BUT I'VE HEARD IT'S CLEANER
How to wash the female genitalia? Water and soap. How to wash the male genitalia? Water and soap. You do not have to remove a body part to be able to clean yourself. The foreskin retracts on its own when it's time. It is a natural process. Never should it be forced back.
BUT WHAT ABOUT INFECTIONS?
UTI's are more common in a circumcised penis. Girls are at risk of urinary tract infections as well. That doesn't mean we should cut off the clitoral hood on the chance they get one. Peeing after sex, and washing is good prevention. We can also get ear infections. Should we remove part of our ear to prevent it?
BUT I'M THE PARENT SO IT’S MY CHOICE
It actually isn’t your choice. It’s not your body. Do you want someone making choices for your body?
Like, say you want a tattoo. Would you want me to choose what it is and the location? If a man rapes a woman, that is considered forced sex with someone who is not consenting to it. What's the difference? If you are removing a part of another person's genitals without their consent, it is akin to rape, in that you are forcing a child to do something against their will with a sexual organ. And yes, it's very much against their will. Babies scream & cry when being cut, or go into shock.
BUT THE BABY WAS CALM, & DIDN’T SEEM TO MIND
When being cut, violated, injured, they don’t understand why. They go catatonic, because the procedure causes a physiological response, so the baby is in a state of shock to escape the pain. Signs include extreme paleness, lethargy or unresponsiveness, shallow or rapid breathing, very fast heart rate, difficulty feeding, fussiness, signs of organ damage (liver, kidney) from lack of blood flow.
BUT THEY WON'T REMEMBER IT
Just because you can’t recall your days as a baby, does NOT mean it isn’t stored in your body. The American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision (1989) noted that the behavior of nearly 90 percent of circumcised infants significantly changed after the circumcision.
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Brain Imaging and Trauma: A study involving fMRI/PET scans on infants indicated that circumcision causes significant trauma, with the highest impact on the limbic system, particularly the amygdala, as well as the frontal and temporal lobes. The brain did not return to its baseline configuration, indicating permanent changes to structures associated with reasoning, emotion, and perception.
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Long Lasting Changes: Unanesthetized infant circumcision causes long-lasting changes in central nervous system pain processing, or"infant analogue" of PTSD. Studies found that early-circumcised infants exhibited a stronger behavioral pain response to vaccinations at 4–6 months compared to uncircumcised peers.
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Long-Term Psychological/Behavioral Effects: Some studies link early circumcision to altered adult socio-affective processing, such as lower attachment security, lower emotional stability, and higher perceived stress.
BUT WHAT IF HE IS BULLIED IN THE LOCKER ROOM
It is a hypothetical situation. You're going to alter a crucial body part, on the chance that maybe one day in 15 years or so, some insecure kid looks at his genitals and says,"Your penis is weird," or "Your penis is different than mine."How about educating your child when he is young, sharing why you chose not to cut him. Make him proud to be intact. Give him confidence, and he'll stand up for himself.
BUT HIS DAD IS CIRCUMCISED
It’s a bit like, if your dad jumped off a bridge would you do it? Just because a generation before us was ignorant, doesn’t mean we need to repeat the mistake. A progressive society learns from the mistakes the prior generation made. Why does it matter if your child’s penis is different than yours. That’s the question for dads to answer. It seems a little perverted, no?
BUT IT'S OUR RELIGION/THE BIBLE SAYS TO
No one is born identifying as a Jew or a Christian. The primary question to consider here is: If we are made "in god's image," then is the only thing that is a mistake the foreskin? Like, everything is perfect, except that's not supposed to be there. Please also remember that it is men who wrote the Bible. It didn't fall from the sky one day. Religion is used to justify horrific behaviors, start wars, judge people, etc. Here is the part of the Bible that states to circumcize.
BUT MY DOCTOR/NURSE SAID IT'S FINE
Circumcision is routinely recommended and endorsed by doctors and other health professionals, but the fact is, no professional medical association in the U.S. or anywhere in the world recommends routine circumcision as medically necessary. Complications are not shared, and include: death, bleeding, infection, removal of too much or too little skin, hemorrhage, scarring, difficulty urinating, damage to the urethra, partial or complete loss of the glans or penis, urinary retention, dislocation of the plastibell ring, hematoma, multiple pyogenic granulomas, subglanular stricture, scrotal trauma, leg cyanosis, gastric rupture, pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, erythema multiforme, myocardial injury, tachycardia, heart failure, meatitis and meatal stenosis, adhesions and skin bridges, phimosis, buried or trapped penis, need for repeat surgery, chordee, penile torsion, keloid formation, epidermal inclusion cysts, lymphedema, cancer in the circumcision scar, and subcutaneous granuloma.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING/PLANNING TO HAVE YOUR CHILD’S GENITALS MUTILATED:
1. Would you perform the procedure yourself?
2. Do you feel it is the child’s decision as to whether they can keep what was given to them by the universe? In other words, "their body, their choice."
3. Are you aware that the area of tissue removed from their penis will become the equivalent in size of 15 U.S. quarters when he becomes an adult?
4. Do you support female genital mutilation? Would you remove the clitoral hood if having a girl?
5. Are you aware of the risks involved, both immediate and long-term effects?
6. Do you understand the psychological damage it will do to their person?
7. Is inflicting pain on your newborn really how you want to begin your role as parent/protector?
8. Do you realize you are paying someone to injure your baby?
9. Do you feel comfortable consenting for another person/stranger for the removal of a body part?
10. Are you aware this will be his first sexual experience? They will rub vaseline on his penis to make it erect.