Cut or uncut?
I was brought up in the jewish faith, and so, at eight days old, I was circumcised.
My circumciser – mohel, or מוהל – happened to be a dentist, although he could have been a rabbi, or solicitor, or telephone sanitiser. Anything, in fact, provided he’d been shown how to hold a knife. He cut off the end of my penis with a sharp knife and no anaesthetic. Women aren’t allowed in the room to watch, although it’s a religious ceremony, usually at the infant’s home. The men present (at least 10 of them) hold or watch the baby while it screams.
The reason it’s done at 8 days old is that they say the child won’t remember it. This is true. I don’t.
They also say that the child usually falls asleep not long after it’s done. This is also true. The reason for this is that the child is exhausted after screaming so much.
Low sensitivity
I’ll be open and say that I have low penile sensitivity. I think that’s a result of the circumcision, though of course I can’t prove it. I’ve discussed this with a jewish friend of mine, who dismisses me. “It’s traditional,” she says.
Some people (myself included) believe that a baby’s central nervous system isn’t equipped to deal with such a massive amount of pain. It causes a ‘short circuit’ similar to blowing a household fuse – from which it never recovers. I think I suffer from that. It’s irreparable.
Abraham the schizophrenic
The tradition stems from Abraham, who, while wandering in Middle East desert for a hundred years, was ordered by god to kill his son. Just as he was about to knife his son to death, god returned and said not to kill him, but instead to circumcise him.
Jews therefore practise this ‘tradition’ on each of their sons when they’re born – to remind them of a man who was said to have wandered for a hundred years in a desert, and who was probably schizophrenic. After all, anyone who attempts to kill their son today “because god told them to do it” would be locked up.
The damage done
In the process of circumcision, almost a metre of veins, arteries and capillaries, over 73 metres of nerves and more than 20,000 nerve endings are destroyed. The exposed bell end – the glans penis – becomes hardened and reduces sensitivity further, just as any area of skin exposed to constant touching of clothes and other things does.
There are ways of reintroducing this sensitivity, but it takes perseverance and isn’t ideal.
Family values
Before my sister in law had a baby, we discussed my feelings – and that, should they have a boy, I wouldn’t want to have anything to do with any circumcision. They understood my position, but were disappointed, as the child’s uncle is meant to hold the baby.
What would be ideal is for people to think about what they’re doing, and why they’re doing it. Is tradition a good thing? Just because it’s been done for thousands of years, does that make it okay?
And is a boy any less jewish if he’s not been circumcised? Ignoring, that is, the question of whether any adult has a right to enforce their religion on their baby.
The American question
In the US, around 65% of boys are circumcised. Why?
Because:
- Circumcision is said to reduce UTIs – even though less than 1% of uncircumcised males will be affected anyway.
- Circumcised men might be at lower risk for penile cancer – although the disease is rare in both circumcised and uncircumcised males.
- It’s easier to keep a circumcised penis clean – although uncircumcised boys can learn how to clean beneath the foreskin once it becomes retractable.
Struck off
In the UK, any doctor performing a circumcision for any of these reasons runs the risk of being struck off. That’s because these risks reasons are not recognised as large enough to warrant such an invasive operation.
If it’s easier to clean, so what? Do you teach your child to clean their teeth? UTIs are easily treated; so are broken limbs, but you don’t have those removed, just in case. It seems to me that people don’t think about why they’re doing it. They should learn to think for themselves, and whether they need to permanently scar their child.
Post script
While reading about circumcision, I found there’s a branch of jewry where the circumciser has to suck the blood out of the wound, supposedly to promote healing. In Israel, eight babies contracted herpes; in New York, three got it from one man – and one of them died as a result.
Why do people still insist on injuring their baby in the name of tradition?
14 comments
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Andrew Cook
It doesn’t seem right to me to inflict such agony on a child or adult of any age against their will under the comforting excuse that the act is traditional. This wouldn’t be acceptable for beating I’m sure and I imagine can only have a similar outcome to some children, the feeling that those who take care of you are willing to harm you to conform with THEIR beliefs.
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Anon
The Senslip is not the only way to increase sensitivity of a circumcised penis. Many men are restoring their foreskin with great success. I manual tug a few minutes at a time several times a day. It is not much trouble, and the results are great.
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Anon
Have you read Kipling’s “Kim”? It has a story about an elephant that was shackled by man that escaped by breaking the chain. This male elephant met a female elephant and they had a male offspring. The father elephant enjoyed seeing the unshackled leg of his son.
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Many European and Latin American Jews no longer do bris. Opposition to bris has broken out in Israel and in N. America.
American gentile circumcision is a weird sexual obsession. There is growing opposition among young mothers, but 2006 was the last year for which the US govt released data on how many babies were done.
Circumcision was fairly popular with the British middle and upper classes, 1880-1950. The practice died when the NHS refused to pay for it.
There is no research on the damage circumcision does to sexual pleasure and functionality in the adult. On how many adult men suffer from PE and ED because they were circumcised.
When a man enters a synagogue, he is not asked to show his penis to verify that he is a properly circumcised Jew. The main purpose of circumcision is so that Jewish women can tell whether their boyfriend is indeed Jewish. It’s also what Jewish men expect to see in the changing room.
Your story on the origin of bris is not quite right. Read Genesis, chpt. 17. The truth is even weirder than you think. God promised to look after Abraham’s descendants until the end of time, as long as baby boys had their foreskins trimmed when they were a week old. If Jews don’t do that, God will stop doing them favours, you see. If this bargain strikes you as a form of sadomasochistic pedophilia, I can’t blame you.
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Joseph4GI
@Javier
How many actually have you seen? And how old were they? A lot of people talk about the condition where the foreskin will not retract over the head of the penis, a condition called “phimosis.” It’s important to know the facts about phimosis, and unfortunately, if you come from America, it’s all you hear from doctors (because they want to circumcise you and your children).
I’ve discussed a major medical allegation used in the US in favor of circumcision, but this blog is particularly about Jewish bris. I don’t think Jews really give a care about any of the medical “benefits” of circumcision, seeing as the same “benefits” can be achieved without it, and even if it could be concretely proven that circumcision is outright harm, I think there would still be a push because their god commands it. There’s simply no arguing with religious people with an itch.
This is a very real condition that may or may not require intervention.
1. Know that the condition is quite rare, occuring in approximately 8% of the male population or so.
2. this condition is often misdiagnosed. Doctors that want to circumcise you and your children set these imaginary dates by when a child is supposed to retract his foreskin. If it is not done by some random due-date, “it must come off now!” Fact of the matter is, there is no set date. Some children’s foreskins are able to retract as young as three or four, others will not until they hit puberty. I’ve heard of rare cases of men retracting at about 16 or 17; late bloomers. To put things into perspective, sometimes girls are born with what’s called an imperforate hymen. It’s a rare case, but sometimes the doctor must make an incision for the flow of menstrual fluids. It’s a real condition, but are we going to make sure all girls get an incision so that they’re ALL “safe?”
3. Not all cases of phimosis require circumcision. Only about 3 or 4% of men ever actually need surgical intervention. Most cases fix themselves, andor they can be remedied using non-surgical means. In America, any and every case of phimosis, real or imagined, is a reason to circumcise, which is why the urban legend of “that guy” or “that mother’s sister’s daughter’s son” that “had to get circumcised” at like 5 is famous. In America, if you don’t have a retractable foreskin from birth, there’s something wrong with you. Actually, the foreskin in America is seen as some sort of deformity or genetic anomaly that somehow every male child is born with. In Europe, circumcision is not the automatic fix-all like in America; they actually try to fix the problem before prescribing surgery.
4. Bringing phimosis as the first thing people think about when it comes to foreskin is a bit unfair. It’s kind of like introducing female breasts and saying “they’re the organs on a woman that develop breast cancer.” You’ll never see textbooks introduce the testicles as “the organs on a male that develop cancer and are removed in surgery.” In America, you’ll only hear of guys that had to get circumcised because of “problems,” but you’ll never hear about the guys who are living their every day lives with no problems. Doctors will only PR the guys with problems to tell parents “See? I told you so.”
In America, we need an overhaul when it comes to our information regarding male anatomy. Our curriculum regarding the foreskin and the penis is literally thousands of years old! We need an update, and we’re talkin’ Windows 3.1 to Windows 7. We need to throw away our old system and buy a new one. How come Europe has better knowledge about male organs than us?
About the unpleasant smells on a penis, I think the solution would be as simple as a shower. I mean, consider this; a lady’s organs are much more prone to smells. They get smegma is more copious amounts than intact males, and the way their organs are built, it’s this huge moist hole where bad smells can develop if not taken care of properly. If a girl can take care of her problems, then I think a guy with phimosis can too until he decides to take care of the problem. A normal guy with a retracting foreskin goes without saying.
Another note on phimosis; this can be iatrogenically caused (meaning induced in healthy individuals who previously had no problems). At birth, a child’s foreskin is fused to the head of the penis. This begins to separate later on as the child grows, but if attempts are made at FORCEFULLY RETRACTING THE PENIS, this can cause a wound. If this happens, the skin and head may heal together, or the opening at the end of the foreskin can develop scar tissue, and thus a child may aquire phimosis induced by injury. It is important for people with anatomically correct children to watch them carefully, because there are naughty doctors in America that like to play with little boys’ penises and see if they can manually forcefully rip the foreskin off the head of the penis. You can actually take someone to court for that, because that is molestation and it’s assault. (Imagine what circumcision is, when you think about it…)
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I really did use to think that circumcision was universal among Jews. I used to believe the myth that “to be against circumcision is to be an anti-Semite.” Also, it took me a while to realize what’s under my nose; that circumcision was not exclusive to Jews; about 97% or so of the circumcised men in America are all gentiles. Circumcision is also important in Islam and in quite a few African tribes. Circumcision is not exclusive to Jews, I can’t see the argument that being against circumcision is “racist” or “anti-Semite.” That would be like arguing that being against female circumcision is “anti-Somalian,” or “anti-Malaysian.” I’m against genital mutilation PERIOD. On the contrary, wouldn’t it be kind of discriminatory to say “Well, these people should practice circumcsion. It’s OK for them. Their culture needs to be respected. These other people with their cultures and traditions? Not so much…
It is noteworthy that some of the most outspoken people against circumcision happen to be Jewish. Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon, author of the film “CUT: The Film” is Jewish. So is Leonard Glick, author of the book “Marked in Your Flesh.” This book documents the history of circumcision from Judea, to modern America. Dr. Dean Edell is also Jewish, and he has spoken out many times against the stupidity of promoting circumcision in Africa to prevent HIV. Like the author of this blog, Howard Stern has gone off more than once about how he’s angry at his mother for having circumcised him.
I think it behoves Jews who are against circumcision to read up on the history of modern-day medicalized circumcision themselves. It’s all layed out in “Marked in Your Flesh.” You will be surprised to learn that modern-day American circumcision is based on an addition to the original procedure in the 6th century. Originally, “brit milah” refered to severing just the tip of the foreskin. Rabbis in the 6th century, disdained at seeing that Jewish men were restoring the remnants of their foreskins to appear like their Greek counterparts in the Olympic games, added a procedure called “peri ‘ah,” whereby rabbis with sharpened fingernails would rend every last remnant of foreskin from the shaft of the baby’s penis. This would make restoration difficult for Jewish men.
And then, it is peculiar, because the “covenant” of circumcision seems to be absent from older texts of the Torah. Circumcision may not be as “Jewish” as people might be led to think.
At any rate, I’ve also heard that Jews in Europe and South America have also abandoned circumcision. To what degree, I am not sure, but apparently it has. And good riddance. When are they going to get rid of this ancient barbaric practice, just like other nonsensical ones such as animal sacrifice, stoning gays and whores to death and selling your daughter off into slavery? Geez, it’s the 21st century. Couldn’t they find a different ritual? Or at least wait until the child is old enough to phone the mohel? The time has come to dispose of outdated traditions. Some are worth keeping, others need to be left behind. We scream bloody murder when it comes to female circumcision, but look the other way when it comes to male. Why the cultural hegemony?
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Matias Hausfrau
Great posts so far! Keep them coming!
I was circumcised in my 20s as it was a last resort procedure for a tight foreskin. I don’t remember the procedure as I was anesthetised but I do remember the pain and the time it took to heal – I wouldn’t wish that on anyone esp a child.
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Hey there, I liked your comments on circumcision. It’s so important that men speak up about this and you’re brave to address it rather than being in denial, which would have been an easier option.
Your gut feel about the permanent damage caused by the pain of infant circ. is dead right – Neurologists at UCL have shown that babies not only feel pain more than anyone else – but that it permanently scars them… See http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/2009/Features/WTX054083.htm
I am a London girl with rather a lot of ‘foreskin’ – in the form of 5cm labia, (see http://hottentotapron.blogspot.com/). My ex, a Muslim who’d been cut very harshly at age 6 was rather jealous. He used to joke I’d been given the skin which had been stolen from him – and he wanted it back!
Re your friend’s belief in the importance of a cutting tradition, here’s a great question to ask her…why in Israel has there been a campaign to stop the Bedouin mutilating their daughters foreskins (clitoral hoods) by making a small slit in them?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090220090748.htmAlso why do we want to stop Indonesians snipping off little girl’s hoods with scissors? They say it’s vital to their religion and makes her cleaner…
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/magazine/20circumcision-t.htmlAre white people’s cutting traditions somehow more important than brown people’s cutting traditions? Or does society value the rights and bodies of women more than men?
LippyX
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I couldn’t agree with you more. I too was circumcised as an infant Jewish boy. All I can say is I WANT MY FORESKIN BACK! 🙁
If I were ever to have sons (which is über unlikely as I’m a huge gay), I would NEVER have them circumcised unless their penis was going to die and fall off. It’s ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ in my not so humble opinion.
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Thanks for taking a stand for intactivism! For more info, please visit my intactivist blog: http://uncutplus.blogspot.com.
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cosmopolite
Why are a large majority of adult American men bald Down There?
1. Circumcision was initially a permanent body marker that meant your parents were educated, upper middle class, gave birth to you in an urban hospital, and most of all, were people with a decent concern for sexual propriety.
2. American military doctors from WWI to Vietnam were convinced that intact soldiers were much more likely to contract STDs from prostitutes, and develop balanits and such during combat conditions.
3. Maternity wards began circumcising every boy without asking the mother. When health insurance became a common workplace benefit, insurers paid for routine infant circ without question. This is when RIC became lucrative.
4. The result of (1) – (3) was that tens of millions of American born after WWII grew up in a totally circumcised society. Dad was cut, brothers were cut, every boy & man you saw in the locker room was cut. The typical American woman has never been intimate with an intact man. People in this situation find the natural weird and disgusting. Parents who agree have their sons cut to spare them ridicule and bullying in school. To spare them rejection when they try to start their sex lives.
5. It can be hard to thrill the desensitised cut penis. Thus the popularity of fellatio among American young people. Americans come to believe that fellatio is an imperative part of intimacy. Fellatio is disgusting unless the penis is freshly washed. Having to wash the genitalia before beginning intimacy is seen as expecting too much. Thus the conclusion that “if he isn’t circed, no girl will ever give him a BJ.” And that’s inhuman, Jim!
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ElYentaman
I am a Jewish male with a perfectly working handsome circumcised penis. I have a son name Abraham with a perfectly working handsome circumcised penis. My Father and brother, Father inlaw and brother inlaw are all Jewish with perfectly working circumcised penises. I have known many Jewish males (and non Jews) and have never known any to be unhappy with their circumcised penises nor have I ever heard a Jewish woman complain about the tradition/procedure being done to their children or their husbands. Like it or not it is the way our people are. If you are a circumcised male and wish you weren’t then you should let your parents know how you feel and then move on. Choose not to do it to your child. But the idea that it is mutilation mostly falls on deaf ears. It just does not describe what the vast majority of American Jewish males experience or feel about their penises handsome functional and therefore not mutilated penises. Most women love uncircumcised penises. Literally! That said like most things in life if you don’t want one, don’t get one. My sympathies go out to those of you who are unhappy with your penises. I doubt that the foreskin would make your life that much better but who really knows. If you did not get a circumcision you would probably be bitching about how embarrassed and therefore scarred you were at camp when all the other kids pointed at your penis and shouted HAHAHAH look at Anon’s weird wiener! The loss of the little piece of skin/ blood vessels and nerves leaves billions still intact. Perhaps you should focus more on what you have and spend more time utilizing their powers then lamenting over what has been taken from you. Honestly, the idea that it is wrong to chose the religion of your own child is a bit obtuse to say the least. Religion is not for everyone. And believing in God is a personal family decision. But as a parent, I make many decisions for my children from what vaccines to use to what school to send them to, to what they eat, activities they participate in to who they can play with and where we live. Not all our parenting decisions will be the right ones. That is the nature of the weight of responsibility. Having to make decisions that are hard. But we make decisions and live with them. We even change our minds. Since virtually everyone I know is circumcised (I am a Southern Reformed Jew so mostly Christian friends) I can only say that unhappy people will always find something to be unhappy about. I recommend letting go of you foreskin angst and move on with your life. Get a hobby like knitting or scrap booking. I personally like to surf. I imagine my surf board is a Jewish girl with nice boobies. I put my circumcised penis on it and paddle for waves and thank God I am Jewish and circumcised. Good luck to you all and hopefully when you’re done exaggerating the benefits of a foreskin and the horrors of circumcision you will get a life. Shalom!
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@ElYentaman: How do you know your penis (or your son’s, father’s, brother’s, father-in-law’s or brother-in-law’s penises) are all working “perfectly”? All any of you know is what you’ve got (they do the basics), not what you’re missing. And whatever you may have heard in the past, you NOW know of two Jewish men who wish they were not circumcised. More are at http://www.circumstitions.com/Resent.html. How many do you want?
“if you don’t want one, don’t get one.” That is exactly what Intactivists say, but of course it absolutely depends on your not having gotten one before you had a chance to refuse getting one. (Actually of course it’s not somehing you get, it’s something you own that’s taken away from you.)
“The loss of the little piece of skin/ blood vessels and nerves leaves billions still intact.” So if I break into your house and steal your jewellery, that’s OK because I left the flatscreen TV? (Interesting that you have some idea what’s in the foreskin. But the eyelids are also just “little pieces of skin”. It’s not just what it is, but where it is and what it does.)
Cutting off part of a child’s genitals is less reversible than “choosing his religion” or any of the other decisions you mention. As for “a personal family decision” it is personal, and should be a decision for the person most directly affected by it. And as one man said, but more colourfully –
“My family doesn’t [urinate] with my [p enis], my family doesn’t [masturbate] with my [pe nis] and my family doesn’t [have sexual intercourse] with my [pen is], so what business did my family have to go cutting part OFF of my [peni s]?”Does you wife know about your surfboard fantasy/fetish?
How True Is This Decreased sensitivity? these Days ALOT of Emphasis is being given to the uncircumscized penis,Whatabout those uncut that Wont retract? I’ve Seen ALOT of those,Some With Unpleasant smells,How Do U Clean those Before Putting it in your mouth?