Ask Lemmy

Male circumcision is genital mutilation.

If it’s your culture, your culture is dumb.

Male circumcision is genital mutilation, and I think it's pretty gross that it's still so common. I'm grateful that I'm American and my parents didn't mutilate my dick when I was a baby.

I'm glad you're asking and taking people's opinions with validity because it's important that you don't do that to your baby.

I'd never sacrifice 50% of the feelings for the sake of a shriveled tip to please some invisible sky daddy.

Male genital mutilation should be as outlawed as female.

And... Kids bullying others over their foreskin? I don't think I ever saw any classmate's dick in my life. Why is that even a thing?

IMO circumcision is genital mutilation and that's always wrong in general. In the very few cases where it actually has health benefits you can still do it later in life, it's not a big problem. You're not missing out on anything if you don't do it.

Have I ever wished someone had genitally mutilated me as a baby?

Absolutely barbaric practice. Obviously not in favour of genital mutilation.

You'd be removing a lot of sexual function for masturbation (now you need lube) and a lot of nerve endings that give pleasure are now chopped off. Dried out numb penis head/gland. Less sliding when having penetrative sex so it's also worse for women.

For what? In honor of weirdo American puritan? Kellogg brother who hated masturbation? No,it's bullying. What a rancid country the USA is.

Dude I have a foreskin and it's fucking rad. I can pinch it closed when I pee and it'll fill up like a balloon. How could you deny your son that?

Don't do it. Let your kid choose as an adult. You can't undo circumcision.

I have no idea where this American obsession with male circumcision comes from. It is an unnecessary medical procedure that you only share with Jews, but they at least can cite their ancient religion as an excuse.

Anyone else in the world just shake their heads about this.

This will be of no help to you OP, but: damn, this all seems so bizarre read from France.

How likely is it that your kid’s going to be bullied, though? I looked at some state-by-state data (warning: it’s not that recent, and I haven’t checked its accuracy), and it seems to vary a lot depending on where you live. Also, even in West Virginia, where circumcision seems to be the most common, almost one male in ten seems to be left intact. Obviously, I don’t know what I’m talking about, but even if your child ends up being in the minority, he might not seem that strange to his classmates and friends.

Nope, never.

I live in the UK, I’m in my 40’s and I’ve only ever known a single person who needed to be circumcised for medical reasons.

Beyond medical reasons, which are honestly pretty rare in reality, there’s no need.

I’ve literally never heard an uncircumcised person express a desire to be circumcised.

Nope. Heavens no. It’s a feel-good part of the body, hell no.

The only requirement is to keep it clean. Parents shouldn’t shy away from educating your boys about this and have some open conversations about it.

Might as well ask if you wouldn’t mind having one fingertip shaved off at birth, the difference being you’d know what you were missing because you have the other fingers to compare it to.

Don't mutilate your kid. If there's a medical reason go ahead, otherwise leave it be.
Your son can't put it back if you remove it, but he can remove it if you leave it. Let it be his choice over his body.

Never even crossed my mind.

women who are generally grossed out by uncircumcised men

And this must be an American thing, because I haven't met one and from what I've been told, most women find uncirc more attractive.

And as for bullying, in my school, if anything, the circumsised would have been bullied for having "half dicks". Not that I ever saw anyone be bullied over their dicks, that's just fucking weird.

Nope. Don’t mutilate your child.

You can't be bullied if everyone is uncut. And as you say it's cultural, it makes absolutely no sense for me and I don't understand parents who voluntarily butcher the genitals of their children. I can't believe it still exists.

Parents who perform unnecessary surgery on their children because society says they should are bad parents.

That might seem harsh, but it's true. You have a responsibility to make the right choices for your kids, and "society" doesn't get a vote.

I faced the same question, but found it to be a no-brainer. You don't perform unnecessary surgery on a baby.

The reason it is performed in the US is to stop boys from masturbating.

Ignore any excuses for doing it that people have come up with since. That's the only reason the US started doing it, and every other reason is just people trying to rationalize why they keep doing it.

The "reasons" people come up with to explain it now are based on extremely unlikely events. All the serious issues that come up are avoided with proper hygiene. Unless they still have a stupid masturbation hangup, it all comes down to this:

Parents feel icky about having to explain to their child how to wash their penis.

If you can't handle that, I'll tell you right now that you're going to have a hell of a lot tougher conversations.

What I told them was to imagine they were wearing a hoodie in the shower. You'd need to pull the hood back before shampooing your hair. Same thing goes for the little head, but don't use shampoo, that might burn.

Not circumcising my kids only caused me one problem:

My mom reacted like it was a direct personal attack on her, because I was circumcised. She saw it as me saying she was wrong. I found it difficult to convince her that I was not judging her. She didn't have the same information available to her as I did. When I was born, she didn't really have a choice.

I’m uncut and went through my childhood and teenage years in the US. No one cared in preschool, and no one cared in the Highschool locker room, none of the women I slept with cared. It might be painful as an adult to do, but it’s a choice the person gets to make for themselves. I am grateful my parents stopped the doctors from cutting.

America has a 90 percent circumcision rate.

Canada has a 40 percent rate.

Most of the rest of the world doesn't do that.

I'm not letting any stranger cut a piece of my boys parts off.

Frankly, it's a bloody weird thing to do unless medically required. Leave him be.

The idea that you would cut off a part of your kids genitalia just so they could 'fit in' culturally is kinda blown away by the fact that it is now less common to be circumcised than being natural, even in the USA. By the time your kid is old enough to care, it will be a complete non-issue, and they can always get one as an adult if they want. Don't take that agency away.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/pediatrics/generalpediatrics/117464

The idea that it has a population-level health benefit is completely debunked. It is medically advisable in only a tiny fraction of kids (sub 1%). The fact that %60 of the US population is circumcised is all thanks to religious hooey from puritans who don't want children to masturbate, and think chopping a sensitive part of their genitals off to make it harder to enjoy is the best way to go - thanks to education and a wider exposure to the rest of the world via the Internet, US parents are finally realising this which is why it's in decline.

Why is Christianity always so obsessed with little boys penises? It’s fucking gross.

Don't do it. That guy in high school had a choice and he made it, you'll be robbing your child of any choice and it does have many downsides.

I was circumcised at 40 for medical reasons, due to phimosis. That was a blessing after several years of issues with having normal intercourse and having little operations done that were ultimately ineffective.

Anyway, it's definitely different and I am much less sensitive. I definitely prefer being uncircumcised, just not, you know, with phimosis.

Drum Roll

No

A few counterpoints to the circumcision pros that you mentioned:

• Circumcision rates are dropping across America. In some areas they ared dropping faster than others, but from what I recall the get are basically dropping everywhere to some degree. So I expect bullying about it is on the decline as it becomes less common.

• Also, the simple fact is that bullies will find any reason to be shitheads. So if it's not circumcision it'll be something else.

• Any straight women who are grossed out by a natural penis are idiots, and your kid will be dodging an asshole bullet if they do reject him over that.

• Better to let him decide if he wants to get it cut later or leave it uncut than to take away his free agency.

No sane beings cut off parts of their children as part of a retarded ancient ritual. Let alone part of the genitals; unfathomable perversion.

Pardon my French, this angers me.

Edit: Oh, and pro tip: Mutilating children leads to antisocial behavior.

Fuck no.

Nope, not even once. I find the idea of circumcision really bizarre.

Nope

Definitely not but I'm not American.

Please do not mutilate your child because of tradition.

Genital mutilation is inexcusable disgusting tradition - don't do it.

Don't mutilate your child. Just remember to teach them to retract the foreskin and wash under it, by the time they are 10, it should be unfused from the glans.

The idea of wanting a circumcision has never once occurred to me. The notion of having my most sensitive area permanently exposed... eugh.

Not for a fucking second. Ever.

Tbh I love my foreakin, it's fun to play with and overall just enhances the penis having experience. 10/10 would recommend