Anyone else really actively oppose circumcision?

@ Hoppipolla,

So whats your problem?! What do you mean?? What response do you want from me for the comment you made?!!! A question asked and I gave my own answer for the sake of the general knowledge. Religious forum or not that does not matter to me.

This forum has its management to decide on what posts are acceptable or not..So dont bother your self.

 

I'm just saying that citing God as an authority has limited effect in a secular community that's all.

 

Happy with it, as is my girlfriend...

 

Oh absolutely - don't get me wrong - I am not AT ALL opposed to men (or women, or anyone!) voluntarily having themselves circumcised if they are over 18.

The issue I have is with it being FORCED on people when they are too young to say no. I also have a lesser issue with people making the decision when they may well be too young to understand the full implications, such as a minor. The latter point is more hazy though, but I know where I currently stand on it

 

Let's put it this way Hoppípolla, I wish I had a choice

Sadly I didn't have a choice, grew up in the US where circumcising babies is like eating cheese burgers and it kind of pisses me off. Whatever ass clown thought it was a good idea to take our reproductive organ and "fix it" should have been castrated, have his balls fed to him, then have a shotgun shoved up his ass and trigger pulled.

My wife and I agonized over this while trying to conceive (because seriously in the States if you're uncircumcised it's actually considered weird), but we figured at least why not give our child the choice? Turns out we had two girls and dodged a bullet. Still I think if we did have boys we would have left them natural "as God / Nature intended..."

 

You should really just chill out man, every cat has a right to do what he or she decides to do. You live in a world where it is still common practice for the parents to be viewed as owning the child, just look at the law and such if you don't believe it. Therefore if a parent wants his or her child to be circumcised then that is their right by law. In Jewish tradition it is seen as a sign of the family's honoring of the covenant with God all those thousands of years ago, as recorded in their holy book, the Torah. Do you honestly feel as though you have a right to tell them how to worship their God? On the same note I am circumcised myself and I can tell you from personal experience that it does not lessen sexual stimulation man. I can also tell you that being circumcised makes it far easier to clean down there. Also my wife loves it

 

I think it's best as nature intended

I had no idea it was so common in America.

I support it being made illegal to be done to minors, and as far as I know there is a growing movement to do just that in Europe.

I should look more into that, but it's nice to know I'm not alone on this.

 

I think 12 years old is a bit young to make the decision, as these years of adolescence are the ones where they're rebelling & trying to make a 'statement'. I reckon 16 would be a good age, or 14 an absolute minimum.

In the UK it's illegal to get a tattoo until age 18, although the age of consent for having sex / getting married is only 16 - and there's currently a campaign going on to have that reduced to 15 (although, in my opinion, what sort of precedent is that likely to set? How long before they want to change that to 14, etc.?).

 

Yeah, I think the current ages are fine. I also think marijuana should be legalised and the minimum age should be 18.

I still would set 18 for circumcision, but you know, it's cool if other people would support different ages.

 

I am very much opposed to routine infant circumcision. My husband used to be pro. I made a case to him, made him watch one, and told him that I felt so strongly about it, that I didn't even plan to give birth in a hospital because I was afraid they'd do it without my consent. Only when he swore he'd never let that happen did I settle down. He agrees with me. There are many choices parents have to make for their children, but they don't have a right to make this one, except in case of phimosis.

All body modification is mutilation. I don't feel badly about my peircd ears and he doesn't feel badly about his snip job, but our parents should not have chosen for us. We aren't upset; they loved us and meant well. To be clear on this point: I have several peircings and a tattoo. I like mods.

It's funny to me that sometimes the people who are the first to say that comparing female genital mutilation to male circumcision isn't fair, are also the people making the specious comparison between the decision to cut or not, and braces. Except in the case of phimosis or other defects, circumcision is not a corrective procedure. Braces correct a myriad of problems with one's bite. Crooked teeth left unchecked can (and often do) continue to become increasingly misaligned, and in some rare cases can even eventually become medically urgent.

As to the loss of sensitivity, there is a tremendous loss from what I have observed. I had a playmate who got circumcised without even warning me a couple of years into our situation. Originally, he was too sensitive to receive pleasure from even the gentlest oral, and I had to be careful not to contract my pelvic floor because (much to my disappointment) it made him climax almost instantly. After the procedure, he became a blowjob addict. A regular throat-humping maniac. Also, his hypersensitivity during sex is history. He can always last as long as I might need. That's a huge difference in sensitivity! For him, that turns out to be a benefit. But I'm glad he had an opportunity to find out for himself.

 

Fantastic post, thank you

Why do we feel the need to "correct" billions of years of evolution?

And on top of that, then impose our correction on those who are defenseless and unable to say no

I mean, not much point in me saying much more - it's clear where I stand, but I agree with you completely!

 

Thanks. That post was just like, my opinion, Man! Hahaha! I agree whole-heartedly. We have no need to routinely fly in the face of evolution.

 

I, too, have no objection to adults making an informed decision for themselves whether or not to be circumcised. I just believe that it's barbaric to inflict an unnecessary, non-reversible mutilation on a baby for no other reason than culture, religion or simply to make a personal statement / vanity, by way of using their children.

If parents were to choose to have their children tattooed at birth, there would be a public outcry, and that, at least, is reversible with the use of laser surgery. Yet why should circumcision be any different?

I find it bewildering that there are doctors who agree to do the surgery. After all, the first tenet of the Hypocratic Oath is "I Shall Do No Harm".

Any country that lays claim to being civilised should ban the circumcision of minors, where there is no medical justification, outright.

 

To Hoppípolla:

I don't know when circumcision became some widely popular. My dad wasn't and I was born in the 70's and given my experiences (gym classes, etc...) I'd say most American boys were circumcised, at least around that time. I have no idea if it's still that way or not though

I tried to google to find more info on it and actually stumbled across an interesting article about it. Something that about made me fall out of my chair was this statement

:icon_bs: :rofl: :willy_nilly: :smilielol5:


To MochaMood:

I guess I never thought about piercing baby girls ears at birth, but you do have a valid point. Sure one could argue it's "Cute" for pictures and nothing is lost like with a circumcision, but again the baby is never given a choice. We didn't pierce our daughters ears until they were about 6 years old roughly, and at their request.

 

Yeah the lack of choice is really bad. You need to leave it up to the person it affects

Also, I find it interesting that my gf says she prefers uncircumcised penises... apparently they feel better!

And no she hasn't been with that many people!

Pineman - I would actually prefer the idea of tattooing a child at birth to circumcision. It's still awful but at least it's easier to reverse!

 

My mother said she tried to have my ears pierced as soon as possible, but that the jewelry stores wouldn't do it until I was a certain number of mknths old. She said doctors would have done it earlier, but doctors would have used needles, and that would have hurt more. She said the whole point was to get it done with a gun, and early, to minimize pain, and assure that I wouldn't remember the pain. She assumed I would want pierced ears anyway. In my case, she assumed correctly. She told me this when I turned 12 because her gift was a second set of piercings, if I wanted. I wanted. Oddly, I wore four earrings, but my mother often wore only one. I was surprised to learn that doctors did piercings.

 

See I don't know how anyone that was circumcised as a baby can claim that they don't have less sexual sensitivity and stimulation. If you've never had a foreskin, then how do you know? You have nothing to compare it to. The foreskin actually has more nerve endings than the head of the penis. It actually has close to 20,000 nerve endings, while the head of the penis has close to 4,000 nerve ending. It's simple common sense that if you cut out most of the sexual nerve endings, there will be less sexual pleasure. Sure you still get a decent amount of pleasure, but imagine having 3 or 4 times the pleasure. That's what you would have if you had a foreskin.

That's why I think infant circumcision should be illegal. It's not the brief period of pain that I find to be the big moral issue. It's affecting a person's future sex life by having all those sexual nerve endings cut out. That's a sick, twisted thing to do to people before they can defend themselves.

As far as circumcision being done to cure phimosis, it isn't needed in most of those cases either. Most cases of phimosis, even severe cases, can be cured by stretching with the help of steroid cream. It has a VERY high success rate. Unfortunately most urologists in the United States want to make the big money, so they push circumcision intead of prescribing the steroid cream and a stretching program.

 

This: "That's why I think infant circumcision should be illegal. It's not the brief period of pain that I find to be the big moral issue. It's affecting a person's future sex life by having all those sexual nerve endings cut out."

I was circumcised (and still am? lol) and I really, really wish I hadn't been. I've dated a german girl when I lived there and we talked about her ex's and whatnot from time to time and that was the first time I felt like I was missing out on something.

After years of it nagging at me, I did some research and bought a "tugger" (it looks a little medieval, but it's gentle) and I'm 2 years into restoring my foreskin. Granted, you can't recreate the amazing complexity of the original skin. But there is something to be said for the fascinating gliding action and whatnot. No regrets going down this path to half-ass regenerate some skin that was taken before I could make an informed decision myself. Boooooo!

 

Great post, thanks


And z. beeblebrox - sorry to hear you're unhappy with the decision made for you. I wish you success with trying to restore your foreskin!


As I say, it does really bother me when women are pro-circumcision. How can they really know? I don't get it.

 

Can you believe I have had conversations with women who are steadfast in their support of routine infant circumcision, but who are quite disturbed by men who want to interfere with reproductive rights?