A couple of friends of mine are about to have a baby and they are looking into the pros and cons of circumcision.

My male friend is cut and would prefer his son to be cut to.
The mother is leaning towards the all natural route and feels circumcision is barbaric.

Please weigh in your views and experiences.

My personal stance is; I've been cut and wish I hadn't been.
From my understanding it takes away from the sensations and sensitivity of sex and I feel somewhat robbed.
This article from Vice shows how to restore your foreskin if desired.

I'll be sharing this thread with my friends so they can read all of the responses directly.

I don't know how it feels to be cut, but i don't believe there is any valid reason to do it besides aesthetics. Some say it is not hygienic, but i believe it is better to teach you kid to wash his penis. It's not that it is a big deal to do so.

Biggest argument would be to respect the bodily autonomy of the child as much as possible.

Argument to appeal to the dude: Wanking with foreskin is much easier.

I vote no. Its not a nice thing to do to your child imho.

Circumcision is a violation of bodily autonomy. If the child decides they want to cut it off later in life, go for it, but to my knowledge, there is zero evidence that it provides any medical benefit.

There is evidence for some benefits particularly a reduced incidence of urinary tract infections in circumcised infants (although male infant UTI is not desperately common) and also reduced incidence of penile cancer.

Other results are mixed, but some studies have suggested other useful effects relating to Herpes Simplex type 2 and Human Papilloma Virus acquisition; the latter is strongly associated with cervical cancer in women.

As someone who has been cut, all I have to say is I wish my parent's weren't tricked into it by the doctors at the time (my father was also cut so he was uncertain and went with the doctor's advice), I mean hell even the insurance company covered the procedure and everything.

But when it comes to reversals, oh no! A man is left completely on his own to reverse, no help from insurances and reversals are considered an 'elective procedure', that is if you can even find a doctor willing to consider it. Many thousands of dollars that I don't have would be needed to reverse it with skin grafts/other surgical methods.

I've tried many reversal methods including ones similar to the link provided, I'm cut too tight to even work those properly....

Just. Don't. Cut. Ever.

Also consider this:

It's illegal most everywhere to do the equivalent procedure on a women, so isn't that kind of like sexism?

It's barbaric, and I'm thankful my parents were sane. Removing the foreskin changes the mechanical action of the penis, increasing the amount of friction that occurs in a vagina (that's bad). A natural penis's foreskin acts as a mobile layer that reduces friction, improving pleasure for both partners. More than half of the nerve endings in the penis are in the foreskin. Masturbation without lube is much more pleasurable with a foreskin. A choice to circumcise is a choice to cripple the function of a baby's penis for life.

There are zero valid arguments for it, it should be outlawed just as FGM is.

Reading the title of the post I didn't care, but after perusing people's responses I am leaning against it. I was cut and don't care at all one way or the other, but it's probably a little easier to wash and what not.

Also you guys are saying more pleasurable, but wouldn't that also translate to lasting for a shorter amount of time during intercourse?

It's a really weird tradition when you look at it ("Hey let's cut a little piece of skin of this monkey's sperm shooter", and it's weird to do it to someone who can't really make that choice. One wouldn't tattoo a child, as that cannot easily be undone, just as the circumcision. But one is a cultural norm for children, the other is not.

If evolution left it there, it can't be too bad. But it's kind of up to the parents; I don't judge.

i read a very interesting article on this topic that gives you something to think about. it was saying that circumcision wthout anestetics is an incredibly traumatic event for a newborn child. and even though no one can remember the moment they were born, inflicting such a traumatic event can leave an imprint of trauma through out the life of the individual. i mean when you think about it, the very first moment of entry into this world youve got lights and doctors all around you and they preform the cut as one of their first welcoming acts to this planet, thats a very traumatising event that can leave the newborn to begin life afraid and in pain which leads them to grow up being more hostile and defensive.

Just something i thought was interesting and had never considered it that way. it coulld very well be an explanation why so many people today are so angry and defensive, because its encoded in us from the first second. so i guess that put my vote at no cut . I believe it should be the personal choice of the child when they are at an age when they are mature enough to make the decision.

I'm cut and I like it the way it is. Thats not to say I wouldn't feel the same if it were uncut. I personally feel it doesn't matter and if I am more protected against medical conditions like corpus states then I am glad it happened. I also don't feel it added any hostility or defensiveness to my personality. Sex is pleasurable for sure, so no downside there.

I can't really see any other reasons why one should or shouldn't do it besides the medical ones (that seem uncommon though). Some people feel ashamed that theres isn't the norm, so instilling in the child confidence in them self in that category would be important if you should decide to not go the circumcision route. I also think the "its part of normal anatomy so it cant be bad" theory is flawed. No way to know if evolution would decide to phase it out until it happens. Nature doesn't always get it right.

Both procedures are not really comparable though. These vagina modifications are so extreme that they prevent women from having any joyful sexual experience. Still, both procedures are mainly cultural and in that sense comparable. Interesting to hear that there are medical reasons though. I wonder if the medical benefits are really worth it. I'd rather have my foreskin than a perhaps slightly (?) lesser chance of urinary tract infections.

If I'd replace my whole body but my head with a mechanical skeleton, i would have lesser chance of infection as well. But would it be preferable? Probably not.

(only if we are talking highly sophisticated android bodies....)

people should be chopping up vegitables, nothing else.

crazy monkeys.

how is mutilating baby's for no good reason ever a justifiable thing?
Also when the boy grows up and thinks he is definitely missing out on the circumcised penis thing he can have it done then, based on his own decision.

A friend of mine of jewish heritage got lost in the forest this one time when we took loads of mushrooms looking for his foreskin.

So yeah, circumcision can have dangerous consequences later in life.

My father was circumcised. It was the done thing back then. I'm happy my parents decided not to carry on with the tradition and that I am still intact. Why remove any body part unless absolutely necessary? Which this, in most cases, is not.

Let the individual choose when they are mature and worldly enough to realise the implications.

did he find it?

http://www.dailymail.co....sion-New-York-City.html



http://www.examiner.com/...tion-and-auto-accidents


Need I find more proof of this being unnecessary?

Health authorities like to point out that it reduces risk of penile cancer and HIV in males that practice unsafe sex with multiple partners.
But what kind of culture cuts off body parts just to avoid educating people and trusting them with responsibility for themselves?
Surgically removing an infants tongue reduces risk of obesity.
Cutting out their eyes remarkably lessens risk of drunk driving.
Perhaps it would be best to remove their skin so we can keep them in a big plastic bubble where they'll be safe?
And how do we know guys dont need it? It wasnt long ago people thought the pineal gland, appendix, and pinky finger had no biological function. Hell, people used to think the brain was just bone marrow. In 20 years will people be like "what the fuck, hey bob, CNN just said my foreskin prevents diabetes! Bet you wish you kept yours now, sucker "

I vote no on ritual infant mutilation.

That oral practice is bs and i cant believe its ever taken seriously.

So far we have, dont cut it and you have very slight risk of certain medical conditions cut it and you'll get lost in the woods searching for foreskin while on mushrooms.

I'd say dont cut it given those circumstances. Auxin those a very good ideas, we should all consider including those into our rituals as well.

I just wanted to thank everyone for your responses, I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts.

I'll be forwarding this thread to my friends today.

Even though I hate religious traditions, I rather like that I was circumcised. Easier to keep clean, more pleasing to the eye, and maybe one or two other advantages.

That's just my two cents on cutting penis skin off of a baby.