Expecting father with questions about my son-to-be

ason · 2014-11-11T18:35:19+00:00

The medical justifications for circumcision are all retarded. According to the AAP, one of the major benefits of circumcision is that it reduces the rate of UTIs from 1% to .1% during the first year of life. Can you imagine the shitstorm if someone said we should amputate baby girls' labia because it reduced UTIs by .99%? We use antibiotics for that shit anyway, not surgery.

Circumcision has mostly died out in England, Australia, and Canada. It looks like the US is next. The rate dropped to 54% a year or two ago. Our culture will most likely think circumcision is fucked up by the time your kid is grown.

malone_m · 2014-11-11T11:20:08+00:00

The USA is the only country that routinely practices circumcision at birth in hospitals for non religious reasons, whatever argument they put forward now, keep in mind that it first popped up there to make masturbation more difficult and sex less enjoyable. Most circumcised men are not conscious of it and they do fap, but that was the intent originally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_male_circumcision#Masturbation_concerns

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17378847

Chart

It's a children's rights issue, he can always decide to do this to himself later on if that's his wish, it's not possible the other way around, so the basic argument is "his body, his choice".

It's illegal to do it to girls, it has only been normalized for boys because an abrahamic religion advocates for it.

Don't be fooled by the " it prevents UTIs and HIV" arguments, the UTI rate among infant boys is around 1% and it can be treated with antibiotics, just like for girls. Circumcision on top of the harm it causes when it's done "correctly" has a 2-10% complication rate depending on how these complications are defined in the study.

I'd say let him decide, the rates are declining even in the US, it's now close to 50-50 since medical insurances have stopped covering it ( as it's not medically necessary by any means), so he won't be the "odd one out" if this is one of your concerns.

Good luck :)

somesanityplease · 2014-11-11T11:42:07+00:00

It is kinda weird how routinely circumcision is practiced in your country. Where I come from, the concept of cutting a child's penis is unthinkable. Not to say anythings wrong about it, its just weird.

chocoboat · 2014-11-11T19:37:38+00:00

If you were having a daughter, would you have a female circumcision performed on her? If the answer to that is no, then you should not have a circumcision for your son either.

Ritual genital cutting is not OK. Don't buy into the "but... uh... medical reasons or something?" defense by those who defend this outdated ancient practice. As for cancer rates, we could probably reduce the rate of breast cancer by removing breast tissue from infants too, but guess what, we don't do it because that's kind of fucked up. Cutting parts off of babies (and killing/disfiguring some of them) simply has no excuse.

mikesteane · 2014-11-12T09:18:31+00:00

The people who say it is good tend to be in one of three categories: 1. Those making a profit from it e.g. rabbis and pediatricians 2. those who were circumcised themselves and have never known the difference and are in denial and 3. Circumcision fetishists - yes they exist and their sites can easily be found on the Internet.

Medical evidence for the benefits of circumcision is so weak that it has had to be propped up with bogus studies and suppression of evidence about the harm it does.

das_masterful · 2014-11-11T12:52:20+00:00

Ok, here's the thing. Your son is his own person. Your son has the right to bodily integrity. If you had a daughter, would you want her to be circumcised?

If anyone wants to have a medical procedure performed on them, they need to be advised of the risks and rewards of the operation. Your son isn't capable of making that decision yet, so leave him be until he can decide for himself. This rule is only negated when there is a very good reason for the procedure to take place i.e. repairing a faulty heart valve.

His penis is the way nature designed it to be. You know how nature doesn't really like things that are superfluous? Humans have only discovered within the last few years that the appendix is not useless - it acts as a storage for bacteria, ready to replenish the colon of bacteria in the case of diarrhoea.

You can't reverse a circumcision.

wufoo2 · 2014-11-11T14:44:49+00:00

I was born in the U.S. at the height of the circumcision fad, and was not circumcised thanks to a skeptical doctor. In his view, the foreskin is there for good reason, and whether you think God or evolution put it there, you're right.

When I see claims of "benefits" from circumcision, I wince. There are benefits to most anything; doesn't decapitation prevent headaches? More seriously, this is the only medical procedure that cuts healthy tissue off healthy bodies without the consent of the one being operated on. It makes no sense, unless you truly believe that doctors are omniscient beings who know better than nature.

The most authoritative case against routine circumcision was made by a Jewish doctor who used to circumcise, but quit. He also wrote this follow-up article to address all the bogus claims still being repeated.

Finally, on a personal note, if you have a close relationship with your son, I would bet he will someday thank you for letting him be the way nature made him. It's pretty selfless of a circumcised father to ignore the "look like Daddy" (PDF) rationalization. It's a wonderful first step for a father to ensurw that his son has it better than he did.

user1492 · 2014-11-11T14:15:28+00:00

There is a lot of rhetoric on both sides of the issue. A lot of people here are strongly anti-circumcision, but personally I don't see how it makes much of a difference in a kid's life.

Circumcision is a medical procedure, and like all medical procedures carries some risk. Not a significant amount, but it's possible that your son could get an infection or have his penis damaged.

On the other hand, it's also possible for uncircumcised children to develop phimosis later in life. This is also not a significant risk, but it's possible that your son would have to get a circumcision later in life.

For the most part, circumcision (like most body modification) is an aesthetic issue.

If you do choose to have your child circumcised, it's better to do it earlier in life. After I was circumcised I couldn't walk for almost a year.

binrobinro · 2014-11-11T23:18:26+00:00

It is right for your son.

Title	Expecting father with questions about my son-to-be
Author	Edd13Mac
Upvotes	7
Comments	14
Date	November 11, 2014 11:01 AM UTC (11 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/2lyfmf/expecting_father_with_questions_about_my_sontobe/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/expecting-father-with-questions-about-my-son-to-be.993582 https://theredarchive.com/post/993582

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