To be or not to be
Jan 04 '01 (Updated Jan 17 '01)
The Bottom Line The question of Circumcising a child is ultimately in the hands of the parents!
My husband was 6000 miles away from me while I was pregnant with our son. The discussion of circumcision had never come up. It wasn't even a decision that needed any thought, that is until my husband sent me an email from Bosnia saying he didn't want it done! WHAT!?!? Not have our son circumcised?!!? No way, that was out of the question!! My husband was arguing the other way, he definitely did NOT want to have our son circumcised.
We went round and round with this for months. Since he was so far away, much of the discussion was done via e-mail!! Finally he made it home. The discussion went on. He ordered books from Amazon.com and had them sent to me so I could read them. He sent me websites, some of which are way out there in their ideas, but I will get to that further down.
I read and I read. Sure, the arguments were persuasive. I actually found myself teetering back and forth. Each book gave each different author's opinion of the subject. One would say not circumcising your son, causes increased urinary tract infections, the next would say it doesn't. One book would say not circumcising leads to an increase in prostate cancer. The next would not.
I decided to go and speak with the pediatrician _I_ saw as a child. I went with all of my concerns. Increased UTI's, and chance of prostate cancer. Those were the two things that stuck out most as being problems to me.
Dr. Zigler told me that as far as the UTI debate went, it can be. She told me the best way to prevent that is to make sure my child is clean, and to avoid things like bubble baths. Pretty much the same things you do with a little girl who is prone to UTI's. As far as prostate cancer later in life, that debate is still up in the air.
Finally, I went to talk to our church minister. He told me plain and simple to take my son home. I had 3 weeks in which the procedure could be performed without causing any problems, or needing additional anesthetic.
I went home and told my husband of this decision. I went to the hospital and gave birth to our beautiful healthy son. When asked about the circumcision decision, I emphatically said NO! I had in the back of my mind that if I wanted to, I had 3 weeks to change my mind.
Well, each day past, and there were no problems with my son's penis. At the 19 day mark, my husband asked me what I had decided. I told him that Nathan was my son. I love him as God gave him to me. I think of it as my son came to us from God with a foreskin, so I am not taking it from him. I know a lot of religions practice circumcision for Biblical reasons. I am Baptist, and my husband is Methodist. Circumcision is not a religious practice for us.
Now, to my statement I made earlier about some of the websites and books being WAY OUT THERE. The one thing that struck me about these, is they all equate male circumcision of the foreskin with the female mutilation of a womens genitals!! I found this to be very offensive!! A male child is circumcised out of love and commitment by the family. The women being mutilated in some African countries, is brutal, uncalled for, senseless, and controlling. Circumcision of male babies in no way can be compared to female "circumcision"!!
I just read another opinion here at the site that equates the two procedures for boys and girls based on the pain and needlessness of the procedure. I must remind you the reader WHY each was begun in practice.
The male genital is circumcised because of tradition. It started with Abraham and Issac in the Bible. The Jewish faith practices the procedure regularly. I might add here, that I have seen this done at a Bris. The Rabbi does it very compassionately, and quickly. Very often the child in question doesn't let out much more than a small whimper.
The female "circumcision" is performed, not on newborn babies, but on young women. It sole purpose is to take away the woman's ability to enjoy sexual fulfillment. It is done in secret, and very often, a rock or dull knife is used. The woman is scared, physically and emotionally for life.
In closing, I must say that I have decided that if we were to have another son, I would not have him circumcised. That is OUR decision, as well as any other mother and father for their own sons. My son is 2 years old now. We haven't had any problems at all. Not even diaper rash!!
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Epinions.com ID:
trthomp
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Member: Terri
Location: Portland Area, Oregon
Reviews written: 189
Trusted by: 74 members
About Me:
God's idea of natural exfoliation is kitty kisses!!
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