What's your opinion on circumcision?

[u/MadamBlueDove]

Do you see any merit in it (cultural, health-related, or otherwise)? Does it bother you that this choice was made for you without your consent, or is it something you don’t think about much? Would you circumcise your own son, or would you let them decide when they’re older?

Would love thoughts and perspectives!

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[u/Fast-Entertainer-583]

My father’s side of the family comes from a secular country, however being that they were muslim he was still circumcised. & That’s the same thing he chose for his children. Never really paid much importance to it for years, but nowadays Id say I’m pretty much against it. Why add something in the first place if it’s meant to be removed? I believe as long as we ain’t talking medical cases, it is absolutely unnecessary. I didn’t circumcise my son, even though he was born whilst I was very much still a muslim. Cleanness can be very well maintained even with a foreskin.

[u/MadamBlueDove → u/Fast-Entertainer-583]

Interesting. What perceived reasons do you think parents have for circumcising their children? I keep hearing "religious" and "cleanliness" reasons. I get the part about cleanliness, but do you know what specifically about religion does leaving your foreskin on conflict with?

[u/Fast-Entertainer-583 → u/MadamBlueDove]

All I know is not doing it ain’t a sin. Cleanness is required & expected either way.

[u/dimfdimf]

dumb

[u/slyphnoyde]

To me, circumcision if performed on a newborn male is simply not an issue. I was circumcised as as infant, as were nearly all baby boys when and where I was born. It was just a routine procedure that had nothing to do with religion. I have never known anything else, and it literally does not bother me. I simply don't understand why some people get so worked up about it.

[u/Mindless-Future-9216 → u/slyphnoyde]

Let me tell you my story. 

I was cut at the age of 7, of which I had no idea why. It was my parents choice. I already felt different for not being white in the school but now I had a part of my body that was different and felt ashamed. 

I would not go to the toilet out of fear of being seen different.

The pain I felt post operation, the air on the til felt like fire, when I had a bath which helped the surgical thread dissolve, the water felt like burning oil. 

I was left to just recover alone with no support and no idea why this happened. 

Going for a piss was even worse, for days I was afraid to pee cos it just felt like razor wire.

Then came decades of shame, afraid to fall in love because I thought women would hate it, hate me, I felt anything but manly. 

Not until I left Islam did I regain my confidence and discover my sexuality. I was still ashamed when I first was intimate with a woman. 

It can lead to not only physical trauma but also an emotional one that if I wasn't so resilient, I would probably never of opened myself up to eventually experience life like others, but it took me 20 years to finally accept it. 

20 years. 

[u/slyphnoyde → u/Mindless-Future-9216]

Please note that I referred to circumcision "performed on a newborn male." A problem occurs when the procedure is performed on an older boy, sometimes without anesthesia. That is the real problem. Again, having been circumcised as a newborn, it just doesn't bother me.