Lexi I too have no thoughts on the issue leave it to doctors and family
cheers

The Jews may have introduced the practise way back when and it became a
religious practise. It may be that it was realised that there were
health advantages but at the time they had no understanding of why.
In a similar manner the ban on pig meat, which was almost certainly
done for health reasons originally and became a religious practise.

The Chinese about 500BC learnt how to husband pigs and to prevent the
parasite problem. It is just that the Jews and Arabs are slow learners.

Dear Bazz,

<<It is just that the Jews and Arabs are slow learners.>>

You reach that incorrect conclusion because you start from incorrect assumptions, that:
1) Judaism is a religion.
2) The Jewish practices were meant to improve health.

Judaism is not a religion, but a national-movement and the purpose of its "religious" injunctions, is to keep the Jews separate from others. Circumcision for example marks who was born to the tribe and who wasn't, so it is difficult to escape and mix with others without being identified. Dietary restrictions were designed so that Jews and non-Jews will not eat together, thus limiting undesirable social connections (which may easily turn into sexual/marriage connections).

I presume that the Arabs copied them for similar reasons, not for health, which is completely incidental.

Dear Banjo,

Thanks for the link. Fascinating stuff and it
really helped reading all the various comments.
Circumcision is certainly a passionate issue -
and the pros and cons have valid points on both
sides. I suppose all I can do is present the facts
to my niece and her husband - and then it's ultimately
their choice.

What I did find disturbing from reading one article was
the comment made by a doctor who stated that:
"Australia lacks expertise. Generally, medical training
in Australia is very good, but this area is being
neglected... Not many doctors have been taught how to do this
properly. There's an increasing demand from people for this
operation and it's very hard to find doctors to do it."
The doctor was trained in China.

Facts like these are important to know and weigh up.

Hi Lexi,

I read the same magazine article today and I think the devil is in the detail. It states that the "studies" supporting the view that circumcision reduces the risk of HIV etc are from African experience where it is widely known there is a huge and persistent HIV / unprotected sex problem. I think this is misleading in the modern Australian context and will cause the uncertainties you have expressed in many unnecessarily.

Born in the early 60's, I proudly sport a "gerry helmet" but cannot provide any justification, medical or otherwise, in mutilating my perfectly-formed toddler son. However, I have heard from friends that some prepubescent boys can have some problems with infection and/or restrictions that can require the surgery. The trauma is significant and recovery is much longer than for newborns.

The question then might be - "should I do it now just in case he might develop a problem later to save all that drama?" I don’t know the stats to assist and I applaud your efforts in trying to help your niece in making an informed decision on that.

BTW - It think the health professionals that appear to bullying her towards infant circumcision need a slap. I would also take with a grain of salt a couple of comments / opinions expressed in the article. Someone for the group formed to promote any point of view will obviously offer arguments to support their stance. The article in question had little details opposing this procedure but the stated risk of amputation made my eyes water!

However, if there IS a current shortage of doctors skilled in this procedure and your niece does decide to proceed, I would advise her to ensure she checks it out and gets the right one holding the knife.

Good luck.

Lexi,

The circumcision debate is soaked with far more emotion than fact. As soon as words such as "mutilate" are included, you know reason has left the building, and I suspect the person using such illogical language has reservations about their decision.

We debated whether or not to circumcise our kids or not, and we eventually decided to do so based on the following:

There are small but measurable health benefits to the child and future partners of the procedure,
For an adult there are no negatives associated with being circumcised,
The procedure performed by a specialist is risk free with no trauma,
The procedure for an adult is far riskier, and painful.

We have no regrets, but also respect the choices of other parents. The fatuous suggestion that the decision should be left to the child is similar to suggesting a 12 month waiting period for abortion.