RE: The nurse told her it was mostly for COSMETIC purposes (???) uh, ok... It's not as if it's considered particularly attractive either way, come on...
those photos are absolutely horrendous!!!! neither of my boys are circumcized. after seeing those photos i thank the goddess that I made the right decision.
The numbers of circumcised boys are decreasing rapidly. Right now, it's about 60% circ'd and 40% intact. Depending on where you live, a circumcised boy may actually be in the minority. 80% of the men in the world are intact, circumcision is only routinely performed in Muslim countries and in Israel, and of course, the US. The US is the ONLY country in the world that performs non-religious circumcisions, and Israel is the only country performing religious circumcisions on only boys. Many of the Muslim countries that circumcise boys also circumcise girls. My boys are not circumcised, and they have never been teased by anyone. They are 20, 15, 10 and 6. Besides, nowadays it's not cool to be looking at, much less commenting on, another boys dick, ykwim? One thing I hear a lot from mothers who did not want to circ their sons, but had DP's who insisted is, "Well, it meant a lot to him, and it's not worth losing the marraige". Um, I think my baby's well being is worth a whole hell of a lot more than a grown man's insecurities. My job as mother is protect my baby and keep him whole. There isn't a man alive, dead, or yet to be born who's happiness is worth more than my baby's health. My youngest has a different father than my others, and when we found out it was a boy, he wanted him circumcised. (I don't know why, he's NOT circ'd himself). I told him no way in hell was anybody cutting my baby. No room for argument. Just plain and simple, NO WAY IN HELL. There's lots of info out there for him to look through, if you want to convince him circ'ing is not cool. http://www.circumcision.org/ http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/ http://faculty.washington.edu/gcd/DOC/ http://www.infocirc.org/welcome.htm http://www.nocirc.org/ http://www.cirp.org/pages/parents/ http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/video.html Here are some free vidoes that actually show the surgery being performed http://www.intact.ca/video.html
Amen, Brighid! KC, really, less and less boys are being circed, he will not be in the minority if you don't have him cut. My ds, who is now 14, was about 12 when I asked him about this (for a similar thread on Hip Forums) if he was ever teased ect about his intact status and the boy said, "Ma, if other dudes look at, much less comment on, an other dude's dick, people are gonna think he's a freak. You just don't talk about an other dude's dick!" So, I guess the answer was NO, there is no teasing. (Also boys this age are VERY concerned with being called "gay" so even prolonged looking is a bit taboo in the locker room.) Not that they have ANY problem running around naked, it just doesn't seem like something most boys tease about. Not "an other dude's dick!" Also, there is a great VHS movie from Nurses Against Circumsision. I bought it, to show my dh. He also wanted any boys we had to "be just like me" and changed his mind after seeing this film. It shows real circs being performed. NO ONE should be able to circ a baby without seeing this film, and IMO BOTH parents should have to be in that room, sans earplugs, if they stilll decide to do it. I'll find a link to it.
HOLEY SHIT! omfg! OUCH Ive lost my words and my food. I'm glad I didn't circ my son. On another note...my hubby worked for a healthcare staffing agency once who knew of a person at a hospital where they staffed nurses that circed a baby and accidently cut off one of the baby's fingers while doing so. It's prety gross to me why any grown person would let things happen to their children like this.
When I was pregnant I wanted to have him circed because I just didn't know any better I was young and stupid about the real facts of thematter. Luckily the summer before he was born I found an article that changed my mind about the whole thing and I said never will I ever circ my baby and I stuck to that and Ive been against it ever since. I whole heartedly agree now that I have an intact boy that he would ever need it any otehr way. he's never ever had any penis problems and it's not dirty at all.
Yes, it's better than it was. But young boys are still always talking about who is "Gay" ect. Our children have been raised to be Gay Freindly, so it isn't an issue. But, as you probably know, some kids can be really cruel when it come to Gay teens.