Circumcision?

[Mike Oxlong]

Originally Posted by Reaper

I bet you'd care if you had to have part of your genitalia cut off without your consent.

Actually I am extremely grateful they did it. Don't remember a thing and now I have a proud helmet wearing soldier.

In fact in my Dad's Fathers day card I think I might write: "Thanks for getting me circumsised Dad! Happy Father's Day!" Just to let him know I appreciate it.

[Wookie]

I wish mine had been done withouht my consent 20+ years ago.. It's taken me 7 years to get it done.. geez.. which probably would have had less psychological affect? Then or now?

[Mike Oxlong]

Originally Posted by Wookie

I wish mine had been done withouht my consent 20+ years ago.. It's taken me 7 years to get it done.. geez.. which probably would have had less psychological affect? Then or now?

Exactly!!

What a terrible experience to have to go through now.

[RedMan12]

Originally Posted by Wookie

I wish mine had been done withouht my consent 20+ years ago.. It's taken me 7 years to get it done.. geez.. which probably would have had less psychological affect? Then or now?

everyone is different.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Ro

I have three comments to add to the discussion:

1) I have a hard time believing that the pain an infant boy experiences during a circumcision does not affect him in some way. Yes, he isn't going to "remember" the procedure, but how will it affect his psychological well-being down the road?

The pain infants experience during a circumcision is not only as real as the pain a grown man would have if he were undergo the same procedure, but it is inflicted at such an age when the child is still developing and maturing. I believe the so-called risk of infection is easily outweighed by this potentially more harmful (but admittedly, harder to measure/prove) side effect.

Well speaking from experience. When my son was circumcised I was there. I dont believe your pain argument holds much water.

First he was more angry about being held by a stranger (something that happens to all babies) than he was about the procedure. He didnt yelp, cry or scream when it happened at all. It took all of 30 seconds and didnt even really bleed.

Very simple and clean procedure. He was smiling and laughing 5 minutes after leaving the doctors office.

In our case there were no side effects whatsoever.

[jroc]

Originally Posted by Reaper

I bet you'd care if you had to have part of your genitalia cut off without your consent.

my parents did it withought my consent.. and im more than grateful that they made the right decision

[Tron_fdc]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

6 pages of foreskin!

Interesting to hear FireFly's perspective.

A question for all you Asians out there, is it ture this is never done in Asia? I remember hearing besides North America (and mostly the US) and a very few parts of Europe, that the rest of the world leaves their foreskin intact.

I went to a male only Korean sauna on a few different occasions (fully nude, hot tubs, etc) and not only did I get quite a few stares because of my chest hair, they seemed to be staring below the waistline as well. I didn't take a survey, but I seemed to be a little out of place....

I told myself they were probably admiring my chiselled physique and knee slapping member, but that idea only makes for good conversation.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Tron_fdc

I went to a male only Korean sauna on a few different occasions

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by Mike Oxlong

LOL....Now this is starting to get ridiculous. How can getting circumsised affect your psychological well being?

I'm ****ed off as hell that I was circumcised. Once you actually know something about anatomy you can see that things are not as "normal" as you might think.

[Calgary Flames]

Talk about cleanliness? Wash your damn ******!

I'm against circumcision. Ant Eaters FTW! bwahaha

edit: why is p3cker cencored?

[Neeper]

Originally Posted by Ro

3)Not to mention it keeps the head of the penis (and its millions of nerve endings) covered up, preserving the sensitivity that is so greatly diminished when the penis is circumcised.

Exactly. Like I said, it's too sensitive for me without it. But during sex..... it's great!

[Agamemnon]

I guess the nice thing about being touqued is the sensitive part of your thang ain't rubbing up against stuff directly _all_ the time (underwear, sheets, pajamas, your leg, etc.). Thats got to help your long-term sensitivity to... sex. I wouldn't be surprised to find that because circumcised penises are constantly exposed to 'rubbing' other surfaces, it may diminish its natural sensitivity. Un-circumcised guys only expose it to... good stuff, and probably for only a few minutes a day tops

[Flames_Gimp]

the anteater looks disgusting IMO.

[red '00]

I'm amazed this thread has lasted this long!

[JayP]

Originally Posted by greyshep

Well speaking from experience. When my son was circumcised I was there. I dont believe your pain argument holds much water.

First he was more angry about being held by a stranger (something that happens to all babies) than he was about the procedure. He didnt yelp, cry or scream when it happened at all. It took all of 30 seconds and didnt even really bleed.

Very simple and clean procedure. He was smiling and laughing 5 minutes after leaving the doctors office.

In our case there were no side effects whatsoever.

If you watch that Penn and Teller Bull****! video someone linked they talk specifically about this. A doctor basically says the pain the child feels getting the circumcision at birth is just as great (if not more) than when the child is a bit older.

They also talk about how when the baby is getting circumcized it is in a very calm state..unfortunately this is because the pain overload puts its body in shock (probably why your son didn't yelp, cry, or scream during).

I'm against circumcisions and I don't really buy the whole "I don't want him to have it done when he's 10" argument as the kid is going to be in pain no matter when he gets it done.

[Suave]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

A question for all you Asians out there, is it ture this is never done in Asia? I remember hearing besides North America (and mostly the US) and a very few parts of Europe, that the rest of the world leaves their foreskin intact.

Well here are some stats. Close to 85% of the world are sporting toques. With the procedure only really being common now in the states and parts of the world with high Muslim and Jewish populations.

Some recent rates for newborns (back in the 60's the States had close to 85% of males being cut)

International circumcision rates
Country Year Neonatal circumcisions (%)
United States 2003 55.9%* [104]
Canada 2003 11.5% [105]
Australia 2004 12.7% [106]
New Zealand 1995 0.35%** [107]
U.K. 1972 0.41% [108]


And a break down of who is and who isn't cut (click here to see a map [URL="http://www.circumstitions.com/Maps.html"]


Intact
Virtually all: Chinese, Japanese, North Koreans, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Burmese, Thais
Hindu, Sikh, Parsee and Christian Indians
Scandinavians
Zulus, Shona, certain other African nations
most Melanesian and some Western Polynesian (Rennell, Bellona) peoples,

The great majority of: Europeans
men of the former Soviet Union
Central and South Americans
New Zealand Maori
Younger men of Britain and the Commonwealth, especially New Zealand and Australia

About half of: Malaysians (Hindu and Christian Tamils, Chinese and Orang Asli)

A significant minority of:
Americans, especially younger, Hispanic, and in the South West
Bangladeshis (20% are Hindu)

Cut
About 500,000,000 Muslims
More than 100,000,000 USAmericans
About 25,000,000 Filipini
Some tens of millions of older men of Britain
and the Commonwealth
Some tens of millions of African tribesmen
About 14,000,000 South Koreans
7,000,000 Jews
Some hundreds of thousands of Central and Eastern Polynesians
(Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, Niue, Tokelau)
and Melanesians (Fiji, Vanuatu, parts of Solomon Islands and small parts of PNG)
Some thousands of aboriginal Australians,
mainly in the north and west

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by JayP

If you watch that Penn and Teller Bull****! video someone linked they talk specifically about this. A doctor basically says the pain the child feels getting the circumcision at birth is just as great (if not more) than when the child is a bit older.

They also talk about how when the baby is getting circumcized it is in a very calm state..unfortunately this is because the pain overload puts its body in shock (probably why your son didn't yelp, cry, or scream during).

I'm against circumcisions and I don't really buy the whole "I don't want him to have it done when he's 10" argument as the kid is going to be in pain no matter when he gets it done.

Sorry but that is a bunch of BS.

Maybe you should have been there rather than trying to explain to me what a 1week old child is feeling?

So you are suggesting that he got himself sooo worked up that he went numb?? Wow. I guess the fact that we were advised to put some local anesthetic on it to avoid any feeling in the area had nothing to do with the lack of reaction as well? And where was this amazing stressful reaction that would have resulted in him shutting down, I guess I missed that.

I am sure you could find any number of doctors that would have divergent opinions on this. What I do know is that my son certainly didnt suffer any ill effects from having this done. He certainly did not go into shock.


Wow.

[Wookie]

Originally Posted by JayP

I'm against circumcisions and I don't really buy the whole "I don't want him to have it done when he's 10" argument as the kid is going to be in pain no matter when he gets it done.

1. If it was my choice and I had a time machine, I'd go back in time, tell the doctor I wanted it, and stay to watch!

2. Newborns don't experience the same (nocturnal) things males... 10, 12? 13? and over do at night and when they awake in the morning. Imagine the pain and discomfort with that, full of stitches, swollen as heck, sensitive as heck (when it contacts ANYTHING), bloody, and then try to decide which time would be worse to get it done, assuming you're getting it done either way, then trying to explain why you're not at work, school, etc.

Yeah, those babies have it real tough!
* photon's kid suffers though, that sucks!

[Calgary Flames]

Where's CalgAri when you need him?

[photon]

Originally Posted by Wookie

* photon's kid suffers though, that sucks!

I think it's Buff's kid that suffers.. my seems to have inherited my ability to heal quickly (he lost his umbilical cord so quickly we called healthlink to make sure he was ok!).

I'm still split on the issue.. The evidence I've read seems to support that intact males have a slight benifit health wise (over a large group, not just individual experiences) and people do it more for astetic reasons.

However I don't believe the pain or stress of the procedure does any harm to the child. If I had to choose between having my head squeezed into an alien shape, compressed and shoved unwillingly down a narrow tube into an alien world where the rules of life have changed and the people whom my very life depends on haven't even received any formal training on how to care for me and having a minor procedure on my manhood that I won't remember, I'd choose the procedure.

Well actually probably not, I don't want a knife anywhere near me, but the pain and stress of childbirth doesn't have a negative impact on kids does it? Any studies comparing the psychological profiles of babies delivered by c-section?