We make all kinds of decisions about the health of our children, including medicines, treatments, birth defects, vaccinations, etc. Circumcision has been a practice for thousands of years, and research has shown it can decrease infections. Thus, some parents choose momentary discomfort in a child’s infancy over future pain and problems. Honestly, I’ve been there when it’s done, and the baby boy cried less during circumcision than a vaccine shot or asthma breathing treatment.

If people don’t want to circumcise their child, they shouldn’t do so. But there isn’t sufficient evidence that circumcision causes problems for child or adult males. So ultimately, I think that decision is left up to the parents.

“When making the circumcision decision, parents should become informed and make the best decision for their family.”

I would disagree with you here. It’s not the family penis. Given that their are claims this way and that, the only sensible (and ethical) thing to do is let the decision rest with the penis owner himself–same as you do for the labia on the vulva owner (i.e., your infant daughter).

I’ve never heard of that product! Thanks.

I’ve also heard the claims this way and that. There are legitimate arguments for each. But I agree that we needn’t attack each other so harshly over this issue or presume that one type of penis has it better or worse than another. Our bodies are our bodies, and we can experience a great deal of sexual pleasure in marriage with what we have.

When making the circumcision decision, parents should become informed and make the best decision for their family. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge, Ol’ Will!

Turned around after 32 years. Took a sex therapist 7 months with us to do it (she had childhood abuse).

I’m sorry this is so late but here goes:
I’m a circumcised 73-year old so I speak with a bit of experience. Please don’t believe anything you read on those anti-circumcision websites. They are as filled with lies as vegan websites.
1. I thank God that I have been spared a lifetime of having to deal with foreskin hygiene. I read a website once with a page written by a man who was a corpsman on a hospital ship in the Pacific during the Marines’ island campaigns. His full time job was performing circumcisions on men brought in from the front who had developed a malady called balanitis – inflammation of the glans, usually due to poor hygiene. Battle conditions, of course, made foreskin hygiene impossible. This man’s opinion was that the Army and Marine Corps would be better off circumcising all recruits as soon as they entered the service because the balinitis caused so many days of lost productivity in the field.
2. It is my understanding that at least 1% of uncircumcised men require circumcision at some time in their adult lives. The two I have known seemed to be suffering the tortures of h**l while they healed. Circumcise your male infants and it’s 100% that they will never have to experience that..
3. It is claimed that circumcised men are “less sensitive” than “whole” men. They say that the foreskin has millions of nerve endings that are lost with circumcision. That may be true but so does the glans, which, after circumcision, is exposed to direct stimulation during foreplay and intercourse. If the many hundreds of heart-stopping orgasms I have experienced with my wife are any indication, I don’t think we circumcised guys are missing a thing. On the other hand, I heard once of a circumcised guy who was suing his parents claiming that his exposed glans was so sensitive that he suffered from premature ejaculation. So, what is truth?
4. It’s also claimed that clothing rubbing directly on the glans desensitizes it. Wouldn’t that also be true of those “millions of nerve endings” in the foreskin? I suspect that the uncircumcised men are just like me – they probably aren’t particularly sensitive until they have an erection. Then, as (good) foreplay goes on, the sensitivity grows to become almost unbearable.
5. They claim that the glans is made of mucous membrane and circumcision exposes it to air to dry out and become damaged. Are they claiming that the smegma under the foreskin is mucous? Like that slimy stuff that comes out when your blow your nose? This claim is laughable. Yet they keep making it in spite of the millions (billions?) of circumcised penises with perfectly intact and functional glandes.
6. The againers are like those psychologist columnists who, when they get a question about spanking, immediately start using the word ‘beating’. Those opposed to circumcision use words like ‘mutilation’ and ‘civil rights violation’ when discussing simple infant circumcision. They cannot rationally discuss the topic without resorting to pejorative terms and invective.
6. The againers have so propagandized their position that there are those who, made to feel inferior because of their circumcisions, attempt certain techniques hoping to grow back their foreskins. A man who has not been circumcised does not know what it’s like to be circumcised. The man who was circumcised as an infant does not know what it’s like to be uncircumcised. Why can’t both sides leave the other alone to enjoy their God-given sexuality as it is for the moment?
There are probably many other facets of this issue I could discuss but these are the ones that came readily to mind.
Now, I apologize for “so many words” but I wanted to give you a heads-up when you do your circumcision research.

I’m a clueless wife of 24 years and I’m just a little late to the party! I had no idea that there were “safe” places on the internet to learn about such things. It has changed my life! And I mean it. I hear the husbands on here who are so sad wishing that their wives could just show them a little more love and attention and I cringe. My poor hubby has been begging for more attention in the bedroom for years and truth be told he has pretty much given up on me. But I also relate to the wives who just can’t engage….For so many years I have been so self conscious and embarrassed I just couldn’t communicate about such things. I got pregnant about 10 months after our wedding and then things just got weird for the next 7 years…and 5 kids later. After so long….I felt like making changes would be so hard…I didn’t know how to go about it and when you are already self conscious….its hard to over come. I would think about sex a lot….and want to be more adventurous…but I just couldn’t overcome some of my issues…

My oldest daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks and I didn’t want her going into her marriage as clueless as I was, so as a bridal shower gift I bought her a Christian book on sex called “And they were not ashamed”. I started reading it and found out how many hang ups I had to overcome! I had no idea! There was a reference to the Marriage Bed website and I went there and wow….have my eyes been opened! One of the things that has really helped me was to read many of the husbands comments on here….they sound so hurt and sad…and I just had no idea. To be truthful, I have blamed my husbands foray into pornography for him wanting something more than just the traditional sex. I didn’t think we needed anything else, that anything more was somehow wrong or dirty. But, I’m learning that I was wrong and that I really need to make some changes in my attitude. I thought I would just about die, but I told my hubby that we needed to talk the other night…and I plunged right in and apologized for all of my years of inattention to him. It was so hard! But it opened up a dialogue that was 24 years in the making. He hasn’t been all that interested in sex lately and when we would try, he was having a hard time staying “in the game”. He admitted to me that he gave up a long time ago and he was just bored. Well, it took a little effort on my part (and boy did I have to venture out of my comfort zone) and that little problem seems to be gone! Who knew!

I’m sorry to be going on so long, but I just want the men out there to not give up…and maybe there is a book or a link that you can give to your wife that would help them to see the Christian side of why the sexual side of marriage is so important. It made me finally want to change. Not the begging or coercion or guilt that I got/felt from my husband…but finally understanding the importance of a healthy intimate sexual relationship with my husband, that I need not be ashamed…that it truly is endorsed by, encouraged by and ultimately made by God. And you know the saying…”God don’t make no junk” so it must be good! And wow….is it gettin’ good!