Circumcision?

[Claire236]

I've never started a thread in AIBU before as it can be quite scary so please be nice. My dh was circumcised as an adult for medical reasons & ds1 had to have an operation so has in effect been circumcised. ds2 (almost 5 months) is as nature intended but I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to have him circumcised. Firstly as that way he will grow up looking the same as his brother & dad which I think could make a difference to how he feels when he gets a bit older. Secondly because it seems more hygenic. I'm unsure due to the fact that ds1s op for horribly painful & I wouldn't want to put ds2 through that for no good reason. I haven't spoken to my GP about this so don't know when is normal to have it done or anything but I'd really like to know if people think I'm BU considering this.

I am coming to this discussion late but my twopence....I think that the sensitivity of that area for an uncircumcised youngster offers heightened pleasure for that youngster. I doubt that there is much difference though by the time the average man is say in his mid thirties ...

But this is a minefield area to try to consider legislation. Can't imagine Clegg and Cameron including in the Queen Speech.

Only read OP but can honestly say I think you're bonkers to even think about putting a HEALTHY child through this I have a nearly 2 year old who may well need to be as he's got problems down there. We're having to gently pull his foreskin back each day in the hope that he won't need this op (it's successful for a LOT of people, I hate doing it though). I'll basically so anything I need to to not put my ds2 through this but if he has to, he has to. I wouldn't dream of putting him through it if it wasn't necessary. If he CHOSE to when older, that is different.

Sorry but I think YABU.

You shouldn't cut bits off other people without their consent, regardless of their age.

Of course a medical need is different, on par with the decision we made to have DS's foot corrected so he would be able to walk properly. If there is something wrong with the penis then getting it sorted is not the same as cutting a bit off it so that it looks different.

Religion is not an excuse.

YANBU, my two DS's are circumsised and we dont regret having them circumsised. They are your children and you have to make a decision that is in their best interests. My two DS's had very loose foreskin which kept on getting caught when bathing etc so it was better to circumsise.

Their best interests?! Isn't it in their best interests to let THEM decide if they want a completely uneccessary, risky, painful and irreversable medical procedure carried out for no reason?

I think it's barbaric.

Couldn't agree more!!!

My DH was circumcised because he's foreskin was too tight. He thinks it was badly done & says the 'end' is not that sensitive. He also remembers the pain & discomfort after the op .

Please don't do it.

mumofthreesweeties - what did the foreskin get caught on ? (am think flannel/sponge ?)

Don't do it. Any operation carries risks however small. Poor kid could lose his doodle if it goes wrong (ok one in ten million do, but it does happen). It greatly desensitises the glans of the penis. This means men need to fuck harder to be pleasured.

More hygienic my arse. We have spent billions of years evolving. If it were unhygienic to have a foreskin, evolution would have done away with it thousands of years ago.

It's there to protect the bell-end, and it should stay. Only religious freaks do it without good medical reason.

I came too late to this discussion to help the OP with her question. After all this I imagine she is more confused than ever! Does she need any advice?

Well for what it's worth I became impressed with circumcision when I moved from a boyfriend who had a foreskin to one without, whom I subsequently married, We have two sons who were circumcised as infants at a private clinic. My DH left the decision to me but before the first was done I researched it for a few weeks.

I found masses of negative information condemning it with lots of untruths and lies from ignorant people, some obviously without any experience of circumcised penises. Not of few of them have posted the same old rubbish on this thread.
My research also took me to a few good informative sites and interviewed two doctors who performed the before going ahead.

Admitted, I was leaning towards having my first son done and they convinced me that circumcision is a good idea. It is cleaner and healthier. It does cut down disease and eliminate any possibility of a foreskin problem whilst growing up or as an adult when the sex life of both parties can be ruined by it. It really is a nonsense that it is not freely available on the NHS with balanced information on the pros and cons.

I can hear the shrieks of protest going up from some people who read my statements but I know what is best for my boys and I've done it. You are free to do the same or not.

It is cruel- the foreskin is fused to the glans in a newborn. Circumcision tears it away. Imagine that... watch a video of it, and then decide. Yes the baby stops crying after a while- it is probably in shock.
Circumcised men last longer because their penises are desensitised, their sensation is reduced, and therefore their pleasure.
It is a myth that it stops cervical cancer- there is overwhelming evidence that discredits that view, and yet it continues for that spurious reason.
Break the cycle.
Andy

Oh, and while I am on the subject, it is getting increasingly difficult to get a paediatrician to perform it unless it is clinically indicated. And 'because the other men in my family have had it done' or 'women love my circumcised cock' aren't clinical indications...
Andy

Having it done for any reason other than medical need (eg phimosis) is fuckwitted barbarism and child abuse. And no, 'religious reasons' are not a good justification for cutting off bits of other people. Your imaginary friend is irrelevant and if your culture demands you mutilate your children's genitals then it is a revolting primitive culture and you are a moron for subscribing to it.

Human beings have evolved beyond needing to have an appendix; it's a fairly redundant organ that every now and again flares up and causes an illness which can lead to serious infection and even death if untreated. There are stronger statistical medical grounds for performing routine appendectomies on newborns than for performing circumcisions. But as yet neither superstitious crap-peddlers nor fee-hungry doctors have tried to make it socially acceptable to do so.

Just from personal experience, my first boyfriend hadn't had it done and it was very tight and tore when we had sex, which was very painful and he had to have surgery to complete the job.

My exH is one of 3 boys and his 2 brothers had to have it when they were teenagers and it was very painful.

My DP has phimosis and should have had it done but his mum would never talk about it or acknowledge it and now he is in a lot of pain but is too terrified to have it done.

So, i would have it done to any ds of mine (not to match) but because from personal experience i think it is better to have it done when they are babies than later when it is more painful.

Unless for medical reasons it is totally wrong for a child to be mutilated for the sake of religion.

The children concerned may well decide when they reach a certain age that they do not wish to follow said religion, but would have been mutilated in the name of it.

I detest parents who push religion on children who have no say in the matter, and pushing a mutilation on them sucks.

I prefer a man with foreskin. No skin no fun for me.

"lots of untruths and lies from ignorant people, some obviously without any experience of circumcised penises. Not of few of them have posted the same old rubbish on this thread."

Lying, ignorant people who don't mutilate their DSs are posting rubbish?

and

zombie penis thread

Here in America I've never seen an adult male who wasn't circumcised, honestly. I've known three little boys who were uncircumcised. (I worked at a nursery and changed diapers, lest that sound strange!)

DH is and so is DS. I didn't really want DS done but I was so out of it after his birth and the pediatrician was so matter-of-fact that I sort of just let it happen. He didn't seem upset at all; they brought him back immediately and he wasn't crying or anything. I still wish I hadn't done it, thought, and will not be circumcising any future DS's.

Circumcision is completely disgusting. How dare adults (including parents) think it is right to cut part of a baby's body off (mutilate them), quite obviously without their consent. And let's be clear, there are no advantages to circumcision whatsoever. Those who absurdly cite issues of hygiene are quite clearly living in cloud cuckoo land. And to even think about circumcision so that a baby can be "like his brother and father" is absolutely and excessively bizarre, crazy and sad.

I've been with a circumcised man who had it done for medical reasons and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he did not enjoy sex as much as any of the other men I have been with. I was really sad that it had been done even though it was necessary in his case because it had turned the glans from a nice, sensitive area into something akin to sand paper. On no account should you circumcise your son unless it is needed.

Elenio - I would imagine there is something in what your grandmother says, since cervical cancer is linked to the HPV virus, which is an STI. There's some evidence, as you know, that circumcised penises are less likely to be a breeding ground for infections.

But but but... in that way they are the equivalent to a woman's labia. And no-one (or very few people ) suggests slicing them off for hygiene reasons.

"do mothers and fathers not take time to learn how to clean a willy with a foreskin."

Here in France, we are told by health professionals to leave it alone.

Is there a specific method of cleaning the willies of small children?

No no no you should leave it alone Cote. I'm only talking from the circumcision chapter of Baby On Board (I have a girl) so feel free to ignore me but the obstetrician who wrote it says a lot of foreskin trouble comes from mothers forcing back a fused foreskin (which they almost all are when they're very tiny) to try to clean behind it.

I also should say though that I had a partner who really should have been done for medical reasons. He wouldn't as an adult as he was frit but he found sex very uncomfortable / painful and was thoroughly messed up about it. So if I was in those circs with a DS I would probably arrange the operation during childhood.

How do you know it hurts less just because they are babies? Did they tell you themselves?

Dh had to have it done for medical reasons as a child and says it was the most painful thing that has ever happened to him. Unless medically necessary I won't be getting ds done ever.

And as for circumcised men not enjoying sex as much, surely that's due to more than just the end of their penis? For what it's worth, I need a stick specifically for beating dh off with so he has no problems there!

It is impossible for anyone, man or woman, to know whether any man circumcised as a baby enjoys sex more or less than he would if he had not been.

There are always people ready to attack the religious rituals of others which they don't understand and they should just MTOB.

The comparison with FGM is insulting to those who have their baby sons circumcised and to the victims of FGM.

It doesn't hurt less because they are babies. In fact, there's evidence the pain is more acute, because they can't intellectualise it.

Or indeed, take heavy duty painkillers.