Poll: What do you think about circumcision?

[Sewora]

[To point something out for you since you felt it appropriate to mention Buddhists. A child marked by irreversible surgery without consent is deprived of religious freedom. Since you are in fact not allowed to be Buddhist if you are circumsized.

I've never heard that before. What's the logic of that? If you lost a fingertip to an accident would you also be prohibitted?

The Buddhists believe in the sanctity of the body. Being intact is an important aspect of being enlightened.
The foreskin is even mentioned repeatedly in their scriptures.

 

[Sellfish]

Uh... why does everyone assume that every circumcision is performed without anesthetics? Every surgery should be performed while you are asleep and drugged as much as possible, and every surgery looks f*cking gross to a person not into medical science.
If performed right it's no different than getting your tonsils removed.

Again, leave religion the hell out of this o0 Who cares what some Christians, Jews or Buddhists think of the human body? Science is what counts, SCIENCE! Not superstitious belief.
Why do people try to bring some kind of religion into discussions, meh >.>

Oh, and let me give you another reason for circumcision: Visual appeal!
Not any different than an inside or outside navel/bellybutton.

 

[CODE-D]

Ive never really thought about it, Ive always been circumcised.
You guys are hurting my dicks feelings......my dick feels cold.....and naked.....
Apologize by giving it a hug.

 

[Kelthurin]

Hell. They do it for religious reasons. That's enough for me to grab the torch and pitchfork.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

Uh... why does everyone assume that every circumcision is performed without anesthetics?

Infant circumcision usually is.

Oh, and let me give you another reason for circumcision: Visual appeal!

Mind you, in the classical standards of beauty, circumcision is one of the most abominable things you can do to the human body.

You guys are hurting my dicks feelings......my dick feels cold.....and naked.....

Look into 'foreskin restoration', it's not as good as the real thing but it will fix that problem.

 

[Kahunaburger]

Then repeating the question, what happens if you are missing a fingertip? Can you then not join?

What happens if a body part is lost after you become a buddhist, are you effectively kicked out?

Most sects of Buddhism (maybe there are like 1-2 exceptions, but I doubt even that) wouldn't turn someone away if they were missing part of their body. It's more a "don't go cutting stuff off" thing for them.

 

[Orekoya]

Alittle arrogant aren't you?

Yes, I am. It comes from being a Scientist

Poor child, you must really believe in whatever you spout too. I will tell you a secret of the English language. Scientist isn't some magical job title you can assign to yourself and be some superior being, it's a common noun. It isn't capitalized in the middle of the sentence.

The other reason I know you are not an actual scientist is because you responded to each post directed at you within minutes and at most a few hours, 9 posts within the same day in this thread, starting at 11 am to 8 pm. I'm an accountant, and this is the soonest I had to check Escapist again after I last logged out. I'm sure the world of science is poorer for your continued absence so that you may argue with the Escapist forum members. Go forth, go for the good of the world.

 

[Sewora]

Uh... why does everyone assume that every circumcision is performed without anesthetics? Every surgery should be performed while you are asleep and drugged as much as possible, and every surgery looks f*cking gross to a person not into medical science.
If performed right it's no different than getting your tonsils removed.

Again, leave religion the hell out of this o0 Who cares what some Christians, Jews or Buddhists think of the human body? Science is what counts, SCIENCE! Not superstitious belief.
Why do people try to bring some kind of religion into discussions, meh >.>

Oh, and let me give you another reason for circumcision: Visual appeal!
Not any different than an inside or outside navel/bellybutton.

First off, they are performed without anasthetics. Second, anasthetics doesn't work on infants because they are in fact hypersensitive.

And second and most important, the MAJORITY of the entire world thinks an uncircumsized penis is more beautiful. It's just in the US that it's considered appealing to be circumsized, and even then it's only because you're taught that a penis is supposed to look like that from birth.
In other cultures it's more beautiful for women not to have breasts, and for men to wear wooden tubes on their penises.
I can name one culture which thought it was appealing to be blond and blueeyed.. Were they right? Nope, or at least the Allieds thought not.

 

[SciMal]

Poor child, you must really believe in whatever you spout too. I will tell you a secret of the English language. Scientist isn't some magical job title you can assign to yourself and be some superior being, it's a common noun. It isn't capitalized in the middle of the sentence.

You're correct. My mistake.

The other reason I know you are not an actual scientist is because you responded to each post directed at you within minutes and at most a few hours, 9 posts within the same day in this thread, starting at 11 am to 8 pm. I'm an accountant, and this is the soonest I had to check Escapist again after I last logged out. I'm sure the world of science is poorer for your continued absence so that you may argue with the Escapist forum members. Go forth, go for the good of the world.

There you go, making yourself look like an ill-informed ass who uses ad-hominems in a vain attempt to achieve ideological victory.

Microbiology labs have a lot of downtime if you're not one of the lab heads and do grunt work all day. PCR alone can take several hours. Cultivating passages another several hours. Running gels takes several hours - depending on your preferred gel-type, of course. Waiting for other labs to finish their work can be agonizingly slow (particularly since this is almost always the case if you want to genotype your varying samples). Depending on the computer setup and the work being done, computer-generated models can take a while. Preparing and utilizing viral vectors don't take as long as the other activities I've listed, but usually involve a warm bath for 45 minutes. Large chunks of my work involve time spent waiting for something to finish; and if all the ancillary work is done, there's literally nothing to do but wait. You can't go home because you have to make sure it was successful, and the activities aren't generally something you interact with. You can't prevent something from going wrong while you're waiting most of the time. You just have to do it again.

Or, for all you know, I could have had a day off.

Sorry bub, but next time I suggest you simply take issue with the materials I present - and not me.

Congratulations on having a jam-packed workday. You obviously feel very proud.

 

[Orekoya]

There you go, making yourself look like an ill-informed ass who uses ad-hominems in a vain attempt to achieve ideological victory.

Oh you mean like when you tell somebody that they are so full of bullshit that they should never comment on a topic ever again?

Or, for all you know, I could have had a day off.

And ... and you choose to spend that day off ... arguing with people on the Escapist forum ... all day long, on the same day you made your account.

Yea. That's logical and rational behavior.

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

Woahhh I just skipped to the last page ... I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with either option (letting kids decide or parents doing it.)

Indeed... you did skip all the reasons why it IS particularly wrong to let parents choose.

 

[newwiseman]

My grandfather had to be circumcised when he was in his 50's due to a phimosis (a swelling of the foreskin that can prevent urination or be painful) it's largely linked to genetics and as a result he decided to pay for all of his male descendants to be circumcised when they where born so they wouldn't have to do it when they became older, and when it would hurt like all hell; especially if you pop a stitch (one of my uncles got a phimosis and after it went away got circumcised in his late 20's).

If phimosis runs in your family definitely circumcise your kids, if it doesn't whatever.

 

[ultrabiome]

ok, i've read a few pages, but don't want to read 22 so here goes.

one of my frat brothers had a circumcision in his 20s and from what i've heard from him, he wish he hadn't. frankly, it hurts as there is no longer skin keeping the head of the penis from rubbing inside his pants and the desensitization that needs to happen takes time.

and as someone who is uncircumcised, you can cut off my skin only if i'm dead or i can't pee through the hole anymore. yes it needs to be cleaned, but no more often than other more disgusting parts of the human body and just as often as someone who is circumcised. i've never had problems cleaning it in the shower, just pull it back, wash, rinse and done.

i guess some women have a problem with the extra skin, but that's because of culture, not an inherent problem because i'm sure oral sex has existed long before circumcision. and from my experience in the end women don't really mind and ones that are hung up on it aren't worth the time anyway. i mean, do you have a problem with labias? not to mention that evolution gave us foreskin for a reason - for protection of the most sensitive area of skin on the body.

i'd never do it to my children. it is totally unnecessary.

 

[Biosophilogical]

Nope, I think it's horrible. Legal child abuse, and whether or not people have religious reasons to do it shouldn't even come into it.

If someone wants to have it done to themselves when they're old enough to decide, fine. If someone wants to forcibly and irreparably mutilate their child, that is not fine, and I don't care what their reasons are.

This exactly. My brother and I are not circumcised, and I am very grateful that we aren't, not because I'm against circumcision, or I have some aesthetic preference for foreskins, but because I want the choice to be mine. On a similar vein, my friend is circumcised and he wishes he hadn't been. It's not like he is sitting there going "Those lucky bastards, I wish I had a foreskin", he just wished it was his choice (which it wasn't, having been circumcised as a baby).

So my opinion is that the parents can keep their religious/aesthetic views to their own genitals. They have no right to perform permanent physical changes on their child, just as much as they shouldn't be allowed to circumcise someone else without their permission (child or otherwise).

 

[alandavidson]

Just my two cents: Wait until the kid turns about 10, and then give him the option.

Some personal experience with the subject (spoilered for content)

Spoiler

When I was little (around 4-5 years old), I had, er, problems with that area, and had to go see a doctor about it quite frequently. The doctor recommended circumcision to fix the issues, but my parents left it up to me. I voted "no". Today I have fully functional man-parts.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

I'm so glad that I can come to this thread for support. I... was circumcised as a child, I can't remember a time where I haven't felt scarred (both mentally and physically) and deformed. Kids used to mock me at school calling me names and making fun of my lack of foreskin, as if it didn't already bother me enough. It's tragic that parents are allowed to make such life altering decisions for their children.

 

[iNsaneMilesy]

I'm all for circumcision

I'm circumsized, and I'm not any worse off than anyone else, and I don't care that doctors cut some of my skin off when I was too young to remember it.

Basically, there's no reason parents shouldn't be able to make the choice.

Same here. I also agree. I'm circumsised and I'm glad I was. It does have a FEW medical benifits, but mostly I like the way it looks. Too me it's normal and looks better than uncirsumsised penis, there is no lack of sensation or size... doing very well in the size dept. but thats another topic...

Seeing how many people chose that it would be better to leave the choice until older leaves me with a look of bewilderment on my face. Either they are women, uncircumsised or are too easily drawn to feeling like they were robbed of a bit of useless skin. Get over it, you are better off without it and plus women prefer it which means better sex. I was far too young remember the proceedure, so no "TRAUMA" was inflicted. If a grown man were to get it done now, not only would it be scary as hell, he may have a possible feeling of remorse at an older age. Plus he'd have to walk around in a lot of pain for a few weeks. It also look very different when its done on a man as opposed to a baby, baby has time to grow into it if you will. As a baby, I spend all my time on my back crying, shitting and eating. A good time to recover I say.

Funny how only in the last generation has EVERY single parenting choice or act been called into question by a small few and turned into a major isuue when it has been working fine for well, EVER.

From disipline like spanking, to medical choices like NOT immunising... insane. Also usually all lead by the psychotic minority. Interesting that alot of them are people dont even have children, yet have to put their 2 cents in on topic they really know nothing about.

 

[SonicKoala]

First off, they are performed without anasthetics. Second, anasthetics doesn't work on infants because they are in fact hypersensitive.

And second and most important, the MAJORITY of the entire world thinks an uncircumsized penis is more beautiful. It's just in the US that it's considered appealing to be circumsized, and even then it's only because you're taught that a penis is supposed to look like that from birth.
In other cultures it's more beautiful for women not to have breasts, and for men to wear wooden tubes on their penises.
I can name one culture which thought it was appealing to be blond and blueeyed.. Were they right? Nope, or at least the Allieds thought not.

Is there any subject immune to utterly pointless Nazi references which serve absolutely no purpose other than to paint the individual who invoked the reference as an absolutely horrendous debater?

Signs point to no...

 

[Sewora]

First off, they are performed without anasthetics. Second, anasthetics doesn't work on infants because they are in fact hypersensitive.

And second and most important, the MAJORITY of the entire world thinks an uncircumsized penis is more beautiful. It's just in the US that it's considered appealing to be circumsized, and even then it's only because you're taught that a penis is supposed to look like that from birth.
In other cultures it's more beautiful for women not to have breasts, and for men to wear wooden tubes on their penises.
I can name one culture which thought it was appealing to be blond and blueeyed.. Were they right? Nope, or at least the Allieds thought not.

Is there any subject immune to utterly pointless Nazi references which serve absolutely no purpose other than to paint the individual who invoked the reference as an absolutely horrendous debater?

Signs point to no...

If you can't tolerate it, don't participate in the discussion. The act of amputating healthy bodyparts on infants to make them fit into a wicked society is closely related to the act of filtering out bad people from society. Conformity is not just a word to describe social attitude, but also the public's demand for you to be perfect according to someone elses standards. And I can't help it if that's exactly what the nazi's thought and did.

 

[BlueGlowstick]

Males get circumcised because of religious and/or health reasons; it also helps with keeping the penis clean.

Females, however, get circumcised so they won't experience pleasure during sex. Disgusting, I know, but it's the truth. I found out in mythology. (And what a sick, twisted weirdo he was...)