Circumcision: The cruelest cut?

I had a baby sitter over today - and like most Americans would, she questioned why my son was uncircumcised.

I explained to her that it was decision we'd made because we didn't think we had any right to alter our son's body. His body is his property.

She was a little concerned about looking after an uncircumcised boy, as she'd never had to do it before. She looked at his 'boy bits' like she was scared she'd break them!

I explained that you don't treat an uncircumcised penis any different to that of a circumcised boy. The foreskin is physically attached to the glans at this age, which means there's no need to pull it back to clean it, or do anything different.

My husband and I have come up with a lot of opposition to our decision not to have our son circumcised, as it's definitely not the 'norm' in America. I've never been afraid of not being 'normal' though - and certainly wouldn't want to perform surgery on my child's penis simply because 'everybody else does it.'

If you're pondering the circumcision question, I'd recommend asking your pediatrician about the difference or benefits - although in all honesty, but came up with difficulties with our pediatrician. There's so much misunderstanding out there about the whole issue, even amongst doctors. I recommend doing research yourself - like wondering why circumcision isn't practiced in most of Europe and why it's not recommended by pediatricians in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

On a global scale, America is definitely in a minority in routinely circumcising our children - but it's become so ingrained in our culture that the CDC is even considering recommending circumcisions for all infants.

I have real problems with this. I mean, would you circumcise a girl? Hell no! In fact, it's illegal in the United States to perform any alteration on a baby girl's genitals. So why mess with it on a boy?

I say: Leave it as nature built it, unless there is a problem.

After living in Europe and researching the issue myself, I honestly felt that I could not mutilate my son in that way - and definitely not face his questioning when he became old enough to say "Mom why didn't you leave that decision to me?"

Aside from the traditions of the Jewish religion, circumcision became widely popular amongst non-Jewish people shortly after World War II. What had happened was that, apparently from being on the beach and other sandy conditions for days on end, solders were getting sand in their genital region. The sand damaged the foreskin on the penis and - long story short - loads of solders were finding that they needed a circumcision. As a result, those soldiers had their sons thusly circumsized so they would 'look the same.'

We shouldn't perform circumcisions just for the sake of 'looks' though. That's basically performing plastic surgery on a baby!

And yes, there is a deeply sacred religious reason why the Jewish community performs circumcisions - but lets think about that for a moment. In ancient times the Jewish people came from the desert, where (like with the soldiers in World War II) there was sand... A LOT of sand.

It would be not to wrong to assume that the real reason circumcision became routine (or even that maybe God wanted it done) was because 'his people' were living in sandy conditions and that caused problems for kids with a foreskin (and therefore diminished the population.)

But we don't live in the desert any more, and have access to soap, water and other hygiene products (my uncircumcised husband uses baby wipes to clean his foreskin.)

If today's conditions existed then, I wonder if God would have decreed the same edict amongst his people. I think: No.

This isn't to insult any religion or practice - I'm just questioning the reason behind the practice and merely pointing out that quite a few religious traditions came about out of a practical necessity at the time. God wanted the best for his people at circumcision was then a practical thing. As it's not so important today, I don't think God would require it.

Today, I think God just wants us to try to be a good moral person as much as possible.

I sometimes think that even if I were Jewish (and mind you, I am Half Jewish, as my father is a Jew) I don't think I could honestly bring myself to allow my son to be circumsized. I honestly just felt like it wasn't my right to give him no choice in the matter.

As a woman, I've fought for the right to make decisions about my own body. It would be hypocritical not to offer my son the same right.

There are so many benefits to having a well-cared for uncircumcised penis - and many of the popular reasons for why men should be circumcised are just myths. For any guy who has never had the choice, don't you some times wonder whether having that extra skin would make a world of difference?

Sadly, they'll never know because they weren't given that choice.

Also take this into consideration... The doctors and hospitals who recommend circumcision in America - despite it NOT being recommended in most other countries (including Canada) make money on circumcisions. They get extra money from the insurance companies for performing the procedure. Perhaps, just to sound cynical, that is why they deem it 'necessary' and are lobbying to get the CDC to recommend it for all infants.

Food for thought!