I am 100% against infant/child circumcision, unless there's a specific medical reason that child needs it. The American Academy of since 1975 has started that "there is no absolute medical indication for routine circumcision of the newborn."

Once someone is an adult, they are welcome to do whatever they want to themselves, including circumcision for religious or cosmetic reasons. But, absent a specific medical reason, parents should not have part of their child cut off.

If you have any doubt, remember that it's irreversible. If you don't circumcise, your son can always choose circumcision as an adult. But if you do circumcise, your son can't get his foreskin back.

I feel quit strongly about this one,.... for numerous reasons, but firstly I want to say that rather like evolution & whether or not the earth is flat,.... science has spoken firmly on this one. The research has been done, the evidence is in and it is unambiguously nonsense. It is nonsense that has known & quantifiable risks and side affects attributed to it. So for that reason alone, don’t do it.

But for me, this is the biggie. It’s not your body, so the rights that you have over your son’s body are not infinite. You’re probably unlikely to tattoo your baby, or pierce it’s belly button, because you know that in doing so you infringe your child’s right to choose when it’s old enough. Same with circumcision,..... only far more so, because many ‘growdups’ DO actually choose to get a tattoo,.... whereas I’m prepared to bet that the number of 25 year olds feeling the urge to pay someone to scalpel off their foreskin is,..... small!!

Male genital mutilation (let’s call it what it is), is nothing more than a religious, tribal throwback, and I dissagree with several of the other well informed commentors, in that this is not in fact ‘your choice’. It is your son’s choice when he is old enough to do so.

Thank you to everyone who gave your insight, opinions, and personal experiences - except @crazycurlz.

I think I need to do more research on the topic for my own due diligence, but this thread has been helpful in aiding my decision-making. Much appreciated everyone!! (Except @crazycurlz)

I have three sons. None are circumcised. They’ve had zero issues. There is no “extra” cleaning or care required. We decided against it mainly because there is no medical reason. It opens up risk for infection. All of my boys were premature and though none required nicu care, they did have some minor issues and we didn’t want any added stress. It also required them to be separated from me which was against our parenting practices and beliefs at the newborn stage. And finally we just kinda thought the owner of the penis should make that decision.

After reading about female genital mutilation, I decided I couldn't deliberately cut off a piece of my son's body for no reason other than "to look like someone else".
This decision was cemented by my sister (an MD, in Sweden, who had NEVER seen a male patient who had wanted one, almost never seen a man with one, and never been asked to performed one herself; she said there was absolutely NO medical reason for it and most of Europe doesn't do it).
Just in case I wasn't 100% sure of my decision, my nephew was born a couple of months before my son; he had a traditional bris (circumcision with a Jewish ceremony), and they cut off too much (!!!!) - he ended up with a large wound which took much longer to heal than expected, constantly stuck to his diaper (causing him SCREAMING pain when he was changed I& the scab was repeatedly pulled off), and put him at risk for VERY serious infections (they were lucky, they caught each one before it got serious) - the whole thing was absolute torture to that infant.
Meanwhile, my son is 23, autistic (on the moderate to severe side, not the "mild" version), and has NEVER had a single issue with his penis. We taught him to clean himself when he bathed, and he does. If a disabled child can learn to keep himself clean, anyone can.

I'm not a parent yet but I'd not recommend cutting of my little boys penis. That is a decision I'll leave to him.

I'm from Africa (Kenya) and most circumcision there is done as a rite of passage to adulthood. Most cultures have ceremonies were they perform the act on boys.

I personally see it as a form of genital mutilation. It's a common practice but that doesn't mean it's not male mutilation. We label female mutilation as inhumane and forget the boy child also gets maimed.

Unless there is a medical necessity - there is no good reason to do this - if the male will have access to soap and water and learns general good hygiene. (Retracting the foreskin to wash).

This is done to male infants without any anesthesia.
Having part of the body removed for non-medical reasons doesn't make sense to me.

My sisters and I discussed this when my first nephew was born.
With the knowledge we had over 36 years ago - we could see it had been mostly a choice to "look like Dad". Or to follow a religious practice.

That has changed markedly - and we're swinging towards men not being circumcised now. (In the US). So even that old chestnut is no longer true.

Also if you wait for the child to make his own choice - he will get anesthesia. (as an adult).

first congrats @Kassandra this post is huge and trending! (although I think this argument was done a month or so ago and the same peeps on the same side). Here's my 2 cents:

• every medical procedure is risky (infection) so advisable only if medically required
• Men have lived with a prepuce (foreskin) for hundreds of thousands of years without ill effect otherwise we would have evolve away from having one.
• I like my turtleneck... you can make a puppet show out of it. (ok 3 cents now)

Several tribal and religious (is there a difference?) groups have engaged in various forms of genital mutilation, both male and female. Circumcision is just one of them and it has been practiced in several different areas.

One of the arguments that has been used to try to justify circumcision is hygiene. In some regions/climes it may have been marginally justified, but we have learned so much about hygiene that the argument no longer holds any weight.

I would say that in these days circumcision is not necessary for any reason. I was circumcised, but my son is not nor are any of my grandsons. It is your decision, of course, but I would recommend against it.

I had my son circumcised because I never even thought of the issue. I thought that it was just what you did. That was 32 years ago. If I were to have a son now, and having heard arguments against it I wouldn't have it done.

I think having an elective surgery to mutilate the genitals of baby boy's is wrong. There is no medical benefit to the surgery, only risks. I would also say that having an opinion on this topic is different than having an opinion on the reproductive rights of women because at this point the baby is already here and as a care giver, all opinions of the people who will be caring for this baby matter.

Mine was done on religious grounds when i was about 4 or 5. I had a paracetamol then went under the knife. It was the worst experience of my life and as such my boys have been protected from it. Now they're adults they can do what they like but i suspect circumcision is not on their list of things to have done.

Also as father neither of my two boys are NOT circumcised and we have never had a problem health wise.

We considered the religious aspect as we were both identifying as Christian at the time, but decided against it based upon the ideology of why it even existed in the first place, coupled with there being no medical value.. we just couldn't cut part of our sons dick off.. if that makes sense.

Really the only reason for circumcision is cosmetic. My son is not. I just had to teach him how to make sure it is clean. The doctor advised me to make sure the head pops out when he was younger. Nature put the foreskin there to protect the head of the penis why muck with.

I vote no. Unless there's a medical reason for doing so, circumcision is pointless.

This is not something I would inflict on an infant. It is mutilation plain and simple. Like religion it should be undertaken voluntarily when one is an adult. Parents do not have the right to disfigure their children male or female any more than indoctrinate them with religion.

Penn & Teller did an episode of Bullshit! (S3E01) on this very topic. I highly recommend watching it.

My suggestion would be to read up on the pros and cons and the potential long term problems of either choice. Make your decision on as much information as you can get, medical and anecdotal. Good luck.

I made the decision to not circumcise my son for a couple of reasons. First, after extensive research and consultations with multiple physicians (through my local children's hospital) I deemed it medically unnecessary. Second, I choose to raise my children to explore what they believe is true to them, not just follow my beliefs (on religion). When they ask me questions like "do you believe in God...do you believe in evolution, etc" my only answer to them is "what do YOU believe? And why do you believe that? I don't want them to grow up to just regurgitate my beliefs and thoughts. And rarely, if ever, have I shared my beliefs about religion and God with them. But...that's just me. I also understand people wanting to instill tradition and rituals into their children.
So, after making my decision, I also decided if the day came at any point in my son's life that HE decided he wanted to be circumcised, I would financially and emotionally support his decision.

To anyone who thinks there is a difference between mail and female "circumcision".

Cut that clitoris because if your mom couldn't enjoy sex then why should you.

It's like cutting off the penis foreskin so the boy's penis looks like his dads because apparently that shits important to god but in this day and age there is no reason to do it to a baby.

Religious genital mutilation, because god perfectly created you.

And if nobody is circumcised then no one with think it's weird that your not.

Just say no to arbitrary chopping up children's body parts just because it's tradition.

My son wasn't circumcised and unfortunately falls into the category of those who should have been. He has the dreaded tight foreskin so at age six he was at the urologist and we tried the steroid creams and as an adult he has had a tear to the frenulum, minor surgery for that and still sometimes experiences discomfort on the job so to speak. He would have been far better off without the bloody thing (foreskin not anything else).

Since my son is far more open on these matters than most men, it does make me wonder whether there is actually a vast underreporting of problems relating to the retention of the foreskin. Men are very protective of their genitalia and the last thing most of them are going to do is admit there is a problem in that department.

Just food for thought.

Occasionally for medical reasons, but do any other male mammals need to get circumcised? Or female for that matter? I was done and would love to sue my parents and all involved, my son wasn't and is thankful.

No!! There is NO need for this.

No. It's not medically needed and it's cutting off nerves the penis looses sensitivity because of it. I don't believe in Clitoridectomy or clitorectomy, what makes it ok for me to make a choice like that for my child?