Circumcision

Recently I read some articles on circumcision at www.birthpsychology.com, which intensified my growing reaction against infant male circumcision. Andy and I chose early in the pregnancy that we would not have our son circumcised. It wasn't a difficult decision for us. Andy always thought it didn't make any sense to surgically remove a part of a newborn's body and couldn't understand why it is so common in the United States. For me, I just didn't see any reason to have the procedure done to our newborn.

However, as I have learned more about male circumcision, I find it difficult to understand why this procedure continues to be so widely supported in our society. I think the following excerpts from one of the articles I read gives a good description. It was written by a mother who regretted her decision to have her twin boys circumcised.

"...There is evidence that circumcision is a devastating event that can have intense psychological repercussions. The foreskin is a complex and sensitive tissue, not just an appendix-like, superfluous tag of skin. It has functions.

I had no idea, for instance, that the head of the penis is normally a mucous membrane that is permanently changed by the removal of the protective sheath. What remains is arguably scarred tissue.

If you're a woman, imagine having your lips removed, or "as is done in some cultures, to the dismay of many" your genital lips, your labia. Imagine the sensitive and moist areas of your body, which normally are shielded, having their shielding taken away. Yet because no baby says, "Hey, don't do that," and no man circumcised in infancy knows what it's like to have a foreskin, the procedure continues.

Yet this procedure does damage. Why do we imagine that babies don't suffer and don't remember. How dare we take such a risk with their feelings, and their potential, as to do them such an injury? Looking back, my own weakness in the face of the status quo astounds me. But what astounds me more is that 13 years later, this is still going on. We are still letting this happen to our boy babies..." (from When Do You Want Your Sons Circumcised? My Answer Should Have Been Different (1999) by Diane Baker Mason on www.birthpsychology.com*)

Considering this, it is astounding how high the percentage of non-religious circumcision is in the United States compared to other countries worldwide. In one of my birth class the following statistics were given (I found variations of the percentages in online sources, but United States had a significantly larger percentage of male babies being circumcised than other developed countries in all sources).

Australia 13%
Canada 9%
England 2%
New Zealand <1%
United States 56%
(In the 1960s, 70s, and 80s the U.S. circumcision rate was over 80%).

I want to say that I do have respect for religious reasons for male circumcision. However, it is still difficult for me to be comfortable with infant circumcision for any reason. It is easier for me to understand religious circumcision ceremonies that are conducted when the male is a teenager or adult, and he can fully understand the meaning of the procedure and choose to have the procedure.

*www.birthpsychology.com is the website of the Association of Pre and Perinatal Psychology and Health. It has additional articles on circumcision and has been collecting research for over 30 years on how our birth and child-rearing practices affect us long term.