetic purposes only"

That's what I'm getting from this thread.

Let me clarify. Circumsicion outside of necesity. All the more reason why a surgery that is not needed, really should not be that widespread.

Preventative medicine is a good thing. Just because you like sucking uncircumcised cocks more doesn't mean that it's healthier.