To cut or not to cut? There is no question.

You know I’m generally of the “live and let live” mentality and don’t try to push my beliefs on others, but this is a human rights issues that I feel I must speak out on. If you've known me for any length of time then it is quite possible that we’ve already debated over this topic and you already know how passionately I feel about it. I recognize what a sensitive topic this is and why it makes people uncomfortable. There are many people who have been circumcised or who have chosen to circumcise their sons who are not ready to face that they have been wronged or have unintentionally caused harm to their sons. I also understand that unless parents actively seek out information on circumcision they’re more likely to have it done simply because it’s still presented as the norm. The day after giving birth to both of my boys someone from the medical staff came in and asked not IF we’d like him to be circumcised but WHEN we’d like to schedule the procedure. Of course I said that we wouldn’t be having him circumcised, but if I had never given it any thought before hand I’m sure I would have gone along with the “routine” procedure. What concerns me is how most parents give more thought into how they want to decorate their nursery, whether to breast or bottle feed, or which outfit to bring their new baby home from the hospital in than whether or not they should allow a painful, unnecessary, surgical performance to be done on their newborn baby. What’s wrong with this picture?

The act of circumcision as a non religious procedure was introduced in the 19th century by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg as a way to stop masturbation. He said, "A remedy [for masturbation] which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision...The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind...” The United States and Canada are the only countries in the world that perform routine circumcisions. I have to quote Joe Cortez, an avid blogger on this topic, because I just couldn’t have said it better myself, “Circumcision of infants is forced cosmetic surgery. The same merit as a tattoo, piercing or rhinoplasty. The foreskin is not a genetic anomaly, nor is it a congenital deformity. The foreskin is a normal, healthy piece of tissue found in all newborn males at birth. The foreskin is not “extra skin,” but standard equipment. Without any medical indication present, infant circumcision is the forced amputation of normal, healthy tissue. It is deliberate pain and injury inflicted on the genitals of a healthy individual male.”

Believe me, I’ve heard and considered ALL of the arguments for circumcision. In fact, I had to do a research paper in college supporting it. It was one of my hardest assignments ever because there just simply isn’t any valid medical research to back the need for routine circumcision. Here are the three basic arguments supporters will give:

1. The circumcised penis is cleaner and more hygienic. To which I say, WHAT?! Since when do we chop off parts of our bodies to avoid having to clean them? When my teeth are dirty I brush them I don’t pull them out. Also, a vagina takes a whole heck of lot more work to maintain and keep clean and fresh, but we don’t cut off baby girl’s labia to facilitate cleaning. Please! We live in a world with soap and water and the ability to shower daily. Why do people continue to hold on to the notion of cleanliness to validate genital mutilation? Both of our son's foreskins are intact, and we have never had any problems keeping them clean. In fact we were instructed to let it be, there is no need to pull back the foreskin and clean it. That is something they will do when they become sexually active or start masturbating.

2. It reduces the risk of urinary tract infections. First of all UTI’s are extremely rare in males. 1 in 125 is the statistic I read. So we’re going to mess with the genitals of 125 boys in order to decrease the chance that one of them might at some time in their life get a UTI which is very treatable and lasts two days? Doesn’t make sense.

3. It reduces the risks of AIDS and other STD’s. Do you know any infants having sex that this would affect? Not me. Besides, condoms are the only way to significantly reduce those risks anyway. If a man’s going to have casual sex and not wear a condom he’s putting himself at great risk whether he’s circumcised or not. Interestingly enough, The US has the highest circumcision rate in the world and also one of the highest Aids rate.

4. The worst reason of all, but probably the most common is; it’s tradition; it looks better; I want my son to look like his dad / brothers etc. When I’ve talked to people that is often time what it boils down to for them. I know people who would look down on a mother who pierced her infant daughter’s ears but think nothing of having her son circumcised. To justify circumcision in this way with all of our education and resources makes us no better then tribes in Africa performing female circumcision with rusty blades or sharp rocks. I know that is so hard to hear, but tell me how it’s not true.

Even if you have been convinced that there are minor health benefits, those perceived benefits are nothing compared to the risks involved. There are risks as rare and severe as botched jobs resulting in castration or the much more common meatal stenosis , which could affect 1 in 10 and is there for life unless surgically corrected. I won’t even go into all the sexual effects it could have on a person because that becomes too subjective, but you can image that cutting off the foreskin which holds the majority of a man’s erotic nerves would have some effect on sexual pleasure. And let’s not dismiss all the pain and trauma that the patient suffers. The fact that it is often performed on babies and they can’t recall it in their conscious memory as an adult doesn’t nullify the effects that it has on a person or make it right in any way. I believe that if parents were required to be present when the procedure took place fewer and fewer would continue doing it.

I just want people to wake up and start giving this the attention it deserves. It’s so easy to speak out against female genital mutilation but much harder to look inward at your own society and culture that is still practicing such a barbaric ritual. To use Joe Cortez’s words again “Circumcision is by definition Genital Mutilation. There is no female genital mutilation or male genital mutilation. There is only genital mutilation. That there are other, more severe forms of genital mutilation is irrelevant. As such it is a violation of human rights and all individuals of both sexes are entitled to the same protection under the law. The principle of taking a non-consenting individual, forcing him/her down and cutting up their genitals to conform to a social norm is one and the same.”

Parents please do not do this to you sons. If they want it later in life they can easily have it done. But it is irreversible and is their decision to make. The truth is it is slowly becoming less and less of a norm and by the time your son is an adult he could really resent you for making that decision for him. I could go on and on but I think I've said my piece. Please feel free to dispute me or leave a comment expressing a difference of opinion.