Male Circumcision
Wed, 07/18/2007 - 19:12
Stop Infant Circumcision
Ok, you're going to want to fight with me over this topic, but I have to ask parents who want to circumcize their son (and aren't Jewish or Muslim), why would you want to cut off the most sexually sensitive part of your son’s penis for no medically-solid reason? In addition to removing the densely nerve-laden foreskin, circumcision removes 50% of the penile shaft skin and associated nerve endings. The glans and the foreskin are joined at birth and don't start to separate until the child is atleast 3 or 4. My son Benja is 10 and his foreskin is finally able to retract all the way. If nature meant for the head of the penis to be covered and protected, why would you want to tear the foreskin away from his penis? Why would you want to put your newborn baby boy through so much unnecessary trauma and pain and permanently damage his sexual function for his entire life? Because Daddy is circumcised? Because you like the 'look' of it more? Or maybe, you actually believe the myth that 'it's cleaner."
Baby's are meant to be held, cuddled and kissed - not mutilated.
I was born in the U.S., where close to 60% of boys are still routinely circumcised. Despite the fact that only 10-15% of the men throughout the world are circumcised AND no medical organization in the world endorces circumcision for medical reasons, male circumcision is still the most commonly performed surgery in the Untied States. The practice continues because of social inertia. It has nothing do do with science or health or cleanliness. It's time we speak out against this horrible practice.
Here's a short clip of the Sextv documentary I did on the subject and NOCIRC is a great resource centre for parents.
Comments
Circumcision
I was circumcised about a month ago. I am 35. It was taken off because of a skin condition, Lichen Sclerosis, the cause of which is uncertain - though it isn't due to uncleanliness, or any other "unhealthy" aspect of having a foreskin.
I woke up from general anaesthetic in a fair amount of pain, despite having been dosed up with painkillers beforehand. What the hell a baby must go through is beyond me. I know this is a very "sensitive" issue, but my own opinion is that this is inhumane. It *is* mutilation.
I can remember in my pre-puberty years just how sensitive the glans is, and looking back I can quite understand what a useful job the foreskin was doing. Currently I am in quite a bit of discomfort, having the glans rubbing on my clothing. This is in addition to the pain I am in from where a couple of stitches came adrift, and became infected.
Again I state, there are those who will fight for the right to have this procedure done to their child, even when there is no medical reason, be it done for vanity, religion, or habit. It is your right to this opinion. But it is *YOUR* opinion. So mutilate yourself. Give a child the right to his own opinion - and for God's sake - and his - don't abuse your child, for that is what circumcision is, when not medically required - it is child abuse.
Matt Phillips.
England.
Boys/mens rights over their body should be protected
I don't know how it is still acceptable for doctors to surgically alter a boys sex organs just because parents tell them to. It's way out of line with concepts of individual bodily rights and medical ethics. Nobody is saying a guy can't get it done when he's older. It should be a guys right to choose.
It's kind of sad to see older circumcised men defending the practice out of ignorance and denying that there is anything wrong with this picture. I imagine for them its more about defending the status of their penis then the actually issue at hand.
The HIV argument is ridiculous... there a far easier ways to protect oneself from HIV. In a developed country I wonder how many thousands of boys would have to be circumcised to prevent one case of HIV.... And how many complications there would be and how many guys would have it done when they didn't want it (which is totally unacceptable).
CIRCUMCISION
WHY WOULD ANY ONE DO THAT TO A BABY LATER ON IN LIE IT WILL AFFECT THEM WHEN THEY ARE IN A RELATOINSHIP
HIV
RE:HIV
By the time risk of getting HIV from unprotected heterosexual sex with an AIDS infected woman is even relevant to a male he would be old enough to decides if he wants to be circumcised. There is no way it should be acceptable to surgically alter a males sex anatomy without his consent... Imagine if the recent HPV vaccine that prevents cervical cancer in women were not a vaccine but the surgical removal of baby girls' clitoral hoods ... I just wonder how long that idea would fly?
Not only that circumcision, as a way to reduce HIV risk is questionable and some studies have shown it has the opposite or no effect whatsoever. Condoms and safe sex and education are thousands of times more effective.
HIV
GET OVER IT YOUR GONNA DIE AND I HOPE SOON
Male Circumcision
I am 50+ years old, and GLAD to be circumcised. I have see plenty of guys who have foreskins, and problems to go with them. The "pain" of a newborn .... what a crock!!!! It's GONE and the boy doesn't remember it. As far as "cutting off too much of a guy's sensitive tissue" .... if my penis IS indeed "desensitized" .... it must be a GOOD thing, I don't think I could STAND anymore pleasure in that area when I am having an orgasm. Also, if I am desensitized, that just allows me to last a bit longer when I am with a woman.
My 2 sons [27 & 24] .... you bet they're circumcised, and are both planning on having the procedure done to any sons they may father.
circumcision
i am 49 and was circumcised as a baby for hygenic reasons in 1958 and i am pround of the fact as well 2 years after i got married my wife and i had a son who we had circumcised with no problem about it he was done at birth so that he would remeber it
ALL BOYS SHOULD BE CIRCUMCISED
Any man who says he couldn't
Any man who says he couldn't STAND to have any more sexual pleasure either seriously lacks an imagination or more likely has some issues and hang ups related to his own circumcision that would make him so adamently proclaim say such a nonsensical statement in order to defend his beliefs about circumcision.
Hells yeah
I am so glad you posted about this....I am a 21 year old male and I am not circumcised (thank god) not only does is there no good argument for it, but my mother was a lactation consultant at our local hospital and if you had to hear the screams of babys as they have their most sensitive skin chopped off with no anaesthetics I don't think anyone would have their sons penis mutilated.
ohh please...
if you get circumcised as a baby how can you remember the pain you went through?? thats right you dont.. No guy when they get older can remember the pain they went through when they were getting circumcised...so who cares if someone circumcises their baby..it is probly better for the baby and is at less risk at getting infections..
guys
And talk to guys who *are* circumcized, and tell them them they lost the sensitivity of their penis head after years of the penis rubbing against their underwear...they'll roll their eyes and deny it....
circumcision scar
...and has anybody seen a circumcized man's circumcision scar?
Circumcision scar
Every time I look at a guy's circumcised penis ... I see a circumcision scar. Are you blind or something? A penis, by its very nature, is a very male organ. I think a guy's exposed glans and circumcision scar provide a very masculine, sexy appearance to this totally male organ.
Protection against HIV is some parts of the world (i.e., Africa)
I have heard some recent reports that suggest that circumcision may provide a buffer against contracting HIV... have you heard anything about this?
Tell me why there isn't a
Tell me why there isn't a similar study on HIV transmission in circumcised females? Because female circumcision is taboo in western culture.
Genital mutilation is genital mutilation, it shouldn't matter which sex the genitalia represent.
HIV and Circumcision
...yes, I have heard such reports, but I still think the answer lies in good sex education. I'd rather teach my son about using condoms to protect himself from STI's than cut off one of the most sexually sensitive parts of his body at birth! The reason, I believe, that men who are circumcized have less chances of getting HIV is because the skin on the top of their penis is rougher and tougher and, therfore, less susceptible to infection. In the developed world, there is no valid excuse to circumcize your son.
Circumcision does not affect HIV in US men
Circumcision may reduce a man's risk of infection with the AIDS virus by up to 60 per cent if he is an African, but it does not appear to help American men of color, US researchers reported.
Black and Latino men were just as likely to become infected with the AIDS virus whether they were circumcised or not, Greg Millett of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention found.
"We also found no protective benefit for a subset of black MSM (men who have sex with men) who also had recent sex with female partners," Millett told reporters in a telephone briefing.
Doctors believe circumcision protects men because of specialized cells in the foreskin of the penis, which is removed in the procedure. The foreskin is filled with immune cells called Langerhans cells, which are the immune system's sentinels and attach easily to viruses - including HIV.
In addition, sexual intercourse may cause tiny tears in the foreskin, allowing the virus into the bloodstream.
The data has been so clear that the World Health Organization now recommends circumcision as one of the ways to prevent HIV infection. But circumcision does not protect men 100 per cent - the studies in Africa have suggested it is 50 to 60 per cent protective.
Millett's team studied 1,079 black and 957 Latino bisexual and homosexual men from New York City, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. They filled out a computer survey and were tested for the AIDS virus.
"Overall, we found no association between circumcision status and HIV infection status among black or Latino (men who have sex with men)," said Millett, who presented his findings to the CDC's National HIV Prevention Conference in Atlanta.
Experts knew circumcision would not protect a female sex partner, nor the male sex partner being penetrated.
But Millett's study found no benefit of circumcision to any of the men. "We also found no protective benefit of circumcision among those men reporting recent unprotected sex with a male partner in which they were exclusively the insertive male partner," he said.
HIV is much more common among black and Latino men than whites and this may offset any protection offered by circumcision, Millett said. Black and Latino men are more likely to have sex with other black and Latino men, and thus may be exposed to HIV more often than white men.
The CDC is about to release new estimates of how many people become infected with the fatal and incurable human immunodeficiency virus each year in the United States.
The CDC estimates that more than 1 million Americans are infected, of the 33 million infected people globally.