A simple discussion or body altering surgery on a person who can not consent hmmm....

[bada]

Time and time again, I hear about people planning to have their son circumcised so that he looks like daddy.

I wonder if they've considered how simple it would be to explain why daddy's looks different... "When daddy was born people thought it was better to cut that part off, but now we know better so we don't". A simple discussion or risky body altering surgery performed without the person's consent.

I wonder if those parents care about their own parents genitalia, and whether or not it looks the same as theirs... I highly doubt it.

I wonder if they've considered how a child's penis differs visually from an adult's penis regardless of circumcision.

I wonder if they've considered that the child probably won't care how much his looks like Daddy's and will be more concerned with the fact that 90% of his peers are intact.

I wonder if they've considered where they want to be in this chain of family circumcision tradition because it will be broken at some stage... They can choose to break this chain now or, they can pass it on to their children & wait for the issue to come up with their grandchildren, "Grandma, why did you let them cut off daddy's penis?"

I wonder...

[Opinionated]

I think most of those are just excuses. They do it because they prefer penis's that way, either their own or a partner that they have been with and want their child that way. I find the reasoning weird.

I don't understand having this procedure performed that will single a child out as different during the worst time possible- adolescence.

I don't understand having this performed to prevent health issues, when the overwhelming majority of intact males do not suffer health issues.

I just don't understand how you could kiss and cuddle your baby and then leave them with someone to get a piece of totally healthy anatomy removed. I find the whole thing best described by words I can't use in this section of the forum.

[MummaBear03]

Are you bored? :p

[sockstealingpoltergeist]

It really disturbs me. I can't fathom why people buy into the myths or give in to partners that want their sons to look like them.

I do feel it is a serious human rights issue.

[serendipity22]

I hear about people planning to have their son circumcised so that he looks like daddy

The boy may see his father's penis for perhaps a few minutes in his life. He will notice it is much larger and it is hairy. I don't think the boy will be too concerned if the circumcision status is different.

This "reason" is clearly irrational.

It is a selfish reason and done for daddy's emotional security and not for the boy's benefit.

I suspect that some circed men feel threatened by (and jealous of ) a boy with a full penis. Its very disturbing to feel that part of your body was removed and you had no say in it.

"If it was good enough for me, its good enough for my son" .

[Bellini]

:iagree: with all of the above. Particularly with Opinionated, in saying that they are mostly just excuses. I can't believe that people still circumcise their little boys :no:

I can't believe that the preventative excuse is so prevalent - how often do pro circ parents think these infections occur??

I can't believe the STD excuse - men should be practising safe sex, not relying on a circumcised penis.

It especially weirds me out when pro circ women state that it "looks better". Why is a woman altering her son to suit her sexual preferences??

And the excuse to look like daddy - what else are they going to alter to look like daddy? Why stop at the penis! Would police step in if a family was to alter other parts of a babies body so that it looked more like daddy?

I believe that circ will be illegal, one day in the not too distant future

[SassyMummy]

I've never heard anyone use that particular reason, usually they'll offer the "it's cleaner," excuse instead.

I agree that it's pretty easy to explain the differences to a child. My daughter doesn't get all upset that she doesn't have huge breasts like I do... we're both female, we look different, so what? She doesn't really care.

After reading threads here about how boys will feel if they're different from either their father or peers... he's circumcised, and says he knows that his father is, just because he KNOWS it, not because he remember seeing it at any stage... but doesn't really care.

He says he has no idea about any of his friends, and doesn't remember a time when he took much notice of their penises either.

I think it's one of those things you can kinda keep to yourself so it's not a big deal. I mean, I don't care about how my body compares to others if its a part I can easily keep hidden. I haven't seen the vaginas of any of my friends, I haven't seen many vaginas at all, so I really don't know or care how mine differs.

[RedPanda]

Most people I know IRL who have circumcised their boys (there's not many of them) have used the ol' "look like Daddy" reason. My DH has two different coloured eyes. I wonder what age I can get contacts for my children so I don't have to explain why they don't have eyes like Daddy?

It's just an excuse to not put greater thought into the whole thing. I especially love :rolleyes: when mothers say "Oh, it's my DH's decision because I don't have a penis. It's a male thing."

[JohnC]

A few years ago my godson, who had just turned 11, told me his father had said he wanted to get him circumcised.

"What did you say?" I asked. "I just said No," he said. "That would hurt :eek:".

He said his father gave two reasons, which is what he wanted to talk about:
1. Girls like it better
2. It's cleaner

On 1, I said that people like what they are used to, and girls probably preferred a cut penis when most men were cut, but that was no longer the case.

On 2, he said "you're dirty if you don't wash; I wash!"

I then added that his father was circumcised, and that might have something to do with it. To which the boy replied: "Who cares! He's bald too. Doesn't mean I want to be bald."

[RedPanda]

I then added that his father was circumcised, and that might have something to do with it. To which the boy replied: "Who cares! He's bald too. Doesn't mean I want to be bald."
:laughing::laughing::laughing:

[SassyMummy]

The "girls prefer..." arguement is really silly.

Men, on the whole, like big boobs. Doesn't mean I'll be encouraging DD to go get fake ones put in if she doesn't grow naturally large ones!

Preference is personal anyway. People prefer all sorts of different things and you'll never please everyone.

Any girl worth getting naked around wouldn't REALLY care what your penis was like anyway. That would be right down the bottom of the list as to why she likes being with you. I know I don't go asking men if they're circumcised, and if not, I go, "Oh, that's a shame, because you were a great guy otherwise..." and cross them off a list...

I would hate to discover one reason someone is with my is because I have big boobs... sure, it's fine for them to be liked by my partner, but I don't want it to have played a part in why he's with me.

[bada]

I've never heard anyone use that particular reason
Wow, I hear this one more than any other.


"Who cares! He's bald too. Doesn't mean I want to be bald." Exactly. I guess it's more sensitive when it comes to circ because a) it was done to him without his consent which is a confronting thing to acknowledge and b) I imagine it's pretty soul destroying stuff for most men to admit that theirs is less than perfect.

If it's so important that junior looks like daddy then perhaps daddy should consider undergoing some foreskin reconstruction method instead of violating his child's human rights. :detective:

[SassyMummy]

Perhaps I hear the "cleaner" reason a lot because I come from a military family, and DP is also from a military family. Years ago, if you were in the military, you HAD to be circumcised because it was cleaner when you were on a tour of duty. You could be going weeks without a shower, and so it was a requirement.

I dunno if it DID make things cleaner... but I can understand that having been brought up not to question authority, my family, his family, and a lot of the military families we associated with have just taken this as gospel...

[Opinionated]

It's not that much cleaner. My dh went camping and took a packet of baby wipes with him. Problem solved.

[SassyMummy]

Yeah, I know you could do that... but the army is (was?) very strict. Sometimes you don't really get anything... and other times, simply no time to clean, at all.

I guess maybe it's more hygeinic if you're trudging through mud/dirt/etc, not washing for days and days... but really, how many people are going to do that?

And even so, if that's the career choice they wanna make, why not do it when they're an adult?

Was just offering a reason as to why I might get the "it's cleaner" excuse though. FTR, my brother isn't done. My father wanted it to be done, but my mother took him in then chickened out and was so glad she didn't end up doing it.

[bada]

And even so, if that's the career choice they wanna make, why not do it when they're an adult?
Exactly.

And I find all this talk of circ being "cleaner" offensive (not that you are being offensive SM) because women have smegma too and many more folds, does that mean unless we have all that cut off we can not be clean? That's why the whole "clean" argument icks me out. Everyone is capable of cleaning themselves, men and women. I also dislike the implication that men "need" it done because they aren't as clean as women. What a disgusting generalisation.

[JohnC]

The biggest genital problem military guys have if there is no opportunity for bathing is tinea cruris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinea_cruris) or crotch rot or in less severe cases jock itch, which has nothing to do with foreskins or even the penis.

If you don't wash or change your clothes for weeks on end, all of you is going to be pretty rank, from your hair to between your toes, and everything in between. Foreskins are actually the least of one's problem, since they are so easy to rinse clean with only a couple of tablespoons of water.
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