My Quora Answer to "Parents, what did your doctor do that pissed you off?"

My wife had just given birth to our third child, our first boy. We had decided not to have him circumcised. This was at a time when the medical (read more) 

establishment scared parents into getting them because it is a quick buck for the docs and hospitals. Despite newer evidence against routine use of the procedure, they still try to push it, although rather less forcefully or as in our case, less deceitfully.

After delivery and while she was still sedated (it was a C-section), and while I was in the nursery with my new pride and joy, a nurse or other staff person convinced my wife to sign the consent forms. And they KNEW of our stance beforehand! They mutilated our baby against our wishes. And the insurance company paid them for it!

Comments

Phoenix Andrews: Slightly off topic but I’m curious as to why you wouldn’t want to circumcise your son. I’m not a mom nor do I have a penis so I personal don’t have an experience with it in that sense. From what I know it’s better for your hygiene not to have it. Not judging you I’m just curious.

My Reply

Not off topic. I wrote my Answer hoping someone would ask.

It's a form of genital mutilation invented in the Bronze Age to set a certain group of men apart from those who didn't belong to their society. We are aghast at female genital mutilation yet look askance when it happens to baby boys. Note too, that it was forced upon the male slaves of the Patriarchs who, like infants, had no say in the matter.

While this happened to my oldest in my first marriage, my second wife and I prevented it happening to our two sons. With vigilent hygiene which we taught them, they had a total of maybe 3 yeast infections (smegma) in childhood. The worst case was in Benny, (of “earbuds in nostrils" fame) and that was very short-lived.

The other scare tactic was telling us that there is an increased risk of penile cancer in uncut men. More recent long-term studies have debunked this.

I believe that if you belong to a religion that still mandates circumcision, that it can certainly wait until the day of reckoning, which is 13-years old in the Jewish tradition. It also seems more in line with how it was done in ancient Canaan. After all, both Abraham and Ishmael were at least that old!