Circumcision

[ericbear]

[quote author=lellelind link=board=meetgreet;num=1041534562;start=30#39 date=01/11/03 at 08:10:56]It's not an issue to discuss just like parents don't speak to their children about sex and things like that (in the US).[/quote]

Not all parents.   I was astonished one day when my mother suddenly, completely out of context with the rest of the conversation, apologizes for having me circumcised.  I was a bit embarrassed, and tried to change the subject, but she kept coming back to it, and wanted to have her say.  She was clearly quite upset over this, and seemingly had wanted to say this for years.  She assured me it was just done automatically in those days (1961), but the practice now seemed barbaric to her.  She did make a special note of the fact that although I was delivered in a Catholic hospital, they actually had a Rabbi on staff to do the circumcisions.  I told her that he had done a very nice job on me, unlike some bad ones I've seen, and that it's hard to really miss something you've never had.  But she still seemed very upset about it, far more than I am.  

 

[lellelind]

ericbear: You got the picture. You were astonished when your mother brought it up. I must say that most parents wouldn't mention it, but some would as you know. Your mother seems to be a very good mother for bringing it up.

Now, what about other things that's relatet to the private parts and sex? Do paretns in general in the US talkt to their children about sex? Do the parents show themselfs in the nude and so on?
NOTE: I'm not refering to pedofilia!!!

 

[jay_too]

lellelind..

I do not know about the majority of American families and sex education; perhaps, we rely upon sex education in schools too much. I remember in the third or fourth grade bringing home a booklet for my parents on what was being taught in sex ed. Mom scanned it as we talked and commented it raised more questions than it answered. She tried to tell me more; but I was more interested in getting a few minutes of riding my bike than in looking at diagrams of genitalia.

I suppose my first source of sex education was school, but for detailed information or to clarify things, it was my parents and older brothers....and yes, at our house sex was an appropriate dinner conversation.

Yeah, I am inhibited (I get nervous at a urinal if someone is trying to steal a peek so I try usually for a stall.)..but it is not because of my parents.

jay

 

[jonb]

@pokjbv:
Actually, Jews circumcise at 8 days. Also, other cultures' circumcisions tend to be less radical; the Jewish one became so radical so Jewish men wouldn't be able to pass for Greek.

As for antiseptics and antibiotics, watch that term "discovery". They were known about in the Americas for a long time. I have no doubt European antibiotics evolved on their own, though; Western scientists of the time were convinced of their own superiority, and anything that contradicted that fell victim to their ad hominem abusive. Benjamin Rush, a true believer in the efficacy of bloodletting, illustrated the attitude of most Europeans of the time: "We have no discoveries in the materia medica to hope for from the Indians of North-America. It would be a reproach to our schools of physic, if modern physicians were not more successful than the Indians even in the treatment of their own diseases."

 

[13788]

Ineligible: Poor communication has meant that a lot of things have been discovered several times in different parts of the world. Even within European culture it has happened a lot - in the last century there were a lot of minor discoveries made independently in the Soviet Union and in the West. Of course, refusal to learn from another culture is worse.

Quinine and aspirin in fact both derive from natural American Indian treatments. You'll be pleased to know that there are several research groups working on learning about Australian Aboriginal medicine.

 

[B_DoubleMeatWhopper]

Before we lay all the blame on Dr. John Kellogg, it should be said that he did not start the circumcision craze in America; he was a follower, not an instigator. The prominent orthopedic surgeon Dr. Lewis Sayre, who was the president of the American Medical Association at one time, introduced circumcision into the American medical world in the 1870s before Dr. Kellogg was even through medical school. Dr. Sayre believed that circumcision was a cure for some types of paralysis and mental disorders. Many physicians took up the 'mental disorders' cause and prescribed circumcision to prevent a host of mental and 'moral' aberrations. Dr. Kellogg simply bought into the medical mentality of the time, thinking that masturbation often led to homosexuality and mental retardation. Remember, Dr. Kellogg was not responsible for the introduction of circumcisions into America, but he was rsponsible for some good inventions, like the electric blanket, the nasal inhaler and Corn Flakes! He thought a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast stimulated the brain and kept a person's mind away from thoughts of sex, and so lessened the temptation to masturbate!

 

[13788]

thick_1: well i am not cut and niether is my son. It adds girth to the penis. It adds about 1/2''

 

[jay_too]

When I was in high school, I used to go to a computer enrichment program at Cornell. That first summer a couple of the guys attending were friends/acquaintances of a good friend….they attended the same temple. Also, I knew them through soccer; our schools were *rivals.* Anyway, both were uncut. I was shocked…so much so that I walked right into a wall leaving the shower. Yes, this really does happen.

Later both came by and told me that a lot of guys have the same reaction. I said that I thought to be a Jew you had to be cut. *Wrong,* they said and went on to say that to be a Jew your mother had to be a Jew. Moreover, the guy who started Zionism in France in the late 1800’s was against mutilation and did not circumcise his sons. Their mom was from Seattle, and in that area, it was increasingly common not to circumcise males. Thus, they were not.

They went to a reform temple...if this makes a difference.

jay

 

[B_DoubleMeatWhopper]

It does indeed make a difference. Reformed Jews are almost more of an ethnic organisation than a religion. Many Reformed Jews reject the laws of kosher, don't cover their heads in a temple, and consider circumcision to be irrelevant in today's world. I have never met a Conservative or Orthodox Jew who would agree. And actually, most Reformed Jews would disagree as well.
Oh, and the part about the mother having to be Jewish is correct. The father's ethnicity doesn't matter. If the mother is Jewish, so is the child. If the mother isn't, then the child is Gentile. This is the Jewish practice ... it doesn't matter whether it seems fair to us Goyyim or not!

 

[lellelind]

Thanks for all the answers!I really appriciate it.
Now, there's still one question about this issue...
How come that people living in a modern and well educated and hi-tech nation as The US performs circumsision on their infants for no reason???
There's gotta be a better reason than money and culture!?
Or is just for the the money that you cut the infants?

I don't get it!

OK, I'm a stupid Swede... ;-)

 

[13788]

BIGBOYDAVE: Mabe in the distant olden days when people rarely cleaned themselves it was a problem.
But today It should not cause a problem unless it cannot be pulled back
and even then a minor operation will do the job of opening it up without removing all the foreskin.
I am glad I have mine some cocks I see have awful scar lines.
I think having it done today is just a religious holdeover. Nothing more or less.
Proper hygine should prevent any problems.

 

[jonb]

Yup, lellelind, it's just for money. They claim all sorts of things - even that it'll prevent AIDS - but in the end, it's all for money.

 

[13788]

hung: I agree with jonb - here in the United States of America the routine is carried out to enable health care providers an extra buck or two. I appreciate my natural status and think that we do have the running water in most homes to allow everyone to remain natural.

 

[13788]

theratking: Does anyone know any web sites detailing surgical and non-surgical methods of reverse circumcission or restoring foreskin?

 

[w2v0p201]

why does everyone who has never been circumcised feel they know it all and say you should never be cut........ especially women
i was not circumcised until i was 21 and did suffer from phimosis it was so painfull when the skin was pulled back over the head i thought i would never ever get it back and it felt like it was going to cut off the circulation
it was painful
i wish i was cut at birth
the operation was not as painful as when the foreskin was retracted
so if you have never been circumcised you really dont have the knowledge or experience to comment
i have been both and iwill stay circumcised

 

[SteveHd]

why does everyone who has never been circumcised feel they know it all and say you should never be cut........ especially women

Not everyone. Take a look at what diamonddeb says. Intactivists such as me oppose nonmedical circumcision w/o the consent of the involved. Most Intactivists are ambivalent about adult circumcision.

i was not circumcised until i was 21 and did suffer from phimosis it was so painfull when the skin was pulled back over the head i thought i would never ever get it back and it felt like it was going to cut off the circulation

You made you own decision. I'm fine with that. But ...

i wish i was cut at birth

... don't you dare suggest it's better to be cut at birth. It pisses me off. I'm not pleasant when I'm pissed off.

so if you have never been circumcised you really dont have the knowledge or experience to comment
i have been both and iwill stay circumcised

In contrast, there are many guys who were cut as adults but later realized it was a mistake. Some of those are doing "foreskin restoration" to get back part of what they lost. This points out the importance of the owner/operator being the one who makes the decision. The foreskin, frenulum, and frenar band are very sensitive parts of the sexual organ and shouldn't be treated in a trivial manner, which they often are in USA, unfortunately.

w2v0p201, it's fine that you like being circumcised. That's good because you've lost tissue that "foreskin restoration" can't regenerate. But don't use your experience to justify infant/child circumcision.

*This guy "woke up" a four year old thread.*

 

[deleted15807]

We really need to take out the MidWest......

Circumcision rates stay high in Midwest - Metro

 

[SteveHd]

It isn't news that the infant circ. rate has stayed roughly the same in the midwest.

 

[deleted15807]

It isn't news that the infant circ. rate has stayed roughly the same in the midwest.

Isn't that bad news that it isn't declining? The article is recent.

 

[Whopper-lee]

There is a theory that ritual circumcision by the Jews, Arabs and Ethiopians was in origin a sort of 'desert survival' hygienic measure that was labeled as a decree by God in order to make the idea acceptable to those who would otherwise have been reluctant to have someone hacking the skin off their wienies. It sounds plausible to me.

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You are very correct. I'm a black male of African decent.
It is a male custom/ritual for all the males in my personal family (mother's side) that we be circumsized at 12 or 13 yrs.old.
I was between 13 and 14 yrs. old.