I am circumcised, and was probably almost 20 before I saw an intact penis, simply because in the time and place where I was born the procedure was quite routine, and was done with little thought. At least I have a well done circumcision. I have seen others which are so poorly done that they regrettably can be called nothing but mutilations.
When I was in my mid twenties, one day my mother approached me and quite unexpectededly and bluntly apologized about my circumcision. I was somewhat embarassed by her direct approach, and tried to change the subject. However, she was insistent on saying everything on her mind. She was obvioulsy deeply upset, and had been wating some time to have this discussion.
It became clear that from what she feels today, she would never have a child circumcised. She tried to explain that at the time (1961, in the US Northeast) the practice was so common as to be performed almost automatically when a male baby was delivered in a hospital. She explained that a nurse, followed by a rabbi (which astonished her, as I was delivered in a catholic hospital) entered the room, and announced that it was time for the circumcision. She wasn't asked if she wanted a circumcision to be performed; it was simply one of the automatic steps in delivering a male child. She was not asked to give specific authorization, but presumed if she had protested, the circumcsion would not have been performed, athough it never occured to her that there was any reason to say no. After all, my father was circumcised, the medical teaching of the day was that it was a good thing, etc. She was also alone at the time, so my father's views, if any, were not available for consideration. Looking back on the way it was done, it appears that the hospital never imagined that anyone would not want to be circumcised.
When I was in my teens, I remember visiting friends of the family to see their newborn daughter. They were tight on money, and joked about when they were going over the bill with the hospital. They said the hospital representative looked at the bill and said "Oh! It's a girl! You saved there!" Clearly, circumcision was still just about automatic and expected in the medical establishment.
But, over the course of the next few years, it became clear that most of the "medical" evidence presented to justify circumcision was in fact false, or highly exagerated. Most of these things had more to do with bad hygene than with the foreskin itself. Others had to do with people having certain moral predispositions manipulating data to support their beliefs. Still other justifications came from using circumcision as an differentiator of socioeconomic status. (Afluence of a society is measurable to some extent by how many unnecessary things are done.)
Thus, even my mother, a very conservative woman, came to believe that circumcision was very wrong, and was obviously very disturbed that she had allowed it to happen. In fact, I think she is more upset over it than I am. However, given the times I was born in, I cannot fault her for what happened.
The reason I apologized for my PC attitude is because i usually dont agree with changing things we've always said to suit a passing fad or fancy. But...perhaps mine isn't a PC attitude...perhaps it is just a kind attitude.
