Whether it was God, Mother Nature, or Darwin, the skin that we brutally cut or cauterize away is there for a purpose, a purpose that has been forgotten.
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Why are we still circumcising our boys?
I should stop with the question. My hope for this piece is to trigger a firestorm of response. I really don’t have the answers. The question though is something that has to be asked. Maybe they did it to you, but why are you doing it to your sons?
I come from a religious/cultural background (Roman Catholic) where circumcision of boys is a requirement We (well not we, I don’t play there anymore) used to have a special feast after Christmas called “The Circumcision.” It was a requirement for all good Catholic boys to have this procedure done eight days after birth — although oddly enough when I was young, the feast was on Jan 6th. The actual day of celebration has moved all around the calendar of the New Year throughout the history of the Christian Church. In modern times the feast has changed to Jan 12 and it is innocuously called “The Feast of the Holy Family.” Huh?
Most, if not all branches of Christianity have embraced this barbaric practice as a sign of allegiance to God. Stop it!
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Circumcision comes to us from religious origins, it was a sign of the covenant between Abraham and God stated in Genesis 17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. ~ KJV
Most, if not all branches of Christianity have embraced this barbaric practice as a sign of allegiance to God. Stop it!
In the interim, we have invented medical reasons why the practice is “good.” BS. I’m deliberately not presenting statistics or medical evidence here. This is a practice based on religion/culture, it’s time we asked why.
Whether it was God, Mother Nature, or Darwin, the skin that we brutally cut or cauterize away is there for a purpose, a purpose that has been forgotten. Why are we still doing this?
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Picture: Flickr/peasap
I am confused, what are you talking about? I am european and most Europeans, as you know, are christians but NOT circumsized, in fact most europeans will look at you like you are crazy for cutting your boys without medical reason, whatever dogma they belong to.
The main reason circumcision is still done in america is NOT religion, the practice is mainly driven by women’s sexual objectification of male bodies and sense of entitlement to date from a dating pool of circumcised men
There is scientific evidence for health benefits of circumcision. See one such relevant example: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-invention-to-fight-aids-wins-coveted-tech-prize/
Yes, there’s plenty of evidence mastectomy has similar benefits, shall we introduce routine infant mastectomies without the patient consent?
As I describe in my book Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma, circumcision is a trauma. Just imagine yourself being forcefully restrained and having part of your genitals cut off. This is a trauma at any age. One effect of trauma is a compulsion to repeat it on others. This serves, in part, the purpose of perpetuating the denial and myths used as excuses to circumcise infants. Otherwise, men would feel uncomfortable with their sons not looking like them. The “look alike” reason is for the fathers, not for the sons. When men confront the physical, sexual, and psychological harm of circumcision,… Read more »
The only reason boys are still circumcised before they can talk or think for themselves is the same reason they are baptized before they can think or talk. The only argument i find remotely valid is the hygiene issue, but how difficult is it to get your kid to rub his penis in the shower? Its mutilation based on religious tradition, justified by outdated medical statistics.
It’s mainly a form of misandrist sexual violence perpetrated by the female gender against the male gender to oppress us
Circumcision a Catholic requirement? Mary, please.
There hasn’t been a circumcised pope since Paul of Tarsus.
Circumcision has never been a requirement of Roman Catholicism. In fact, the Church has denounced it. The reason the Feast of the Circumcision was observed was to note the Hebrew sacrifice that Jesus endured as part of the original covenant, which was wiped out and replaced by the New Covenant. One of the central points of Christianity is that circumcision was done away with in Christ. Jesus was circumcised and crucified so that no one else has to be. Any Roman Catholic that circumcises believing that it is part of their religion is not only wrong, but forfeits eternal salvation.… Read more »
This gentleman has either made up that he had a religious requirement to be circumcised, or he’s experiencing some kind of weird false memory. I challenge the readers to find any evidence that circumcision was required of Catholics in modern times. (And I say modern times just to hedge. I can’t find any evidence of it being true ever.)
Someday soon, American parents will view infant circumcision the way the rest of the first world does (you know, the healthiest places on earth like Europe and East Asia where very few men and virtually no women are circumcised) and less like the third world (you know, the Middle East and African bush where most men and many women are circumcised).
I have always understood that circumcision in the USA became popular because of a 19th Century prudishness about masturbation, and the snip was meant to curb that! In the 21st Century, when we are campaigning against the barbaric practice of FGM, surely it is time to seriously think about stopping the routine circumcision of baby boys as well? Every child has the right to keep their body whole and inviolate until adulthood, unless there are urgent medical reasons for surgical interventions of any kind whatsoever.
We chose not to circumcise our two boys as babies. They kept getting painful infections as they were approaching puberty and the foreskin was starting to adhere to the penis from scaring with the infections. The oldest was going to need surgery to help with the adherence issue, so we ended up them both circumcised at 12 and 10 years old. The urologist said they both had more foreskin than normal and that was probably the issue with the infections. He said it was a genetic luck of the draw with them.
“They kept getting painful infections as they were approaching puberty and the foreskin was starting to adhere to the penis from scaring with the infections.”
This is typically caused by a well-meaning, but ignorant, doctor or nurse or even parents trying to pull back the foreskin before it was meant to pull back. These problems simply aren’t seen in the rest of the developed world where the medical professional actually has adequate knowledge of the normal male genitalia.
I am French and catholic, it was never a requirement from catholic church to be circumcised. And , at age 71, I have still my foreskins ! You can always wash yourself and I had never a problem. And overall, it is much more pleasurable to have a foreskin because all you sensibility is still present, and it brings different sexual plays.
Yeh, let’s just cut of a problem that could be resolved with a soap. In Europe we don’t cut into boys genitals we just incurage them to keep that area clean. Simple, isn’t it?
Interesting. So you think you know better than God? I will stick with God. In the end, if I’m wrong, I’ve lost nothing; if you’re wrong, you’ve lost everything. But what makes me mad is that you are leading others astray. Shame on you.
There is no god. We are alone.
Just my opinion but if you look at the incidence of infection of HIV in the united states alone which is 50,000 new infections per year. http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/basics/ataglance.html The number of infections in the US has stayed about the same and this is a country that circumcises about 56% of boys still per year. http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/ . On the other hand in Europe circumcision rates are actually very low around 20% over all unless in a region with a high number of Muslim or jewish people it is in the 80% range. Prevalence_of_circumcision . On the flipside Europe’s incidence of infection as… Read more »
It was NEVER a practice of the Catholic Church.
You need a lesson in dogma
Circumcision is not a rite of the Roman Catholic Church. That is simply false. Ritual circumcision has a religious base, but it is absurd to claim it is “BS” that there are no valid medical issues favoring circumcision. Even a brief look at the medical statistics regarding HPV, HIV and infections show a steady and convincing accumulation of evidence that circumcision saves lives. Does that mean that everyone should have their kid circumcised? No. But there are non religious and clearly established personal and public health factors favoring the practice for those who choose it. The argument that “God or… Read more »
If the issue is cleanliness and hygiene then does circumcision HAVE to be the answer? Could it be possible that frank discussion around cleanliness and hygiene take place?
The penis foreskin IS there for a reason put there by or creator. I don’t care how much medical facts or bible verses you throw at me, its there for a reason. Christians cut baby boys genitals and Muslims cut little girls genitals. Guess what, we both have medical reasons to back it up. Tell me….. Why fix something that ain’t broken? If the boy has an infection and the options are laid out there and there is nothing that can be done to save the penis foreskin… By all mean get rid of it. But how often do you… Read more »
I think you should reconsider your comment about medical reasons for circumcisions being BS. Reach out to the medical practices and ask to see examples of cases where a “medically induced circumcision” is “required”. I strongly believe when you SEE the medical reasons for these circumcisions, you will be inclined to provide these stats. I have seen these cases in the office I work at…….I have seen 15 year old boys screaming in pain and worried they will lose this vital organ due to infections of various natures. I have seen 80 year old men from nursing homes coming in… Read more »
I totally understand medically necessary circumcision. but when you look at the whole of Europe you see that they never practice it at all and they mostly seem to be fine. There is no reason other than an emergency or medical necessity to cut off the foreskin.
You realize that the vagina is more of an infection risk than the foreskin, right? That being said: “I have seen these cases in the office I work at…….I have seen 15 year old boys screaming in pain and worried they will lose this vital organ due to infections of various natures.” Funny, medically-necessary circumcision in the teenage or adult years is virtually unheard of in the rest of the developed world. “I have seen 80 year old men from nursing homes coming in because care for that area was not as detailed as it should be, and an infection… Read more »
1) “Circumcision of boys is a requirement” of the Catholic Church. This is just straight up false, Catholic doctrine has veered between condemning circumcision and tolerating it, it has never made it a requirement. 2) “Catholics circumcise boys eight days after birth”. The author is confusing the Catholicism he was supposedly raised in with Judaism. 3) “….although oddly enough when I was young, the feast was on Jan 6th.” At this point the author has confused the commemoration of the circumcision of Jesus with the day on which Catholic boys are supposedly snipped. This makes no sense given his previous… Read more »
I’m American and have dated only one uncircumcised male in my lifetime of nearly 40 years. He stank so badly that as soon as he pulled down his pants, the odor filled the entire room. No circumcised male I’ve ever dated has smelled so horrendously. I don’t know what kind of cleaning practice is recommended for an intact penis, but clearly this man was NOT using it. If you’re going to leave male foreskin intact, you’d better be educating them about how to clean themselves, because they do get infections if they don’t.
“Why are we still circumcising our boys?” ME. This is an American peculiarity. Americans cut their sons, fearing that if they don’t, they will be ridiculed by cut American boys in the locker room, and rejected by the women they date in the bedroom. The natural penis supposedly puts an American male at risk of an Epic Fail social life. “I really don’t have the answers.” ME. Nobody else does either. “Maybe they did it to you, but why are you doing it to your sons?” ME. If you don’t, you risk being reminded of your missing foreskin every time… Read more »
Bravo! I’m so glad to see this in open discussion. It’s sparked off a massive one on facebook too, this is WELL overdue being talked about. Personally, I think it should be a crime. In the UK, it isn’t normal, and the general thought of doing this to a child is horror. The rare exception is with Judaism and Islam, and I was disturbed to discover people performing the operation don’t use anaesthetic, and even if they did it’s such a sensitive part of the body you’re dealing with down there that the result of having your tip exposed to… Read more »
As a woman who has worked in the medical field for years, I can tell you the medical benefits are immense for circumcision. Imagine you are 73 years old in a nursing home, dealing with physical limitations, and you are uncircumcised. You get to shower 1-2 times a week because you don’t want to face skin deterioration and bed sores, and when you are showering you are relying on these aides to peel back your foreskin and clean thoroughly. Sadly, in this day and age, not all of these aides are going to do their job to the fullest, and… Read more »
There is no evidence that the many intact geriatric men in Japan and Europe suffer from the urological problems you claim. Just how many teenage boys suffer from chronic UTIs? Really! I found it perfectly natural and pleasant to clean under my foreskin, starting at around 10 years of age. I was quite aware, starting around 15-16, that if a woman of my generation asked to see my penis, she would be quite shocked to discover my foreskin. She would be triply shocked if I was foul under the foreskin. That did not motivate to get circumcised, but to clean… Read more »