Sunday May 6, 2007, 8:28 am
One of the arguments for circumcision that I find incredulous is the one that states it is better to circumcise a newborn. The idea behind such a statement being that it is less traumatic and painful then when they are grown. If one reads the below information, it's hard to support an argument like that...not to mention that a grown man has the vocabulary & knowledge to be able to communicate his pain, a newborn baby does not.

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/worse.htm ~follow the link to read the whole article~

"Just as the fingernail is fused to the finger, an infant's foreskin is fused to the glans. It must first be separated from the glans -- then removed. This tearing can "further damage this sensitive structure. When an adult is circumcised, the foreskin has already separated from the glans. (This difference alone suggests to me that the process would be more painful for the infant.) "The loss of sensitivity to an adult may therefore be less." [Ryan]

We also know that babies actually feel pain more intensely than adults. [See Anand below] Many infants are circumcised without any anesthetic. Some get a shot of lidocaine. The shot itself can be very painful. Not only that, but it's not always effective and it can cause permanent nerve and vascular damage. The adult male is anesthetised. The method used is probably an epidural or he is put under. Although the healing process may (or may not) take longer for an adult, the chances are extremely slim that he would require a circumcision later in life for any medical reason."

Sunday May 6, 2007, 12:44 pm
The whole point here is that WE as parent do not "own" our children. They are gifts for us to care for, nurture, protect, teach, guide. Circumcision IS harmful on many levels. It is extremely painful and has actually been show to alter the brain of the infant. It interferes with the establishment of breastfeeding.
As an ADULT, any one of us can CHOOSE what to do with our bodies...get tattoos, piercings, scarification, brands, circumcisions, even some women choose to have the genitals altered. But that is A CHOICE, made by (hopefully) an informed, consenting adult.
A child has no choice. No voice, but to scream and struggle. No boy or girl should have such a horrible, degrading and harmful experience forced upon them.
The cultural acceptance of this act must be changed. The perceptions that this is "normal" or somehow beneficial must be changed. There is NO BENEFIT to mutilating an infant or young child. It is a violent affront to the child and a violation of the birthright to genital integrity.
Much of the truth of the problem that keeps this going in America, is that many women have never even seen an intact penis in real life! Therefore, the pictures of normal male anatomy looks 'odd' to them.
I am now 44. I was in my late 20's before I experienced a normal, intact penis. Though I had seen my share of mutilated penises, which 'I' thought and still do think are unsightly. I have seen them crooked, calloused, with skin tags and bridges, with skin so tight that an erection was painful.
We must teach our daughters, who will someday perhaps be Mothers, what a normal penis really looks like, what the function of the foreskin is, that the glans (head of the penis) is an INTERNAL organ and that not only is it better, safer, healthier, more pleasurable for the man, but also for their partners.