That was my thought on Saturday when I was crossing Pennsylvania Avenue in our nation's capital and I observed an anti-circumcision parade. Wow, you don't see that every day, I thought to myself. They were shouting and holding up signs. I couldn't get very good pictures with my cell phone but here you go:
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| One of the other signs said something about "whose penis is it anyway?" |
I know this is a departure from my regular blog topics, but I just feel this burning need to discuss my thoughts on the matter. So here goes: I appreciate the passion behind the parade. I think it's great when someone feels so strongly about something they're compelled to march through the streets of a crowded city holding up signs and yelling. I wish I felt that strongly about more things!
And I get the whole supposed "loss of sensitivity" argument and even the "genital mutilation" argument. BUT, what I don't get is the hypocritical nature of the "don't make decisions about my body" argument. Aren't *they* trying to make decisions for other people's bodies by saying circumcision should be illegal?
There are lots of choices that parents make for their children that have long-term or permanent effects. Like choosing whether or breast or bottle-feed or what kinds of foods kids eat, whether or not they'll have immunizations and whether or not they take vitamins. They choose what kind of carseat to use and whether or not there will be guns in the house. They might choose to get their young child's ears pierced or to get their hair cut into a mohawk. Or how about this? They might even make their kids march in an anti-circumcision parade (and yes, there were kids riding tricycles alongside their parents.) Who knows what kind of long-term psychological effects that could have!
Parents make all sorts of choices for their kids and whether or not to circumcise is just one. I'm all for educating parents about pros and cons of such a decision but ultimately I feel like the final say rests with the parents. And in addition to the whole parental choice thing, let's not forget the religious and cultural significance here. Circumcision goes WAY WAY back. Thousands of years. As a matter of fact, when I chose to have my sons circumcised back in the late 90's and early 2000's, I remember that one of my justifications, as a Christian, was that God had His son circumcised.
There aren't too many venues where you can discuss this sort of thing, so that is one reason I chose to address it here on my blog. I'm very interested to hear my reader's thoughts on the matter.
I agree with u. It is the parents right to choose. I do wish more drs educated parents on why circumcision is NOT medically necessary. My husband and I research, watch videos (the worst!) And spoke to our chosen pediatrician before giving birth. We chose not to have our son circumcized. He's now 6. We've had no issues. Except him playing with it and pulling the skin back prematurely but even that wasn't a big deal. Best decision we made.
ReplyDeleteThe medical necessity part was never an issue for me. I knew it wasn't medically necessary. It was more of a religious/cultural thing for me, and yes, the boys' father is circumcised too.
Deletethe funny thing is that my husband his circumcised. i just assumed we would do the same to our son. while pregnant, i was filling out hospital forms and when it came to the circ question i was like "yes" and my husband spoke up and was like "woah woah woah, i think we should talk about this." - i was totally shocked. glad he made me think and learn about it :)
DeleteWe made the choice not to circumcise our son. We read about it in medical studies which all seemed to say that there was no medical necessity for it. The few that did try to make a medical argument for circumcision all seemed to come out of poor villages in Africa as their test group. My husband isn't circumcised, so his perspective on this was pretty invaluable. We also aren't religious or believers in the Judeo-Christian faith, so that also wasn't an issue for us. For me personally, it felt like circumsizing him would be taking away part of his body that he was born with without any justifiable reason. He can always have it done later on if he so chooses, just like piercing his ears or getting tattoos. It's *his* body. Those are my feelings, and I certainly wouldn't try to tell any other parent how to feel. I agree educating yourself is the best advice.
ReplyDeleteI read studies too, of course that was almost 16 years ago now! I also understand the argument of having boys match their father.
DeleteHonestly I have to say I think breastfeeding is a WAY more important issue to advocate. I probably feel passionate enough about that to march through the streets of DC yelling and holding sign. :)
Agree definitely! Breastfeeding has so much value behind it, and was vilified by formula makers.
DeleteWe had and are still dealing with some pressure to have our son circumcised due to his kidney condition. Being uncircumcised makes him more susceptible to getting urinary tract infections. But he's on the antibiotic, and we're very careful about keeping him clean. We'll do our best for him to keep his kidneys healthy. If he starts getting infections again, we'll revisit the issue.
These last two blogs have been interesting in that both involve choices and options, right? I mean parents often make the choice for their son to be circumsized given the options available. And don't most girls grow up thinking we'll find one man, fall in love and live happily ever after with him. It's not until we grow up and have a version of this that we realize we can choose not to be monogamous. It's just one of our many options.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been interesting to interview a few of the parade participants to see what they were really objecting to... the mutilation? the inability for the child to choose? health concerns? etc. Or maybe they just felt like being in a parade and supporting a cause that day.
This country is such a mixed bag of options and choices and emotions and judgments. Sometimes makes me wonder what freedom really means.
Interesting observations as usual, Smarty :)
DeleteFrom the signs I can say that I think the paraders were using all of the arguments you mentioned.
And, not surprisingly, it all comes down to education and exposure, understanding arguments for and against an issue and being informed enough to make one's own choice.
It was definitely a cultural thing for our family. My husband was insisting upon it because he was circumcised and didn't want our son to look different. Also, we had a preemie who also happened to be born with an extra finger. We had to wait for a bit until he reached what would have been 40 weeks gestation and then had it all done at once.
ReplyDeleteI tried to engage my sons in conversation about it when we saw the parade, but they didn't want to talk about it. LOL Imagine that!
DeleteAlso, I learned this through my lover (who is circumcised but wishes he weren't): http://www.restoringforeskin.org/
I remember an acquaintance giving me shit over not having my son circumcised...she railed on about circumcision being more hygienic and all the penis-related health issues my son would have all his life. Neither of those things are true at ALL. Just like teaching a kid how to brush their teeth, you teach them how to clean their penis, and my son has never had any health problems because of his foreskin. We considered circumcision for about 5 seconds, only because my ex is circumcised, but our feeling was, was bother with a procedure that's cosmetic (no cultural or religious reasons in our case)? If he wants to be circumcised at some point, that can be his decision.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, all my friends (except one) who have boys around my son's age did not have them circumcised...but the vast majority of guys my age I've seen naked are. I think it's one of those things that a societal/cultural thing that changes with the times
I think as time goes on in it will become less and less prevalent. The tide has already turned a great deal since my sons were born I think. Still, I think politicizing it (like the paraders were doing) is a bad idea. It's a very personal decision.
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