Circumcision

Claudia, I am actually on your side of the fence on this. All of the reasons you listed below was exactly what my paed said yesterday and what I related to DH this am, and he sees my/your/our point of view.
I also added into the mix that I felt that this was not a descision I wanted to make for my child, if he really wanted to have it done, then we will make it happen. The same as what my mom did with our ear piercings. We decided ourselves, and she made it happen (quite a bit of nagging was actually involved-but that is beside the point)
Like I said, my DH is uncut, so to me a 'cut' penis looks weird. I am as Afrikaans as they come, and this is not something that is done in our culture. But I am glad that my husband sees my point of view,, so bullet dodged. Till the next one

Lollypop, I never implied that Yaz says that it reduces the risk of HIV. I know the study. It was done in West Africa where they noted that circumsised men were less likelyto be HIV positive. As a result they are roleing out routine circumcision in some of those places.

The point I was trying (badly) to make is that its a poor argument for circumcision, because safe sex practices are much more effective at curbing the spread of STDs. I wouldnt want my son having sex without a condom because you are only half as likely to contract hiv circumcised, but are almost 100% safe if you practice safe sex with a faithful partner.

People choose to circumcise for their own reasons, whether religeous or otherwise, but it still remains that circumcision is the only non medically indicated surgical procedure that babies are routinely subjected to.
I know you are looking into this because of your husband - my husband is also cut and he wanted James to be. I point blank refused once I did some research...

Argument 1: If you do it at birth its less traumatic. (Why, because they cant complain. This is the same as saying puppies arent traumatised when you dock their tails. Infant circumcision iincreases heart rate, respiratory rate and cortisol levels in the blood - all stress reactions that have been shown to correlate to reduced breastfeeding success)

Argument 2: Its cleaner (only if you never shower, you dont even have to retract the foreskin because this actually will cause infection)

Argument 3: Its more attractive (to whom? and what other cosmetic procedure is done to babies? Ear lobes anyone?)

Argument 4: It protects against penile cancer. This is the most rare form of cancer. A man is more likely to get breast cancer so maybe we should remove those as well since men dont need breast tissue?)

Argument 5: It protects against HIV and other STD's - Ive addressed that above

In the mean time complications arise about 10% of the time following infant circumcision (this increases after the age of 2 months when it has to be done under general aneasthetic, which comes with its own complications). They include death, heammorrage, phimoses, removal of too much skin, insufficiant removal, keloid scarring etc.

The foreskin contains the bulk of sensory endings to the penis. Yes prolonging orgasm in men may be everywomens dream, but in reality its no different from removing a womens clitoris which we all consider barbaric. So my initial argumant that if routine circumcision in women was shown to decrease HIV incidence then would it be okay is a reasonable argument (and it probably would because women would be less likely to engage in promiscuous behaviour)

Sorry I'm rambing. I just want you to think about the reasons your husband wants your son to be cut before you rush out to find a cheap option (By the way Europes HIV stats are much lower then the US yet most boys in the US are still cut). Also boys dont notice till they are older that they look different from their dads and its no different from explaining the hair/no hair thing either.

toyota and a porsche, i like that, there are too many risks living amongst us which is why i want my lo circumcised asap

I also believe that Dylan must be taught to use a condom rather than giving the false sense that a circumcised penis is safe even if studies show it is.

As for Monty brink. We all have experiences with gynaes. I may not like a particular gynae, but another may be very fond of him or her so Skai I am glad Monty Brink is supporting you. I read a great article about him once.

This will always be heated and yes if your lo knows no better then that is reallyb fine. I don't frown upon parents who choose to cut, we just chose not to and I like to share my reasoning with others. Always good to get thoughts and then make your own choices.

At panorama the urologist does the circumcisions as far as I know. He also fixed many botched cirucumcisions so there are pros and cons to all medical procedures. Try to find out what they are.

I must add that I do feel a bit hurt when women say they hate an uncut penis. Like Dylan will be shunned one day. If you teach your child to be clean there should be no smell issues and as far as pre ejaculation goes a man can learn to control his urges and can delay his orgasm quite well.

Yaz *snigger* how is that for afternoon entertainment.

Claudia, it wasn't Yaz that made that argument, it was a research study that was conducted in Africa, we are simply debating the pro's and con's.Obviously simply having a child circumcised is not sufficient, but there is a school of thought that says it is 'cleaner'.

This is abviously a subject that can get quite heated, but it is a matter of principle for some.

I am just trying to make sure whether I am doing the right thing.
My husband wants to have it done for our boy but I am not sure whether the so-called merits warrants the pain, and whether it is something that my son would appreciate or whether it is something that could potentially leave him feeling incomplete, cause body dismporphic syndrome etc.

@ yaz, just wondering if you would circumcise a girl if it reduced her risks of stds? Not trying to cause an argument, if people choose to cut their lbs then that's their decision, I just think the STD thing is a bad argument because condoms are much better at that job...

There is no correlation between highly circumcised populations and HIV at all, but rather sex practices and HIV. I would rather James use a condom, and yes condoms are easier to put onto a circumcised penis, but really that's a flimsy argument if ever.

But I'm also in the camp that says no other bits of body parts are chopped off at birth for prevention.
I'm in a heated debate with another lady in my masters programme about this at the moment..

If James decides when he is older that he wants it dine then he can go for it. It's not my body and not my choice to make...

Digby de Villiers is the surgeon at Constantiaberg who did my lb. He came to Kingsbury where I gave birth. Was R900 and paid Kingsbury about R700 for use of the OR.