Information for Parents

Why cut your perfect little baby

I am writing this for parents in the hope that they will inform themselves fully about circumcision before having the procedure performed on their child. Doctors will often recommend the procedure without offering any information to the parent, contravening the principle of informed consent. In most cases the doctors themselves are not aware of the basic facts about the male anatomy and the way it is meant to develop and function! My hope is that eventually America and other countries will stop circumcising little boys and leave them intact, just as is now accepted in Europe and most other parts of the world.

Recently by good fortune I came across the book The Joy of Uncircumcising by Dr. Jim Bigelow. This is not an advertisement for the book--you can try to find it in your local public library. Despite the title, it is not only a self-help manual for circumcised men. It contains much valuable information about the procedure of circumcision, its history, its consequences, and possible treatments. I would recommend it to all new and prospective parents. Citations to support all of my assertions here can be found in the medical literature, by looking at this book.

The fact is that circumcision damages the penis and its sexual functioning, and severely impairs sexual pleasure for the man (and to some extent for the woman as well!) In addition it is excruciatingly painful for the infant, just as would be any other body damage without anaesthesia.

The most frequently quoted reason for circumcision that I have heard is that `sometimes the foreskin will not retract and it has to be done later'. The truth is that only in extremely rare cases is this kind of abnormality truly present. The foreskin of a normal penis often naturally adheres to the glans (the `head' of the penis) for several years after birth, sometimes not until puberty or even later.

This also means that under no circumstances should the parent of an uncircumcised child force back his foreskin in order to clean under it. It need only be pulled back as far as it wants to go and rinsed with water. The child can easily learn to do this for himself.

As for cancer, urinary infections, and STDs, there is no scientific evidence that being uncircumcised increases the risk of any of these conditions. In Europe, where circumcision is not usually performed, the rates of penile cancer, urinary tract infections and cervical cancer are all comparable to or lower than the rates in the U.S., where approximately 85% of sexually active males have been circumcised. And certainly the levels of AIDS and other STDs are as high in America as in Europe. Of course I am not claiming any causal connection between circumcision and disease. This needs to be studied further.

Although the number is declining, over 3000 circumcisions are still being performed in the US each and every day. Please, inform yourself! The facts about circumcision are not commonly available in North America. Unfortunately a great deal of ignorance still exists, both in the general population and the medical community. The truth must be told, however painful it maybe.

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