Several excuses are always less
convincing than one
- Aldous Huxley
The variety of reasons given for male genital cutting (and the
irrationality of many of them) is amazing. List them all
together and your mind will boggle.
(All of these reasons have been seriously offered, or even led
to circumcisions. All spelling and punctuation is sic.)
For no reason at all / Cuz / Because he just should be /
She's not even clear on [it]. She just wants it, you know. /
Because "it had just never occurred to them not to" Rosie O'Donnell, in Redbook, October
1997/Responses to a survey conducted by Paul Baker
<pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu>/Joe Crummey
KABC AM 790, Los Angeles Dec 5 1999 / big_giant_head on Chronicle of Higher Education, June
18, 2010
Want
to know Why I circed my sons. Ummmmm, let me think
for a sec....OH yeah I know, cause I wanted to,
thats why. None of you anti-circ, people bashing,
assh*les know ANYTHING you just know what you read
and hear. You think ONLY you are right and
EVERYBODY else is wrong. But guess what, You don't
get to tell us what we can do to our own children
because their OUR children not yours.
If you want your son to look like a freak
and feel bad about himself thats fine
,what-ever-floats-your -boat. But when it come to
MY child, he is under MY control till he is 18. I
say what goes, not him. When we ALL become
parents, we have to make a decision right or wrong
but it is ours to make. Not yours or Joe Shmo down
the steet. I gave birth to my beautiful sons and I
am the one to make that choice for him because he
can't. So stop making parents that have circed
their sons feel bad about because they shouldn't,
its their child so keep you big fat fuukin noses
out of our(their) buisness....To each their own.
Because I'm his mother / Because my husband and I wanted
him to be and nothing anyone else says can convince me that
it was the wrong thing to do. / badunkadunk13 on babynbump
forum, May 6, 2009
Tiffany Lilahsma I'm with OP,I'm 32 weeks
pregnant with a little boy and plan on
circumsicing,and guess what??I don't need a
reason,other than,I'm his mother!
- Facebook, December 9, 2015
Cora Marie opened the discussion by writing:
and in an extensive correspondence
she gave "a pretty clean pee
pee lolol" as a substantive reason to cut,
and called someone a "fuckn idiot" for saying the Plastibell method involves cutting.
Because "my intuition told me to do so:
because "we couldn't decide. WHAT A STUPID REASON!! It was
more a..."Oh, I guess do it, I don't know.." attitude. If only
I knew then what I know now." Midwesternmomma on a page for regreful
parents (560 messages in May 2010) at mothering.com, Februay 7, 2004
Because "[I] thought [he] might as well be circ'd." / "just
in case" / Because "we just do it. It's better this way." Actor Tony Randall on the Late Late Show,
Oct 6, 1998 / said to a man being operated on for kidney
stones / Told by a doctor to T--, now a restoring father
Because "that's all we've ever known".
Emily Arnold-Hudson Agree. I want my boys
to not feel ashamed or embarrassed because they
look different than most boys. Cleaner. Plus
that's all we've ever known.
Because it's better and it has to be done Said to the source's mother-in-law in 1971
at Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg VA -
<japg[AT-sign]mindspring.com>
"Manuel Neto, MD, regarding his opinion on surgery for
hypospadias: Neto said a male infant did not need corrective
surgery to his urinary opening, but should be circumcised so
he "Doesn't get picked on by other boys because he won't be
urinating straight," ...
In order to win #$%$ contests - whatever
they are:
because "He won't learn as well in school if he doesn't get
circumcised". Centennial Medical Center in Minot, August
22, 1994, Complaint to ND Board of Medical Examiners."
http://www.boystoo.com/quotes.htm
"without it being done his son would not achieve the high
grades needed at school." Said to the doctor by the father of a
schoolmate of hoodyh1(AT)yahoo.co.nz, posting to
Circumsexual(AT)yahoogroups.com on Aug 14, 2007
This may have been true: hoodyh1 was told "it was expected
by the college that a circumcision would take place
regardless of the students wishes."
Because "These things must be done for boys and the time had
come" Told to a schoolmate of
matelot923(AT)yahoo.com, posting to
Circumsexual(AT)yahoogroups.com on Aug 14, 2007
Because it only seems natural / It seemed like the natural
thing to do / Because it's normal. The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398 / Sara, writing to Chatelaine / Mother in law of
the host of Parents Against Routine Infant
Circumcision on Facebook, December 6, 2011
Because "He doesn't choose to be born, either." - response by an expectant mother, having
been told that circumcision is torturous and denies his
right to choose.
To impress the poor "Until the Second World War it was regarded
as a class symbol in many parts of western European
society [False - only the UK]:
in the eyes of the poor, circumcision was evidence that a
boy's parents were affluent enough to afford some medical
treatment." - Dr Thomas Stuttaford in The
Times
Online
Because it's a lot more easy for the baby Response to a survey conducted by Paul
Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu>
Because "They're my kids and I'll do any god-damned thing I
want to them, so you lost this argument, Asshole." posted to
<Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
Because of an "accident on medical records..." According to
the "paperwork guidelines, I was not supposed to be Circ." Told by
(ERWI2)<erwi2[AT-sign]aol.com>
"Because any child with a foreskin is a pedafile" A woman on the circumcision board at
Parentsoup quoting a female friend
"Because NOT circumsizing your child is just...well WARPED!" According to (JL)
<merilin[AT-sign]winternet.com>
I am not sure why, but my family has done it for a long
time. You could call it tradition, I guess / because my family
has always had circumcisions / Because of custom / Because
it's habit and the way the society works / Because "it was
simply a common social custom which we took more or less for
granted" / "mostly because everyone in our family has, more of
a tradition. Not really sure how I feel about it one way or
another." Response to a survey conducted by Paul
Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu> /
Shannon M. Corn of Knightdale, North Carolina, quoted in
the Raleigh News and Observer, 31 Oct 2001 / Response to a
survey conducted by Paul Baker
<pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu> / Bryce
Courtenay inApril
Fool's Day. His son was haemophilic and nearly
died. / Karijoy writing in the
SheKnows
blog, March 2008.
"Because I was circumcised and so was my dad. It’s about
being part of our tribe." Darrell at Art
of
Manliness February 22, 2009
Because it's a "religious practice that has been going on
for thousands of years" feedback from <ALibLaiR18[AT-sign]aol.com>
Because it makes the penis look more modern Told in Guadalajara to Dr Sergio Aquilar,
who told Gary Harryman<Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
Because it is a good and proper thing to do/Because all the
nice families are having it done Reported in Canadian Medical Association
Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581/Said to the
mother of Neal Smith
<neal_smith[AT-sign]rocketmail.com> North Carolina,
1940
Because his mother had an episiotomy ("I was cut, why
shouldn't he be?") / "I had no intentions of getting my sons
circumsized, until I delivered both with unmedicated
episiotomies. Paybacks." / Noneya on The Stir, September 17, 2011
Because
it
serves as “payback” for “centuries of oppression of women.” TruthInAdvertising on A Voice for Men, December 10, 2011
"Let's just say it's payback for the c-section scar
Because his mother suffered much greater pain during
childbirth / Because the father "just didn't want to argue
with her after she'd been through all that suffering." /
Because "women have to go through a bunch just because we are
women. I personally think that a male child should have to
suffer a little." / "Women have to go through the Pain of
Birth anyway, Its Only Fair that men go through the Pain of
Circumcision"
/ According to
<JJMaloneJr[AT-sign]aol.com> / Comment by MizMoxie
at this
isby.us on April 25, 2008 / Omor Faruk on Facebook, December 15, 2014
Because "women get their period and that hurts so boys
deserve to feel the pain of being circumcised."
Facebook, November 21,
2014
Because women prefer it.
Because his mother and her friends prefer circumcised men for
sexual pleasure Letter to Suzanne Cook
<nocircofmaine[AT-sign]juno.com>
Because his mother had sex with an intact man once and it
was "dirty"
Because women don't like performing oral sex on intact men /
Because prostitutes prefer circumcised penises / Attributed to an Australian medical
journal
... this is no joke, ... I insisted on
my son's being cut, my reason having been stated
as,
"I want to make sure the poor kid gets a b***
j**!"
- Gregory Stringer on ViewsHound, November 27,
2011
Because women think it looks "more natural" (!) Said by Edgar Schoen, Today Show, 11/11/98
apprently in refernce to Williamson & Williamson's survey of Iowa women
Because women "deserve getting the kind of dick they want "
Keith Sattesahn in Masterdebaters on Facebook, June 5,
2015
Because both sexes have to suffer, "girls" in childbirth,
boys through genital cutting, as Jesus reportedly did
(on the cross at Calvary):
Beverley_Romoc (briefly) on Bubblenews
(Philippines), April 21, 2014
Because the woman is the one to change the diapers Mother of Kerri W. on AOL MomsOnline
Because it is God's will that man should suffer to tame the
ego.
- comment on "Is Male Circumcision
Child Abuse in Ozy.com, May 21, 2017
To teach him that the world is a painful
place / that life hurts / To toughen 'em up for real life /
Because "It teaches them that pain doesn't matter. / I'm
giving him more tolerance to pain n shit." /Told to Susan Peer
<susan[AT-sign]noln.com>/Told to Curt Geiler
<curt[AT-sign]null.net> / Kay on Facebook, June 18, 2013
46.
April 5th,
2007
7:10 pm
REAL PURPOSE OF CIRCUMCISION:
a little pain right after birth to innoculate the
boy against the pains of life
Because it is "...
the poetry of God allowing man to put the finishing touch on
His male creation and the survival lesson of an infant being
exposed to pain and learning to cry and trigger all the
life-preserving alerting mechanisms." The appropriately named SubZeroIQ on Fitsnews, June 19, 2012
Because "I'm not messing around with this guy [God] right
now." The baby had been born premature, and was
in an incubator. Shalom Auslander in his book Foreskin's
Lament
Because "his little peepee is so small" Said by a doctor to a mother who tells her
story on blOUCH!:
the circumcision was botched, the baby haemorrhaged,
almost died, and will need more surgery.
Because infant circumcision is much less complicated,
painful, and heals faster than adult circumcision. According to Gwen A Orel
<gaost3+[AT-sign]pitt.edu> 5 October 1996
Because it will have to be done sooner or later
To prevent "psychological trauma due to castration anxiety"
( ! )
Because it's just part of being born / Because all males are
circumcised/Because it is hospital policy / Because it was
pretty much mandatory / Because "they just do it
automatically" / Because when his mother said "What's
circumcision?" they said, "Don't worry dear, we'll look after
it."/Because it's a law / Because "in Tennessee, it was
required"/Because "it was THE LAW and they could NOT take
their sons home unless they were circumcised."/"when i was
born in Massachusetts it was law for males to get cut " / Told to John Chastain//According to Tom
H. <workhard[AT-sign]home.com> of Oshawa, Southern
Ontario / / T.G.'s mother, told to
Ken Drabik/Reported by John M Foley MD in FACT magazine,
July - August 1966 / Told to Amber Craig
<jcraig2[AT-sign]ibm.net> at the Charlotte, N.C.,
Baby Show, 6 Nov 99/Told to neighbors of "mattdog"
<mattdog[AT-sign]goldrush.com>, now in their 70's,
by both Kaiser Hospital and San Jose Memorial Hospital,
now part of Stanford University medical school. /Ducky on
Facebook,
October 27, 2013
Because the Child Protective Services will throw parents who
do not circumcise in jail for negect
... when we lived in [Misssissippi], and MY
children were born it was a state REQUIREMENT!...
pardon me for not wanting to go to JAIL, I wanted
it to be my boys decision. but was told by the
hospital that CPS would throw me in jail for
neglect.
-a mother to Guggie Daly on
Facebook, April 27, 2011
Because his mother had to be on state healthcare (in
order to get state-assisted housing) and the doctor
ordered it:
Because I was born in the US Told by his mother to Mike Giamo <mgiamo
[at-sign] michaelgiamo . com>
Because we live in the country ...the midwife told me that 20 % city
people circumcise, and 50% country do it. We are from a
country town, so i guess we fit into that. Jennifer05
at Bub
Hub
Because "only country hicks don't get
c*rc*mc*sed".
Twitter, Deceber 14, 2019
To protect him from being kidnapped and sacrificed "In Uganda, the increase [in the
circumcision rate] is due not only to HIV
risk prevention -- but also because some parents believe
that a circumcised child is less likely to be kidnapped,
and then offered as a sacrifice." CBC
Jan 3, 2007 (Kidnappers consider a circumcised child
unsuitable for sacrificing, and check first - but pricking
his
ears also works; Ugandan kidnappers apparently take
"intact" very literally.)
Because the doctor "circed all babys, for their own good" /
Because the doctor just did it Chris Oehler
<COehler[AT-sign]wow.com> had this happen to his
sons - contrary to his instructions / John M Foley MD in
FACT magazine, July - August 1966
Because the doctor just likes doing it I've known of doctors in clinic type
settings that gladly circumcise every baby they can just
because it's something that they like to do, even when
they don't get paid. - Rosemary Romberg, author of Circumcision: the painful
dilemma
Because they told his mother at the hospital if she didn't
have him circumcised he wouldn't be able to father children /
“Isn’t it true a boy needs to be circumcised if he is going to
have children?”/"Cuz men who have eliphent trunks lol not
cercumsized its hard to get a girl pregnat" Told by Susan Peer to Al Field
<albfie[AT-sign]worldlynx.net> / Sarah at In Mala Fide, June 23, 2010 / Amber
on Facebook, November 4, 2012
Facebook, July 11, 2021
Because circumcision is insignificant compared to the truly
important issues that come with raising a child According to Len Denzo
Because the foreskin is a mistake of nature/Because the
foreskin is a mutation that only appears on some males and
must be removed According to Dr Thomas Wiswell/Told by a
woman doctor to an intact man, as reported in a newspaper
read by Chuck Kappenman
<chazbsweet[AT-sign]hotmail.com>
"Because of genetic health issues my boys are circumcised." Sarah Elisabeth Bede-Morrell on Facebook, June 15, 2013
Because his mother had never seen an intact penis and
thought it was deformed/To make it look "more like a penis" It was "Derek Townsend"'s mother / Said by
<notw[AT-sign]my-deja.com>'s girlfriend, told on
alt.circumcision
So his penis would not look like something else (which
no penis ever looks like): "I don't want him to look like he
has a dog dick." / "We did not want our son to have to go
through life with his penis looking like a pig in a blanket." [So instead it'll look like a pig that's
had its blanket stolen...] A mother to nurse Mary Conant
<wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com> / Kim Zolkiak on Bravo!, December 2, 2011
Because it is rooted in our culture Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah
vice-president W. Knox Fitzpatrick
Because it is culturally significant / culturally necessary
/ a cultural norm //According to
<prhagen[AT-sign]bitstream.net> (Paul Hagen
Because "When you see a penis on TV, is it uncircumcised?
No, it's not." Teen Mom DearTaylerTragedy on YouTube ,
September 16, 2012 (since removed)
Because they have a
device to do it, so it must be okay According to Michael Lines'
<linesm[AT-sign]gnn.com> sister in law
Because the opposition to it is too shrill / bizarre / On
principle / To spite its opponents/To spite his
absent/divorced father/Because his (gay) uncle recommended
against it So said Bob Cohen in Living Marxism, May
1996 ////Given by Don Morgan/the case of a guest on an
aborted Dr Laura show Sept 18, 2000/The uncle was Fred
Bradford <avpower[AT-sign]pacbell.net>
Because to oppose it would give away that he liked foreskins
I'm clipped, as were almost all boys in my
generation. When I was in grade school there was
only one boy in my gym classes who wasn't (as I'd
spied in the locker room) and I felt so sorry for
him because he had this horrifically deformed
dick! Then, in 8th grade a slutty girlfriend told
me about circumcision and I was absolutely shocked
that my parents had volunteered part of my dick to
be cut off??? WTF!!!
Nonetheless, when I got married and had a son my
wife was insistent on him being clipped, and since
I'm bi (as wifey knows) I didn't want to advocate
not clipping him just because I find playing with
foreskins wildly hot and hours of extra
entertainment.
Because "I don't want to piss off my mother-in-law." /
Because "My mother won't babysit him if he's not circumcised." A father to nurse Mary Conant
<wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com> / A mother to nurse
Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
In exchange for not having to change his diapers Joe Crummey KABC AM 790, Los Angeles Dec 5
1999
As a birthday present to his father.
"Taffy really didn't want to go "European" with this decision
and therefore I granted his wish and Gio got circumcised.
Because it was Taffy's wish to circumcise our precious son, I
consider my approval of it, my early Birthday gift for my dear
Husband. Dear Husband, Happy early Birthday, I got you a
circumcision!!" blog: Life
with
two Kids and one Taffy, October 30, 2008
To honour his late father's memory.
"He lost his father at a young age and wanted to honour his
memory by circumcising their son." Husband of Danae Elon in "Documentary deals with circumcision
debate", CTV, August 19, 2010
Because his intact brother, aged 10, wished he had
been.
Mom of two sons, ages 7 and 17: "One is
circumcised, and the other is not. When my
youngest was born, I asked my then 10-year-old if
he thought his brother should be circumcised, and
he said yes, that he wished he was."
quoted by Gina Chen in the Post-Standard,
Syracuse, April 23, 2009
Because if he isn't circumcised at birth he won't want to be
circumcised later
[Well, Duh! And why should he be
circumcised later?]
Because "a grown man who wants to get cut will have to take
days off work to get it done" Heard by CobTheSpiderMage and retold on IMDb, June 12, 2012
Because his mother doesn't want to have to explain why his
penis looks different from his father's. / "I didn't want him
to question why daddy looked different" / his father didnt
wanna explain to him when he got into the asking stage why
their weewees looked different. (...so
now he can question why they look the same...) / A (former?) friend of Rockett
<dropforged[AT-sign]sprintmail.com> / Robin Oliver
on Facebook, September 2, 2013
To avoid the trouble of having to explain why he looks
different from his twin brother.
To "outmanoeuvre the cultural police later on!" Opstoker on Dispatch Now 24/1 (South Africa),
June 15, 2010
Because "It hard enough to talk about "parts" without having
to explain other parts." tryoneve... in Oh
Yahoo!
Answers June 28, 2008
Because the decision was made for me, so I'll make the
decision for my sons / Because I had no choice
Because "for me, a circumcised penis is what a penis looks
like" Scott Colby in the Star (Canada) July 22, 2012
To make it look more professional:
So is it purely for sexual improvement?
Well it’s for hygienic reasons, too. I’ve been
speaking to a few girls about it and it’s a
preferred look. A more professional look.
Because it's part of his father's identity Mrs Ines Ford-Bruins in the NZ Sunday
Star-Times (Nov 9, 2003), New Zealand, where routine
circumcision is almost obsolete
If I had to, he has to. Husband of
mattdog[AT-sign]pacific.net 's niece
Because his father had been circumcised as an adult and had
been traumatised by it.
(The father's foreskin "had torn during intercourse" - it was
probably his frenulum, but in any case circumcision was not
required. Wasn't the son lucky his father never had his arm
amputated!) "Tilly"
<climbaboard[AT-sign]hotmail.com> on
alt.circumcision, 12 August 2003
Because a friend of a friend of a... "had to be" circumcised
later in life.
Because it saves him from the embarassment of having to ask
for it
Because " I did some research myself and was told by a
family friend who chose against it that if I didn't get it
done my son would never forgive me, as hers still doesn't
forgive her for leaving it intact." Jennifer Mariee on Facebook, January 14, 2013
To keep peace in the family
"To save our marriage"
(Her second husband wanted the boy cut
and she didn't want to have a big argument. ) She'd had the first son cut because she missed her dead husband's penis!
Sent by remdog <remdog[AT-sign]earthlink.net>
Because the foreskin will fall off if a baby is put into a
hot tub of water for a bath.
"His perception was that the foreskin was something like the
umbilical cord, and that it needed to be removed shortly after
birth, lest it become the site for infection."
(Babies shouldn't be put in hot water,
of course.)
Believed by a 20 y o friend of Art Boy (Jeff
Borg) <artboyz[AT-sign]worldnet.att.net>
Because the foreskin would fall off by itself if it wasn't
cut off by the doctor, just like the umbilical cord. Believed for 24 years by Steve Wilder
<wilder[AT-sign]ksl.stanford.edu>
Because "[the foreskin's] purpose is to protect the
developing child in the womb from being aroused sexually and
skewing his/her hormonal balance. That after birth this kind
of protection is no long necessary and, like the umbilical
cord, be severed." Abdulkhaliq Alemao on Facebook, June 10, 2013
Because "If not, the boy will end up with a mis-shapen
penis, bent at the end." According to len orwill on MSNBC Newsvine, January 12, 2020
To cure diaper rash
"A child ... was circumcised for diaper rash, and he lost his
whole penis." (3:17)
Dr James L. Snyder MD FACS at an Intactivist demonstration in Denver,
Colorado, July 27, 2014.
Because he has a family history of diabetes
... Some of us with family medical histories of diabetes/peripheral
vascular disease feel it's kinder to circumcise
prophylactically during infancy (which has a much
easier recovery & has considerably less rick
thus significantly increasing the risk:benefit
ration than having our children or adult sons have
to go under a general for a pretty significant
operation that is made even risker if they already
have a co-morbidity like diabetes)
Because it serves as a marker of a rare blood condition
(that makes circumcision nearly fatal).
One hour after the procedure I went to the
nursery and found my son's diaper red with blood.
... Eight hours later, Curtis was still bleeding
and was being given a blood transfusion. A soft
tourniquet had been put on his penis to try to
stop the flow of blood. Things were not looking
good.
The next day, after 24 hours of continuous
bleeding, we were still hoping for a miracle. They
had to remove the tourniquet as his little penis
was engorged.
... Curtis was born with an abnormally low
platelet count. When the circumcision was done, it
used up the platelets and because I had developed
antibodies during my pregnancy, the platelets were
being destroyed before they could go to the wound.
After three rounds of blood transfusion and three
of packed platelet transfusion, Curtis was on the
road to recovery.
Now the problem was his penis. Would it be all
right? The doctors were worried that he
might
at the very worst lose it, or surgery
would be needed and then plastic surgery.
A top plastic surgeon was brought in who, after a
few days, gave us the best news yet: the blood
flow to the penis was coming back. In that time
Curtis had lost a lot of weight and was very weak,
but he was a little fighter.
...Dr Rigg let us know that if we had brought
Curtis home and had bumped him or had anything
happened, Curtis would have bled internally
without our knowing and would have died. Call it
fate or whatever, but it
was because we chose to curcumsize that my boy
is here today. If I had Curtis today
would I have done it yes
Because it serves as a marker of a clotting disorder(!)
/ bacterial infection
"In fact the Dr at [hospital] in his own words
stated "if it was not for the circumcision, we
would have never known that there was anything
wrong and would not have been able to try our best
to help him. He would have passed in his sleep." -
[mother]
"The circumcision discovered that B------ had a
bacteria infection in his blood." - [a relation]
- both on Facebook, March 9, 2013
(The baby had just been taken to the doctor for
persistent bleeding, and died two days after his
circumcision.)
[So why not roll babies downstairs
to check for brittle bones, too?]
To eradicate haemophilia
(by eugenic infanticide):
{Haemophilia
is
transmitted on an X chromosome, so women are carriers,
but it is only expressed in males where the gene goes
uncontested (or rarely when a female gets the gene on
both her X chromosomes, i.e. from both parents). Male
genital cutting has, of course, utterly failed to
eradicate haemophilia in cutting countries, after
thousands of years.
And he contradicts himself:
Because it would have revealed a penile deformity
earlier.
at my 3rd sons birth I did not have the money to
get it done. All the docs and nurses say "don't
pull the skin back to clean" so no one ever did.
It wasn't untill he was 3yo with an infection that
we found out about his deformity. so instead of a
quick cut at birth, he had to spend time in the
hospital with weeks of recovery and pain at the
age of 3! doc said it all could have been fixed
much easier if we got the C done at birth. they
would have caught the problem early and it
wouldn't have gotten infected.
Because it serves as a marker of spinal meningitis
I firmly believe that if i had not had my son
circumcised the day after he was born i would have
taken him home as normal (@ 2-3 days old) without
knowing he was sick with spinal menangitis. i
think the circumcision caused the illness to speed
up which the doctors caught in the hospital and he
was able to go into a neonatal facility for the
best pediatric care available that night. had i
taken him home he would not have been admitted
where he was and not received the specialized care
he got. After being
circumcised his body temp dropped below 90, he
wouldn't eat nor cry. He went from 7 lbs down to
just under 6 lbs. A spinal tap showed extreme
high white blood cell count, which the
doctors suggest was highly probable of spinal
menangitis. They could not 100% say so because he
was on anti-biotics immediately which started
working immediately. But as i stated previously I
firmly believe his circumcision saved his life....
[Sounds more like the
circumcision caused the meningitis and
nearly killed the baby!]
To avoid further pressure on the kidneys
- Daily Mail (Australia)
following the death
of a 2-year-old
and serious illness of his baby brother from cutting.
The commonest complication of cutting,
narrowing of the pee-hole (meatal stenosis,)
may increase pressure on the kidneys.
"...since he had heard of some intact baby boy who had
gotten a hair wrapped around his glans and strangled
his penis!!!" A first-year medical student at the U of
Chicago to Dan Strandjord"
<danstrandjord[AT-sign]att.net>
To stop blanket lint from sticking to it
- Twitter July 14, 2018
To prevent tears later in life (in
the skin, not the eyes)
This is quite false: the circumcision wound may tear. Given on Medline:
http://www.medscape.com/HomeExamRoom/spotlight/05.97-spotlight.html
"[B]ecause his cousin one year older had had a deformity in
his foreskin causing many trips to hospital due to inability
to urinate and swelling and pain and eventual circumcism at 10
months old which WAS a big and painful issue. Very off
putting, we just said to hell with the whole pros and cons
issue, we're doing it."
[If a cousin had had a deformity in
their earlobe requiring surgery, would they have cut off
their child's earlobes?] LMB on Stuff.com, November 21, 2011
Because a neighbouring year old was born "naturally
circumcised" and needed it
(?) Told to vuckovic[AT-sign]interaccess.com
(G. Vuckovic)
Because it's covered by Medicare / National Health / Social
Security / Health Insurance / State insurance ////At Charity Hospital, New Orleans, told
to John Erickson
Because doctors make money from it / Because if he didn't
some other doctor would get the money. / Because the hospital
charges a circumcision fee whether he's cut or not / Said by a retired OBGYN to Patricia
Robinett<patricia[AT-sign]efn.org> / Said to the
source's mother-in-law in 1971 at Baptist Hospital,
Lynchburg VA
Because a military surgeon "wanted to get back into practice
because she could get $100 apiece for them in private
practice." / To provide practice for house-surgeons (interns)
/ To provide practice for Navy surgeons waiting for action /
"... circumcision also benefits the future health workers of
the country. It is through circumcision that they hone their
surgery skills before they perform that risky
procedure to save someone else’s life." The surgeon spoke to Darillyn Starr
<sstar[AT-sign]vii.com> / Jason Ashley / Aboard USS
Peleliu in the Arabian Sea, 2 Nov 2001, Reuters
/ PreMEDitated
by
John D Cruz MD
Because they're fun to do. '"I like doing circumcisions. They're fun
procedures because they're one of the few procedures I can
do on a healthy kid." Then she immediately said something
like, "Why are you looking at me like that? I knew you
wouldn't understand!" She made this comment in a roomful
of other students which had two other doctors in it and
they were nodding in agreement.' - a midwife posting on
the Midwifery Today forum
To get sterile urine samples, to see if he has a urinary
tract infection. Letter to Pediatr. Ann. 1997: 26(5): 278
from S A Bailis
When
you see a young baby that has a very high fever,
one thing you immediately think of is a UTI. To
rule it out, you need a sterile urine sample. A
circumcised penis gives sterile urine naturally,
but because of bacteria under the foreskin, an
uncircumcised penis doesn't. So, for a proper
workup, you need to tranquilize the baby and
pass a tube in, and it becomes an invasive
procedure just to get a sample.
Talk
about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat!
It was the unsterile urine samples of the intact
boys that formed the basis of Tom Wiswell's
(false) claim that they are more susceptible to
UTIs!
Because
[doctors]
would not be able to pull the foreskin
back to see if anything is wrong. The circumcision would
be free now, but if she went out the door, when she returned
it will cost her. [$25 off if you
call in the next ten minutes!] Told by doctors at Kaiser Permanente to a
pregnant woman who visited David Bradt's Intactivist stand
at Venice Beach, Los Angeles. He succeeded in savng the
baby.
To make it easier for a doctor to
examine:
- Twitter, September 18, 2018
Because "he is already going to be different because he is
going to be raised by two moms why put him at a further
disadvantage" Mom T on Momssquared
Because "there is a probability that sometime in the near
future that it will be recommended that all boys will be
required to have it done after birth" Mom T on Momssquared
To symbolise humanity's unique essence as more than animal Ben David
<b_david2[AT-sign]netvision.net.il>
Because "It's what distinguishes them from animals. ...
There are few to no circumcised animals in the world.
Ritualistic circumcision separates men from animals. If you
find an ancient corpse and it's impossible to tell what it is,
if it's circumcised, you can be fairly certain it's a man and
not an orangutuan. Allie Baba on US
Message
Board, July 2, 2009
To prevent the Fall of Man:
As far as this makes any sense at all, the
idea is apparently that Adam's penis could talk, and an
intact one is more snake-like...
- Twitter, September 27, 2017
Because God said to (and that's it.)
Why is circumcision so important to God? The
plain fact of the matter is that we do not know.
While numerous explanations for the ritual have
been suggested by different sages throughout the
generations, circumcision is a chok, a law
that is performed as God's decree, and according
to traditional Judaism, no further explanation is
needed.
S.R. Hewitt,
"The Importance of Circumcision in Jewish Law" Huffington Post, October
10, 2011
To keep a bargain Abraham made with G*d (Gen. 17:10-14)
Because it is a union with G*d 'Explained Mr. Katz, “Socializing and
speaking with other Jews at the synagogue and the family
of our rabbi influenced my worldview, and I realized that
I was ready to undergo a Brit Mila – a union with G-d!”' -
"Three Undergo Brit Mila in Volgograd",
Federation
of Jewish Communities in the CIS, November 25,2010
As "a reminder that God will bless them.
Also a commitment to God." Wilma Kulkowski on Facebook, July 1, 2013
As "the physical sign in every male Jew that he is a son of
Abraham, a member of the Jewish people." Living Torah by Rabbi Ari Enkin
So that God will recognise his people (Americans must
confuse Him no end.).
-Twitter, May 22,2020
He put the foreskin there so man removes it and becomes a
co-creator with man! By doing that, man becomes a co-creator
with G-d. Reyn1 on the Huffington Post, September 20,
2012
Because "The Orlah, the foreskin, represents a barrier
between a Jew and his connections both to Torah, to his fellow
human beings and to G-d ... Removing the foreskin reveals the
inner levels of the soul and therefore opens the channels to a
holy relationship with all three." Morah Yehudis Fishman on Daily Camera, November 16, 2011
To remove "a barrier between the baby and his faith, people
and future."
Our covenant mandates us to work to repair the
faults of an imperfect world--tikkun olam. This
little piece of skin is symbolic of imperfection.
It is a barrier between the baby and his faith,
people, and future. We--the adults--at the brit
are being tested to see if we will remove that
obstacle. We are the ones being tested. But he is
only a week old, he is not being tested.
Dr. Dorothy Greenbaum (a Board
certified Pediatrician, a Fellow of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, and a certified Mohel)
on My Jewish Learning, November
22, 1999
Because “A man who is not circumcised cannot understand the
context of the Bible ... It is very, very important.” Rabbi David Goldberg of Hof, Bavaria, in the New York Times, September 19,
2012
Because “Baby boys are born without a soul. When we cut off
the foreskin, a hole is created in the body for God’s soul to
enter into them. This is why circumcision is a divine
mandate.” Told to Matthew Taylor by an
Orthodox woman at the Wailing Wall.
As a prophylactic measure against demons Jacob Gallagher-Ross reviewing Mosheh
in the Village Voice, February 2, 2011, referencing Exodus
4:24-6, which does not mention demons
To protect from Satan:
Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Dinov explains that
sandak [who holds the baby still] is an
acronym of "sanegor na'aseh din kategor -
the defense emerges victorious vis-à-vis the
prosecutor," referring to the brit's function as a
protection from Satan. [This
sounds like a backronym]
To add a dimension of spirituality to the physical body
When Abraham circumcised himself at age 99, God
added the letter "heh" to his name. "Heh" is part
of God's own name, signifying that through Bris
Milah, the human being adds a dimension of
spirituality to the physical body.
- Justmythoughts quoting Rabbi
Shraga Simmons on MSNBC Health May 11, 2011
As a spiritual stepping stone towards adulthood.
Most religions have created rituals —
circumcision, baptism, confirmation, bar/bat
mitzvahs — to serve as spiritual stepping stones
toward adulthood.
Because "the circumcision of boys [is] a constitutive path [whatever that may mean]
to join a community of faith" Social Democrat Burkhard Lischka in Business Week, July 18, 2012
To serve the purpose of the child's introduction into the
social order. [Whatever that may
mean.] According to a Jewish psychoanalyst, to Iris
of NORM-UK
It shows that you hate this flesh ... it's a blood sacrifice
for the fact that you are a fallen seed. Chase Jester on YouTube (1:25), December 21, 2014.
To control our animal desires
It is a foundation of Judaism that we are to
control our animal desires and direct them into
spiritual pursuits. Nowhere does a person have
more potential for expressing "barbaric" behavior
than in the sex drive. That's why the Bris is done
on this specific organ.
- Justmythoughts quoting Rabbi
Shraga Simmons on MSNBC Health May 11, 2011
And yet people repeatedly
say "female genital cutting is done to control
women's sexuality (unlike male
circumcision)", and that's a bad thing.
... one of circumcision’s central aims is to curb
male barbarism. Men are supposed to be reminded of
God and, one could argue, moral behavior, in the
very place they are most likely to betray
religious ideals.
“Circumcision is the indelible symbol that a man
can be more than just an animal,” Rabbi Ed
Feinstein, senior rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom,
said. “The fact that you [sic]
seal your [sic]
connection with God and with tradition into that
organ makes it incredibly difficult for that organ
to be used as a weapon of manipulation or
destruction....”
To make (male) Jews more "vulnerable and exposed ...
sensitive and responsive"
The taint of Original Sin: God has been trying to
get us to trust Him, to reveal ourselves to Him
and to be vulnerable and open to Him ever since.
Perhaps this explains the command by God for the
Jews to circumcise the men. The foreskin of the
penis affords some protection for the organ—a bit
of shelter, a place to hide. When God chose the
Jews as His own, he required this symbolic (and
real) acquiescence, this willingness to be
completely vulnerable and exposed to whatever may
come. The unsheathed penis is extraordinarily
sensitive and responsive—precisely the qualities
God wanted of the Jews. He made a covenant with
them; He would be their God, they would be His
people, and the deal was sealed in blood. At its
shedding, man and God are bonded.
Because "In the Jewish tradition, it's considered
beautification. Some have referred to it as like removing the
stem from the apple or an imperfection." Dr. Jonathan Berkoff, an
obstetrician-gynecologist at Columbia St. Mary's,
Milwaukee in WISN, May 13, 2011
To look like every other Jewish male in the family
Through this all-important rite, my son would
become part of our religious covenant and, more
importantly, he would look like every other Jewish
male in my family, including my husband.
"... because Jewish men should be able to feel the pain of
others more easily." Dr Aaron Jesin, quoted in the Toronto eye,
7/99
To confer a tendency for caring, reasoning and spiritual
experience.
Explicit neonatal micro-traumas can bias gene
expression and neural development. Routine
hospital circumcision is usually performed too
early and can have unpredictable effects, some of
which might be detrimental. (Perhaps autism
spectrum disorders?) But Jewish ritual
circumcision is performed at the right time to (on
average) bias neonatal gene expression and neural
development so as to leave the man-to-be with
enhanced emotional, intellectual, and spiritual
capabilities.
Circumcision may not only be a symbol or
Jewishness, it might actually confer a tendency
for caring, reasoning, and spiritual experience.
These claims can be tested and either refined or
refuted. We should do the science first.
[There is no evidence
whatsoever for these claims, and hard to
imagine what research in the real world could
ever verify them. But never mind, throw any
claimed advantage for circumcision into the
blogosphere and it will soon be claimed as
fact...]
To tame a man from a rogue to one with humility and
tolerance
- Twitter, August 4, 2019. For "Pushop", see the foreskin analogy page.
Because it acts like Shock Treatment (ECT, ElectroConvulsive
Therapy) to activate the brain
One of my doctors, a Pediatrician (Non Muslim),
asked about this practice and he also specifically
asked about its effect on the mind specially the
Neurochemical effect. He told me that the Jews did
it on the 8th day of the child's birth and it has
scientific evidence that it brings a jolt or a
shock to the brain and their senses gets activated
and remains for their whole life, and this is why
Jewish people are more educated and learned in
today's world. He quoted the example of Einstein,
Muller and few other Jewish scientists.
- Ziaul Khan on On Islam message board,
December 27, 2010
[This reason flatly
contradicts "He slept right through it" and
all claims that Brit Milah is less painful
than other methods.]
Because he's heir to the British throne and Queen Victoria
believed they were descended from King David The second part of this has been disputed,
but there is no doubt that all heirs since Victoria down
to Charles have been circumcised.
Because it was good enough for the Queen (Elizabeth II):
To bribe Satan: "Kabbalah explains that we say to Satan that
we take the holy part, which is the child, and the unholy
foreskin we give to Satan. Because of this gift, the Satan is
bribed to the extent that he then praises the Jews and becomes
a defender rather than a prosecutor." http://www.shemayisrael.com/mikvah/britmilah1.html
Because his grandmother is Jewish
- Facebook, January 24, 2016
As a badge of Jewish identity. Rabbi Lawrence, in "The Naked Penis" TV3
New Zealand, May 30, 2001
As proof of Jewish identity.
When the Russian Army came closer to the camps,
the Germans started marching us back toward
Germany. We were seven young men who escaped the
Death March. One day the Russians made us pull
down our pants to see if we were circumcised; that
was the only way they could tell that we were
Jewish. It saved our lives. Bless the ancient
tradition that I am here to write about.
[It was not only
liberating Russians who pulled down men's
pants to see if they were Jewish, but
conquering Nazis. It cost those men their
lives. Did they bless the ancient tradition
they are not here to write about? ]
As a requirement, via Bar Mitzvah, for a scholarship to a
Jewish school.
- Twitter, 2022
Because "when the Ethiopian Jews were discovered in the
Gondor region, and they had been separated for 2,000 years
from Jews with Talmudic traditions, ... they STILL circumcised
their boys. ... If they hadn't done this ritual, we'd have
lost the connection to a whole branch of the family." posted by "paying3tuitions" at College
Confidential
To make him look different from outsiders
To remind him of antisemitic persecution
(which was facilitated by circumcision)
"But ultimately, my decision to circumcise my
child wasn't primarily motivated by the above
reasons. Ultimately, I chose to circumcise him
because he is a member of a religious minority that
has been persecuted for millennia and continues to
be persecuted today, and I don't ever want him
to forget that."
To get revenge on antisemites "Curt to the point of rudeness, [the mohel]
shouted over the baby's cries that every time we
circumcise a Jewish child, we are getting revenge upon the
anti-Semites who wanted to crush us." - Lila Hanft, Becoming
a
Jewish Mother
To prevent another Holocaust (he's a gentile: circumcising
gentiles will hide Jews) Helen Latner, columnist for Jewish Week,
quoted in "Humanistic Judaism. Volume 1, No 4 (Winter
1983) pp 46-6 no. 4 (Winter 1983): pp. 43-46
To prevent Jews and Muslims from being marginalised (he's a
gentile: circumcising gentiles will normalise Jews and
Muslims). "Ancient
ritual
does no harm", Catherine Ford, Calgary Herald, March
31, 2001
Because Allah wants him to be a Muslim Davoud Jenkins has formed a Yahoo! group, Circumcised
became
Muslim
... I am a Muslim American, circumcised at birth
by the will of Allah. This was His sign to me to
become a Muslim. ... Were you circumcised without
any reason, like already being a Muslim? You are
probably wondering why you received the sign of
circumcision. Well, welcome to this group! Here
you can discover the true reason for your
circumcision from Allah, the Merciful.
To tell he is a Muslim (after death).
As "a glad tiding that a Muslim will go to paradise.
Question: What is the aim of circumcision of
men in Islam?
The aim of circumcision of man in Islam firstly
is to distinguish between Muslim man and others;
this is an important sign to know someone’s
religion after his death. If he is circumcised,
then he is a Muslim so Muslims carry out washing
him, shrouding him, perform prayers upon him and
burying him in Muslims’ graves. Circumcision
preserves his rights as a Muslim after his death;
this happens mostly during accidents and wars so
they know the religion by circumcision.
Secondly, the prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said that the description of
the people of paradise where we all hope to go, is
that they are circumcised, so circumcision is a
glad tiding that a Muslim will go to paradise.
To bond him with his community / To enforce social cohesion Gwen A Orel
<gaost3+[AT-sign]pitt.edu> 3 July 1996 / Yehudi
Cohen, cited in The
Universality of Incest
To be accepted in Israeli society...
...to ensure his parents got their social and welfare
entitlements ...
...to improve his chances of sex with Israeli women
"Soon, enough, most
immigrant families were convinced that undergoing brit
was a necessary condition of acceptance into Israeli
society." (p6)
"Alex, who came to Israel from Ukraine in 1991 at the
age of 15, recalled that his parents consented to his
brit under pressure from a religious absorption
worker, who suggested that their social and welfare
entitlements hinged on their son’s being ‘normalised.’
Until this day he believes he was compelled to comply
to help his family." (p7)
"Most men spoke about the perceived local norm of the
circumcised penis as important for finding sexual
partners; some even mentioned being rejected by their
Israeli dates" (p7)
To educate him in his parent's faith / Because it is "an
educational measure".
Because the sexual organ is where the future generations of
Jews come from. Comment by Sarah Sutton on Newsweek
on May 3, 2007
To signify the union of body and spirit
(Cutting part off to signify union...) According to
<b_david2[AT-sign]netvision.net.il)
To reclaim the original perfection that was altered by the
fall of Man.
As a superior being, Adam was created without a
foreskin, but by succumbing to sin, he fell prey
to the very forces that he should have dominated.
His personal failure created a barrier against the
spirit that was reflected in his body.
Thus, Mila does not repair a divine imperfection
but a human imperfection, to reclaim the original
perfection that was altered by the fall of Man.
To offer our children to a higher spiritual life Ruth Ostrow, "Tradition cuts to the
present" the Weekend Australian, June 16-17, 2001
"[I believe it is a small price to pay] for a close
relationship with God" Rabbi Gavriel Goldfeder in Boulder Weekly, October 13, 2011
To ensure a share for him in the world to come According to Matt Prastein
<smp[AT-sign]fgi.net>
To draw down the Divine light, bring down the soul of
holiness into the body, reveal the Jew's inherent connection
to G-d / "it is also about being a more perfect conduit for
the soul to come through" According to CHABAD-LUBAVITCH in CYBERSPACE
<listserv[AT-sign]chabad.org> / Rabbi Gavriel
Goldfeder in Boulder Weekly, October 13, 2011
Because "[t]his paring away of the superfluous skin allows
for Shechinah energy to permeate the seed of Israel." "Yechidah"
<thehealingshelf[AT}hotmail.com> on
alt.circumcision, June 12 2004 (Shechinah energy is
defined by Riain Barton <riain[AT]columbus.rr.com>
as "the 'essence' of the Universal Deity")
To "spiritually remov[e] and eliminat[e] undesirable
character traits...
...depressive tendencies and so on...
...[To] eliminate from the body of the child, forces which
might try to cultivate overindulgence in physical pleasures,
etc." (from the Advocating
Circumcision
Today website)
Because "The blood of milah suppresses Hashem's anger" According to act-now.org,
"... the blood shed is laid by the angels before G-d's
palace. When the power of severe judgment is aroused in
the world, the Holy One, blessed is He, looks at that
blood and does not allow evil influences to do any harm."
To introduce language into the body
The book, Symbols of Judaism states,
“Circumcision is a way of introducing language
into the body and bringing the body of the infant
into the sphere of language…[it] enables human
beings to enter into the dimension of language.”
[...which makes you wonder how women
and gentiles are able to enter into it.] Oedipus
and
Circumcision
To prevent the child from overstepping his boundaries,
...to establish paternal authority,
...to mark the beginning of ...a...relationship with the
law.
I would argue that circumcision is the human form
of pruning; it is designed to prevent the child
(plant) from overstepping his boundaries (becoming
a hybris) by means of connecting the son to the
father. This ritual of symbolic pruning
essentially establishes paternal authority (though
it does not establish paternity) and marks the
beginning of what will hopefully become a healthy
relationship with the law.
Oedipus
and
Circumcision [The
author of this, shemote, is apparently under the
impression the ancient Greeks practised circumcision.]
To connect him to a long cultural tradition.
... while I wasn't Jewish, my son, borne by [sic]
a Jewish mother, was, by definition and
birthright. ...
Sam, of course, was oblivious to all this ...
The doctor visited our room to discuss
circumcision. She was Jewish, and while she
expressed her respect for whatever feelings we had
on the procedure, there was no mistaking her
advocacy. Tracy had qualms, if not deep
misgivings, having nothing to do with religion or
Judaism. While her family wasn't particularly
observant, she certainly had no reservations about
identifying as a Jew. But as a progressive,
enlightened, American woman, raised in the
seventies, she had a reflexive aversion to
submitting her son to what could be described as
ritual mutilation. To me, it was very clear, and I
surprised myself by calmly and clearly making my
point.
"I understand what you're saying, honey, and I'm
not saying we have to do a bris and the
whole floor show. [Medical
circumsion without a bris - never
mind the floor show - has no significance in
Judaism.] But you're Jewish, so
he's Jewish. He's part of a culture and a
continuum that I can't even pretend to understand
or fully appreciate. So let me put it this way: If
the doctor does it now, here in the hospital, I'll
go in the room with the two of them, and I'll hold
him. And when she gets busy with the scalpel, I'll
look him in the eye and give him someone to scream
at. But in thirteen years, if he decides he wants
to have a bar mitzvah and he isn't
circumcised, [Circumcision
is
not a requirement for bar mitzvah.]
then you are going to be in that room with
him. I'm going to Vegas."
Now, I understand that people have strong
opinions about this, but in my first major
decision as a father, I felt it was right to
connect Sam to a long cultural tradition outside
of my own. So I cradled my son with a
pre-P[arkinson's ]D[isease] steadiness and cooed
at him while the doc did the deed. No
doubt,
it hurt him a hell of a lot more than it hurt
me.
"Always Looking Up: The Adventures
of an Incurable Optimist" by Michael J Fox, pp
183-4
[Have we got this straight? She's
Jewish and didn't want him circumcised, he's gentile and
did?]
Because
It’s kind of like a brand. ...
A mark, in the flesh, to denote possession.
That’s what a brand is.
And it’s what circumcision was. It said, “You
belong to me. I have made a covenant with you–and
you belong to me. This says it in your body. In
your flesh.”
For "its positive effects on the generations to come." Friends
of
Refugees of Eastern Europe (FREE) an arm of Chabad
Lubavitch - a strict and somewhat controversial form of
Orthodoxy
To grant him "extra special protection from God" and allow
him to eat Passover lamb A father who botched his son's circumcision
with a razor-blade, National Post (Canada) December 10,
2009
Because Jews do it and they are so clean a common 19th century reason
"So that he will be rich as a Jew" A Peruvian mother said it (apparently
seriously ) to Ari Zigelboim
<akp[AT-sign]communique.net>
"I think my parents thought it would save trouble later on
if I wanted to be the real thing [Jewish]." - English actor
Stephen Fry. (He never did.) Interview with Deborah Ross, The
Independent, April 20, 2002
Because
he might choose to become a Jew or a Muslim some day achifi on Topix, May 14, 2014
Because "...in some races it was originally an act of
consecration to the goddess of fertility". "You asked for an opinion" by Dr Graeme Hutchings in
the NZ Family Doctor, April 1963
In order to be seen without shame in the eyes of God:
Circumcision is Godly
posted by Rev P. Morgan on on 28 Aug 2012
Jesus, Moses [the
Bible does not say so], John the
Baptist, they were all circumcised.
If we wish to be seen without shame in the eyes
of God, the answer is clear.
I rest my case.
"...because of our Biblical beliefs.
We just felt it was a covenant between God and his people. We
are God's people and felt it was right for us." / Just in case
G-d had good reason and it wasn't someone's misinterpretation
religiously...we felt we had "covered ourselves"...(we are
Episcopalian, actually) / Because his father thought the
Covenant applied to him somehow, though he wasn't Jewish Kay Henson
<serenity[AT-sign]herbcare.com> /told to Patrick
Draper <pdrap[AT-sign]ctp.com>/A caller to Dr Dean
Edell, 6 Mar 1998, heard by Wayne Hampton
<hampton[AT-sign]netcom.com>
Because of Acts 15 1: "And certain men came down from Judea
and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according
to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
Yet the chapter
goes on to repudiate circumcision for Christians. included on a painting called
"Circumcision" by Samoan naïve artist Tony Schuster, April
2003
"Just in case the First Covenant hasn't been fully revoked
by the coming of Jesus" the husband of Bolero on Rational Skepticism (February 3,
2011) when he converted to fundamentalist Christianity
Because it is a good Christian thing
to do (said by a Lutheran) to Duane Voskuil
<dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com>
Because "For Christians, it is an outward sign that you are
a follower of Christ. It signifies living for the spirit and
not the flesh. That is why the flesh i[s] cut away." Sugarrcane at Cafemom, April 6, 2012
Because "It is not required for salvation, but it is a big
blessing to show you are in covenant with Our Creator." Torah Life Ministries, January 17,
2012, defending a
man who had circumcised his own son with a carpet cutter.
As a result, the boy needed corrective surgery. The man
had earlier attempted to circumcise himself and had to go
to an emergency room.
Because "all christians must be cut, otherwise they can't be
baptised"
Fan Q~ to Mama Uncensored on Facebook, October
14, 2012
Because we're Baptists
got a new coworker , mentioned
he has a baby on the way, i asked boy or girl. i
hoped it was a girl. but alas he is having a boy
so i asked if they had decided about circumcision.
he said they are doing it.
i asked if i could share some information and
chatted a bit. asked why he wanted it done.
religion. oh so you jewish? "nah im baptist."
F--- D---- on Facebook, Julyl 25, 2015
Because we're Pentecostal
(Circumcision is not among the "Gifts of
the Spirit") told to Patrick Draper
<pdrap[AT-sign]ctp.com>
Because he's to be ordained as a Pentecostal Deacon "at least one Pentecostal Church in the
county insists that its Deacons be circumcised. Yes- if
someone is elected to serve as a deacon, said person must
either have been circumcised at birth or undergo the
procedure before [being] ordained." - Dr
Jim
West, February 14, 2009
Because we're Episcopalian A couple to nurse Mary Conant
<wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
Because we're Orthodox Albanians "the priest does come and it is considered
a rite of passage into our faith" - a poster on a list for
midwives and doulas, reported by "cam"
<cmay[AT-sign]flash.net>
Because it's a tradition of the Orthodox in Northern Greece Markos, personal communication
Because "I am a Lutheran, uncircumcision is considered a
"Jewish" thing." (?!) poster on That
Kid
Because "Christians ... copied the Jewish tradition and the
Bible [only the Hebrew scripture
{"Old Testament"}] repeatedly says it's unclean not
to be"
To prepare for the second coming of Christ the aunt of a questioner at the Mormon
agony column, Ask Gramps, December 12, 2010
Are LDS boys supposed to be circumcised in
preparation for the second coming of Christ?
Dear Gramps,
My husband and I are expecting. If we have a son,
we have chosen that we will not circumcise him. My
aunt disagrees with our choice to keep him intact
because she says that LDS boys are supposed to be
circumcised in preparation for the second coming
of Christ. Somehow she believes that in order for
the “sons of Levi to again offer a sacrifice in
righteousness unto the Lord,” part of that
qualification of righteousness includes that they
MUST be circumcised. (Which doesn’t make sense,
because my whole family is either Ephraim or
Manassah anyway, not Levi). Excuse me, but I
thought this debate was settled by Paul-that it
was more important to be “circumcised of heart,”
and further clarified in the Book of Mormon (Moroni
8:8). Is there an official Church stance on
circumcision? And will the sons of Levi REALLY
have to be circumcised in order for their
sacrifice to be accepted by God?
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
It seems that you have researched the subject of
circumcision and have answered all your own
questions. The law of circumcision, as you know,
was done away with when the Savior instituted the
higher law. It was not done away with for some of
the tribes of Israel and not for others. Does your
aunt think that the practice of the Church today
is not in accordance with the will of the Lord, or
that she has some information about the sons of
Levi that the Church does not have?
Gramps
Not only that, but Malachai 3:3 says the Lord will do it
himself: "And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of
silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them
as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an
offering in righteousness." - KJV
Because he (a Navajo) was placed during the school term with
Mormons
Because a baboon the Egyptians considered sacred is "born
circumcised"
Because Mohammed was "born circumcised"
Because his mother's boyfriend is a Muslim the father of David Williams,
<21davidwilliams[AT-sign]supanet.com>
Because impurities collect in the foreskin and by removing
it we are purer and closer to God. Said to Dan
Bollinger<danbollinger[AT-sign]home.com> by a
Lebanese Moslem man. He replied, "Exactly what impurities
would these be?" The man said nothing and changed the
subject.
Because it is required by Islam
(But it's not in the Qur'an)
Because it is required by the Catholic
church / For religious reasons...my parents were
Catholics / personal communication
Because it is required by his stepfather's insurance policy Don Morgan
Because women's magazines advise it Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
To please the boy's grandfather "the only reason" for circumcising his son
given by actor Warren Mitchell in an interview
Because his father rolled his eyes at the suggestion he be
left intact.
"...because I knew that my father would be very distressed
if he saw him [her adopted son] naked and uncircumcised." Susan Reibel Moore in Mercator, November 19, 2011
CHILDHOOD
To stop him bedwetting...
My husband wasn't circumcised for the longest
time . When he was young he had a bet wetting
problem and the doctor lied to his mom and said if
they circumcised him the bed wetting would stop .
It didn't stop . How sick . ...
Because his mother was having another baby, so they could go
in together
(He was 18 months old, and became an
elective mute) Grandson of a workmate of Erick L.
Gustavson <egustav435[AT-sign]erols.com>
One child was circumcised for umbilical hernia
without obstruction or gangrene,
and three circumcised for a unilateral undescended
testicle. from a list of circumcision diagnoses from
the University Hospital of South Manchester, 2010
To avoid orchitis, a testicle issues usually due to
the mumps virus. from a medical practicioner to Taryn
Hicks, Facebook, May 26, 2015
"To advertise sociopolitical relief organisations in Turkey"
(?) E. Ozdemir, Significantly increased
complication risks with mass circumcision, British Journal
of Urology (1997) 80, 136-9
To celebrate a newspaper's 36th anniversary / To commemorate
Jakarta's 482nd anniversary / To enliven the celebration of
the 54th anniversary of Indonesian Film Artist Association
(PARFI) "Relax, it's good for our circulation"
[picture] "A BOY grimaces in pain at a mass circumcision
at the offices of Kompas, Indonesia's largest daily
newspaper, in Jakarta yesterday. In an Islamic rite of
passage, 171 Indonesian boys were circumcised in
celebration of the newspaper's 36th birthday." - The
Australian, July 6, 2001, p30 (Marketplace) / The
Jakarta
Post, June 30, 2009 / PARFI
Anniversary Celebration Marked With Healthy Cycling and Tree
Planting, Berita Jakarta, March 22, 2010
To woo Muslim voters to a political party DAP to host circumcision ceremony to win
over Muslims The Malaysian Insider,
December 5, 2009
As a tourist attraction (Malaysia, Indonesia)
Because it is a routine procedure in his parents' country of
origin Reported in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
Because everybody else is doing it
Because his mother's friends kept asking why he wasn't
(He was, but didn't look it, so it was
done again) Told to George Hill
To make his friend seem normal again
I remember when I was a kid and my circumcised
friend asked his mother why my penis was different
from his. She told him circumcision had to be done
and he questioned her logic because of me. It was
very clear to me that his mother was angry with me
after that. She was upset that I had a foreskin
and that their bubble of ignorance was disrupted.
She had made her decision assuming that "everyone"
was doing it and her son would be surrounded by
cut children and never know the difference. She
gave my mother som pro-circ literature and tried
to convince her to mutilate me. Even then it was
clear to me that her desire to take my foreskin
away had nothing to do with me and everything to
do with making her son "normal". There is no way
to make a cut child whole again so the only option
parents like her have is to try to cut the kids
around him so he never questions it. Guilt leads
to denial and the deeper the guilt the more
adament the denial.
Posted by Steve Bates on change.org12/31/2008
@
12:08PM PST
Because only the Mexicans don't do it (in San Diego) Told by Kent_and_Liz[AT-sign]msn.com (Liz
deForest)
Because it is a status symbol: "If you ain't circumcised,
you ain't shit."
Because it is an act of the civilized world
Because "It's one more thing that sets us apart from the
apes."
Because he is a nervous little boy Father of Carla
<Carmilarms[AT-sign]aol.com>
To make him better-tempered R N Jones, 1965
To show the child "We love you, but we must rid you of your
infantilisms" Theodor Reik, cited in The
Universality of Incest
To prepare him to receive tribal secrets / priestly secrets
(Australia) / (ancient Egypt)
To make him immortal, like a snake gaining a new life when
it sheds its skin (Egypt)
Because "Uncircumcised boys cannot be interred in family
tombs, so all are circumcised between the ages of two and
three." (Madagascar) according to Stephen Scourfield in the West
Australian, October 28, 2011
To enable him to reincarnate (Australia)
To enable him to communicate with the spirits of his
ancestors (Xhosa)
To cement mutual respect among those circumcised (Herero of Namibia)
To make him an Olympic runner (Kenya) "...a pet idea of [John] Manners,
that the male circumcision ritual, in which boys are
shamed if they react to pain, uniquely prepares Kalenjin
men for the pressure of an Olympic final" (but "female
circumcision" is "often debilitating"): "Fast Forward: The
rise of Kenya's women runners" by Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette,
Pittsburgh, PA, May 5, 2002
Because he belongs to the Spanish royal family
Because he belongs to the upper class TIM HUISAMEN
<AKTH[AT-sign]warthog.ru.ac.za> and widely reported
Because he's an orphan
Because he's to be adopted
Because he's been adopted Rosie O'Donnell's adopted son Parker was
circumcised at 18 months in a pseudo-bris.
Because he's disabled
Because "I kind of think it is 'American'... in the early
years of this great nation, we took pride in BEING DIFFERENT
thon ether nations" Offered by Sean
<JSQB03B[AT-sign]prodigy.com> - sent by George HIll
Because "it's the American thing to do" / it's patriotic /
"He's an American." Medical advisor Dr Cohen on AHN TV - posted
on alt.circumcision by Chele
<rickw409[AT-sign]aol.com> (RickW409) 26 July 1998 /
Dr Edgar Schoen to a seminar at Berkeley, 2008. The
students laughed at him. / John Geisheker on YouTube (1:14)
Because the Americans do it./'if you want your kid to have
that "westernized look"... '/ Because the Arikwao (white men)
do it. Peter Frazer (Roy Cohn's lover), Arnold
Schwarznegger /onlythetruthcounts on Huffington Post, July 26, 2011 /
(Solomon Islands) personal communication
Because we are planning on raising our kids in the States.
This always starts wild debates from the
anti-snip crowd, so let me try and stop you before
you jump on me by saying that I know that penises
don’t fall off if they aren’t circumcised. I
know that many, many
countries don’t practice circumcision. And I
am really just fine with not circumcising your
child. Heck, if I were raising my child in a
different country, I probably wouldn’t have
circumcised him. But since circumcisions are painless
now (thanks to anesthesia), we are planning on
raising our kids in the States, and I don’t
consider it genital mutilation like female
circumcision is, we figured we would go with
circumcision. [Only one
of his claims is a reason to circumcise, the
others are just (weak) rebuttals of reasons
not to - or completely irrelevant.]
"Because they beleived that getting one automatically made
you a legal citizen of the USA." "I read an article in the eighties wherein
a doctor, who "specialized" in circumcisions, stated that
he had many immigrants come to him looking for
circucisions ... Sadly, he didn't discourage this
inaccuracy." Mr. Enemabag Jones at queerty,
July 30, 2010
As a proud mark that one was not French An Algerian man describing life under
colonial French rule in the film "Circoncision"
Because he is Greek:
- Lauren Ann Spanakolous on Facebook, July 26, 2013
The Greeks had a word for "not enough
foreskin"! (lipodermos). Comedians such as Aristophanes mocked circumcised men.
The Catholic
church specifically opposes circumcision.
To stop Black men from raping white women:
"From our observations and experience in such
cases, we feel fully warranted in suggesting the
wholesale circumcision of the Negro race as an
efficient remedy in preventing the predisposition
to discriminate raping [=
preferentially raping white women]
so inherent in that race. We have seen this act as
a valuable preventive measure in cases where an
inordinate and unreasoning as well as morbid
carnal desire threatened physical shipwreck; if in
such cases the morbid appetite has been removed or
at least brought within manageable and natural
bounds, we cannot see why it should not – at least
in a certain beneficial degree – also affect the
moral stamina of a race proverbial for the
leathery consistency, inordinate redundancy,
generous sebaceousness and general mental
suggestiveness and hypnotizing influence of an
unnecessary and rape, murder and lynching
breeding prepuce."
- P.C. Remondino MD,
“Questions of the day:
Negro rapes and their social problems”,
National Popular Review, Vol. 4,
January 1894, pp. 3-6
Remondino’s proposal was supported by several
medical journals, including the Maryland Medical
Journal and the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal
(now the New England Journal of Medicine).
[So yes, circumcision is
American - as American as lynching]
Because "a boy should look like his brother" / Because if
only one brother is cut, "neither will know which one is
normal" / "Once you do the #1 son you might as well do #2."
(and which one is?) Mark H, who was cut at the last minute for
this reason, and has never seen his brothers' penises /
Surgeon-General Everett B. Coop, 1993 / beatonfam on the Friendly Atheist, August 17,
2013
"Because he was already going to be so different from his
peers and his family. He was going to have a scar on his chest
and life long medical problems. The least we could do was
allow him to look like his father and brother." (He
died the next day.) Jill Powley Haskins on Facebook, January 5, 2011
Because "according to my cousins husband "every male under
his roof has to look the same".
Does he check before dinner parties?
With a surgeon on hand? A fan of the Whole Network on Facebook, January 21, 2013
"For good measure" because his older brother was being
circumcised Told by the (French) older brother to
Martin Novoa <acroposthion[AT-sign]hotmail.com>
For variety (leaving brother/s intact) "Steven Daniel"
To make him look different from his twin brother
To match his twin sons
Facebook, December 1, 2013 (The
same result could of course have been achieved by not
cutting any of them.)
"We don't want him to look and ask why... 'why do you look
like that, daddy... and I look like this?' ...
...We wanted him to fit in...
... to feel that he's part of the family...
... that there's nothing wrong with him... (!)
... and he's just the same as daddy!" / Because "a boy
should look like his father" / 'Like
father like son' / "Because his father is and it is
better for them to be alike."
/"bahoda" in the LA Times, March 29,
2008/(said by a woman who had broken off contact with the
father before she knew she was pregnant) John [Masseli], in NBC Today Show, Nov 9,
1998/Joe Crummey, KABC Radio, Los Angeles/ letter to
Suzanne Cook <nocircofmaine[AT-sign]juno.com> / from
Darilynn Starr <sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
Because his mother feared his father wouldn't bond with him
if they didn't look the same.
(This may have some basis - though not
justification - in biology)
Because fathers and sons are natural enemies / To channel a
father's natural anger and jealousy into one controlled cut "The
day I cut off my son's foreskin" by Daniel Silberman
Brenner/Rabbi Joshua Hammerman in Good Weekend, May 28,
1994
Because "what happens if we don't circumcise him and he sees
daddy is different than he is and he takes scissors to his
tally-whacker so he can be just like dad?" poster on That
Kid
Because "In the primeval way of things procreative, we
decided to pass on a tradition from father to son."/ Because I
wanted to share the circumcision bond with my sons /"As I
raised my son I had a primal satisfaction that his penis
looked like mine." Parents Magazine, February 1999/Dr Alan
Greene, www.parenthoodweb.com / longslidenyc on YouTube, December 22, 2010
So that his penis would not be bigger than his father's:
Because everyone in our family is circumsised Reported by John M Foley MD (in FACT
magazine, July - August 1966)
Because the mother missed her dead husband's penis [
! ]
(posted on an email list for stay-at-home attachment
parents: the first husband died before the birth of his son,
and the mother posted "I took comfort that if I couldn't
have my husband, at least I could have a penis I was
comfortable with." ) The same woman let her second son be cut to save her marriage. Sent by
remdog <remdog[AT-sign]earthlink.net>
To make him look like his peers / To make him feel "regular"
/ To protect him from ostracism //"Court adviser: Circumcision can prevent
ostracism", Israel Hayom, January 10, 2014
Because "It is the child's right not to be different from
his circumcised friends." "Court adviser: Circumcision can prevent
ostracism", Israel Hayom, January 10, 2014
Because "until more people start objecting to this
procedure, it's easier on the kid to get him circumsised"
(i.e. Somebody else go first.) Bill <Wes676767[AT-sign]aol.com> on
the Superconsciousness (?)
list
To protect him from being teased / called "cheese dick" /
"To prevent "locker-room syndrome" / Because his mother heard
of an intact boy in a locker-room being called "flappy".
Because if we ever live in Egypt [my husband is Egyptian] my
son won't feel different from other boys Lisa <ljahmed[AT-sign]mailcity.com>
To prevent him from feeling excluded from Turkey's culture.
As an atheist, I did not care about the religious
significance of circumcision, but I did not want
my son—a half-Turkish boy—to feel excluded from
Turkey’s culture.
My penis is too thick, that's why I got a
circumcision when I was 12, now that I'm older I
want to get foreskin restoration, should I? Or
should I not because of my thick penis
To provide collagen for cosmetic surgery on lips and cheeks "Herd on the Street", Maureen Dowd, New
York Times, April 11, 2001
To provide fibroblasts for tissue research.
To provide human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) for injection
into the skin to produce collagen and remove wrinkles.
(Trademark Vavelta®)
To use his foreskin to make TNS Recovery Complex(TM), an anti-wrinkle cream.
Skinmedica Tns Recovery Complex - ...The
biotechnology of the skin's natural healing
process has arrived with the first tissue
repairing complex containing growth factors found
in normal, healthy
skin. The TNS (Tissue Nutrient Solution) Recovery
Complex System with NouriCel-MD®, a
research based cosmetic ingredient only found in
TNS, is comprised of natural growth factors,
antioxidants, matrix proteins, and soluble
collagens, to help restore what time takes away.
To use his foreskin for testing cosmetics for irritation
To use for research into arsenical cancers (Bowen's disease) Scientists at National Taiwan University
called for volunteers, November 2004
To use his foreskin as a culture medium Dr Gerald N. Weiss
<gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
To graft on to mice to experimentally induce skin cancer HealthSCOUT,
quoting "a recent issue of the American Journal of
Pathology
So that his glans can breathe.
So I don't do anything religious. I have a little
boy and when my baby boy was born, my mum-in-law,
who's English (but she's planning to convert), my
mum-in-law asked me if I was gonna have my son
circumcised. I said, "Well not unless he's really
naughty."
And she goes, "But aren't you a Muslim?" and I
said, "No," and she said, "But weren't you born a
Muslim?" and I said, "I don't know, is it
hereditary? I should have a DNA test, I could be a
Buddhist." Fabulous, comfy clothes!
My mum isn't religious, but I know that it
bothers her that my son isn't circumcised. She
keeps looking at his willie and going, "Can it
breathe under there?"
She thinks it might suffocate. My mum's of that
sort of background and generation where she keeps
going, "But it's cleaner, it's cleaner."
And I'm like, "But Mum, I'm just going to teach my
son to wash."
If you've got greasy hair, you don't cut your
head off. Like a lot of women, I got to my 30's
and I thought "I've got to have a baby now, while
my Mum is still young enough to look after it for
me." And I'm worried because she looks after my
son all the time. My mother is babysitting
tonight, and she's obsessed with the fact that
he's not circumcised. I'm terrified that one of
these nights, I'll go home and my Mum'll be
standing there looking all sheepish, going
"Shappi, so sorry, was ACCident, I was chopping
onions and woooop!"
Shappi Khorsandi, Shappi Talk BBC
radio 4, October 2010 (7'17" in)
So that he will know why when he's about to be murdered by
Nazis.
Many years ago, Rabbi Berel Wein counselled a
guardian uncle to pursue bris milah (Jewish
circumcision) for his charge, a young boy. The
uncle declined, expressing the same experience
recounted by Mr. Barta [spared by Nazis because he
was intact].
When the Nazis had reached the uncle’s town, they
too had forced the males to disrobe and murdered
all those who had been circumcised. Months later,
the uncle brought his nephew back for
circumcision.
Rabbi Wein asked the uncle what had led him to
change his mind. His response? The presence or
absence of circumcision will not stay the hand of
those intent on blood. [Yet
they
had with Mr Barta...] But if and
when murderers come to kill his nephew, the uncle
wanted him to know why. [Why?]
To make his penis cleaner / "For hygienic purposes" /
Because "no son of mine is gonna have a doggy dick." / / steve-o
<smcarus[AT-sign]syr.edu>
"Circumcision is done for three reasons:
Circumcised men like a slower rhythm than uncircumcised men,
who run at a rabbit's speed.
[This is the reverse of the truth.]
Circumcised men are cleaner, smell better, and taste better.
Circumcision confirms membership in an elect group,
Americans, Jews, Muslims, and prevents people from hiding in
the population who don't belong to those groups." Piper98118a in the Seattle times, July 2, 2011
Because it's too much trouble for his mother to clean / They
were tired of doing all that careful penis cleaning. / Because
we sometimes go to Africa where hygiene is impossible / Parents of Erica Youngren's high school
friend on the New York Times, December 16,
2014 / told to Pat A Miller
<patm.tapsac.nocircoh[AT-sign]juno.com>
"Because I was afraid I would not know how to clean it...
"...I am embarrassed to admit I do not know how to clean
it...
"...I would be humiliated to take him to the doctor with an
infection...
"...If he got an infection, I would be considered a dirty
incompetent mom." All four told to Eileen Wayne
<EileenWayne[AT-sign]aol.com> by the same woman
Because his parents don't have time to teach him how to care
for it
Because the cleaning instructions for intact boys are
contradictory Dr Gerald N. Weiss
<gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
Because he lacked co-ordination and his mother couldn't
imagine him being able to retract his own foreskin A friend of Anne LaMotte, quoted in her
book "Operating Instructions"
Because men prefer a maintainence-free penis Dr William Sears on ParentTime
Because “We will save many litres of water if more men were
circumcised because there would be less fiddling in the shower
to keep it clean.” Dr Paul Cowie in The
Border
Watch Adelaide, March 16, 2009
Because "if you don't remove the foreskin white dirt forms
and comes alive, moves to your heart and kills you...wow.... "
Shane Ploof on Amazon.com, June 4, 2011
Because he's autistic
- Facebook, July 2020
Because his mother might have to clean him if
he was autistic
Because his mother thought that cleaning him was too much
like masturbating him / Because cleaning him could be
misinterpreted as masturbating him / Because parents might be
uncomfortable discussing penile hygiene with him /Steve Scott at the 6ISGI/
Dr Marianne Neifert in "Dr Mom"
Because he shouldn't have to pull
it back to clean it "like a woman".
Because he got erections when he was cleaning it
I realize that this is a
very personal decision and I respect everyone's
right to choose circumcision or not - what's
right for one family or person may not be right
for another. So please no one get upset!! :}
This has just been my experience
My firstbom son is 7 years
old. When I was expecting him, we read lots of
facts and debates and studies and decided not to
circumcise him. It was a good decision for us at
the time. :} From everything I read and
understood, there was no medical benefit to
circumcision as long as boys are taught to clean
their intact penis properly (meaning, that when
they get old enough the foreskin should be
pulled back to clean underneath every so often).
However, we are a very religious family
with strict guidelines on moral conduct and didn't
realize that in order to pull the foreskin back,
our little boy basically had to have an erection.
When he was 4 and this started happening, we got
very concemed. We believe that masturbation is
inappropriate behavior and could see the problems
that him having an intact penis would present in
later years. So after more research, much talking
with our son, and fervant prayer, we decided to
have him circumcised. The
surgery was performed when he was 5 years old by
a pediatric urologist and it went wonderfully.
It was a good decision for us and one that we
don't regret. If the baby I'm currently carrying
is a boy, we plan to have him circumcised (but
not as a newborn - we will wait until he is 2-3
months old).
My brother, however, has
had ill-luck with the circumcisions of his 2
little boys (who were circumcised at birth).
They were basically botched surgeries that have
required several more surgeries over the years
to correct. My
heart aches for my brother and his wife as
well as my nephews in their struggles. So I
can understand and relate to both sides of the
circumcision question.
Because the body of an uncircumcised person smells like an
un-castrated male goat Believed in West Timor
"to
get
rid of that stinky copper deposit...
." David Alvin Pierre Lang on Facebook, February 27, 2013
...male circumcision is a beautiful thing and not a barbaric
thing or mutilation. That is why we circumcise..because it is
beautiful. Candybags <candybags[AT-sign]shaw.ca>
on the circumcision_pro_or_con group, Aug 5, 2003
To make his penis look nicer/cuter/sexy/pretty / /
<vuckovic[AT-sign]interaccess.com> (G. Vuckovic)
Because it exposes the most beautiful part / Because it's an
"aesthetic enhancement" The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398 / <wadi4885[AT-sign]my-dejanews.com>
Because "A foreskin does nothing to the appearance of the
penis; it's kind of like a permanent hood. I like seeing
people's faces!" poster on That
Kid
Because "There is no sight more beautiful that the
permanently exposed glans, looking up at you, so helpless,
vulnerable, and totally exposed." poster on That
Kid
Because "My girlfriend's husband isn't and she makes fun of
it and calls it a mushroom for heavens sake!"
(What does she think a circumcised one
looks like?) poster on That
Kid
Because "cut looks manly, uncut looks like a boy lol" rams-4021712 on MSNBC, September 3, 3011
"More aerodynamic look is yet another reason." Steven Tombalakian on Athens Patch, September 24, 2011
Because "circumcision provides the perfect penis". A urologist to an adult man who told John
D. Dalton <cole[AT-sign]dentfell.demon.co.uk>
Because an uncircumcised penis looks funny /"repulsive"/...
like a piece of meat / "...sort of marsupial, or like [a]
little rodent[] stuck in [a] garden hose[]."/ "Because if your
not cut.....you look like a freak!!" The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398 /Mohel
Manenahem Fleishman in "Circumcision" a film by Ari Libsker
(0'36")/ Anne LaMott, "Operating Instructions" / Bradley
Wells <QHRQ11B[AT-sign]prodigy.com>
Because it makes it uniformly pink
(It doesn't, of course - on the
contrary.) The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398
Because our son ended up being born with a really tight
foreskin, so much so that it was discolored and our OB said it
really had to be done. Lisa <ljahmed[AT-sign]mailcity.co>
Because he was "presenting with a megaprepuce that had both
physical and mental effects, eg in his relations with his
peers and in emotional anxiety for his parents" / Because his
foreskin is "excessively long" Gomez, British Journal of Urology 1997;
80:357-361 / Gomez et al, British Journal of Urology
(1996), 78, 959-960
Because the doctors said his urethra
was too long
(This is nonsense. The state of the
foreskin has no effect on the urethra. They probably meant
his foreskin was too long - for their comfort.) I. H. personal communication
"Because [my sister's] doctor said having his glans exposed
would help calm him down a little (he's terribly hyper)." (The
writer goes on "It's certainly more natural than using drugs
like Ritalin") Posted Feb 24, 2000, on ParentSpace
by chelle_ken
To improve his appetite: "His poor appetite was caused by
his foreskin". Told by a doctor to a maid in Brasilia to
latinlonestar, reported on the Intactivism
yahoo
group July 9, 2009
To prevent excessive crying / Because "If you don't have him
circumcised and he gets an infection, he'll cry and cry and
cry and you'll never be able to get him to stop." Reported in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
/
Because "it improves his health" Beth on www.parenthoodweb.com
Because four children recovered from illness after being
circumcised.
"Fuuya’s strong support for the revival of imbalu
[Ugandan tribal circumcision] was fuelled by the
recuperation of his four male children from their
incessant sickness after they underwent
circumcision. It was his Kalenjin wife and her
brother who prevailed upon him to circumcise his
children who had been sick for a while. Soon after
the rite, they recovered,” Wakitonyi explains.
Because his great-uncle
had had a really bad infection (at the age of 50).
- 2022
To prevent/cure yeast infections
"because it reduces the incidence of skin infections like
fungi."
[Athlete's foot is also a fungus -
should we cut off babies' little toes too?] Niila Keshava on World
Focus, June 9, 2009
In case he gets "mold" in that area:
- Gofundme account for "Trying to get
baby Circumcised by Trish Rogerson", January 19, 2017
To eliminate infection from scratched mite bites
When I was 18 and in the Army, during infantry
training after Basic, we were out in a swamp area
and in a lot of grass. I got chiggers
in my foreskin ...
After one episode of scratching, the area was
hugely swollen and the scratches were bleeding. It
soon was infected. The Army doctor said they could
treat the infection but the problem would be
eliminated if I was circumcised.
The need for genital cutting, instead of just treating the
infection, is debatable. The man clearly enjoyed having his
foreskin. The last lines make it clear that he understood what
his real mistake was, and the headline is a misquote. Popping
candy does not effervesce under the foreskin (it needs the
acidity of saliva). The ill-effects arise from the sugar, as
with any other confectionary. The question arises whether any
of this story is true.
To prevent him getting eggs in his penis causing
infection
To prevent/cure balanitis
To prevent a nameless glans-eating disease
(A myth like this can pass down through several generations)
- Facebook, December 21. 2015
To prevent/cure phimosis
/ "tight skin" / Because it wouldn't retract at birth / Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 / The Hite Report on
Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398
Because "it defiantely reduces chances of ... painful
stretching of muscle during coitus." Patrick Muigai in the LA Times, March 30,
2008
Because his father had phimosis
When we had our son in 1986 I decided to have him
partially circumcised. The only reason for it was
I remember having pain when pushing the foreskin
over the head of my penis when I used to
masturbate. I didn't want him having the same
problem, not that it's a predominant problem that
I'm aware of. ...
[Partial circumcision
would create a ring of scar tissue that might
cause phimosis instead of preventing it.]
Because he had a hereditary disposition to phimosis
...there is a hereditary problem with extremeley
tight foreskin. If we would have waited, my sons
would have had to have a very painful surgery and
recovery.
"I had him circumcized because the foreskin kept getting
tighter and tighter as he got older to the point where he
could no longer retract it and if he did not get it
circumcized the chances of his developing gangrene
were not even a question." www.pregnancy.org
Because "apparently there is something in the Korean
genotype [hereditary makeup] that causes problems with penile
phimosis"
(Only the South
Korean genotype, it seems) A teacher in South Korea to Matthew L
<mjl[AT-sign]f1.net.au>
Because he was (one of 16) in the control group for an
experiment that showed that topical steriods succesfully
treated phimosis Br J Urol 1996 Nov; 78(5): 786-788
To prevent infant epididymitis (infection of the
sperm-storage tubules behind the testes)
Because he had an accumulation of water in his scrotum
which, had he not been circumcised, would have made him
sterile
(They probably just took the opportunity
to c. him when they were draining his scrotum. Maybe they
lied, maybe he misunderstood.) A schoolfriend of John D. Dalton
<cole[AT-sign]dentfell.demon.co.uk>
To prevent high blood pressure Dr Thomas Wiswell, Knight-Ridder newspapers
2/Apr/97
In case he ever needs treatment for prostate cancer
Facebook, May 3, 2015
Because he was born with ichthyosis
(A rare skin condition affecting the whole body) A friend of Nathan Kennard
<nathankennard[AT-SIGN]hotmail.com>
Because he has diabetes
if you are a man and aren't circumcised you best
make sure you never get diabetes (because you will
be told circumcision
is medically warranted to avoid some very
serious medical complications).
"An urologist who checked my penis suggested me to
circumcise my penis because he says the little white
points [around the gland] can be dangerous, meaning
being transmited while sex."
These papillae
coronis are perfectly normal and common. A correspondent to David Stevens
<davidstevens[AT-sign]sbcglobal.net>
To prevent rupture Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
To prevent boils
"To combat the ravages of schistosomal infectious
symptomatology"
A schistosome is a threadworm.
Symptomatology is the study of symptoms. Gerald N. Weiss M.D.
<gnweiss,frii.com>
To cure genital crabs A caller to the Howard
Stern Show, September 4, 2003
To prevent or cure alcoholism, asthma, curvature of the
spine, epilepsy, gout, hernia, headaches and rheumatism P C Remondino, 1891
In case he inherits eczema
My boyfriend is cut and since eczema runs in his
family he's more than grateful he's cut because he
gets flare ups on his penis and were the skin still
folds causes him horrible pain to the point that
he's come to bed with a warm washcloth wrapped
around it because it was the only way he could get
any sleep from the pain. So that's my main reason I
don't want to chance my son having eczema passed to
him as well and it causing him pain all his life.
- posted to a private Facebook
page, March 25, 2017
Cutting did NOT
protect the boyfriend at all, and on the contrary, may
have determined the site of his eczema
To treat eczema Recommended to craig in Yahoo Answers, March 26, 2012
To help him cope with chicken pox Geoffrey T. Falk
Because he had stomach pains
I was talking to a friend recently about
circumcision. She told me that her husband went to
see the doctor for stomach pains. He is young, 30
or so. The doctor actually told him that the
reason he might be having stomach pains is because
he isn't circumcised. Can you believe it? He was
in pain but said he didn't think that was it. I
would have called him a quack and asked for
someone who was actually educated. Is there
nothing they won't try to blame on foreskin? It
makes me scared to take my child to these kinds of
doctors. I don't want him to be made to feel like
his natural body is some sort of problem.
"- a friend of Brother K on Facebook, August 23, 2014
To prevent swine 'flu Proposed, in apparent seriousness, on the
basis of correlation between swine 'flu and intactness in
Mexico vs the USA and on a sort of "Why not? It's good for
everything else!" basis, at the Universal
[formerly
Mandatory] Circumcision website, May 4, 2009
To
prevent Covid-19
Among the adult diagnoses are apocrine miliaria,
Aprocrine miliaria
(Fox-Fordyce Disease): A rare disorder,
usually of women, where sweat trapped in the sweat
glands results in itching inflammation of the
involved tissue. There are no sweat glands under
the foreskin.
calculus [stone] in bladder,
and sterilization [probably on a "Would you like a
circumcision with that?" basis] from a list of circumcision diagnoses from
the University Hospital of South Manchester, 2010
Because he hadn't urinated hours after birth
(He had.) MBLNovoa <chuff[AT-sign]pacbell.net:>
So that the tip of the penis (glans) and the opening of the
urethra, through which the baby urinates, are exposed to air
The foreskin is the tip of the
penis Supplied by Pat a. Miller
<patm.tapsac.nocircoh[AT-sign]juno.com>
Because "a small piece of skin that covered my urethra had
to be removed so I could urinate." Posted by Jim to fathermag.com,
Nov 5, 2007
Because doctors botched correcting an imperforate foreskin.
My partner was born with no opening in his
foreskin, there was like a scar where it should
have been. ...
when they tried to fix his foreskin they started
by just creating an opening but they didn't use
his natural one and it split leaving him with two
openings so they had to do a circumcision. ...So
when
I say it was real medical reasons, I don't mean
American medical reasons!
Because a foreskin that completely covers the glans is
abnormal
On this basis, the same study found 49%
of intact men to be "abnormal" Osmond TE. Is routine circumcision
advisable? J Royal Army Med Corps. 1953; 99:254.
To stop him dribbling when he pees / sprinkling on the
toilet seat / To prevent difficulty with micturation in
childhood Jason Ashley//
When I was a kid I sprayed everywhere when I peed
and this was the only way to fix it.
When I was about 4-5 years old my parents decided
to have me circumcised because I would never pull
the skin back when I urinated, which resulted in a
lot of messy bathroom floors.
Because "One benefit of circumcision - you get a finer
stream. He'll be writing his name on the wall before you know
it! "
A narrower stream is a consequence of meatal stenosis
caused by meatal
ulcers, and is not a benefit Skyring (Peter) on Twitter, March 8, 2009
Because "...
you don't have to use tissue papers in urinals clogging the
systems" binkezzy in the Standard (Kenya), June 17, 2014
Because his father hates pulling his foreskin back to
pee...
and because it's hard for his father to pull back his
foreskin when he's drunk.
...and no
suggestion that the drunken, lazy father might have
himself cut to solve his own problem.
Because "If you don't do that they get a rupture....
The urine will get all backed up and won't come out properly."
/ To allow him to urinate
A nursing graduate to Coontail
<coontail[AT-sign]my-deja.com> / /On Twitter
as "an example of
something someone said to you that was so astonishingly
stupid that you can never forget it." August 26, 2018
Because too much urine was collecting in his foreskin
"We did it for potty training. It's just easier that way." In "a local daily paper" submitted by
<gdavis[AT-sign]griffin.emba.uvm.edu> (Gary Davis)
Because "My son, now 4, continues to put all kinds of things
into his foreskin (coins, for example), which I presume would
not happen if he were circumsized." poster on That
Kid
To confer "societal health benefits"
Because scar tissue had formed at the end of his foreskin
making it hard to urinate (the doctor had ordered the mother
to retract his foreskin forcibly from four months onward) From Darillyn Starr
<Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
Because "my cousin's penis, started growing shut, and if he
wouldn't have had it cut, he could have died. (if it was let
closed shut completely) An anonymous poster on misc.kids.pregnancy
Because "there wouldn't have had any place for my penis to
grow" [Name removed at writer's request]
Because he had a large glans Peter Patterson, Toronto, Canada, personal
communication / RW, UK in the Daily Mail, February 16, 2013
Because "the foreskin and the frenulum stop the growth of
the penis and in some cases circumcision is necessary to
protect the boy or man from the psychological trauma of an
abnormally small penis." a respected gynecologist, doctor's union
official, and a political power in the Institute Mexicano
Seguro Social (Social Security) to Dr Sergio Aguilar
To prevent stunted growth of his whole body In the Philippines,
where boys are circumcised before adolescence.
The NGO I was working with once had a Dutch
volunteer named Michiel, who helped us with
integrated pest management. During his first
summer in the Philippines, he noticed right away
that there were many places offering free tuli
services. When he asked our NGO about it, the
staff went into a long explanation about what
circumcision is and why it was considered so
important in the Philippines. One important
reason, several of our staff insisted, was that
uncircumcised males would not grow tall. Michiel
was amused and just could not help himself.
Garnering all the Filipino he had learned, he
proclaimed, “Hindi yan totoo. . .” (That’s not
true). There was this very pregnant pause as the
Filipino staff stared at Michiel, who was 6’3”. We
had met many European volunteers, enough to know
that most of their males were, well, supot
(uncircumcised), and all were very tall. In
contrast, there we were, Filipinos, almost
hobbit-like compared to the Europeans, insisting
that circumcision was essential for height.
Michael Tan in the Inquirer (Philippines) 27
October, 2010
Because "It makes a boy mature faster"
And that is a good thing because...? Said by a friend of Quark, posting at Foreskin-Restoration.net
Because "his father tried to tell him that the procedure
would make him taller" Janma, writing in Indonesia
Matters on March 18th, 2008. She goes on: "we all
looked at him somewhat blankly before collapsing into
laughter. He never mentioned it again." - a fitting
reaction to many (if not all) of these reasons.
Because he is under anaesthetic already for another
operation
Combined tonsillectomy and circumcision
became so common it was called "T & C"
One mother told Suzanne Cooke
<Scookie5[AT-sign]aol.com> how she'd fought in 1977 to
keep her son intact, but they got him when they were
bringing down a testicle. dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com (Duane
Voskuil Ph.D.)
So that he will do better at school Recommended by Dr Manuel Neto of North
Dakota to Mona Goheen, who wrote to the National Post,
October 27, 1999
Because the nurse misheard "excision" (of an abcess in his
mouth) as "circumcision" The
Nation (Thailand), January 28, 2009
Because he strayed near an initiation site Five Zimbabwean boys in South Africa, the
Herald (Harare), July 14, 2009
Because "it reduces a boy's excessive fascination with his
penis" / "Many parents of uncircumcised male children have
been alarmed at their children's abnormal focus on their own
private parts. In this regard, the pain connected with the
procedure of circumcision could have a significant beneficial
factor." Beth on www.parenthoodweb.com / Basic Care
Bulletin "How to Make a Wise Decision on Circumcision" of
The Advanced Training Institute (ATI) quoted at Recovering Grace, November 18, 2011
To protect him from getting stuck in a zipper
To extract him from a zipper
To prevent it getting "ripped whilst playing, running around
etc."
CaseyJane21 07/07/14
I didnt plan on getting bub done but then I
started hearing horror stories of how others
children have ripped it whilst playing, running
around etc. Sounds very traumatic :/
None of my father's 5 brothers had theirs done in
infancy, but in one painful way or another, it
happened to all 6 of them. ... My uncles received
theirs from horseback riding, traffic accidents, a
skiing accident, etc.
This can occasionally be a
good reason, but five?
To prevent it being damaged in a freak accident
... they got together to complain about their
father not having done it at birth.
Because it had been caught in a door and "was going to" get
infected
Jeremy Gie Kung
on Facebook, July 5, 2014
So the oddest story of the day was when a young
man came up to me and said he was circumcised at 2
years old because he got his foreskin closed in a
door and the Doctor told his parents it was going
to get infected.
To find out how much damage had been done after he tore it
in a bicycle accident
- Facebook, January 9, 2016
ADOLESCENT
Because "I had a boyfriend who was not cirumsized and one
day the forskin tore, and bled... "
[That would be the frenulum
- not a case for cirumcision]
"... Also, I know of a hockey player That was hit in his
groin and needed to have it done"
[It is hard to imagine what kind of
injury could have that outcome.] Becky on Babycenter.com, November 1511
Because he likes the sound of kadodi - music of
drums and horns associated with circumcision. Uganda: Kadodi Joins Mainstream Entertainment, AllAfrica.com, April 13, 2011
So his cousin wouldn't have to go through the procedure by
himself.
"He argued to his parents that he didn't want a circumcision
and was happy the way he was. They didn't listen. The young
man was devastated and is upset about the experience and the
results to this day." Told to Richard Kurylo who was staffing an
Intactivist stall.at the Castro St Fair, San Francisco,
2010
To prevent masturbation - and prevent or treat about 100
allegedly consequent ailments, including arthritic hips*,
blindness, headaches, hydrocephaly, insanity, kidney disease,
kleptomaina, leprosy, moral depravity, rectal prolapse, plague
and tuberculosis ... John Kellogg, 1888
*Lewis A. Sayre, 1870s (vehemently opposed to routine c.,
though)
"Little sufferers with infantile paralysis
[poliomyelitis],
...Pott's disease [spinal tuberculosis],
...hip disease,
...chorea [twitching]
...worms, and almost anything else were subjected to
this nearly always unnecessary mutilation." Ap Morgan Vance MD in a paper (Trans. KSMS VIII, 1900) on
"Surgical Fanaticism" presented to the 45th annual session
of the Kentucky State Medical Society in Georgetown, KY in
May 1900
To punish him for masturbating There are many anecdotes about a young male being caught,
usually by his grandmother, and circumcised for this reason,
but ...
... my
father... said ...
in WW II... the only time this
was an issue (two soldiers who kept the other men
up by the noise of the spring beds) that the
problem was solved by a AAF doctor who circumcised
the two nocturnal offenders, which kept the[m]
quiet for the time it took to heal, with a
warning, if they didn't stop after the operation,
he would come back and trim something else off to
solve the problem permanently.
To stop lint sticking to it after masturbation: "I prefer my
dick cut, less lint sticks to it when after I jerk off. GaylordPariah on Imgur, February 13. 2014
So that he will be easier to control as a teenager
To prevent teenage pregnancy.
One [Colorado] lawmaker, Rep. Sue Schafer ...
elicited laughter in the hearing room when she
asked ... if circumcision might
help reduce teen pregnancy rates and teen sexual
activity by reducing nerve sensation in boys'
penises.
"I'm wondering if there's a risk of more sexual
activity, more male irresponsibility" for
uncircumcised boys, Schafer asked.
Rep. Janak Joshi looks incredulous at Rep.
Schafer's question. Joshi, a retired
doctor, voted against restoring
circumcision funding.
To "create a rosebud that will bloom when he's 18." An angry man to nurse Mary Conant
<wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
Because "Apparently it is easier to put a condom on a
circumcised penis." VelvenJinxx at Chicago Now, August 23, 2010 (She
was not convinced by this reason.)
To make a man of him In 1996 in Queensland, an Aboriginal woman
identified as "Gladys" told Ambrose John Neal to "make a
man of" Irwin Brookdale, which he did with a broken
bottle. Brookdale got $A10,000 in damages. AFP Oct 8,
1997.
To destroy his maculinity and deprive him of his dignity
"Forced nudity, mutilation of sexual organs and
violation of privacy of the victims were designed
to destroy their masculinity and force non-locals
to flee," the prosecution stated.
"Luo men were forcibly circumcised, others
castrated in front of their families in a move
meant to degrade and deprive the victims of their
dignity," Adeboyejo said. ...
"Mungiki raped, forcibly
circumcised and amputated victims' genitals"
- The Standard (Kenya),
September 22, 2011
"During events like Istanbul Pogrom (around
1950s) the attackers were circumcising the penises
of Armenian and Greek priests in front of everyone
as a degradation."
An Armenian correspondent born in
Turkey.
Armenians and Georgians do not circumcise.
Because "Y'all are making ur boys into fags by not doing it" Woman on a parenting page of Facebook, 2012
To punish him for homosexuality/cure his homosexuality D-----, friend of B------, was 26, and it
was done at his parents' behest in Colombia while he was
under general anaesthetic for another operation. Personal
communication./Dear Abby,
June 9, 2006/"Cutboy93400" was cut at the age of 14 after
he was caught masturbating with another boy - personal
communication.
To punish him for going AWOL / trying to escape from prison / Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 153
To punish him for bestiality Dr Charles E. Briggs was surgeon of the
54th Massachusetts Infantry, a unit of black soldiers.
Private James Riley was accused of bestiality with a mare,
but acquitted. Nevertheless Dr Briggs had the soldier
bound and gagged, then performed a punitive circumcision
and mutilated the soldier's penis with a hot iron, all
without anesthetics. (For this malpractice, torture,
assault, and battery, Briggs was court-martialled.) - Tarnished
Scalpels: The Court-Martials of Fifty Union Surgeons by
Thomas P. Lowry and Jack D. Welsh, Stackpole Books. (Read
reviews and order from Amazon.com)
To punish him for stealing a Circumstraint (tm) "Babyboy", New York,
To punish him for antisemitism On the ABC programme "The View", comedienne
Joy
Behar
suggested this for actor Mel Gibson after his
drunken antisemitic tirade on July 21, 2006
To punish Abraham for fornication
According to Gen
16:1, it was Abram's wife Sarai's idea that he sleep
with his maidservant, Hagar. Male genital cutting was
reportedly not inaugurated for another 13 years.
Twitter, January 1, 2019
To punish him for seducing other people’s wives. Reported as the origin of the custom among
the Bagishu of Uganda, July 21, 2010
To punish him for catching an STD
To prevent STDs (syphilis) Jonathan Hutchinson, 1856
Because he had had an STD and "otherwise it would have
resulted in a sterile future" told by a Navy medic to the father of a
correspondent with Ken Avery
<kenny318east3rd[AT-sign]hotmail.com>, 1950s
To cure an STD Frank Capra
contracted gonorrhoea and was circumcised in a vain
attempt at a cure. - Robert Schnakenberg, Secret
Lives of the Great Filmmakers
To prevent transmission of the Zika virus
(Somehow it skipped Ebola....)
Woman found to spread Zika through sex for
first time
10:10 AM Sunday Jul 17, 2016
A New York City woman infected her male partner
with Zika virus through sex, the first time
female-to-male transmission of the germ has been
documented.
...
And the man was
uncircumcised, and uncircumcised men are
considered at higher risk of catching sexually
transmitted diseases.
Because it's "easier to perform curve correction surgery for
Peyronie's Disease in circumcised men"
and "Much better cosmetic result after penile implant
placement in circumcised men (less floppy glans)" Dr John Mulcahy, a private practice
urologist on Urology Times' Editorial Council, on
@UrologyTimes tweetfest, #circumchat, November 2, 2012
Because he is having surgery for urethral stenosis or
posterior urethral valve.
Today Matthew saw his pediatrician. He still has
had hardly any wet diapers.There are two
possibilities that could be causing him not to
pee. One is definitely stenosis in his penis from
when Boston had put a catheter in. Which is making
it very narrow for any urine to come through.
Another is also that he may have an extra valve.
This is called posterior urethral valve. The valve
obstructs or blocks the urine when it tries to
come through the urethra. For
either one of these, he will need a surgical
procedure. He also will need to be circumcised
before this procedure. I know that's kind
of TMI.. but since you all follow our journey,
it's important to be known because circumcision
in heart babies is a very, very dangerous
procedure. The stress alone from it can cause
heart issues in regular babies, so I'm
sure you get the idea of how it could affect
Matthew. Plus he has an increased risk of blood
clotting. After that is done they will place a
catheter in. Then once it is in place they will
use a microscopic camera and laser and basically
burn the valve that is causing the obstruction.
Uganda: Pablo - the Day I Survived the Imbalu
Knife
by Pablo Kimuli
The year was 2008 when Stephen Mujoroto, an
elderly UPC veteran from Mbale, was arrested by
well-built youth, among them his son, for
allegedly dodging 'imbalu', the Bagisu cultural
circumcision rite.
His family attributed their misfortunes to his
cowardice to face the knife. He had successfully
evaded the knife for at least 40 years, disguising
himself as a Muganda. Mzee Mujoroto was whisked to
Nsambya where the foreskin of his manhood was
lopped off, as a way of clearing a cultural debt.
Because it was a requirement to interview jungle rebels
Papua New Guinea reporter undergoes circumcision
to get the scoop
By Jonathan Pearlman
A Papua New Guinea reporter who agreed to be
circumcised with bamboo sticks to secure an
interview with a group of jungle rebels has won a
journalism award for “best scoop”.
The journalist, Simon Eroro, won the annual
in-house award run by News Limited - Rupert
Murdoch’s Australian arm - for a story which
required him to cross rivers and jungles to reach
a group of rebels, only to be told he must first
agree to the circumcision as part of a cleansing
ceremony. Mr Eroro agreed – and got the
interviews.
Because "the doctor told my mother that her newborn son
would never be able to be an astronaut if he didn't get
circumcised" ctdfalconer on The Atlantic, October 3,2012
Because it was a requirement before you could see the doctor Told to Tom H.
<workhard[AT-sign]home.com> of Oshawa, Southern
Ontario in 1954 by his family
Because it was a requirement for joining a political party
One cold morning in 1993, a young Nairobi matatu
tout defected from Ford-Kenya to the Ford-Asili
political party.
To prove the sincerity of his move, he submitted
to the circumciser’s knife.
- Uncry these tears, unspeak the
president: the East African (Kenya),
February 25, 2012
Because [the Jews] lived in the desert, and the dust and
dirt would get in there in young boys and cause infections
(This belief is widespread, and has no
foundation.) An anonymous poster on misc.kids.pregnancy
To protect him from irritation when
fighting in the desert / Because his mother had heard
that Americans in the trenches in World War I got infections
under their foreskins / "An old family friend, who was a ww2
nurse in New Guinea, told us that the snip was a very good
thing if you ever have to spend an extended period fighting in
a tropical jungle."
[No submarines yet!] Tried on HY's mother in 1942, and by Kim
Saffron's mother in 1964 / Darillyn Starr
<Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com> / christo on In mala fide, June 8, 2010
Because he was going to serve in Vietnam and "might have to
walk through swamps" / Because men in Vietnam got crotch rot.
(As the man himself said, wouldn't his
foreksin protect him in that case?) / According to emedicine,
crotch rot (Tinea cruris) typically spares the penis
and scrotum. Brother of G--- J---; personal
communication. / Posted on YouTube
by JoeBobOneHalf
To be allowed to work in a US Army kitchen (in Korea) Prof. DaiSik Kim
To make him fit for military service
To promote military discipline
Because it is "a requirement for admission to the armed
forces / the US Marines / As a requirement of joining the
Coast Guard, because the foreskin is a "health problem" Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 / Helen Bryce
<bryce[AT-sign]cruzio.com> quoting Dodie Hall on
fgm-l citing Marvin Zindler of LeGrange, TX / Randy
Reinhart >randyr[AT-sign]connect.net
As a requirement to serve in the
Pakistani Air Force.
Because he thought it was a requirement for medical school
Facebook, 2015
Because he was "in a yogic path, that identified circumcism
as one of the 16 important actions to take in one’s life, once
and/or ongoing." Richard Witty on +972mag, June 30, 2012
As entertainment and
To protect them from being circumcised as entertainment
"My grandpa told me then when he was in the navy
in WWII that any dude who had a foreskin was
required to get it cut off. i remember him telling
me how they would put a barber chair in the middle
of the deck and line up any uncut kids to get
circd on deck while other sailors watched. he said
it was kinda like entertainment cuz there was lots
of down time even out in the pacific. anyways,
grandpa was cut so he never had to go through that
but he said it like convinced 100% of dudes to
make sure their kids were cut. thats why my dad,
uncles, and all us kids were cut as soon as we
popped out. LOL. Told by "jmgcoonhunter" on
circumsexual.com on Nov 6, 2007 [Notice
that nowhere is any real reason given.]
Because you get two days off military service to recover
(Taiwanese army/UK troops in Singapore) D.J. Toman
<milesian[AT-sign]asiaonline.net.tw> / "The Virgin
Soldiers" (film, 1969, UK)
To escape military service (and death).
- Twitter, May 22, 2021
Because a friend of the adoption social worker was
circumcised in the Navy, and he was a mess Darillyn Starr
<Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
Because he is a police recruit in Zambia "Zambia Police to circumcise all male
recruits" Lusaka
Times, June 18, 2009
To use his foreskin to make a magical lotion, protective
against enemies:
“In one incident an Inkatha member was captured
on his way to work and was brought to the
self-defence units, who handed him to a sangoma.
The man’s hands were tied behind his back and he
was circumcised on the spot.
“It is said the foreskin of his penis was mixed
with other herbs to make intelezi , which we were
ordered to smear our bodies with to be invincible
against Inkatha members.
- Former ANC cadre Donald Stephen
Makhura, reported in City Press (South Africa)
February 7, 2010
To make him look like his master / Because his master
ordered it Advice column, Friction magazine, August
1989 (advised against allowing it) / Tom Hodgson ordered
it for his "lover"/slave, Robert McEwan in Perth,
Australia, in the 1980s. McEwan stabbed Hodgson 42 times
in 1994. express newspaper, Auckland NZ, February 8, 1997
and Outrage, Sydney
Because he's in prison
Oscar Walden Jr., who is suing the city for his
allegedly false arrest, told the jury he had no
choice but to be circumcised when he arrived at
Stateville prison.
Because he's a Prisoner Of War A friend of B--- M---; personal
communication
To prevent him from concealing/transporting drugs under his
foreskin Tim Huisamen
<AKTH[AT-sign]warthog.ru.ac.za>
To encourage your children to become more creative when they
are adults. Dr
Dave Mirkin. It turns out he means "much more
creative in lovemaking" based on the Laumanns'
finding that circumcised men of some ethnicities
masturbate more and have more oral sex than intact men.
Creative?
Because "... a circumcised man gains more confidence and his
sexual performance is improved." Litsemba Letfu Men’s Clinic Nurse
Mandlenkhosi Malaza in the Times of Swaziland, November
22,2012
To enable him to become not just a very fine, but a great
actor Noël Coward to Derek
Jacobi, told in the Daily Telegraph, July
16, 2002
To prevent him becoming a presidential
assassin. These two together make one wonder about
John Wilkes Booth....
Because it was "too long" and would get tangled when he was
rowing (ordered by the doctor of his rowing club) A friend of Ari Zigelboim
<ariz[AT-sign]communique.net>
To improve his speed when swimming
[Short answer: No, of course not.
Don't be so damned silly.]
Vernon Quaintance is a known
circumfetishist paedophile and the nephew and his
coach may both be fictional - via Intactwiki
Because I am heartily sick of it rolling forward and
trapping my hairs! "John
Hobson"<johnhobson[AT-sign]ntlworld.com> on
alt.circumcision. He didn't take the option of trimming
the hair seriously, suggesting this was not the real
reason.
To frighten his enemies
To give him the appearance of permanent arousal / Because a
circumcised penis always looks ready to go. / Because "when it
is trimmed it looks like it is ALWAYS ready for action." / Gene McGough
<genem[AT-sign]caveman.net> / pdqusailor on MSNBC, September 2, 2011
To weaken him ready for slaughter Genesis 34:14-25
In exchange for a grant of land from the Temple in ancient
Israel Ari Zigelboim
<ariz[AT-sign]communique.net>
To pass as a Muslim Sir Richard Burton - the explorer, not the
actor
Because he's a slave in a Muslim brothel, so he has to be a
Muslim Reported in Gay
News
(UK) April 2005
To pass as a blood relative of a Muslim, because he (a
Hindu) was donating an organ (for cash) to a Muslim "How Poverty, False Promises, Fuel Illegal Organ
Trafficking" Live Science March 22, 2012
Jack Hayford, another charismatic
Baptist preacher, ... is a frequent speaker at
Promise Keepers seminars ... One of the other
beliefs that Jack Hayford promotes stems from
... a vision of [Jesus] seated in heaven, ...
Jesus told Hayford why God required circumcision
in the Old Testament. "God
wants to touch your very identity as a man,"
Hayford explained to the group, in an effort to
encourage adult circumcision on those men who
had not yet experienced the ritual. "He
wants to reach out and touch your secret and
private parts. This enables Him to
better perform surgery on the heart. God
wants to touch man's creative parts."
(from a speech made by Hayford to the Promise
Keepers during their regional conference in
Anaheim, California, 14 May 1994.)
Barbara Victor,
"The Last Crusade, Religion and the Politics of
Misdirection"
Constable & Robinson Ltd, London, 2005, ISBN
1-84119-955-9, p 178.
[So God
is Like That. Who knew?]
To pass as a Jew (in kibbutzim) Article by Herb Keinon in The Jerusalem
Post, Oct 18, 1991
To pass as a member of the English upper class The father of mervyn
<mcripps[AT-sign]mergetel.com>
Because he has been captured by Muslims
In case he is captured by Muslims (the British surgeon would
take more care, 1661) Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 31
In order to be allowed to live in Saudi Arabia
In order to be considered worthy to be elected President of
South Africa / Kenya (Xhosa said they would not vote for an
intact man, April 1999) / Kikuyu
tribe members forcibly circumcised Luo in riots
after the election of a Luo, January 2008
Because "They say that those who are circumcised are wiser
than the uncircumcised ones. They do it [forcibly circumcise]
...
so that we can be wise
like them." John Lallo,
62, of Kibera, Kenya, January 2008
Because his penis was "too big, to make it more comfortable" R--, personal communication (26 May 2002),
circumcised in his fifties without him having presented
any symptoms
"As a way of reinforcing his African heritage" White South African performance artist Peet
Pienaar, October 2000
As "a symbol of me broadening my identity" Pienaar again when African cultural
objections were raised to the first proposal
In case he becomes quadriplegic and needs a catheter /
"Because it's impossible to catherize a man with a foreskin."
(False. Men in non-circumcising
countries are routinely catheterised while intact) According to Dr Gerald N. Weiss
<gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com> / "I've heard at least
five versions of this event from various corners of the
country. A formerly intact man in the US awakens after
severe trauma has left him unconscious. Some ER physician
has circumcised him 'because it's impossible to catherize
a man with a foreskin.'" - Richard Russell
<richard12w97r[AT-sign]yahoo.com>
Because he was diabetic, so he was "bound to have problems
with it sooner later" [details suppressed
for confidentiality]
To demonstrate the circumcisor's prowess as a warrior Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 31
So that other members of the circumcision club can watch and
masturbate
Because a (fetishistic? - intact) friend recommended it.
I had an older friend named Dan (we’re not
friends anymore though) that was actually intact
and he actually was always saying how much better
it would be to get circumcised. He said I should
do it because most people are like that and that I
would like it better. I don’t know why though, he
was telling me this but he didn’t get it done
himself. He had said that he was going to
eventually get it done because if you don’t that
you might have problems when you get older but he
never ended up getting it done. That was strange.
He might have had a circumcision fetish possibly
now that I think about it, I don’t know. The whole
thing is very bizarre looking back on it now that
I know the truth. It’s not easy though to talk
about because I find the whole thing very
disturbing now. He called the doctor up though and
made the appointment for me because he said he
could help me.
Because the foreskin's purpose is to facilitate rape
Because "it marks an age of
civility or possibly a step towards equal treatment of
women"
This seems to be based on the previous
"reason".
To remove the female element from him: "A boy is female from
his foreskin; a girl is male from her clitoris" According to the Dogon of West Africa
As an "equalizer for the inconvenience, sometimes pain, that
the female of the species suffers month after month" Adrian E. Cristobal in Manilla News Online,
July 20, 2003
So that men can have the same blood-bond as women: "Our
mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters experience the awesome
spiritual bonding power of blood every month. Men have this
opportunity only during circumcision." Rabbi David Zaslow, "Circumcision and Brit:
They're Not the Same Thing" Tikkun May/June 2001
To create an equivalent covenant of blood with God to that
which women have through procreation
Historian of Judaism Lawrence Hoffman says that
even to men in the Talmudic era, women’s power
seemed wild and natural. Through menstrual cycles
and the sometimes bloody secrets of giving birth,
women take an active part in creating life.
Through procreation, women have a natural covenant
of blood with God. Male circumcision creates an
analogous covenant through the procreative organ.
It is, however, a tamer covenant, in which only
one drop of blood is shed, and on only one
occasion.
As "a physical sign that he was adopting a new life with his
wife." / Because "I wanted to feel as if I was starting over
sexually" with a wife after a promiscuous past.
Tattooing her name one could understand,
but ... told by Glenden Brown in OneUtah.org
/
, September 9, 2009 / Hugo Schwyzer in New York Magazine, October 18, 2009
So that he could be married by a rabbi:
You got circumcised later in life. Would you
do it for your own kid?
Of course. It's the healthiest thing to do.
You don't regret it at all? Having lived one
way versus--
Not at all. It took me a while to learn how to
fuck again. It did. It was weird. With a foreskin
and without a foreskin, it's pretty difficult.
What did you have to figure out, exactly?
Which way to enjoy better. You have these memory
lapses: 'Why did I get my dick cut?' I had it to
get married, get married by the rabbi, so I had to
do it. You know? Well, whatever. No, I think it's
a good thing. Honestly I do. But Jewish or not
Jewish, it don't matter.
To impart a sense of sacredness to the act of conjugal union
/ ...so that in the most intimate moments of life, the man
would remember that he belonged to God. And if he decided to
sin with a foreign woman, he would have to do it with that
part of his body that had been set apart as holy to the Lord.
Circumcision reminded a man in a way that he could never
forget that he belonged to God Rabbi Reuven Bulka of the congregation
Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen, Oct 21, 1997) / Pastor Ray's Circumcision Talk,
February 9, 2010
To remind people of the power of procreation
To remind people to use sexual enjoyment with love
To teach us that our ... perfection requires human effort
Rabbi Julie Pelc Adler, head of the circumcision,
or brit milah, program for Reform Judaism, frames
circumcision as a way to remember the power of
procreation. “The point isn’t to curb sexual
enjoyment but to remind them to use it with love
and not hate,” Adler said.
Even the Web site of Chabad, a major movement of
Orthodox Jews, characterizes circumcision as a
“human act. This teaches us that our spiritual,
emotional, moral and ethical perfection requires
human effort. God cannot do it for us.”
"If fewer Americans circumcise,
will Jews be willing to maintain tradition?" The Washington Post,
December 27, 2013
To protect him against genital injuries (!) during sex. cited by several commentators following publication
of this
study
To prevent sexual difficulties,
divorce
and suicide. "Health and communication expert" Timothy Bonyonga in the Nyasa Times, May 18, 2013
Because "men have accidentally circumcised themselves during
intercourse"
To enhance his sexual performance / prevent premature
ejaculation
To increase his sexual pleasure
...
The huge difference between male and female
circumcision is that one (but not the only
purpose) of male circumcision is to increase
sexual pleasure
-thankgodimanatheist on the Guardian August 30, 2012
To increase her sexual pleasure: "That scar ridge adds
sensation."
- Twitter
Because "The procedure exposes these sensitive zones, in
both males and females, lessening the effort needed in
achieving pleasure." Abdulkhaliq Alemao on Facebook, June 10, 2013
Because "his early sexual experiences are likely to be
enjoyable and enhance his self-esteem[.] Clumsy
experimentation may be reduced or eliminated." John Pritchard
<jpritcha[AT-sign]escape.ca> alt.circumcision Nov
17, 1998
Because it enhances sensitivity The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398
Because it reduces sensitivity / (at 11-13) To remove the
foreskin before the boy starts to gain sexual stimulation from
it at puberty. / http://www.circlist.org/cconsider.html
To prolong intercourse and make ejaculation less frequent
Circumcised men have greater pre-orgasmic
endurance; non-circumcision permits more frequent
ejaculations. What matters most to the
anti-circumcision activists is their diminished
pleasure with frequently changing sexual partners,
as befits an era where the number of conquests is
a more common metric of romantic success than
long-term relationships.
Barbara Kay, National Post (Canada),
January 24, 2011
To reduce his sexual performance Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, p.378
of the Dover edition, 1956
Because it cuts down excessive libido, which leads
to adultery
To prevent males from having "overt, animal like,
procreative aggression" making them prone to masturbation,
rape and incest
[From a
YouTube video no longer available.]
For "the subversion of sexual energy into productive
societal endeavours in a supportive environment." "pantera"
<nick_msk[AT-sign]hotmail.com> on alt.circumcision
on 20 Mar 2003
Because
Among the many factors I considered was the
extent to which my own personal life decisions had
been influenced by sex, despite my apparent
diminished enjoyment of the act because of my
mutilated condition. It appeared to me that the
argument was that I should choose that my son
should be even more influenced by that particular
pleasure because of its greater intensity?
By this logic, castration would
free his son completey from that tyranny. It could equally
be argued that with an intact penis, his son could enjoy sex
more completely (the context is pleasure vs satisfation and
the death of David Carradine - who was circumcised - by
auto-erotic-strangulation) and be less driven by it.
It is in any case foolish to assume that another person will
be as driven by sex as oneself, when this aspect of
personality is so obviously highly variable.
Because his girlfriend will leave him if he doesn't
"Mr Kennedy Onyango, found on the queue at Lumumba health
centre said his girlfriend had given him a condition to face
the knife or they split." The
Standard (Kenya), September 24, 2008
To prevent infertility / ensure fertility Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 /
"A man who is not circumcised cannot
impregnate a female." A nurse said she has heard
from patients twice now.
Michael McGrath was told by
his wife's gynaecologist that his foreskin had probably
caused his daughers' premature birth, and he let it be cut
off as a result.
Because his sperm were abnormal in a test for in vitro
fertilization, and balanitis could be the cause BMJ, (1998;316:1438-1441 9 May)
To reduce your son's chances of being cuckolded....
Last year, I reported research by evolutionary
psychologist Gordon Gallup suggesting that, owing
to the increased exposure of the coronal ridge,
circumcised penises may very well be more
effective at withdrawing competitors’ sperm from
the vaginal tracts of promiscuous females than
uncircumcised penises. Having your infant son’s
foreskin removed could reduce your boy’s chances
of being cuckolded later on by his adulterous
future wife.
Is male circumcision a
humanitarian act? by Jesse Bering, Scientific American, April
23, 2010
... by helping to pump out a rival's sperm. Jesse Bering on the Daily Beast, August 20, 2012
[At 0:22, having talked about the
foreskin, he starts to say "Men who have - men who are
not circumcised..." Heaven forbid they should be
considered as having something that circumcised
men might then realise they lack!]
He somehow imagines that a
circumcised man has a "more elaborated" coronal ridge,
when there is no evidence for this. If this were true, the
foreskin would have evolved away long ago, as men born
without one benefited from their competitive advantage by
more effective cuckolding. And the earlier report of
Gallup's research says no such thing; in fact Gallup's
experiements, done with store-bought dildos, are seriously
flawed because they ignore the role (and the roll) of the
foreskin.
Because the child born from an uncircumcised father will
often get sick. Believed in West Timor
Because "boys who are circumsized do not devlope testicle
cancer. they are good reasons for it especially with
hygiene." / "it helps reduse testical cancer" - mary, northmberland, in the Daily Mail June 28, 2012 / Quoted by
Mutilation Watch on Facebook, Novermber 20, 2014
Because "It is possible that women with circumcised partners
are less likely to develop breast cancer."
[Sure it's possible, but neither he
nor anyone else has offered any evidence for this claim.]
Alex Renton, "So, would you have your son
circumcised?" the
Guardian, July 5, 2009 Also claimed by Brian Morris
on his site, based on no evidence.
To prevent cancer of the tongue (!) Hand, E H Circumcision and Vernereal Disease,
Archives of Dermatology and Syphilology, 1949;
60(3):341-6
Because "if you circumcise a boy, then a girl won't get HPV in the future."
(Notice how a measurable correlation has
become a 100% cause-effect. That statement is simply not
true.) A nurse to E. S. Restore-L, September 29,
2008
Because he was giving his wife yeast infections
(and she was giving them to him...) Told to
<dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com> (Duane Voskuil
Ph.D.)
Because his partner demands it / To make him attractive to
his partner / "Because no woman wants to look at a doggy
dick!!" Jason Ashley // Bradley Wells
<QHRQ11B[AT-sign]prodigy.com>
To "make him 'respectable' to the female of the species." Adrian E. Cristobal in Manilla News Online,
July 20, 2003
Because "Uncircumsized does not feel normal" posted by pinkhatp on Urban
Baby
News, August 15, 2009, apparently on the basis of a
sample of one. ("instead of his pointing up when erected,
it pointed down. It was very uncomfortable.")
To make his penis bigger / To allow the penis to become more
erect and hence 'bigger'. / Because the Tip of the Penis will
surely be diminished in size due to the presence of the
foreskin./ To make it look bigger / Because it ...
seems to elongate the penis. Reported in "NZ Truth" / A father to nurse
Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com> / told to
<BFKOUBA[AT-sign]aol.com> by a Japanese youth who
failed at self-c. / "South Park" May 20, 1998 / "Holy
Macaroni!" posting on Urban
Baby
News, August 15th, 2009
To make it "look taller'.
[This makes no sense for
trees or penises. Ringbarking trees kills them.]
Because "the foreskin and the frenulum stop the growth of
the penis and in some cases circumcision is necessary to
protect the boy or man from the psychological trauma of an
abnormally small penis" Told by a respected gynecologist, doctors'
union official, and political power in the Institute
Mexicano Seguro Social (Social Security), to Dr Sergio
Aquilar, who told Gary
Harriman<Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
To make his erection shorter [tight
circumcision is specified] and so protect future partners from
painful bumping on the far end of their vaginas Chris "sianick1994"
<sianick1994@yahoo.co.uk> in the Yahoo group
circumcision_pro_and_con, Oct 1, 2003
To avoid tearing in tight situations / Because it is better
for overall comfort when you have a stiff erection The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp.
397-398
To prevent pain in intercourse (Herero of Namibia)
Purely by chance / to take sexual pressure off his wife
after childbirth
Bheki was circumcised purely by chance. When his
wife went to hospital to give birth to their
second son, Bheki was jokingly advised by his
doctor to get circumcised so he and his wife could
'recover' together. "He told me that while my wife
was healing from the process, I should also get
circumcised and we could heal together without any
sexual expectations from either party. Being a guy
who needs regular sex, I took up his suggestion
...
To prevent urinary obstruction in his old age Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol
95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
After surgery for prostate cancer, because his
foreskin no longer retracted
- Twitter, December 14, 2017
A man no longer
gets erections after prostate cancer when he has had
an orchidectomy (castration) to prevent his
male hormones from encouraging cell growth. The
foreskin is still manually retractable. Fusing would
be a result of neglect.
Because "If he gets ill and cannot manage his personal
hygiene himself he will have to put up with some stranger
(whoever) attending to this problem of pulling back the
foreskin weekly [!] to clean the area. This would be most
disgusting and belittling for him." / "The procedure of being
cleaned is emotionally difficult for the older uncircumcised
patient." Shirley Murray on the Australian "60
Minutes" discussion board / Ruth Frank, RN, CS, VA
Medical Center, Durham, NC, in PEDIATRICS Vol. 106 No. 4
October 2000, pp. 954
Because if "a guy has a car accident and is incapable of
[cleaning under his foreskin] for himself[, h]e will now need
this service regularly to be done by some strange (probably a
nurse) person for term of his remaining life." Shirley Murray on the Australian "60
Minutes" discussion board
In case he needs a catheter when he is senile Dr Gerald N. Weiss
<gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
Because a rabbi decided that he hadn't really been "born
circumcised" 87 years before, at all.
In fact his penis may have withdrawn in
old age and his shaft skin moved forward. Ouch! Brit
mila at 87, Jerusalem
Post, April 13, 2009
Because his hatifat dam (ritual blood letting) 92
years earlier, like many others in Shiraz, had been
deemed non-halachal (inauthentic) "This 92 Year Old Man Just Had His Second
Circumcision" Heeb, November 17, 2014
POSTHUMOUS
Because "A post-mortem circumcision [of a baby taken off
life-support] allows a moment of normality [!]
before the immense loss must be confronted. Mohel Mark Litwin in the New York Times, January 24, 2011
Because the foreskin "is a disgrace to him"
(why a Jewish baby who dies before his Bris must be
circumcised at the graveside) Code of Jewish Law, ... by Rabbi Solomon
Ganzfried (NY, Hebrew Publishing Co, 1961) vol 4, p 44
So that his children will not be embarrassed when they
perform the ritual bath after his death (Korea) Kukmin
Ilbo, Sep. 24, 1996, cited by DaiSik Kim in "Male
circumcision: a South Korean perspective", British Journal
of Urology, Vol 83 Jan 1999
Because he wasn't
circumcised earlier?
...when an adult male dies, the very first aspect
checked is whether they underwent circumcision. If
they did not, they are circumcised.
[Herbert] Buboolo [an elder in Bugisu] explains:
“The body is supported by two strong men to stand
up straight. A traditional surgeon cuts the
deceased’s foreskin off. However, as a punishment
for not having undergone the tradition when alive,
the body is not supported to lie down; it’s left
to fall backwards to the ground.”
The surgeon who circumcises a dead body is by
barred [sic barred by?] tradition from
carrying out any more circumcisions and when they
do so, it will be a curse to those they
circumcise.
- "Sending off the loved ones, the
Ugandan way" New Vision (Uganda), January 14, 2012
To prepare his corpse for the study of male anatomy
Because it is a requirement for burial in a Jewish cemetery
in Israel Legislator Gennady Rigeur, representing a Russian
immigrant, introduced a bill to prevent after-death
circumcision of immigrants (a requirement of Jewish burial)
unless they request it in their wills. NY Times, 11/10/99.
So
that he is compliant with (Jewish) scriptual requirements
for the afterlife.
"The
relevant religious authority says that your compliance
with all these obligations is assessed at the end of
the cleaning and purification processes that the
community perform on the deceased, and that it's not
uncommon to circumcise people after death so that
they are compliant with scriptual requirements for
the afterlife." - A Canadian Orthodox rabbi
To admit sinful Jews to Gehinnom (Hell): Abraham sits at the
gate of Gehinnon and takes the foreskins off Jewish babies who
died uncircumcised (and missed out on a graveside Bris) and
puts them on bad Jews A Cohen, Everyman's Talmud, (New York,
Schocken, 1975) p 381
...BUT:
"The bodily pain caused to that
member is the real purpose of circumcision." - Maimonides
And this doesn't include the underlying reasons - to show him
who's in charge and what they think about his sexuality.
These are not new, not true and/or not reasons
to cut.
- posted by Tiffany Dionne (Kip) on Facebook,
October25-27, 2015
Good
reasons for post-neonatal circumcision
(There is nothing a baby can be
born with that makes immediate (neonatal) circumcision
necessary.)
-
[To provide skin for repair of his hypospadias
- removed, since alternatives have been found]
1
To provide skin for repair of his burnt eyelids
2
To provide mucosa for repair of the urinary tract after
radical prostate surgery (because the inner foreskin is
devoid of hair follicles and used to being inside the
body and in contact with urine).
3
To treat major, irreparable trauma to the foreskin
(more serious than "caught in a zipper")
4
To provide mucosa for a vaginoplasty (sex-change)
5
To treat cancer of his foreskin
6
To treat gangene/frostbite
[-]
[As a treatement of last resort for chronic balanitis
(inflammation) due to diabetes]
Removed.
7
If the circumcision wound gets infected, making you
wear a condom, and your lover has HIV, it could save
your life. (This happened to Peter Frazer, Roy Cohn's
lover - the only confirmed instance of circumcision
saving a life! A New Zealander,
he'd had himself circumcised to "look more American")
8
Because you are an adult who want it done to yourself.
![stitions-''...my parents ...told me didn't know [why he was cut]]''](Images/stitions/stitions-didnt-know.png)
![''foresking to[o] thick''](Images/stitions/too--thick.png)
![stitions - ''I couldn't fathom cleaning a 15 year old boy's penis [IF he were autistic]"](Images/stitions/stitions-autism.png)
