Circumcision

[muma19]

DP wants DS circumcised however I don't. I also have MIL getting involved and pressuring me. What do I do? I want to be fair to my partner but I really don't want him veg for circumcised. HELP!!!!

I was circumcised at age 7 and it is cleaner, and the girls I've been with said they preferred it (of course, they may have been merely humouring me) - I prefer not having a foreskin and wouldn't reverse it.

They may well have been. It looks horrible, and definitely as if there's something missing.

How would you know what you prefer - it's supposed to lessen sensitivity, so presumably you have no memory and certainly no uncircumcised sex experience to compare this to.

I don’t think it’s mutilation

Just because you don’t think it is, doesn’t mean it isn’t. You ripped skin off your baby to please some unproven deity, you scarred his body for life without his permission, whether you don’t see a problem with that is irrelevant - under any other circumstances, doing that to a baby without medical reasons would be considered child abuse.

I can't get my head around what kind of a mother would put their child through a needless medical procedure. It's sick and twisted, however you try and dress it up.

There is no shortage of video material showing male babies responding to being cut and also suffering. I know,lets excise the clitoral hoods of all females once they are old enough. I just checked and my penis is nice and clean despite not being cut. What this is really about is cowardice and the fear of upsetting those who ritually circumcise. We turn a blind eye to brutality and suffering and sanction criminal acts because those who should declare it as such,dare not speak it.

I signed up to the What To Expect When yYoure Expecting app and keep getting emails about active chats on their board which is mostly Is posters- a recent thread on circumcision was enlightening to say the least. To read the posts you'd think an uncircumcised boy was definitely going to have an ugly penis which would cause him pain and result in an agonising circumcision as an older child to remove a tight foreskin. I know no-one who has had to have a circumcision in later life, so it can't be anywhere near as common as they all told themselves. As for it being "cleaner"? Teach your son how to wash his penis. It's basic parenting.

It's completely alien to me to hear these women who fret about accidentally eating a bit of Camembert during pregnancy actively plan to cut a healthy bit of tissue off their newborn child and tell themselves that they feel no pain. Fuck off.

@LifeIsToughMate
You had your son ritually mutilated to appease a bloodthirsty deity, but think the ones who oppose such barbarism are fear-mongering?!

Why did you do it? Was it fear of your deity or fear of your community? What would be the consequence of not damaging him?

It seams like the ones who are really acting out of fear are the people who cut bits off their children for religious reasons.

This is absolutely not one of those parenting decisions you compromise on. I worked in health care for many years, infant circumcision is not pleasant and absolutely shouldn't be allowed without valid medical reasons.

Also to be clear in the UK the majority of boys in most schools won't be circumcised. (Obviously there are cultural differences that could change that if your child was in school with a majority of students from a country in which circumcision is done routinely, but to be clear it's still a minority of boys in the UK.)

Absolutely no in situations like this. I have a few friends who've had this issue arise and they put their foot down.

Can we stop bullying a poster who had her son circumcised for religious reasons? Everyone is free to make whatever decision they see fit for their own child and it's grossly unfair to pile in on someone whose religious beliefs involve something you don't agree with.

You had your son ritually mutilated to appease a bloodthirsty deity

Bore off with your close minded nonsense.

I’m here to respond to Op. didn’t ask for your opinion and not interested in debating my reasoning.

LifeIsTough - have you even seen a little boy's foreskin? It's not a sack or a gap.

Honestly, it really doesn't get dirty. It's attached to the glans until they're 3 or older and needs no special washing or care.

There appears to be a real ignorance about foreskins are among proponents of circumcision.

My son will be circumcised due to mild hypospadias. They use the foreskin to rebuild the missing part of his urethra

I would only ever consent to it for medical reasons. Over my dead body would it be done otherwise, thankfully DH feels the same but it would be a dealbreaker for me, same as the bad/anti-vax argument

*vax/anti-vax

Well done for putting your foot down OP. Your baby boy is perfect just as he is.

When my brother was in his early teens my mum asked if he'd like to be circumcised like his dad (I forget what led to this conversation) I believe his reply was 'fuck off'

Urgh.. are you American?

RTFT! The OP already says she isn't and her partner is African.

In My own limited experience and entirely unscientific research sex with circumcised men is less pleasurable than uncircumcised. I think the forskin reduces friction, and keeps the skin on the “helmet” (sorry can’t think of the correct anatomical word) a bit softer.

Not a fucking chance would I allow this. Cultural reasons, just piss off

Everyone is free to make whatever decision they see fit for their own child and it's grossly unfair to pile in on someone whose religious beliefs involve something you don't agree with.

Why? FGM is illegal now and it was commonly done for such reasons. What is the difference? No one should have the right to mutilate their child's genitals for their own beliefs, IMO.

I’ve seen stuff online suggesting there are thousands of nerve endings in the foreskin and sexual pleasure is reduced by circumcision.

Personally, in bed I would say that circumcised men seem a lot less sensitive and more likely to bang away rather boringly. Haven’t undertaken my research over a very large sample size though

Circumcision is "healthier". That's an interesting statement. People with no appendix have zero risk of appendicitis and an appendectomy itself is low risk. There is probably a higher risk of death from appendicitis than routine appendectomy. Appendectomy is "healthier". Do we routinely remove the appendix? No.

Tell him that, in your experience, you think circumcised men are poorer in bed compared to their uncircumcised peers.

Even if your son is circumcised there's no guarantee he will resemble any other man or boy.

I'm a nurse. I've seen a lot of privates - male and female. Not everyone looks the same. That's okay. Even people who aren't circumcised don't always look the same.

I've always wondered whether it's 'more painful' as an older child/adult because by then the person can explain they're in pain and will complain it hurts. A baby can be soothed, but how are we to know it doesn't still hurt just as much? My teething nephew has been up five nights straight with nasty inflamed gums, but if you distract him and cuddle him, he stops crying with the pain. I highly doubt the pain disappears though. I can't imagine it's painless to have the skin cut off the end of your penis.

I think it's horrendous to chop bits off babies for no decent reason. Fingernails get dirt under them - are we supposed to remove those too? Stay strong, OP, and put that foot firmly down.

It's unnecessary.

My DDad was circumcised at birth (US army hospital abroad) and grew up in Britain. I get the impression that he feels very self conscious about it as it's not the norm in Britain.

It would be a complete lie to say circumcised men are poorer in bed than uncircumcised men! Ridiculous. Just because you don't approve of it, don't malign a group of men who may or may not be great lovers because they're circumcised!