Like so many parents worldwide, you may be one of the lucky ones, that had a decision to make when your son was born. To cut, or not to cut, that is the question. SO many questions racing through your mind. What should you do? Will your son resent you for it later? Should you just wait until he is old enough to make the decision himself? What are the risks? What are the pros or cons of each?
If you are like most people in the world today, you can just hop on the internet and find all the information you could ever want on this subject. However, what you will rarely find, is a reasonable debate. The sides on this issue are about as heated as the sides on abortion stances. The debate rages on! Advocates for circumcision, will tell you that it keeps the penis cleaner, and more resistant to certain diseases, while on the opposite side of the debate, people will tell you that it is medically unnecessary and traumatic to the child.
Truths and Falsehoods:
A lot of people give in to peer pressure on this debate and never make an informed decision for themselves. If everyone you know circumcised their kids, why shouldn’t you do it too, right? Wrong. A lot of people may have the child circumcised based on moral, or religious beliefs. Just because Bob next door may have Jewish ties, is no reason for you to circumcise your son.
Will it hurt my son? A little. Babies are resilient little creatures, and will soon forget about it. Without anesthesia it will definitely hurt more and prolong the pain, but with a little modern-day medicine, it’s not too much to worry about. I will say, if you are against using an anesthesia, you would probably want to skip this procedure (Just to be fair to the kid). But people who say even with the medicine it’s painful and traumatizing…are probably the same ones who pierced their infant daughters ears.
What about infections, or side effects? Like any procedure requiring any type of surgical tool, there is a risk. The rates of any type of side effects are roughly between 1-200 and 1-500 (no actual numbers are readily available). The most common after effects are minor bleeding or infection. On a very rare occasion, additional surgeries may be required, because too much or not enough foreskin was removed.
Being circumcised reduces sexual sensitivity though! There hasn’t been any true, or published research on this. It is a side vs side debate. Uncircumcised side claims that being uncut makes it feel so much better during sex, because of increased sensitivity. Pro-circumcision groups, oddly enough… claim THE EXACT SAME THING.
I heard being circumcised reduces your chance of getting HIV? There have been studies done, claiming that being circumcised does in fact reduce the risk of HPV, UTI, and AIDS.
A circumcised penis may be easier to keep clean. In uncircumcised males, bacteria can breed under the foreskin and cause infection, though this is not normally a frequent problem.
So I guess my last question is…what exactly IS a circumcision?
Circumcision is a surgical procedure in which the foreskin—the piece of skin that naturally covers the tip (glans) of the penis—is removed. A circumcision can be performed in a hospital or in a religious ceremony.
So what’s the right thing to do? There is unfortunately no easy answer to this. It is 100% your choice. I don’t think a child you would ever resent you for either choice that you make, however, they may use it as fuel for a raging teenage fire when they need a reason to lash out. Personally I was circumcised as a baby, my father was not. At 61, he was asked by his new wife to get one. He was in quite a bit of pain for several days following the procedure. After seeing what he went through…all i can say is: THANKS MOM!
Leave me some comments below and let us know, what do you think? Like it cut, uncut? Male or female perspective, we welcome all!
