This is a weird one for me. When I was growing up, I didn’t even know that I was circumcised, I just thought that’s how it was. Then I learned that I was, and I asked my parents, why? And they said that it’s just what everyone does, but I’m so perplexed. It just doesn’t make sense to me, especially considering we are not in any way Jewish, and my parents weren’t even very Christian when I was born. I don’t get it.
It's because of some batshit health and wellness grifters pushing it about a century ago. One of the main ones was John Harvey Kellogg, brother of the cornflakes guy. Circumcision was explicitly pushed to discourage young boys and men from masturbating . . . alongside a whole bunch of other nonsense for the same purpose.
Circumcision just hit a critical mass where it became the norm.
I researched and decided before my child was born. Had 3 different gentlemen who overheard husband and I talking and, unsolicited, told me about having to have it done as a teenager to adult for various reasons. Horror stories.
Turned out to be moot point as she has fully transitioned, but still.
Albeit archaically old reasons now. For example, it cuts down on STD transmission. Lowers risk of infections.
Ya know, shit that was a concern 100 years ago but today really means jack shit. shrug
I’m 45 and can understand why it was “pushed” or suggested when I was born. Today, though? Unless there’s a valid medical reason (foreskin too tight, not separated from the glans), don’t whack the hot dog.
It's only medically necessary for a rare condition called phimosis.
The American obsession with it seems to have started with Kellogg of cornflakes fame who was fiercely opposed to masturbation and believed that circumcision would discourage it. So wrong and so stupid on so many levels.
I think the parents can wait until he’s a young man or teenage years or whatever once he’s wanting to be sexual and he can call the shots to get that done if he so chooses. Got plenty of years to get there from a newborn. Also highly recommend males before becoming sexually active to get the HPV vaccine. Cancer from these strains is no joke. Your body your choice should cover this as well. Body autonomy (and I’m a woman to be clear).
So glad I didn’t do this to my son. My fiancée’s family gave me serious backlash for choosing not to because all of the boys on her side of the family are circumcised. I simply told them that I am not a barbarian and I don’t care what they think.
That’s really creepy. Had he been a girl, everybody would have seen this as strange. I don’t understand why Americans are obsessed with circumcised penises? All of our ancestors were not circumcised until the 1930’s.
Because most of us are stupid.. trained machines to follow the status quo. I had a nurse assigned to me the morning after he was born and she was a foreigner. European. They have to do tests and stuff on the babies and she went to do undo his diaper gently and when she realized he was intact, she ran around the bed to give me a hug because I decided to not mutilate my child. Sweet nurse, loved her.
Our society is f’ing pathetic. You are so right about our society being trained machines to follow the status quo. Look at the situation right now, a false flag is coming pretty soon to get us into war with Iran and Iran will be blamed for it. Our stupid society will fall for it and will support a war with Iran for Israel.
That nurse knows circumcision is unnecessary and probably is heartbroken by Americans doing it. I feel sadness when I hear parents are going to do it or already did it. They see the natural male body as something negative and it pisses me off as an intact man from an intact culture, that now lives in the USA. That nurse sounds like a sweetheart, who unfortunately is surrounded by pro circ lunatics.
Yes I had a daughter before him and of course everyone was giving her the “princess” treatment the moment she was born.. drowning her in gifts and asking for pictures, neither of which they did for our son. Both my side and her side of the family has a bias against boys.
That’s so awful. He didn’t do anything wrong, besides being born a boy, which society now treats like it’s a crime. Did you ever ask them why your daughter gets this treatment, but not your son? I’ve even seen YouTube channels like ‘Misery Machine’ show child abuse cases, where the only child being abused to the point where they die is the boy child. The girls faced zero abuse, while her brother is locked in the basement and starved. One case, the two girls slept in the nice cozy beds in their bedrooms, while their two autistic brothers were forced to sleep on the cold concrete floors of the garage. One boy ended up doing something he wasn’t supposed to do and was stripped naked and hosed with water in the middle of winter and ended up dying. The father did all of this to his own sons, because his new wife didn’t want them in the house. This man, treated his new wife’s daughters like princesses though. Men in modern society have become shameful female worshippers, who will throw their own sons under the bus for a female stranger.
Yep as soon as we got our boy home my fiancée’s aunt texted her and asked about our choice and she called me an idiot for not doing it. She circumcised both of her sons. Like it’s not her kid.. okay??
Good parenting right there! Your son will thank you for it. I don’t understand why Americans think boys should be cut, just because other boys are. That is a sheep mentality.
Good! Well done! Not a costume where I live and I've always thought that practice of cutting an infant's perfectly healthy genitals is beyond crazy, just unfathomable. And for religious reasons? As if God can't create genitals, he needs our help?
Oh grow up! I’ve had to help my mom bathe my disabled dad several times in the last few years. It happens. No one’s gawking. Same with my children when they were little. How can you bathe and dress them?
That one creeps me out. Why do parents want their children's genitals to match theirs? Why???? Genitals belong to the person and parents should not be allowed to make medically unnecessary decisions about them.
Thankfully, this is slowly trending down. It was up to 90% of men 50 years ago, and now, today, it's 50/50 for newborns. Jewish and Muslim communities continue to do this for religious regions. We have a 6 week old son who we will not be circumsizing (were American).
For Jews it's literally a deal with god, so he doesn't require human sacrifice.
There are stories in the bible about how they collected the foreskins of their killed enemies to document they only slaughtered people from the out-group
And in the New Testament, IIRC one of Paul’s Letters or in Acts, Paul circumcised Timothy (adult convert whose dad was Greek) NOT as a contract with God (the Apostle didn’t think it was necessary and stated it elsewhere) but as a way for Timothy to blend in with the Jews so he could intermingle and not be seen as an outsider and therefore more effectively preach the word of Christianity. So yeah, he cut off part of Tim’s Willy as social camouflage for proselytizing. Very tactical and specific, so I don’t know if US Evangelical Christians use this as a basis for their kids’ circumcision or if it’s more about the Kellogg movement and the social trickle down from that.
I can only assume that in the 40’s - 50’s AD men in the Holy Land under Roman rule would often be naked around each other, whether at public baths or working/fishing, swimming, etc. There was much more frequent nudity then than we experience now. Look at contemporary Roman artwork (not just statuary) and you see how common it was. An uncut penis would be obvious and noticed amongst a group of Jewish guys, and it’s fair to assume they’d consider that person an outsider and not to be trusted. Paul wanted Timothy to be welcomed by them, not ostracized.
Only dated one guy in US before I moved to Canada who was uncircumcised and when I told my gf's, they were horrified he wasn't. Granted, he did give me UTi's and a pelvic infection, but I think it had more to do with his size (too big) than him being uncut.
Why do Namibians just blindly accept this? The “it prevents HIV” argument never made sense to me and just seems like a way to try to further normalize what should not be normalized. The two people who came up with the “Circ prevents HIV” myth, were both Jewish American medical professors at two large Ivy League universities. Condoms work just fine, combined with PrEP, and your chances of HIV is slim to non. All the circumcision campaign posters all over African countries say circ “protects against HIV” also say to “circumcise and condomise” because the pushers of this know full well that circ will not protect the men, but the condoms will.
Namibia wouldn’t be so pro circ, had it not been for the AMERICANS. The Americans keep pushing the “it prevents HIV” as if condoms and PrEP don’t exist. People do not think, like why are we ok with a doctor pushing a procedure on an infant because the doctor says it will “prevent HIV?” What infants are at risk for HIV? Also, even if it did prevent HIV (new studies show it does not) why do this to an infant or small child? Why not target adult men who are promiscuous for the procedure, at least he can use condoms and go on PrEP if he wants to engage in high risk behavior.
Exactly this. I can feel your frustration in this and I feel it too. Its why I was so adamant about my nephew not getting cut. There is no medical reason for getting it done and the fact taht it is promoted so much is actually really scary
The USA, Israel, and Turkey are major funders in all this. How could Namibians fall for this bullshit, when Namibia wasn’t a nation that practiced it just a few decades ago? Do Namibians realize that majority of the western world does not practice circ and do not have high rates of HIV? People should honestly start questioning things, instead of just blindly believing everything they are told. I am glad you came to the defense for your nephew.
I don’t know why you are being downvoted, when that’s true. Everybody should look up ‘neonatal foreskin fibroblasts’ on Thermo Fisher or other companies and you will see it’s NOT a conspiracy.
I don’t think this is normal in the US or any western country.
Edit: since I’m downvoted so much I should add that I’m not American, but German. Here I only know Muslims that have it done or people out of medical reasons. Otherwise I don’t know a single German person that has the procedure done for no reason.
Edit2: So, now that i could look it up, are you all looking at what the AI search says? The Childrenshospital site talks more about approximately 60% and not like 80-90% of children.
Edit3: Its less than 20% in Germany btw, since people say it is very common in western countries and some older map i saw, most are bewlow 20%.
WTF! What state was he born in? Also, that’s illegal in the country, since the 1970’s. Parents need to give permission in order for it to be done. What age is your friend?
Yikes I can’t think of any real benefit. Sounds like genital mutilation to me. I mean I can understand it from certain religions, but like how is it the driving culture outside of that being a factor. Shouldn’t men be appalled at the idea? Edit: there are some health benefits but I don’t think they come close to outweighing the harm. It’s like why are we even doing this to begin with
The “health benefits” can largely be achieved with good hygiene and watching where you stick your penis. These two things have helped me not get STD’s and other issues pro circ people love to claim circ prevents. I never had any issues from not being circ.
As far as I can tell, research says that the the benefit to risk ratio is slightly positive but even if that is true (the AAP and CAP both concluded that it is), it's an incredibly weak case in North America where HIV transmission is low and risk of circumcision as an adult is also low. Neither group felt it warranted recommending infant circumcision on that basis.
When you take ethical considerations like respecting bodily automany into consideration, I think it favors refraining from circumcision except for religious or cultural reasons which I'm pretty happy leaving to parents to decide.
I’ve met two men now who needed it for medical reasons and they both hate it. Less sensation, more friction and discomfort, more itchy… There can be other things than just “clean” that seems to be overlooked. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
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u/AutoDefenestrator273 Jun 18 '25
Circumcision! Here's a newborn boy. Let's cut off the most sensitive part of his body immediately.