Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hope that we can follow Iceland in banning male circumcision

999 replies

GladAllOver · 19/02/2018 16:10

It really is time that this nasty practice is stopped.
www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/18/iceland-ban-male-circumcision-first-european-country

OP posts:
G5000 · 19/02/2018 21:20

If you believe parents have the right to decide over their children's bodies based on their own religious beliefs, do you also for example believe parents don't have an obligation to provide medical care if they believe in faith healing?
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/13/followers-of-christ-idaho-religious-sect-child-mortality-refusing-medical-help

Mumofmyboy · 19/02/2018 21:21

I don't believe any child should be put through any unnecessary procedure. It's looking very likely that my son will need a circumcision for medical reasons and reading all the worrying and negative possible effects talked about on this thread now has me feeling very sad and worried about itSad

PatriarchyPersonified · 19/02/2018 21:22

Sersiouly

Agreed but it's the best comparison I could make that wasnt too extreme.

SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 19/02/2018 21:23

I must admit the entrenchment on thus thread in spite of baby's dying and suffering and having life long complications reminds me of americas blindness in the face of children dying of guns.

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 19/02/2018 21:24

Mumofmyboy

Please don't worry. I know of a few people who have had it done for medical reasons and there hasn't been any issue.

KimKatCourtney · 19/02/2018 21:27

As the majority of posters seem to think it is abhorrent, child abuse etc etc why don’t you think it has been made illegal in the UK?

Alisvolatpropiis · 19/02/2018 21:27

Yolo

I can well imagine sex is better for you both now, if your boyfriend had a medical issue relating to his foreskin which necessitated circumsion as an adult.

My anecdotal experiences are also only experiences with men who were circumcised as babies no experience of an adult man having undergone it for medical reasons.

Alisvolatpropiis · 19/02/2018 21:29

Sorry Cecily

Next time I will actually type the words “this is my anecdotal experience” for avoidance of doubt Hmm

QueenDramaLlama · 19/02/2018 21:31

Incidentally that 100 deaths per year quoted above is for the US, not the UK
So the dead babies don't matter if they live(d) somewhere else?

GColdtimer · 19/02/2018 21:31

Haven't RTFT but predict how it's gone. Good for Iceland. No idea why mutilating your perfect newborn baby for religious purposes is deemed acceptable. After all, nobody in the western world accepts the stoning if women but under sharia law it's perfectly acceptable. How about if I said my religious beliefs meant I had to remove my child earlobes, after all, just a flappy bit of skin, no use to anyone. And FGM is culturally important in many African countries but most people in the West find it abhorrent and is rightly an illegal practice.

But there are likely hoards of people calling people like me intolerant, who will tell me that their newborn didn't even cry when someone who want even medically trained ripped a part of his penis away, didn't feel a thing and so on. It's just depressing.

There will be others quoting health stats and ignoring those who said they are not really relevant in western cultures where hygiene standards are much higher.

What I don't get is if God didn't want your sons to have foreskins, why didn't he create them without one?

SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 19/02/2018 21:34

G5000 that article Shock

Halebeke425 · 19/02/2018 21:35

If God doesn't want men to have foreskin, why the fuck did he design them that way? Did he think 'oh let's make all the boy babies go through a painful and potentially dangerous procedure at 8 days old for NO REASON, that'll be funny'. I'm usually the one defending people's religious freedoms in debates but it's shit like this that make everyone think there's really no justification for religion in modern society. Seriously, all humans should have complete autonomy over their own bodies, you're beliefs should not trump that. Circumcision of babies is wrong.

BoogieFeet · 19/02/2018 21:35

I think this is something that should only happen for a medical reason.

Just because an adult holds a specific religious view it doesn’t give them the right to mutilate their child who may not hold the same views as them when they’re old enough to form an opinion on such things. If they do decide to follow the same religious viewpoint then they can have the procedure at 18.

Bluelady · 19/02/2018 21:38

Didn't mention that it's been discredited, did you? It matters because:

a. The population of the Us is a lot larger
b. A much higher percentage is circumcised

Don't let the facts get in the way though.

KimKatCourtney · 19/02/2018 21:38

So why is it still legal in the UK?

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 19/02/2018 21:38

twofalls I suggest you RTFT before you wrongly assume what has been said, otherwise you can look a bit silly.

bluepears · 19/02/2018 21:38

'As the majority of posters seem to think it is abhorrent, child abuse etc etc why don’t you think it has been made illegal in the UK?' that is as intellectually honest as if you were in the us in 1896 you could say theres nothing wrong with segregation its legal and the supreme courts ruled on it Plessy v Ferguson its a logical fallacy www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/73/Appeal-to-the-Law

SersioulycanitgetWORSE · 19/02/2018 21:39

In 2009 in one Birmingham hospital, 109 baby were brought in with complications from circumsision

1, per month was life threatening

That's one hospital. One.

Mumofmyboy · 19/02/2018 21:39

Piglet - thank you

I was quite relaxed about it before reading this thread!

PigletWasPoohsFriend · 19/02/2018 21:40

@Mumofmyboy

You are welcome. I'd hide this thread now if I was you. Flowers

Alisvolatpropiis · 19/02/2018 21:40

Kim

Same reason abortion was once illegal, why was legal to rape your wife, why it was illegal to be homosexual...progress takes time and often public feeling is the driving force.

KimKatCourtney · 19/02/2018 21:40

I just want to understand why people still think it’s legal if there is overwhelming opposition to the practice?

GColdtimer · 19/02/2018 21:41

Piglet if it's not been said yet it will be. I have been on too many of these threads to believe otherwise.

KimKatCourtney · 19/02/2018 21:41

But feeling on here seems significantly stronger than public opinion - a petition only got 4,000 signatures?

QueenDramaLlama · 19/02/2018 21:43

It matters because:

a. The population of the Us is a lot larger
b. A much higher percentage is circumcised

Don't let the facts get in the way though

1 dead baby anywhere in the world will always be 1 too many. Over 100 is awful.
It hasn't been discredited, the facts are there and it's likely to be far more than 100. But that's OK because the parents believed.....

Swipe left for the next trending thread