Circumcision is the removal of the foreskin, which is the skin that covers the tip of the penis. The procedure is done for both medical and aesthetic reasons. Generally, in the United States, most doctors work with the assumption that parents will circumcise their child. In the United States, the vast majority of males have been circumcised (91% in the 1970′s), though this amount is decreasing (79% in 2002). Even with this decrease, four-fifths is still a pretty signification percentage of our population. Many people continue to circumcise their children without proper knowledge of the reasons behind it.
The procedure has both benefits and risks. Risks include bleeding, pain, infection, surgical mishap and complications of anaesthesia. While in children there is not a clear causational relationship, in adults circumcision has been shown to cause decreased penile sensitivity in some men.
The often cited benefits are decreased urinary tract infections (UTI) and general increased genital hygiene. Genital hygiene can be dealt with by better educating parents on the proper care for a natural penis, who can then impart that knowledge onto their children. As for UTI, while circumcision does decrease the risk, the risk for a natural penis is only 1%. The commonest complications of circumcision, hemorrhage and infection, occur at rate of about 2%. Assuming equal utility of benefits and harms, net clinical benefit is likely only in boys at high risk of UTI.
There are other benefits that you can find to support circumcision. Here is a list from a 2010 PDF created the American Medical Association:
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was reduced by 53% to 60%.Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) was reduced by 28% to 34%.Human papillomavirus (HPV) was reduced by 32% to 35%.Among female partners of circumcised men, bacterial vaginosis was reduced by 40% and Trichomonas vaginalis infection was reduced by 48%.
That is the crux of circumcision to me: consent. Any non-medical circumcision done to newborns is done without the child’s consent. It is an elective surgery that the child did not elect to have. This is why none of my children will be circumcised. I hope all of you out there about to have children will consider not circumcising your children as well.
-That is all.
Consent is an issue, making infant circumcision unethical
It seems that any surgery that isn’t medically necessary shouldn’t be done to a child. As far as std reduction, well, I’m not sure I even believe that. Most men in the US are circumcised and the US has a very high rate of std’s, especially HPV and Herpes. I’ve lived in France and briefly in Denmark. I never knew of any men or women over there who had std’s and men over there are hardly ever circumcised unless they are Jewish. So I wonder if the difference isn’t so much if a man has a foreskin or not but maybe the rate of condom use and/or sexual education? But I don’t know. Mexico has a huge population and they don’t normally use condoms. Yet their male citizens aren’t circumcised and they still don’t have a problem with herpes and HIV. I just don’t think the foreskin is the culprit here.
I would imagine the American Medical Association developed their numbers by removing the variable of protection. In theory, the level of sexual education and condom use should not be factored into those numbers. But I have not had the time to deeply investigate that.
Because as you said Carrie, condom use has a huge impact on STD transmission. Circumcised or natural has no impact if properly protected. Anything collecting on the foreskin would be prevented from contacting with your partner.
Which means if you are really concerned about your sons transmitting diseases, don’t cut them. Educate instead. That’ll make the far greater difference in the long run.
As a son who was circumcised shortly after birth, I would have preferred that my parents not made a decision about my penis. My choice would be to remain intact, with all the body parts I was born with. My body, my choice.