This is an excellent article at Mothering.com on the circumcision issue. Kristen Marie Toutgates does a wonderful job of debunking the common rationales people use for allowing this barbaric practice to be performed on their newborn baby boys. I try to be somewhat tolerant and understanding of people's choice to choose when it comes to medicated birth, vaccines, and the standard American Diet (SAD), but when it comes to routine circumcision of baby boys, as one commenter said, "The bottom line is: it is a violation of a person’s human rights (and dignity) to disfigure their body without their willing consent."
This paragraph from the article goes into that in more depth:
"The “It’s a personal choice” issue. This topic is often, erroneously, considered a “personal choice” of the parent/s. While I do believe it should be a personal choice, I do not believe that choice should be the mother’s, but rather the baby’s when he is grown. It is not lawful for us as parents to remove any other body part on our child simply because we think it might be cleaner & we like how it looks better. When this procedure is done by doctors, it violates the Hippocratic Oath of “first do no harm” & when we as parents sit back & let this painful, harmful procedure be performed, we are violating our oath as parents to protect & honor our children. Technically, circumcision should already be illegal because it is unconstitutional to have a law that applies to females but not males. Females in the U.S. are protected from genital mutilation, but males are not (yet)."
Please read this article if you are a parent or will be someday. It is so very thorough and addresses all the reasons parents give for having it done. I admit, it is absolutely heartbreaking to read the truth about this procedure and its harmful effects if you have circumcised any of your children due to tradition and misinformation. I've been there, done that. But I will be eternally grateful that I have since listened to my instincts and learned the truth before I gave birth to my last two boys.
5 comments:
Thanks, Bonnie, for this post! I am sure it will help a lot of parents to be avoid a lot of pain.
If I did that to my children I would tell them that I was misslead and plead with them not to let it happen to their sons.
My dad asked my forgiveness a few years before he died of prostate cancer effects, and also begged for grandsons to carry his name.
I said "Father, I forgive you, for you knew not what you were doing. But for children from my seed, it is too late because it is too old and would likely produce down syndrom.
So if you want your name to continue seek understanding and forgiveness while your children are still young.
Thank you...I will read it. If we have anymore boys, I do not want to circumcise them. This sounds silly but how has it been to have some uncircumcised boys and then some who are circumcised? I do wonder about the whole "looking alike" thing although, as I've read, it isn't really an issue. My husband and our son are both circumcised and so are the rest of the boys in our family.
Kami, the "looking alike" thing is a non-issue for us because my circumcised son is 6 years older than my intact sons and he is extremely modest. I don't believe they've ever seen that part of his anatomy. My husband is circumcised but it's not like they have lots of opportunities to compare, if you know what I mean. The article does address this pretty well. They talk about how boys don't parade around naked in front of each other in the locker room like they did 20-30 years ago.
It is a sad thing to have to explain to your circ'ed son why a part of his body is missing when his brother's is not. However, the people who use this as a reason to circumcise all their sons is kind of like deciding that since their oldest son has a scar on his forehead all their sons should be intentionally cut so they can look like their brother. Makes no sense and it's cruel.
When I think about it, I feel bad for my circ'd son and his future wife as well as for my husband and our love-life. Once you research more about the effects of circ on intercourse you will mourn for what should be but is not. Hope this is not TMI--just trying to warn people before they make a terrible mistake that will affect more than just their son although he defintely suffers the most.
Fred, you're right that all you can tell your children is that you were misled about the procedure and educate them with the truth.
I don't know how old you are, but Down's syndrome happens to children of young parents as well. I believe it is more a function of heatlth than age. I had a baby at age 40 and one at 43 and they have been perfectly healthy.
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