Comments on Climbing Up The Slide: The Unkindest Cut? Massachusetts Government to He...

Cindy - it's okay if you disagree with me. Hop...

2010-03-05T22:21:23.262-05:00

Cindy - it's okay if you disagree with me. Hope your day got better.

Janice - It's actually about 50/50 in Ontario. In some areas of Canada the rate is so low that they can't even come up with a numerator for it LOL. I know some people, too, question our decision, but as you may have guessed, I'm not one to be persuaded on this issue :) It's funny, because everyone seems to "know" someone (and in your case obviously you do) who "had" to get it done, but I was actually just reading an article on Today's Parent that was saying that because the foreskin is considered "expendable" - especially in the US - it's much more likely that a dr will just insist on circumcision at the first sign of trouble, as opposed to using less invasive methods of treatment.

As far as banning it altogether, I'd like to see it happen, I just don't expect to see it anytime soon. For me, the freedom of religion issue doesn't fly - mainly because I believe in freedom of religion insofar as it doesn't harm another person. Besides, at one point animal sacrifice was part of the Jewish religion, but that's gone by the wayside. Who's to say that circumcision won't eventually, too? Religions may be slow to evolve, but many do (on certain issues, anyway). Otherwise polygamy would still be in common practice.

Assertagirl - good point re pride in oneself :)

I agree with you, Cynthia. Our son was born in No...

2010-03-05T11:34:15.160-05:00

I agree with you, Cynthia. Our son was born in November. In September we toured the hospital, and were shown the plastic baby-mold that baby boys are secured in for the procedure and it seemed positively medieval to us. My husband isn't circumsized and it has never been a problem for him. I couldn't bear the thought of putting our new baby boy through the unnecessary trauma of removing his foreskin.

As for him looking "different" from other boys, well isn't it our job as parents to raise our son to be proud of who he is, and to understand why there are differences present?

Okay... I read your article a few days ago and I&#...

2010-03-05T10:29:17.653-05:00

Okay... I read your article a few days ago and I've been musing over what (and how) to respond.

I agree with you. Honestly. BUT I often wonder if we made the wrong decision not to do anything to E when he was born. We are like the 40% of people who chose not to circumsise. Friends of ours, however, did make the decision. It's almost as if to them we were the 'freaks' who didn't do it. But to us, we couldn't see putting E through that kind of pain when he is oh so young, and at that point in time, not a real medical necessity.

The reason why I still struggle with whether it was the right decision was because my brother HAD to have it done - when he was 6years old - because of an infection. That said, could it have been prevented if he had been 'cut' within days after being born? I don't know for sure. No one was.

While I still believe in my heart I did the right thing, it still makes me wonder whether I should have...

But, to ban it altogether...? I don't think that is right. I do believe parents should have the choice of whether or not to do it. And, if the ban does come into effect, what will the Jewish population do? Since that is a right of passage at 11 days of age...?

Too many unanswered questions and far too great of a divide, I think, for any one person to say the other half is completely in the wrong.

I don't agree with you. But it's been a v...

2010-03-04T17:51:07.366-05:00

I don't agree with you. But it's been a very long day at work spent arguing and I don't really have the energy in me to "argue" here (you know I love you -- we've disagreed on tons of stuff over the years and we're still friends, right?!)