Circumcision

[leannac]

Anyone know how you go about getting baby boy circumcised? Do the midwives offer to arrange it when he's born or is it sonething you go to gp for?

Please don't do it!! It's socially accepted genital mutilation and it's WRONG.

I had mine circumcised. All my friends went to the same doc. Its an nhs clinic. He provides the service privately. Goodcare practice in northolt middlesex.

Sickening.

Oh I love these threads, such fun for those of us whose sons have had to be circumcised for medical reasons to read that they are now considered to be mutilated. Super!

AYetiAteMe Are you being deliberately obtuse? circumcision for medical reasons is, imo, the only acceptable reason.

Makes me feel sick this is done for religious reasons, what a load of crap.

yeti you clearly haven't read the thread then!

99% of people are saying circumcision is wrong EXCEPT WHEN MEDICALLY NECESSARY!

Can't believe people are actually offering op help to do this. Shame on you

i write reasons too often

How is it that the routine male circumcision is mutilation when one for medical reasons is not... It is same procedure that can be done by the same person except one is preventive and another one is emergency... I don't have a penis but surely it would be more distressful to have an infected penis than a circumcised one... especially since it could of been prevented...

Because there is a huge difference between doing it for medical reasons and doing it for outdated aesthetic reasons (or religious). It's like the difference between a mastectomy because someone has cancer and doing it "just because"!! That would be mutilation.
A medical reason is for example when the foreskin is too tight and causing pain or difficulty urinating. These cases are a tiny majority and certainly benefit from the procedure.
You think that doing it as a "preventative" measure is LESS likely to cause infection than leaving it alone??! With appropriate hygiene, normal uncircumcised penises do not become infected! Why not teach this instead of mutilating your sons.

lets just lop off anything that may get infected then - ears, fingers, etc. I know very few males that have had infections in their penis and they are all uncircumcised - they have obviously been taught how to keep themselves clean to prevent infection.

It's not routine in Australia.

I don't believe a sensible adult cannot honestly see the difference between cutting off part of a babys body "just because" and doing it because its a medical necessity.

Anyway, if its so accepted as fine op will have absolutely no problem in asking the mw or hv instead of an anonymous forum, and if its fine there is no reason for little secret pms and people attempting to justify it is there.

And op casually saying the sooner you cut off part of a tiny helpless baby who looks to you for protection against harm do it the better is possibly the saddest thing I have heard on this subject.

I'm sorry if this thread is distressing to people who have had their sons circumcised- but they shouldn't have done it. There is no excuse now.

You need ears fingers etc to have normal way of life, what do you need foreskin for?

I respect that in UK people choose not circumcise for most time because that is what socially acceptable now. In America it is socially acceptable to have circumcised penis that is also for medical preventive reasons. If you know that your child will live in a environment where having foreskin is ridiculed and un-accepted why would you knowingly expose them to that, that can be a lot more damaging than a simple procedure.

On final note, the actual reason routine circumcision is not offered on NHS any more is for financial reason and not for any moral reason. That is why if you ask your GP about circumcision they will provide you with information. For the same reason NHS doesn't offer routine early and late pregnancy scans, they can't afford it or choose to spend money elsewhere. Surely many women could benefit from these 2 additional scans, especially the early pregnancy one instead of waiting until 12 weeks hoping that they are still pregnant. But NHS gets away with it because they know that some people are desperate enough they will pay extra money for these service and they do not have to assume a financial burden. Same with male circumcision, they knew if you wanted it bad enough you will pay your own money and get it privately. After the procedure stopped being offered on NHS people stopped circumcision to their sons not because they thought it was wrong but because they were too stingy, thus the decline... and now a different social norm...

I completely agree! I would find the whole thing very distressing and obviously my baby boy would too! I got upset when he had the heel prick test and the jabs at 8 weeks but I understand the benefits of these.

How a mother could choose something distressing without a reason is totally beyond my understanding. I like to think that I am the kind of person who can see other points of view, but with this I just can't.

Any parent who has had no choice in this decision, I really do feel for you. It must have been awful but hopefully it was the best thing to do for your son.

I don't how why i read this thread, but how completely disgusting of you to mutilate your baby boy without even the pretence of a good reason. Not that there is a good reason I can think of anyway.Would you be mutilating any daughters you have too? That's practiced in parts of the world too you know, so must be ok.

You do not need fingers, ears etc to have a 'normal way of life' at all, what a ridiculous comment.

But hey, let's just cut them off anyway.

I don't see how living in the USA would expose them to ridicule. How would anybody know?

GP's give advice on how to go about this because there are many religious groups that do and, like you said, other countries where it is the social norm. A GP wouldn't be allowed to question this, only give you the pro's and con's for you to make your own decision.
Others have already posted that the NHS feel it is better to offer this in a dafe way when certain people would find a way to do it anyway.

The majority on this thread have not chosen to opt out because they are "too stingy". They don't think it is morally right.

It is not routinely done in Australia!

I remember being with a group of friends in the late '80s and the boys decided to classify themselves as "helmet" or "rocket". (I know, but we were all about 17 or 18 )

There were more uncircumsised boys than circumsised in that group, certainly!

Female circumcision is different and illegal in UK and most developed countries so it is not relevant here. If you went to your GP and asked about female circumcision they would call child support services on you they would answer you if ask about male circumcision. Very different...

babynelly, circumcision is not routinely done on the NHS, because there is no medical reason to do so.

Why do you think it might be routinely done in America, where everyone has to pay (either directly or via insurance) for the procedure? Perhaps because the medical profession has a vested interest in performing as many circumcisions as possible?

"Mutilation or maiming is an act of physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of any living body, sometimes causing death."
Male circumcision does not fall into this description, female circumcision does. Once again two different things...

You're right about that babynelly, seems having a penis means its fair game on having a bit of it chopped off when there's no need.

Anyway must dash, my Ds doesn't really need his legs and I'm scared he might break one when he's older so I'm having them whipped off. Shouldn't be too painful, I hear the cream they use to numb the area is fab and they only cry because they are a widdle bit cold on the table

"In America it is socially acceptable to have circumcised penis that is also for medical preventive reasons."

Why? Don't males routinely shower or bath in the US? Is there a shortage of soap there or a drought?

Sorry, but that statement is utter nonsense peddled by doctors who are looking for ways to make money out of the gullible.