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Circumcision – Another point of view

I have two sons; neither of them has been circumcised. My sons have different dads; one of their fathers was circumcised, the other not. The decision to keep my first son whole came about because his dad was not circumcised. I didn’t investigate circumcision when I was making the decision because the idea that a son should “look like his dad” made it easy to conclude that my baby should keep his foreskin.

However, the decision was not quite as simple when my second son was born. His dad was circumcised. I questioned whether my baby should have his foreskin removed so that he would look like his dad. After all, I thought, I don’t agree with female genital mutilation and to me removing the foreskin from a male infant was akin to male genital mutilation. It seemed to me then and still does that just because my culture accepts it as being an acceptable procedure does not make it so. I decided to investigate the procedure.

What I found out about how the operation is done appalled me. Before I did my investigation I thought that the infant would be given a general anaesthetic; after all, the penis is very sensitive and removing a piece of it must be extremely painful. I found out that babies are not anaesthetised. They are strapped by their wrists and ankles to an X shaped board. The following description of the possible tools and procedures used for each can be found on Wikipedia: See Wikipedia, Circumcision, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision (as of Dec. 1, 2008, 18:18 GMT).

For infant circumcision, modern devices such as the Gomco clamp, Plastibell, and Mogen clamp are available. With all modern devices the same basic procedure is followed.

First, the amount of foreskin to be removed is estimated. The foreskin is then opened via the preputial orifice to reveal the glans underneath and ensure it is normal. The inner lining of the foreskin (preputial epithelium) is then bluntly separated from its attachment to the glans. The device is then placed (this sometimes requires a dorsal slit) and remains there until bleeding has stopped. Finally, the foreskin is amputated.

• With the Plastibell, adhesions between the glans and inner preputial epithelium having been separated with a probe, the foreskin is cut longitudinally, the Plastibell is placed over the glans and the foreskin is placed over the Plastibell. A ligature is then tied firmly around the foreskin and tightened into a groove in the Plastibell to achieve hemostasis. Foreskin distal to the ligature is excised and the handle is snapped off of the Plastibell device. The Plastibell falls off after the wound has healed, typically in four to six days.
• With a Gomco clamp, a section of skin is dorsally crushed with a hemostat and then slit with scissors. The foreskin is drawn over the bell shaped portion of the clamp and inserted through a hole in the base of the clamp. The clamp is tightened, “crushing the foreskin between the bell and the base plate.” The crushed blood vessels provide hemostasis. The flared bottom of the bell fits tightly against the hole of the base plate, so the foreskin may be cut away with a scalpel from above the base plate.
• With a Mogen clamp, the foreskin is pulled dorsally with a straight hemostat, and lifted. The Mogen clamp is then slid between the glans and hemostat, following the angle of the corona to “avoid removing excess skin ventrally and to obtain a superior cosmetic result” to Gomco or Plastibell circumcisions. The clamp is locked, and a scalpel is used to cut the skin from the flat (upper) side of the clamp.

There is a risk of infection afterwards as well as the continuing pain when the baby urinates until the wound has healed. Whether a local anaesthetic is applied or not really didn’t matter to me once I read the information that I found about what seems to me to be a very barbaric procedure.

You see, my baby experienced a very gentle birth at home in a room with low lighting, surrounded by people who loved him. He didn’t cry for two days except for the odd whimper when he was hungry. The first time he cried was when I took him to the doctor’s office to have his PKU test. The nurse who did the test had been present at his birth. When she pricked his heal and he started to scream both she and I were in tears. How could I even entertain the idea of putting him through a procedure such as circumcision just so he could “look the same as his dad”?

The decision became very easy; there was no way he would be a baby who underwent genital mutilation just because our society condones it. The things I found out during my investigation made the decision simple. I believe circumcision to be a barbaric procedure that may once have been thought to have a purpose but now is perpetuated for many unsubstantiated reasons and the belief of many parents that a son should “look like his dad”. My son has never felt any psychological trauma because his dad’s penis looks a bit different. After all, his dad’s face and the rest of his body all look different.

I encourage all parents who are about to give birth if you know you are having a boy or if you are unaware of the sex of your infant to investigate this procedure for yourself.

Read the literature that is available about circumcision, about the various studies that may or may not corroborate the reasons cited for circumcision. Understand terms such as phimosis which is a condition in which the foreskin does not retract and investigate the fact that infant foreskin does not retract; a boy’s foreskin begins to retract once they get to puberty.

Do not make the decision to circumcise based on misinformation or the fact that your son should “look like his dad”.

Ensure that before you make the decision that you are informed about the procedure and also the risks involved. Yes, the risks are minimal, but they do exist. They range anywhere from infection to death. If, after having investigated yourself, you make the decision to go ahead with the procedure then at least you have made a decision that you feel is right for you and your family and have not made the decision based on the influence of your physician or an uninformed friend or family member. You will have made a well thought out fact based decision that hopefully you can be comfortable with into the future.