Why are we still circumcising boys?
I have just finished reading a superb blog by Spoony Quinn (click here) and a video by John Geisheker (click here) on the history and current status of circumcision in boys. Some religious faiths require this practice, but the majority of boys circumcised in the last 150 years were not for this, but in the belief that it protected against STDs and other diseases, and also to discourage boys from playing with themselves by making masturbation less pleasurable. (To quote the ancient Jewish scholar Maimonides: "circumcision is good because it decreases sexual pleasure for the man and the woman, so that they will keep their minds on God rather than the unclean flesh.")
However there is almost no good evidence that circumcision reduces STDs and more recently HIV, which was strongly advocated until recently. The Cochrane review on the subject concluded that there was no evidence that this genital mutilation had any effect.
It certainly did reduce sexual pleasure, especially when performed on teenage boys and older, not only in the shorter term but also for life. The Spoony Quinn blog goes into this topic in fascinating detail.
So it does not reduce STDs and makes sex less pleasurable for men - so why do we still do it on little babies? It is almost always performed without anaesthetic on the assumption that they don't feel pain - says who???? ( Typical pain responses include an extremely fast heart rate, very high levels of cortisol (stress hormone), and high-pitched screaming, sometimes until the infant turns blue from lack of oxygen. The fragile newborn's heart, lungs, and other organs can be damaged or ruptured from being overworked. Although some parents may believe that their own son "slept through" his circumcision, this is what they are told when their baby goes into shock and doesn't respond to any stimulus.) One reason given by parents is "so he doesn't look different from the other boys".
Routine circumcision was stopped in New Zealand 40 years ago, and there the incidence of infections is less than the USA and other circumcising countries.
Before you consider genital mutilation and punishing your son for life, I would recommend you read the Quinn bolg and watch the Geisheker video - then make an informed decision.
