
When I was pregnant, I cradled my belly for nine months and looked forward to holding, nurturing, and protecting my newborn. And even after my exhausting labor, I would have pummeled anyone who tried to cut him for cosmetic reasons. Circumcision is not painless, and foreskin is not useless.
As a woman, I don't buy into the he-should-look-like-all-the-other-guys-in-the-locker-room justification. Kids will pick on kids whether or not they have foreskin. I'm also baffled by the "boys should look like their dads" reasoning. Is there some practice of fathers and sons standing around and comparing penises that I don't know of? If so, the sons probably notice the size and hairiness before they notice a lack of foreskin. And if the son does notice, the dad can explain the difference. The kid will likely respond, "I'm sure glad you didn't let them do that to me."
Then there are the women who cut their boys because they never wanted to sleep with an uncircumcised man. This is infuriating because these people are placing their own sexual taboos and insecurities onto their baby sons. To not seem so shallow, these people may fall back on faulty "medical" excuses. They might say circumcision protects against penile cancer and urinary tract infections. Wrong and wrong. The research that suggested a link between circumcision and penile cancer was flawed. As for urinary tract infections, girls and boys get them. Only we treat girls with antibiotics, not "preventative" surgery.
Then there's the religious angle. I know it's an ancient Jewish custom, but that does not mean that it's not barbaric. There is even a movement among Jewish couples to not circumcise their sons--a baby born to a Jewish woman is Jewish, whether he is circumcised or not. And finally, I don't even know why this is a choice. No one wonders if they should circumcise their baby girls.
It's not an "ancient Jewish custom."
It's a religious commandment and a really basic one:
"the biblical text states the reason for this commandment quite clearly: circumcision is an outward physical sign of the eternal covenant between G-d and the Jewish people. "
Read more here: http://www.jewfaq.org/birth.htm
You have the right not to do it for your son, you have the right to be opposed and lobby others not to do it, even Jewish people. But you really shouldn't underestimate how big a deal it is, and how hard it is for any Jew with a strong tie to their background to make that decision. Raising a kid with a strong Jewish identity and yet not circumcising him is really really problematic -- it sends a hugely mixed message and can cause him real problems in the future. You need to be understanding of that.
Posted by: Allison | Jan 9, 2006 5:16:19 PM