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Original poster

Timing of circumcision

317 replies

sunhat88 · 09/04/2017 09:10

Hi,

My baby boy is due soon and he will be circumcised. (Please no circumcision debate on this thread). Those of you who have had you baby boys circumcised... what is your opinion on the best age to have it done? Also what was your experience of their recovery?

Thank you Smile

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muhajaba · 10/04/2017 13:17

I didnt say it was o.k, I said I didn't like it...can any of you people actually read properly!

AmysTiara · 10/04/2017 13:21

Disgusting practice that needs to be banned.

BoneyBackJefferson · 10/04/2017 13:46

muhajaba

You have said that you "generally" approve of circumcision.
You have said that you don't like the way that it is sometimes performed.
You have even said that you don't have boys but would do it to them anyway.

And you said that even thought you don't approve of how its done the party bit is ok and the boys only cry for a while.

How about you respect the body autonomy and don't remove a healthy piece of skin unless its medically necessary?

ButterflyFree · 10/04/2017 13:46

OP @sunhat88 my baby boy is due in July and he will be circumcised. We are Muslim, living in Dubai - so absolutely everyone here circumcises their sons. They usually do it within the first 2 weeks of birth.

I'll actually be giving birth in London at Chelsea & Westminster, and they have recommended doing it within the first 48hrs provided that the baby is born healthy. They routinely do it before mother and baby are sent home.

muhajaba · 10/04/2017 13:59

Why is it not o.k for me to agree with something that is legal and a part of my culture and religion? Why do you think your views are superior to mine and that anyone who doesn't think like you is barbaric, a child abuser etc?
Once again I will ask why millions of men choose to have their sons circumcised if it is so awful and traumatic as you are all claiming?

Even according to the World Health Organisation, circumcision of male babies results in "a very low rate of adverse events, which are usually minor (0.2-0.4%)"

ThoraGruntwhistle · 10/04/2017 14:09

Isn't the point more like, why would you want to risk the chance of any adverse events? Leave the baby alone and don't cut bits off him. Why would any god want a loving parent to do that? How does cutting pieces of skin from a perfectly healthy boy make you better in the eyes of your god or community? Maybe men carry on the tradition because of some weird sense that their son should look like them in every department and it was done to them, and their father before that. Maybe they should break the cycle of unnecessary mutilation of babies so that their son doesn't grow up believing that they should do it to their child as well.

AssassinatedBeauty · 10/04/2017 14:09

Your views advocate causing harm to babies for no medical reason. The opposing default position is to do nothing. Whether circumcision is currently legal, or part of a religion/culture doesn't change the fact that it causes harm to babies and exposes them to a risk of complications unnecessarily.

It's reasonable to suggest that the point of view that doesn't advocate harming babies is a better/less barbaric/etc point of view than the one that does.

boolifooli · 10/04/2017 14:10

Why is it not ok for me to agree with something that is legal and a part of my culture and religion

Because its an unnecessary and barbaric procedure. It makes no diffs if it's part of a religion or culture, what makes it okay/not okay is if it is an infringement of that child's autonomy. And it's a massive infringement. Let him decide for himself when he's an adult. Be the parent he deserves.

BertrandRussell · 10/04/2017 14:12

I don't necessarily think it is "awful and traumatic"

I do think that performing non medically necessary surgery on someone too young to consent is wrong and should be illegal. Someone who removed any other part of a baby for non medically required reasons would rightly be prosecuted. Foreskins should be no different.

WellErrr · 10/04/2017 14:31

What is it then if not awful and traumatic?

Having a part of a baby cut off for no reason can't be anything BUT traumatic to it, surely?

ButterflyFree · 10/04/2017 14:54

Circumcision is part of certain religions/cultures because it is believed to have many health benefits. We wouldn't do it if we didn't believe it would have a long-term positive effect on our sons!

Even the NHS and the American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledge on their official websites that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks.

There are many medical studies to support the fact that circumcision improves cleanliness & hygiene, reduces the risk of UTI infections, reduces the risk of contracting STDs including HIV, reduces the risk of penile cancer, AND females whose long-term sexual partner is circumcised are at a reduced risk of cervical cancer.

So why wouldn't you do something that has all the above benefits in the long run, and causes a few hours of discomfort to a newborn baby who will not even remember the procedure occurring?

Cantseethewoods · 10/04/2017 15:09

Because the evidence for all these 'benefits' is from studies in low hygiene environments. In the U.K. ( and even in Dubai I imagine) one could simply wash one's cock regularly.

user1486669405 · 10/04/2017 15:53

Exactly!!

ThoraGruntwhistle · 10/04/2017 16:02

'Hygiene' really doesn't work as an excuse. Maybe centuries ago when people didn't wash as often or if they were from countries where it was more difficult, but not now. Educating your child about keeping clean would surely be more useful than chopping bits off them because you've decided 'it's dirty, and you don't need that.'

fakenamefornow · 10/04/2017 16:06

As an aside. How did this practice even start? I'm not religious so don't believe that god created the first man and then told him to chop a bit off his dick as it wasn't quite right. I would guess that the practice predates Judaism? But I really don't know the history of it, that's just a guess on my part.

BoneyBackJefferson · 10/04/2017 16:20

muhajaba

Like you I can hold whatever view I like.

Once again I will ask why millions of men choose to have their sons circumcised if it is so awful and traumatic as you are all claiming?

Because they have been indoctrinated in to religion and refuse any other view, and if its so "good" why do so many men complain about it?

brightspark2 · 10/04/2017 16:25

Millions of men still best their wives. Females are seen as second best or property by millions of men. It is still abusive and still doesn't make it right. Mutilating a helpless baby is barbaric, wrong and male genital mutilation - as bad as female genital mutilation. It is child abuse.

muhajaba · 10/04/2017 16:27

I think you must have all lived really narrow and sheltered lives to think that circumcision is barbaric, mutilation or comparable to actual child abuse and FGM. It's actually really sad and quite worrying. No wonder so many children today are so entitled and precious when they are brought up with these kinds of attitudes.
About 30% of the world's male population are circumcised.

brightspark2 · 10/04/2017 16:31

Again history and quantity are not validations for this. It is 2017 and a painful surgical procedure on a helpless child. I hope you never have sons.

fakenamefornow · 10/04/2017 16:32

No wonder so many children today are so entitled and precious when they are brought up with these kinds of attitudes.

You think wanting bodily autonomy is entitled and precious?

BoneyBackJefferson · 10/04/2017 16:34

muhajaba

I think you must have all lived really narrow and sheltered lives to think that circumcision is barbaric, mutilation or comparable to actual child abuse and FGM.

and you think other people have the superior attitude.

what I think is very simple.

Its not your body, leave it alone.

If you think that your arguments are so persuasive then put them to your child when they are old enough to make an informed decision

Or do you really not believe that what you are saying is enough to persuade them?

ThoraGruntwhistle · 10/04/2017 16:41

'Entitled and precious'? For a child to believe and be confident that their body belongs to them and that nobody else has the right to interfere with it? Wow.

GuinessPunch · 10/04/2017 16:45

My dp and all male members of his family are circumcised. He was adamant our son would be. We argued about it for months.
He felt it was cleaner and less risks for stds. He spoke to his friends who hasn't been circumcised. Apparently they all wish they had been! I said there is nothing stopping them from going to have it done now but they wont as it hurts. These babies have no voice.

My ds is not and will not be circumcised.

Etak15 · 10/04/2017 16:47

Op I think aa early as you can. My son was circumcised at 5 weeks old, by a doctor -(as a private procedure but on nhs premises) using local anaesthetic.
Dh and I were both with him, it was a quick painless procedure - with no distress for my son - during or afterwards.

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