Whose penis is it anyway?
Circumcision is unnecessary and painful. PLEASE, if you are having a boy, educate yourself on the subject before you make the circumcision decision. No matter what your reasons are for wanting to have your child circumcised, you owe it to him to get educated on this procedure just as you would for any other surgery your child might undergo.
The following are some common questions and answers about circumcision. Wherever possible, citations to support the information is contained in the hyperlinks. I tried to avoid citing what could be considered "biased" resources whenever possible, but when I felt the information was valuable, I did.
Q: Aren't there health benefits of circumcision?
A: No. The American Academy of Pediatrics recognizes only POTENTIAL health benefits, but does NOT recommend routine infant circumcision.
Q: I've heard that uncircumcised boys get urinary tract infections, tight foreskins, and other problems that require circumcision later in life. Is this true?
A: Sure, if you have no foreskin, you have no risk of developing a tight one. This is called phimosis, and it occurs in 4% of males. It is usually easily treated nonsurgically. The risk of urinary tract infections (UTI) in males is only slightly statistically more likely in uncircumcised males only during the first year of life; thereafter there is no higher risk. The practical importance of the increased risk is zero, since UTI's are easily treated. In other words, the risk of complications associated with circumcision far outweigh the risk of developing a UTI during the first year of life. If you consider "pain" as a risk of circumcision, then the risk is 100%, even with anesthesia. Of course a UTI is painful too, but considering that it takes 100-200 circumcisions to prevent one UTI, and considering that ALL circumcisions involve pain, it simply does not make sense to circumcise a baby for this reason.
Q: Won't he end up having to be circumcised later on if he has problems? And won't it be more painful then?
A: It is extremely rare that circumcision is required to treat any medical condition, in the same way that a toe amputation is rarely required to treat a problem with the toenail. The rare infection can usually be easily treated with topical or oral medications like antibiotics. It is a common myth that an adult circumcision is more painful than an infant circumcision. This myth arose when adults who had been circumcised told others how much it hurt, while the infants did not speak up. It is noted that adults are provided general anesthesia when undergoing this procedure, and infants are not.
Q: Circumcision prevents penile cancer, right?
A: No. Here is the American Cancer Society’s statement on this issue, and also read what the American Medical Association says about it.
Q: Doesn't circumcision lessen the risk of contracting HIV?
A: There have been some studies that show a geographical overlap in some south African countries with respect to circumcision practices and HIV infection rates. As we know from Statistics 101, correlation does not imply causation. Further, the studies have been heavily criticized for poor research design. The population in south Africa cannot be generalized to the population in Western countries; indeed, I have not been able to find any information that supports a similar finding in the U.S. It is simply jumping the gun to have a risky surgery performed on your infant based upon a very shaky hypothesis. It remains that the best way to help your child avoid HIV infection is to educate him on safe sexual practices. For more, here is the full text of a study that conducted a meta-analysis of available literature on this topic in 1999. Look at the numbers for yourself, including the very first table that lists circumcision rates for first-world countries and the AIDS rates in those countries. The circumcision rate is higher in the U.S. than in any other country. If circumcision prevents HIV infection, the U.S. should have a lower incidence of HIV infection right? Wrong.
Q: Doesn't the Bible say that boys should be circumcised?
A: This is something you have to decide for yourself, but I do not believe it does. Here is one interpretation of what the Bible says about circumcision. It seems clear that circumcision is not required for salvation. Here is some more information regarding Christians and circumcision. My personal belief is that God did not make a mistake when he created our baby boys!
Q: But Jews have to be circumcised, right?
A: Again, no. Of course it is a Jewish tradition, but as society evolves, we do not follow everything that the Bible or Torah says. The Torah says that the following acts are punishable by death: infidelity, fornication, homosexuality, even insulting or disobeying one's parents! We no longer put people to death for these offenses in the name of tradition, so it follows that we should not be required to circumcise our baby boys simply in the name of tradition.
Q: Isn't circumcision painless if done on a newborn?
A: Absolutely not! I've heard parents say their baby did not even cry when they were being circumcised, that they just went to sleep. This isn't sleep, this is shock. The tissue that is removed during a circumcision isn't just snipped off. It is adhered to the penis like a fingernail is adhered to a finger. It must first be separated, and then it is cut off. Separate your fingernail from your finger and you will have an answer to your question. If you still are not satisfied, watch one being done. Even when anesthesia is used, the newborn is left with a painful open wound that takes time to heal. This is why new mothers are given detailed instructions on how to care for their newborn's circumcision wound - because it is an open wound that is painful and has a high risk of developing an infection. When the infant urinates, the wound burns. Without a doubt, your baby will feel pain associated with circumcision. Left intact, your uncircumcised newborn's penis requires no special care.
Q: Isn't it just a little piece of skin?
A: No, and it is important that you know what is being removed from your child when you consent to a circumcision. Here is a list of what is lost forever when a circumcision is performed. Sure, most circumcised men go on to have a satisfying sex life, but this does not justify the procedure.
Q: Is it more hygienic to be circumcised?
A: No. Genital hygiene has to do with personal care practices, not circumcision. To care for your infant's uncircumcised penis, you wash it like you would a finger. Don't EVER try to retract the foreskin. Later in life, when the foreskin has naturally separated, teach your son to gently pull it back in the shower and wash the natural secretions away just like you would teach your daughter in washing her labia. It's as simple as that.
Q: I hear all these stories about men who weren't circumcised who had to have it done later in life. Aren't I just delaying the inevitable?
A: There has been some concern that American doctors (most of which are circumcised themselves) are quick to recommend circumcision for afflictions that can easily be treated nonsurgically. Please be careful about making a surgery decision based on anecdotes.
Q: Won't my son get made fun of in the locker room if he's not circumcised?
A: As we become more educated about the practice, fewer and fewer American parents are circumcising their sons (currently about 40% of newborns are left intact in the US; and a vast majority of boys in the rest of the world). Your son will likely encounter many other boys who have not been circumcised. You will never prevent your son from being made fun of in his life, so is it fair to have him undergo what is nothing more than a risky, painful "cosmetic" surgery in an attempt to prevent ridicule?
Q: My husband is circumcised and feels that a boy should look like his father.
A: Your son will never look exactly like his father. Dad surely has scars, moles, dimples, and other characteristics that make him unique. You wouldn't try to recreate those on your son to make him look like Dad, so why have surgery performed on him for that reason? Your son's penis will look different from his father's no matter what for the simple fact that dad is an adult!
Q: I have another son, and he was circumcised before I knew all the information. Shouldn't I circumcise my next son to avoid them looking different from each other?
A: Your boys will be different in many ways. At some point, one or both may ask you about circumcision. All you have to say is the truth: that you made the best decisions you could with the information you had at the time. When boy #2 came along, you had more information about circumcision and chose not to get it done. Getting your second boy circumcised to avoid this conversation is like saying two wrongs make a right.
Here are more links to circumcision resources:
Circumcision Information and Resource Pages
Here is a page that has positive, non-judgmental information for parents on circumcision.
Here is a pamphlet that answers many of the questions that parents have about circumcision.