I am posting this as a mom who is first, Jewish, and second, who has two sons who are circumcised. Since my pregnancy with my third son, however, I have researched the issue of circumcision and have left my third son intact, as will be this fourth son due in October. Below are a few of the reasons I made this decision. For anyone planning on giving birth in the future, this information is critical to protect your unborn sons. I am certainly in no position to judge anyone who has circumcised sons, as I have no stones to throw. However, I would like to share what I have learned and hope that it does some good to protect future little boys. In all fairness, I did not compile all of these resources. I owe that to another MDC (mothering.com) intactivist!
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to share some circ info I put together after over two years of reaserch. I must admit that this is one of those things that the more you know, the worse it gets…
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Genital integrity is a basic human right.
Over 80% of the world is intact.
This is an excellent movie (done by doctors opposing circumcision) about foreskin’s
purpose and harm of circumcision.
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi…o/prepuce.html
Even a perfectly performed circumcision does life-long harm.
1. It removes the most sensitive parts of the penis (Ridged band and often it also removes Frenulum).
2. The glans (penile head) is normally an internal organ protected by the moist mucosal tissue of the prepuce (foreskin). Without the foreskin, the glans is exposed to the outer environment (air, soap, clothing, sun, etc.). The glans dries out and develops several extra layers of skin (keratinization). Besides removing the densely nerve-laden foreskin, circumcision removes 50% of the penile shaft skin and associated nerve endings. The exposed glans then keratinizes, causing further loss of sensation.
Imagine how different female sexual response would be if the clitoral hood (female foreskin) was removed. Exposure of the clitoris to the constant effects of the outer environment would approximate the effects of male circumcision.
Please take a look at a recent sensitivity study published in the BJU International (British Journal of Urology) in April 2007.This study was the first time that the intact and circumcised penis were thoroughly, systematically and scientifically tested for sensitivity. The testing method was monofilament testing, the same method used in assessing peripheral neuropathy, such as lack of feeling in the feet of diabetics. The resulting measurements of sensitivity are quantifiable and reproducible. The study was submitted for peer review before being approved for publication.
The study’s objective: to map the fine-touch pressure thresholds of the adult penis in circumcised and uncircumcised men, and to compare the two populations.
The conclusion, from the abstract: The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.
Full text of the study (pdf), http://www.icgi.org/touch-test/touch-test-article.pdf
Graphs illustrating the comparison findings http://www.icgi.org/touch-test/
3. Moisturizing the glans is another important function of foreskin. Once removed, the skin of glans gets dry which most of the time leads to inability to have sex/masturbation without an artificial lubricant. On the other hand intact men do not need it at all. Foreskin slides up and down the shaft of the penis providing an easy and smooth penetration, lubrication and additional pleasure for both partners.
4. The pain during circumcision is truly agonizing.
Do you know how they circumcise newborns? First, because the foreskin is attached to the glans exactly like the fingernail is attached to the finger, they have to rip open those adhesions. They force a blunt probe under the foreskin and run it all around. Think about how that would feel under your fingernails and add on it that foreskin is the most sensitive part of the body. Then they slice open the foreskin and peel it away from the glans. Then they put a clamp on and crush the foreskin to halt the worst of the bleeding. Then they take a scalpel and slice the foreskin off. Oh, and by the way, did you know that over 85% of neonatal circumcisions in the US are still being preformed without any/adequate anesthesia?
If one wants to put their baby through this nightmare, they at least must have guts to see how the procedure is being done. As you can see on this video, the doctor claims that he uses anesthesia…well, make sure your speakers are on! http://video.google.com/videoplay?do…27632617&hl=en
There has been actually a study that was stopped before being completed due to too much trauma to babies http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/23/ci…on.anesthetic/ .
There has been another study that was comparing pain sensitivity in newborn vs. adults. The results were quite shocking! Newborn indeed don’t feel pain the way adults do. They feel it 1. more intense; 2. on a larger area and 3. for a longer period of time!
Lucky babies would pass out being unable to coop with such intense pain; not lucky ones will not and will go through the whole agony all the way.
There has been also a study that proved that intact boys and girls have higher thresholds of pain than circumcised boys. It was published in the Lancet (British medical journal) in 1997.
While permanent psychological impact of circumcision is still mostly unknown, it’s logical to assume that just like any extremely painful and traumatic event—even if forgotten—it can lead to a permanent emotional/psychological scar/damage.
Even a perfectly performed circumcision does not guarantee that a person will not have more serious (beyond the mentioned above) problems in his future sexual life. Such problems as, for example, too tight (sometimes even painful) erections can be due to removal of too much foreskin and whatever left over just not enough to accommodate a normal erection are much more common than many people think since it’s nearly impossible to know for sure how much is “too much” until the penis reaches its full-grown size. Removal of too much foreskin can also lead to a shaft of the penis being hairy (it pulls skin from above to more or less accommodate an erection).
Doctors Opposing Circumcision warns (23 October, 2005) that the risk of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is now too great to allow non-medically indicated circumcision to continue: … The advent of MRSA in epidemic proportions increases risks associated with male neonatal circumcision beyond those previously contemplated and further increases the desirability of the non-circumcision option. MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant varieties of SA, such as vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA), increase risk, including death, to newborn circumcised boys. In view of this increased risk, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists should review their policy (2002) of offering elective medically unnecessary non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision at parental request.
… Medical practitioners must consider the epidemic status of MRSA and exercise their independent judgment regarding the performance of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision. There is an ethical duty to not perform scientifically invalid medical treatment, especially when it puts the patient at risk. Doctors must act in the best interests of their child-patients regardless of parental requests. Doctors may conscientiously object to the performance of non-therapeutic circumcision of children.
Complete text: http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi…/DOC/mrsa.html
Penn and Teller video called “Circumcision Bullshit”. This video is funny and therefore, takes a lot of tension off the subject while saying what needs to be said. It also explains and SHOWS non-surgical foreskin restoration. I highly recommend to take a look at this video.
Yahoo Video: http://tinyurl.com/23kcyc
Google Video: http://tinyurl.com/2hhud3
As any surgery, circumcision may have some very serious (even life threatening) complications. http://www.circumcisionquotes.com/complications.html
http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/ . Of course, the most horrible complication is death and there were quite few of them as well (here is the most recent one http://healthblog.ctv.ca/blog/_archi…2/2967860.html ; and I’m talking about reported deaths only; god knows what the real number of circumcision victims is.
Worth while mentioning most recent scientists discovery that Langerhans cells that are present in the foreskin are behave as ‘natural barrier’ to HIV.
Bellow are the links.
http://www.womenshealth.gov/news/english/602421.htm
http://body.aol.com/news/articles/_a…28234109990019
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn…030500357.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q…_uids=17334373
Another study shows no HIV protection from circumcision
http://www.jaids.org/pt/re/jaids/abs…195628!8091!-1
Outside of Israel, the U.S. is the 2nd highest circumcising country in the world and after Africa, has the 2nd highest infection rate. Plus the fact that more than 80% of the world’s men are “uncircumcised” and countries in Europe have an extremely low HIV+ rate.
Important to mention that circumcision scars may cause cancer:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/en…t_uids=3944860
The tumors involved the prepuce (n = 1), prepuce and distal shaft (n = 1), circumcision scar line (n = 2), circumcision scar line and distal shaft
http://www.ajsp.com/pt/re/ajsp/abstr…195629!8091!-1
As you can see, nature designed a man’s body to be just as perfect as it can! And why would anyone want to rip off their child from all these benefits of having a whole perfectly functioning body remains a big mystery for me.
Also few most common reasons for circumcision just drive me absolutely nuts! One is “he won’t remember it”. Would that be ok if someone, let’s say, rape a woman and then injected her with a drug which would erase this event from her memory. Would this kind of rape be ok just because she doesn’t remember it?
Or would that be ok to actually rape an infant (s/he won’t remember it anyway, right?!).
Second is “Looking like a daddy down there”. Hmmm…makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?! With this logic I sure feel very sorry for a kid whose daddy got his leg or arm amputated…
Oh, yes, the locker room argument is a “good” one as well! I like what one guy said: “Dude let’s get it straight, you are laughing at me because you got a part of your dick got cut off?!..”
It’s just doesn’t make any sense! It sounds more like some poor excuses that people make up to feel better about something that they feel in their heart (and their instinct) is wrong.
Some women would leave the decision up to their husband because he has a penis. Well, maybe he does have a penis, but she is the one who has foreskin and therefore, is able to appreciate it. When fetus develops in uterus, the very same tissue that becomes foreskin in boys, becomes clitoral hood in girls.
Same tissue that both in boys and girls serves the same purpose: protection and sexual pleasure. That is why amputating foreskin in boys is equal to amputating clitoral hood in girls; another words, female genital mutilation (FGM) is the same thing as male genital mutilation (MGM), ‘nicely’ called circumcision.
Also unlike circumcised males, women have intact genitalia, and therefore, they are the ones to experience sexual pleasure the way it was meant to be.
This is a very interesting movie (contains NO violence) about female genital mutilation. As you can see, they do it to their girls because it was done to them, so there must be nothing wrong with it. Also as you can see, the women think that there is nothing wrong with them and that female circumcision is TOTALLY NORMAL. And of course, just like any mutilation, it’s surrounded by myths and misconception to keep it going. The most common myths about FGM include: intact vagina isn’t healthy, dirty, disgusting and that circumcision is necessary in order to have kids. http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/3…fe+and+Leisure
Circumcision started in the Puritan 1870s as a cure for masturbation (yes, you read it right! masturbation was considered to be evil and sinful and was blamed for all sort of illnesses including blindness, paralysis and mental retardation) http://www.cirp.org/library/history/ , http://www.noharmm.org/docswords.htm , http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/shorthis.htm
As late as the 1970’s medical books were claiming that desensitizing the boy was good medicine as well as good morality. The idea of that, touted openly by medical scholarship with notable pride, was carefully tucked away when the sexual revolution permitted sexual pleasure.
Today male circumcision is surrounded by a lot of myths and misconceptions to keep it going. Most those myths are about intact babies/boys’ penises care. Some would say that it’s very hard to take care of them, that circumcised penises are somehow cleaner, healthier and things like that.
Well, sounds really good if not for the fact that these are the most common misconceptions. In infants and young boys foreskin is fused to the glans with the same tissue like our fingernails fused to our finger-beds (during circumcision it feels kind of like ripping off your nail from nail-pads just much more intense since it’s the most sensitive part of the body; it has by far more blood vessels and nerve endings than any other part of the body).
At some stage (it can be anywhere between 2-18 years of age) the tissue naturally breaks down and foreskin separates from the glans, becoming retractable. Most boys will become retractable by the age of 8. Before a boy is retractable, NO ONE should EVER mess with the foreskin except for the boy himself (the owner of the penis). It should NEVER be pulled back by anyone else. It is absolutely harmful to forcibly retract foreskin and clean underneath. It is also absolutely unnecessary. It’s kind of like ripping off you’re a nail to clean the nail-bed.
Foreskin is fused to the glans protecting them and the only thing which can be in there is smegma (which is a natural discharge, full of antibodies; girls, by the way, produce by FAR more smegma than boys do and we never consider their vagina to be dirty because of that). So, the proper care for an intact penis of young boys is just to wipe/wash it from outside (and from outside ONLY) as if it were a finger and this is all there is to it. Period. Never retract. Retraction is what may cause infections, permanent nerve damage, scar tissue growth (which may lead to true phimosis) and is extremely painful.
When boys are fully retractable (rarely before 5 years of age) it’s enough to just to tell them to pull the foreskin back during bath and that will be enough. Before puberty (usually about 14-16 years of age) the glans don’t even need to be washed with soap. After that age it will take a boy just a couple of seconds to pull the foreskin back, soap it and rinse it with water. No matter how you look at it, keeping girls genitals clean are so much more harder, and yet no one suggests to cut her labia off in order to get rid of smegma or to make it “cleaner”. Just think how ridicules this whole thing sounds!
Parents should be wary of anyone who tries to retract their child’s foreskin, and especially wary of anyone who wants to cut it off. Human foreskins are in great demand for any number of commercial enterprises, and the marketing of purloined baby foreskins is a multimillion-dollar-a-year industry http://www.foreskin.org/f4sale.htm
If an adult wants to get circumcised, it’s definitely his body and therefore, his choice. There are benefits of being circumcised as an adult vs. as an infant.- adequete pain relieve during and after procedure (also keep in mind that adults don’t pee and poop on the raw wound from circimcision the way babies do);
- significantly less chance of taking too much skin since the penis is ful grown size and no need to ‘guesstimate’;
- prosess of keratinization and partual loss of sensitivity will be much less due to glans being protected by the foreskin all the years preor circumcision;
- his body, his choice! not being ripped off from the basic right of genital integrity and the right to choose whether to preform this cosmetic sergery on the body or not. No one should ever have a right to alter genitals of another person! Kids are NOT a parent’s property!
More great links:
Robert Redford’s new movie Lions For Lambs is sponsoring this contest where you post a 90 second YouTube video about what you really believe in. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ry6gYFJLJ_k
Just Like Daddy video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXal6eR8_NI
While this video is for artificial foreskin (and I really have mixed feelings about the product) this video is AWESOME as far as showing the process of keratinization and loss of sensitivity by using computer graphic, explaining the process in a very powerful and easy-to-understand way. To view the video, please click on the link and then go to “View The SenSlip Video” http://www.senslip.com/Photo_of_the_SenSlip_fitted.php .
TOP 10 ways Circumcised SEX Harms women
http://www.sexasnatureintendedit.com…k_scrapes.html
This website shows very clear (it explains AND also it shows very graphic videos) about how sex with circumcised penis is different than with an intact one. (there are ALOT of videos almost on every page that explains everything in very powerful and easy way).
The Nurses of St. Vincent: Saying “No” to Circumcision (short version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOjYrxzCMmI
Nurses for the Rights of the Child http://nurses.cirp.org
TOP 10 ways Circumcised SEX Harms women
http://www.sexasnatureintendedit.com…k_scrapes.html
A Warning For Parents of Intact Sons http://www.mothering.com/discussions…d.php?t=129378
As reported at circumstitions ( http://www.circumstitions.com/News28.html#dickson ), a study appearing in the March 2008 issue of the Journal of Paediatrics (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1…?dopt=Abstract ) found that overall, up to age 32 years, the incidence rates for all STIs were not statistically significantly different – 23.4 and 24.4 per 1000 person-years for the uncircumcised and circumcised men, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with recent population-based cross-sectional studies in developed countries [such as the Australian Study (International Journal of STD & AIDS August 1, 2006; 17(8): 547-54.) (http://highwire.stanford.edu/cgi/medline/pmid;16925903 ) of about 10,000 men and the British Study (STI 2003 Volume 79: Pages 499-500, December 2003) (http://www.cirp.org/library/general/dave1/ ) of approximately 2,000 men and unlike the widely publicized Fergusson study] (http://pediatrics.aappublications.or…act/118/5/1971 ) which found that early childhood circumcision does not markedly reduce the risk of the common STIs in the general population in such countries.
As reported at circumstitions ( http://www.circumstitions.com/News28.html#dickson ), a study appearing in the March 2008 issue of the Journal of Paediatrics ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pubme…?dopt=Abstract ) found that overall, up to age 32 years, the incidence rates for all STIs were not statistically significantly different – 23.4 and 24.4 per 1000 person-years for the uncircumcised and circumcised men, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with recent population-based cross-sectional studies in developed countries [such as the Australian Study (International Journal of STD & AIDS August 1, 2006; 17(8): 547-54.) ( http://highwire.stanford.edu:80/cgi/.../pmid;16925903 ) of about 10,000 men and the British Study (STI 2003 Volume 79: Pages 499-500, December 2003) ( http://www.cirp.org:80/library/general/dave1/ ) of approximately 2,000 men and unlike the widely publicized Fergusson study] ( http://pediatrics.aappublications.or…act/118/5/1971 )which found that early childhood circumcision does not markedly reduce the risk of the common STIs in the general population in such countries.
Journal of Pediatrics
http://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3…707-X/abstract
Circ’d babies have 12X increased chances of developing MRSA infection.
MRSA Deaths in the US Exceed AIDS Deaths: Circumcision is a Culprit
“The Cruelest Cut”–Fox News Story
http://www.livevideo.com/video/DA90E…elest-cut.aspx
Thomas J. Ritter, M.D.
George C. Denniston, M.D.
Foreword by Ashley Montagu, Ph.D.
http://www.circumcision.org/doctors.htm
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Intersting videos:
Facing Circumcision: Eight Physicians Tell Their Stories
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CC9Y-Us210
Doctors didn’t believe babies could feel pain?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-AwL2ujat0
[...] writes, I am posting this as a mom who is first, Jewish, and second, who has two sons who are [...]
God Bless You for having the courage to put this out there. I was circumcised as an infant and have had nothing but problems as a result.
I sincerely hope your post will prevent other boys from experiencing the lifelong pain and complications I have endured.
I am so sorry Brad. Have you attempted restoration?
Good for you! I wish everyone did this much research before deciding whether or not their sons should have genital surgery.
Circumcision also kills brain cells. Cells atrophy and die from no longer receiving neural impulses from the now gone foreskin. Further adjacent cells grow into the space chaotically.
The true scar of circumcision starts at the cut line and goes up to include the mucosa and glans. This tough and thickened skin reduces sensation as was observed by Sorrells et al. during their preliminary study of penile sensitivity that included subjects who were genitally intact, circumcised AND restored.
Apparently it is common for men to be able think themselves to orgasm as was side mentioned in a English medical study. I assume circumcision prevents this as none of the 1000 circumcised man I’ve known have done this.
I admire your courage, although if there is one kind of Jew who can get away with this, it is a Jewish mother!! For over 100 years, Jews have led the way towards a more enlightened and humane outlook on human sexuality. Sadly, that leadership did not extend to questioning bris until fairly recently.
You are not alone. The founding father of intactivism was
Edward Wallerstein of New York City, was a secular Jew. He published an entire book in 1980 demolishing the medical claims made for circumcision. Laurie Evans in suburban New York, Norm Cohen in Detroit, Ron Goldman in Boston, Abbie Chessler, a law student at SUNY Buffalo in the 1990s, are all Jews who have written eloquent critiques of bris and American routine infant circumcision. Quite a few European Jews born since 1940 are intact, if only because secular Europe has no truck with routine circumcision. 20 years ago, Nelly Karsenty, a French Jewish mom married to an American, wrote an article explaining how the fascination of Americans, Jew and goy alike, with circumcision struck her, a full blooded articulate Jew, as odd.
What does the father of your sons think?
In principle, I admire the concept of the uncircumcised Jew. But the implementation makes me nervous. Are you comfortable with a household that will feature 2 cut and 2 intact boys? Will your intact boys go to Sunday school? To YMHA summer camp? Do you think the Jewish young women of their generation will accept them as potential marriage partners? I agree that to undergo circumcision after one’s 18th birthday, as a gesture of solidarity with Jewish tradition, is a Jewish male’s prerogative. It is also far more meaningful and far less traumatic. For starters, no need to tear a grown man’s foreskin from his glans.
The foreskin facilitates masturbation and foreplay. It does not interfere with oral sex if the guy washes beforehand. It and the frenulum are rich in nerve endings in a way that asserting that the foreskin contributes to male pleasure should enjoy the benefit of the doubt. I do not doubt that nearly all circumcised men under 40 or 50 have good sex lives. But it is possible that circ detracts from male pleasure in later life.
One thing is certain: no Jew can now responsibly advocate circumcising gentile minors.
It is still not known whether the foreskin contributes to a woman’s pleasure from vaginal intercourse. All I can say is that some American women post that their intact partners were a transformative experience, and many post saying that they are indifferent to circumcision status or do not even notice it. (Erect penises look alike to all but connaisseurs!) The vast majority of American women discussing circumcision on YouTube are against it.
Sexual Functions of the Foreskin
in pictures, text, and video below:
http://xrl.us/ForeskinSexualFunctions
Thank you for this. I will be sharing the link to this post on my blog. I wrote a much shorter (and not as well referenced) post in much the same vein two years ago about why I chose to keep my son intact. Most of my reasons are the same as yours–it’s just pure logical sense. I particularly appreciate hearing it from a Jewish mama though…I understand that the religious pressure is probably much stronger for you than for me as a Christian.
This is my post, in case you are interested. http://brightonwoman.blogspot.com/2007/06/intactivism.html
Absolutely fantastic blog post!!! I am so very happy that I chose not to circumcise our son and thank the mothering.com messageboard and wonderful women like you for helping to enlighten us all.
Nature’s primary purpose for creating the foreskin was sexual — to make intercourse more comfortable and maximize sexual pleasure, for both the man, and his female partner.
http://xrl.us/ForeskinSexualFunctions
http://xrl.us/WhyWomenLikeNaturalSex
The wonderful joys of natural intercourse contribute to strengthening the love bond in a relationship, thereby helping to ensure that the partners stay united while raising their offspring.
http://xrl.us/ChristianeNorthrupMD
Circumcision adversely alters a man’s sex organ and abnormalizes the act of intercourse for both partners, and it can have profound harmful effects on sexual fulfillment and love happiness.
http://xrl.us/10WaysCircumcisedSexHarmsWomen