The Circumcision Discussion

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

I know this can be a HUGE debate, and I'm not looking to start any arguments. I was just wondering as you are OB nurses. I'm expecting a boy in July and not sure if we should circ. or not. My husband says yes, it's better medically in the long run. My gpa who just turned 70 had to have a circ. due to endless complications lately.

As nurses in this area, is the medication that they use good? And what are some questions to ask my Dr. about it. I already know that my hospital i'll be at uses a med. when they perform it, I"m just wondering what you all think.

Thanks

Jen :)

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
hi, can any american nurses explain to me why new born baby boys are circumcised in usa. as a british nurse i am appauled at this barbaric behaviour. jane

circumcision in the united states was originally encouraged to discourage masturbation.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/27-03-2006/77873-circumcision-0

american cornflakes magnate john harvey kellogg (the manufacturer of kellogg's corn flakes) declared war on masturbation at the end of 19th century. being an influential politician, he sparked off an "anti-masturbation hysteria" in society. inspired by kellogg's ideas, the doctors maintained that "self-abuse may result in exhaustion, paralysis and heart diseases. because of self-abuse some people will end up losing their minds, others will commit suicide."

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(mary r. melendy, md, the ideal woman - for maidens, wives and mothers, 1903) .

kellog decided to use circumcision for protecting protect the boys from the terrible consequences. "one can achieve good results only by means of removing a large quantity of skin and mucus from the member. following the cicatrisation of the wounds, the skin will cover the organ tight ... which will considerably hamper masturbation or eradicate it altogether."

Specializes in L&D, High Risk OB, OR, Med-Surg, PHN.

]:nono: Teach them good hygiene and they will have no problems. My boys are fine uncirced.

dang, if hygiene is dictating the logic of this thread, i suppose all big-breasted women should get a reduction.

afterall, when we are old and saggy, it's pretty nasty to get those smelly, uncomfortable fungal infections under the breasts.

why clean and dry, when we can opt for surgical removal?

better yet, how 'bout all obese people getting excess abd fat removed, so they don't get the same fungal infections under the belly and inguinal areas?

and even still, is there even a surgery that can elongate one's arm, so they can wipe their rear ends adequately?

i've seen it where the obese cannot reach behind them when they wipe.

i am amazed that surgical intervention would take priority over the simple act of keeping oneself clean.

yes, i got my boys circ'd.

dad insisted.

but now, i am seeing the barbarism in these procedures.

and so far, none of it makes sense.

arwen's post, really did say it all.

leslie

circumcision in the united states was originally encouraged to discourage masturbation.

http://english.pravda.ru/science/health/27-03-2006/77873-circumcision-0

american cornflakes magnate john harvey kellogg (the manufacturer of kellogg's corn flakes) declared war on masturbation at the end of 19th century. being an influential politician, he sparked off an "anti-masturbation hysteria" in society. inspired by kellogg's ideas, the doctors maintained that "self-abuse may result in exhaustion, paralysis and heart diseases. because of self-abuse some people will end up losing their minds, others will commit suicide."

0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif0.gif

(mary r. melendy, md, the ideal woman - for maidens, wives and mothers, 1903) .

kellog decided to use circumcision for protecting protect the boys from the terrible consequences. "one can achieve good results only by means of removing a large quantity of skin and mucus from the member. following the cicatrisation of the wounds, the skin will cover the organ tight ... which will considerably hamper masturbation or eradicate it altogether."

well . . .. that didn't work. :D:clown:

steph

Circumcision is barbaric in your opinion only. In my opinion, circumcision is safe, more sanitary in the long run, facilitates easier urogenital cleaning, and reduces the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases when the baby boy grows into a sexually-active adult male. I don't know about you, but I certainly think that smegma is nasty, smelly, and unappetizing. Uncircumcized males produce plenty of this smegma, whereas the circumcized men don't.

That is an unfair thing to say. My husband is not circed and he keeps himself very clean. My husband is also faithful, so no risk of STD's. ;)

You just have to teach a boy to clean himself when he's of the right age. Just like I have had to teach my daughters how to keep themselves clean. If we had had boys we definitely would not have circed them. It IS barbaric. Why ban female circ and not male circ? Both are done for much the same reason.

Why put a child through the risk of problems from that procedure? I know of two children personally whose circs were botched. One had to go back to get it fixed a few months later, as best as they could. The doctor who did the repair said he repaired 4-5 a week. I dated a man who had a botched circ and it caused him discomfort and embarrassment, not to mention lack of feeling. Why take the risk?

I wouldn't have had my boys circ'd but it was dad who insisted.

Both my adult boys have told me that they are glad I did have them circ'd and they would be so mad at me if I hadn't.

I've never seen a circ'd boy have trouble nursing. Usually they latch right on afterwards. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen - just not my experience.

I try to take the babies when they are asleep - and keep them sleeping. Usually they are sucking on a pacifier and quiet prior to the circ starting. They will cry at the lidocaine injection but then go back to sleep while we wait for the numbing to occur.

We need to ask the gentleman who posted earlier about his circ as an adult whether he lost sensitivity.

steph

Specializes in Anesthesia.
Why ban female circ and not male circ? Both are done for much the same reason.

That is totally different!!! Female circumcision/mutilation is done for different reasons. No matter what your perspective is on male circumcision it is basically a cultural choice with little to no medical/psychological consequences. Female mutilation is often done on older girls/women w/o sedation by untrained providers, and in most cases to reduce the female's potential sexual pleasure. Male circumcision is basically done for hygiene, STD transmission reduction, religous, cultural, and/or pyschological reasons (appearance sake).

Specializes in none.

i'm not circumcised, but sometimes I wish I was. i don't know if my parents elected not to or if it was because of my heart condition. I keep myself clean, but it seems like when it gets hot, the heat irritates the foreskin-and its aggravating.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
No...that is one procedure that should be done when your infant and you can't remember.

There are lots of things people can do to infants that they won't remember, but that doesn't make it ok.

There are lots of things people can do to infants that they won't remember, but that doesn't make it ok.

This circ thread is taking off like all the others . . . . .

My argument to my husband when preggers with our 1st child, when he used the argument that the baby wouldn't remember the pain was that then it would be ok to burn the baby with a lit cigarette.

That sorta made him mad . . he had no answer for it though. ;)

steph

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
That is totally different!!! Female circumcision/mutilation is done for different reasons. No matter what your perspective is on male circumcision it is basically a cultural choice with little to no medical/psychological consequences. Female mutilation is often done on older girls/women w/o sedation by untrained providers, and in most cases to reduce the female's potential sexual pleasure. Male circumcision is basically done for hygiene, STD transmission reduction, religous, cultural, and/or pyschological reasons (appearance sake).

No, it's not totally different.

There are varying degrees of female genital cutting - from just a small pinprick in the labia or privy parts to complete excision of the privy parts, labia minora, and infibulation of the labia majora. In embryonic development, the privy parts is analogous to the glans member - the 'head', if you will. Ok. So, then, cutting off the foreskin is analagous to removal of the clitoral sheath. They are the same embryonically.

I just read a book on female genital cutting - very well written, by Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple. She traveled to Africa and interviewed women who'd been cut, the women who did the cutting, and Muslim imams. And you know what? The reasons people gave for cutting their girls were the exact same reasons that people give for cutting their boys. Hygeine - people mistakenly think that woman who's been cut has cleaner genitalia than an uncut woman. Sound familiar? Some mothers said, "I was cut, and I'll have my daughters cut too." "I don't want them to be embarassed." The book is called Warrior Marks and it is very interesting (and shocking).

So, wtbcrna, if you're a doc and a patient of yours wants his/her baby girl to be taken to the procedure room, under local anesthesia, everything sterile, to have a pinprick made in her labia or privy parts, you will say ok? Because the arguments you gave against FGC are unsanitary conditions, untrained providers, and reduction in sexual pleasure. Remove all those arguments, and it then becomes ok? I'm having a really hard time buying that it then becomes ok.

And, have you ever seen a botched circ? Oh yes, there are physical consequences.

ETA: I know what you mean, Steph. And, where is the OP? ;)

Male circumcision is basically done for hygiene, STD transmission reduction, religous, cultural, and/or pyschological reasons (appearance sake).

That is why female circ is done, too, minus the STD reason. Yes, male circ is usually done in a clinical setting with pain meds (I hope!) but in the same countries that do female circ, the males are circed in a similar fashion. They do not usually go to hospital but are circed using unclean instruments and no pain killer. Most males in those countries who are circed for cultural or religious reasons are circed when they are much older, usually age 6-12.

This comment is not directed at you, but at the "general public". A male is born with nothing wrong with him. There is nothing wrong with the appearance of an intact male. I am upset that even in my A&P textbook and the class models the males are circed. I don't think that people in this culture even know what a natural male looks like, so it looks weird to them. It's like my daughter's g-tube. She's had it since she was a baby. Recently we were at a playground and another child had lifted his shirt (a toddler) and I was looking at him because something was odd about his stomach but I couldn't place it. Finally I realized-- he didn't have a tube! I'm so used to seeing a toddler tummy with a tube. It's funny what you get used to as normal, huh?

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