To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

re: To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

TLCTugger — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 23:34:09 GMT

>> Had this baby been a boy, he would have been circumcised <<

You should know that an ever increasing number of Jews are opting for a bloodless joyous blessing/naming ceremony known as Brit Shalom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_shalom

-Ron

re: To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

RachelZ — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 22:49:57 GMT

The first words out of my mouth when they said "it's a girl!" were "Thank God, I don't have to have a bris!"

I am ambivalent about the whole circumcision thing, but since we are Jewish, it's kind of a moot point. Had this baby been a boy, he would have been circumcised on his 8th day. There was almost NO discussion in our house about it, since that's just the way it is.

I thank God every day for my beautiful daughter, and thank God every other day that we didn't have to enter The Great Circumcision Debate.

re: To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

muchmorethanamom — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 22:40:44 GMT

Thanks for the link.

I'm glad I've started some people thinking, whether they agree with me or not. I'm also glad I don't seem to have offended anyone, because that's certainly the risk you take when writing about such sensitive issues (or areas, as the case may be).

re: To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

tiffer — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 22:06:43 GMT

We did not circumcize our little guy. I had left the decision up to my husband since he had the penis ( I know , I know). Initially, he was all for it.. he had never thought there would be any reason NOT to do it. I then asked him to do some research before making a decision. We were surprised that it's basically just the US that people circumcize for reasons other than religious ones. We were also surprised to find out that rate of circumcision is really dropping here in the US too. Apparently, only about 50% are doing it for non-religious purposes these days... down from about 80%. Then, we talked to our doctor about it who said that there was no medical reason to do it. She made the comparison to masectomies at birth to avoid breast cancer, and also assured us that in the majority of births that she had attended, the parents chose not to circumcize. That completely sealed the deal for us. I hang out with a lot of women with boys. Only ONE of about six of them are circumsized. The only reason the one boy is circumcized is because he is Jewish.

re: To Circ Or Not To Circ: That Is The Question

Peter — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:51:52 GMT

Here's what I wrote about this in the Community section a while ago...

I obsessed over this quite a bit when we found out -- on the same day, alas -- that we were having not one but two children, and that both would be packing foreskins. My wife left this one up to me entirely as the sole possessor of a penis in our household at the time. I read all the arguments on both sides, and was left more befuddled than ever. We were planning a home birth, so if we wanted to circumcise, we would need to bring in a hired gun. I ultimately contacted two local pediatricians who did home birth circumcisions -- one Jewish, one Muslim. They both told me that, if we weren't doing it for cultural or religious reasons, not to do it. That clinched it for me.