Male Circumcision in The United States
Is it actually necessary?
Image via Wikipedia
Circumcision (the surgical removal of a part of the fore-skin, involving the crushing and cutting of the delicate head of the penis) is performed fairly routinely on baby boys in the US, sometimes for religious reasons, but often for cultural reasons or on the grounds that it’s healthier, preventing infections, etc. Many parents are given little choice in the matter, often pressurised by medical staff, or made to feel guilty by others for taking risks with their child’s health, should they consider rejecting the idea. Sometimes it carried out for no other reason than to enable the child to look exactly like his father…
Image via Wikipedia
However, paediatric associations world-wide have unanimously agreed there is no medical reason to circumcise babies, and it has been shown that they do feel and remember the pain and can even be traumatised as a result. (Circumcisions on infants are carried out without anaesthetic because of the risks involved in administering the drug to such tiny children.)
Image via Wikipedia
In the UK circumcision is only usually performed on Jewish babies, or those children with a medical complaint requiring such surgery. The vast majority of men are not circumcised. I’ve spoken with several American men who are unhappy with the fact they were circumcised, but haven’t yet been able to find any who managed to keep their fore-skin in tact..
Image via Wikipedia
I’ve never met a man from the UK who was circumcised and I’ve never met one who’s suffered any kind of infection later on, requiring him to do so. So just why are Americans being pressurised into having them performed on their poor, conscious children, with no medical proof they are required?
As a non-American I find this quite fascinating and very disturbing.
Liked it
User Comments
ml66uk
On September 10, 2009 at 7:39 am
It looks like I can’t post links, but you can find all the medical society quotes at their own websites:
Canadian Paediatric Society
“Recommendation: Circumcision of newborns should not be routinely performed.”
“Circumcision is a ‘non-therapeutic’ procedure, which means it is not medically necessary.”
“After reviewing the scientific evidence for and against circumcision, the CPS does not recommend routine circumcision for newborn boys. Many paediatricians no longer perform circumcisions.”
Royal Australasian College of Physicians
“After extensive review of the literature the Royal Australasian College of Physicians reaffirms that there is no medical indication for routine neonatal circumcision.”
(those last nine words are in bold on their website, and almost all the men responsible for this statement will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%. “Routine” circumcision is now *banned* in public hospitals in Australia in all states except one.)
British Medical Association
“to circumcise for therapeutic reasons where medical research has shown other techniques to be at least as effective and less invasive would be unethical and inappropriate.”
Drops in male circumcision:
USA: from 90% to 57%
Canada: from 47% to 9.2%
UK: from 35% to about 5% (less than 1% among non-Muslims)
Australia: 90% to 12.6% (”routine” circumcision has recently been *banned* in public hospitals in all states except one, so the rate will now be a lot lower)
New Zealand: 95% to below 3% (mostly Samoans and Tongans)
South America and Europe: never above 5%
It’s worth remembering that no-one except for Muslim and Jewish people would even be having this discussion if it weren’t for the fact that 19th century doctors thought that :
a) masturbation caused various physical and mental problems (including epilepsy, convulsions, paralysis, tuberculosis etc), and
b) circumcision stopped masturbation.
Both of those sound ridiculous today I know, but if you don’t believe me, then google this to find out what doctors were saying at the time: “A Short History of Circumcision in North America: In the Physicians’ Own Words”
Over a hundred years later, circumcised men keep looking for new ways to defend the practice.
The record payout for a botched circumcision is $22.8 million. It was said at the time that the victim “will never be able to function sexually as a normal male and will require extensive reconstructive surgery and psychological counseling as well as lifelong urological care and treatment by infectious disease specialists.”
Sure, cases like that are very rare, but why should they happen at all? If you look up the galleries of botched jobs, one thing that may surprise you is just how many jobs were botched cosmetically, rather than medically. Skin tags and skin bridges and hair growing half way up the shaft are not normal, but would not be counted as medical complications.
News just in from April: A jury in Atlanta has awarded $1.8 million to a boy whose penis was severed in a botched circumcision five years ago. The Fulton County jury also awarded the boy’s mother another $500,000.
alc
On September 10, 2009 at 11:42 am
This is kind of a scary article!! Views and points were taken thanks for the share! Kind of glad I had a girl now!
cutedrishti8
On September 10, 2009 at 11:51 am
Nice one to share…
Hugh7
On September 10, 2009 at 8:37 pm
A pity two of your pictures concern Jewish circumcision, which is only 3% of circumcision in the US, and less worldwide. Most circumcision in the world (and the UK) is Muslim, but it’s pursued with the same dedication whatever the reason given, including ” to look like his father”. He obviously will look far from “exactly” alike. There’s a cartoon of a pirate with eyepatch, wooden leg and hook – and his son, whose been made to “look like him”.
Many Americans don’t know how alone in the developed world they now are. The English-speaking world tried it, found it did no good, and has virtually given it up – and hasn’t had any epidemics of foreskin-related diseases.
But now some people in the US are trying to push it on the rest of the world. They just can’t seem to bear the idea of anyone having more then they have in the penis department, it seems.
Tehmina
On September 14, 2009 at 5:09 am
This was very informative, I’m actually considering it for my son right now as I want to start taking him to India to see my cousins on a regular basis. He is not used to India and it’s lifestyle. He has ADHD and so concentrating on anything for longer than 2 minutes is extremly hard for him. He still doesn’t wash himself properly in the sense he’ll wash his arm 4 times, both legs maybe one once and the other 3 times, wash his bottom and forget the rest. He’s in his own world and just forgets what he did and what’s left to do. I stand there and tell him, wash under your arms and he’ll wash his back! It is very frustrating and scary when you apply that concept to the rest of his life, so for me, I am considering circumcision as a means for him in the future not to have any foreskin-related diseases. He never remembers to wash inside the foreskin, at least this way there is more chance of him washing his penis and not having any problems with it in the future.
Post Comment