Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The fact that infant circumcision is still allowed in this country makes my skin crawl. Can you think of any other surgery performed on a newborn baby that has been proven not only medically unnecessary, but also detrimental to a persons health that is still allowed?

Not only is circumcision medically harmful (the foreskin protects the penis, keeps it moist which allows for better sensitivity, and as an infant protects it from urine, feces and injury) but it is also completely a human rights issue.

Who says we get to choose which body part our child gets to keep? Scientific studies have already shown that circumcision is unnecessary. So basically, we're left with the fact that we're doing it because our parents did it. We're doing it because we want our sons to look like their dads. What kind of insane reasoning is that? Something is harmful to our child. It hurts them. It mames them. It causes them unnecessary trauma and suffering, not only in the moment of the act, but for the rest of their life whether they realize it or not. But yet still, he must look like his dad, incomplete.

And this is the saddest part. Men have to deal with this. Sometimes, men never think about it. They just continue on with their lives, never understanding the implications it has had on them. But a lot of the time, men do think about it. And it hurts them. And they feel cheated.

I'm tired of hearing how sexist of a society we live in without any mention of the barbaric torture we're putting our baby boys through.

The crap that girls get done to them is hideous enough, but this is right up there with it.

We are permanently disfiguring a persons body solely for aesthetic purposes.

The prepuce (or foreskin) has thousands of nerve endings in it. Removing it means that we are permanently altering the way that person will register the touch of his lover, the touch of himself, the way he views sex and it's pleasure, or lack of.

I'm sorry, but I have to get a bit personal here. When I was a teenager, all my boyfriends were circumcised, except one. The one who wasn't had to constantly remind me to, "be gentle" and "softer". I was used to having to be rather "vigorous" by comparison with the boyfriends who were circumcised. So when it came to the uncircumcised one, I was really perplexed. I thought it was really weird how soft he wanted me to be with him. I was amazed at the lack of movement and action it require to accomplish the "desired outcome" of our "interactions".

As an adult and after much study on the subject I finally got it. HE COULD FEEL.

A lot of men don't think consciously about what has been taken from them. But a lot do.

And we simply don't have the right to decide who gets to keep their genitals in tact and who doesn't.


"They Cut Babies, Don't They?"

8 comments:

half pint pixie said...

That's really interesting about sensation for men, I had wondered. You don't get much of a chance to do a comparative study in Ireland ;)

Circumcision isn't routinely done here and doctors don't forcefully retract a baby's foreskin either.

A friend of mine, after his baby boy was born in the States, spent every available minute saying "no circ" while they were in the hospital. Thankfully his little son didn't get circumcised.

I know it's a custom in the States, but it's a barbaric custom, it would never be tolerated if it was female genital mutilation going on there.

TLC Tugger said...

Thanks for your passionate account.

I certainly didn't give much thought to my circumcised penis for 33 years, with no basis for comparison. But eventually I had to wonder how nature could play such a cruel joke; sex seemed to be getting better and better for my wife and duller and duller for me.

I started non-surgically restoring my foreskin in 2001 and I can testify that having a protective prepuce 24/7 and slack skin slinking around during intimacy is wonderful, like seeing in whole new colors.

Even though my infant surgery and recovery was probably as precisly carried out as possible, I hate that part of me was amputated without my consent. I warn all parents; the info is there today. If you mutilate, your child will ask you later why you refused to heed it and leave him intact.

HIS body, HIS decision.

Laura MacDonald said...

I'd just like to echo these comments. Having loved mainly intact men, when i had a relationship with a circumcised man recently i was pretty shocked the amount of tissue he'd lost and at his lack of sensation. I also missed the fun of playing with moving parts. However, my feelings don't matter in this. This man (who was cut at five for an apparently spurious reason) and all others deserve an informed choice. Medical care that is delivered without prejudice as to gender is a human right.

Hannah said...

Hi, Im enjoying your blog! I completely agree that circumcision is wrong wrong worng! But I just wanted to comment about the 1st paragraph of your post. I think its very similar to the abortion issue - if it wern't legal, the effects would be far more disastrous (ie. people would do it themselves.)

Housefairy said...

Who in their right mind would "do it themselves" thats is a super weird thing to say.
Anyhow, your story about yuor experience with an intact man was very very interestig to me. Thank you. I am mortified that we did this to our first little boy and happy that we didnt to our other two. INFORMED CONSENT belongs to the adult male and this is not something parents should be allowed to do, ever, to a baby.

Hannah said...

Yes, maybe it was a weird thing to say. I just meant that if it weren't allowed, and therefore no medical establishment were performing it, that it would become 'underground' and much more damaging. Those on the opposite side who feel so strongly about having it done will find ways.

TLC Tugger said...

^^ it would become 'underground' and much more damaging. Those on the opposite side who feel so strongly about having it done will find ways. ^^

Frankly, the Mogen clamp used by most rabbis is the method I would choose if forced to have myself mutilated. If medicalized circumcision disappeared, the underground would do the job as well as rabbis do today (except in the case of complications and the fear of seeking medical help).

E said...

Corin,
Thanks for your comments on protecting newborn male infants from circumcision.
I'm one of five brothers all born in the USA and were all intact. My mother was vehemently against genital mutilation.
I've received so much pleasure and satisfaction from being intact, that I would not know what to do if I wasn't.
I believe every male baby should be left intact, so he can enjoy sex to the fullest just as Mother Nature intended.