Thread: Circumcision - Should it be the parent's choice?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, as I've recently become the parent of a son and had to do my research on circumcision and the proscons of both sides of the debate that is currently on-going among most parents on whether to have the procedure done and why it shouldn't be done. For most women in the United States, circumcision is still the norm, though it appears to be down trending as such link takes you to CDC website. However, in most other areas in the world the rate of circumcision is usually much lower . Circumcision and why it should be done is largely debated, the most popular issues about it are Aesthetic - A lot of women who have their sons circumcised do so because they view the cut penis as more sexuallyphysically attractive than an uncut penis this view varies from woman to woman. Cleanliness - Women often have a belief that the uncut penis is less clean than the cut penis as there is an enclosed environment in which bacteria can grow and cause issues such as UTIs, bladder infections, yeast infections, and dick cheese as it has been so delightfully named. Increased rates of catching STIs - CDC information for the US shows that their studies showed the circumcised male has less chances of contracting a sexually transmitted infection, which is why a lot of women on the fence would choose one way or another. Cultural Acceptance - In my region, the vast majority of men are circumcised so those who are not are seen as different. Women often bring up the possibility of a child being ostracized for having an uncut penis and the fact that he doesn't match his father as reasons for getting it cut Lack of Education - In areas such as the US, there is a lot of misinformation about the care of an uncut penis, which is why some women choose to get their sons cut. Even the doctors in the area don't know the proper care for an uncut penis and often cause damage to the penis through premature retraction, which can cause tears in the foreskin and other issues. For all of these reasons, it's a major decision for someone to make and the more I thought about it the more I thought about the fact that it's also whether people acknowledge it as one or not a surgery that a child must undergo and which can be possibly traumatic for the child. If you haven't ever seen the procedure being done they have three different ways they perform it link is NSFW, it's an information video on how they perform infant circumcision, and it requires a local anesthetic to be performed. When discussed with my doctor and in the information pamphlet that I was given, the risks included infection, possible readhesion of the foreskin, and in extreme cases death yeah, I didn't miss that being listed. With all of this information, I was sitting in the hospital with the very important question - is it really my choice on whether he should be circumcised? Yes, I am his parent and I will have to make decisions that will last most likely his entire life and impact him greatly. BUT, that being said, I couldn't come up with a reason why it was my place to make the decision to perform the circumcision with the risks presented and the issues that women presented me when I was debating it. In my opinion, I don't believe it to really be a parent's choice on whether their son's penis should be cut. I go by the feeling that it's not my body so I don't have the choice to decide a cosmetic surgery. I went over all of the points that I was given Aesthetic - While I personally don't find an uncut male's penis attractive, the man I've been having sex with is a cut male. The penis in question is my son's penis, and my opinion on whether it is or is not attractive doesn't matter. I won't be having sex with him, so I don't get to weigh in on whether I 'like it'. And as I mentioned before, while I prefer a cut male, other women prefer an uncut male. It's all a matter of preference. Cleanliness - I spoke with a lot of uncut men and came to the rather common sense conclusion that cleanliness is achieved through being taught proper hygiene and teaching someone to care for their body properly. This is my job as a parent anyway. I wouldn't let my daughter do unclean things with her genitals such as wipe back to front, so I wouldn't teach my son bad hygiene Increased rates of catching STIs - Once again this one boiled down to proper education - proper sex education could teach a male how to prevent all STIs Cultural Acceptance - There are a lot of culturally unaccepted things I already do, such as don't attend church I live in the Bible Belt, and this on its own was not enough reason for me to justify giving permission to cut someone else's genitals. Lack of Education - This is an easy fix by simply educating oneself and spreading the knowledge. Learning how to care for an uncut male wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and the rules are very simple to follow only clean with water, don't force the foreskin to retract, etc. There will always be a lack of education until someone finally takes the initiative to educate others. If you can't tell, I made the decision to leave my son uncut because I didn't believe it was my choice. From what I could tell, most issues could be put off until he's old enough to make a decision on his own, in which he would be able to consent to the procedure rather than having it forced upon him at such a young age. What are your views on it? If you believe that it really is the parent's choice on whether their son should be circumcised - why? I'm particularly curious in the reasoning behind why it can't wait until the child is old enough to consent to the procedure but any and all opinions are welcomed.