The Truth About Circumcision

[Freedomain]

 

Stefan Molyneux breaks down the truth behind circumcision, including details on the procedure, it's history, rate of occurrence, claimed medical justifications, relation to masturbation, negative consequences and it's morality.

 

Circumcision Rates Vary Widely in U.S.

http://forward.com/articles/161642/circumcision-rates-vary-widely-in-us/?p=all#ixzz2bVibVSx5

 

Circumcisions Performed in U.S. Community Hospitals, 2009

http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb126.jsp

 

Gollaher, David L. Circumcision: A History of the World’s Most Controversial Surgery. New York: Basic Books, 2001. 1-30.

http://www.d.umn.edu/~mcco0322/index.htm

 

Breast Cancer Risk in American Women

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/probability-breast-cancer

 

Male circumcision for HIV prevention

http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/malecircumcision/en/

 

Why Circumcision Lowers Risk of HIV

http://healthland.time.com/2013/04/17/why-circumcision-lowers-risk-of-hiv/

 

Uganda: Circumcision Not HIV Foolproof - Rugunda

http://allafrica.com/stories/201308071633.html

 

Circumcision and HIV: Harm Outweighs "Benefit"

http://www.circumcision.org/hiv.htm

 

Obstacles Slow an Easy Way to Prevent H.I.V. in Men

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/health/27circumcision.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission (Review)

http://apps.who.int/rhl/reviews/langs/CD003255.pdf

 

If Circumcision Rates Keep Falling, Health Costs and Infections Will Spike

http://healthland.time.com/2012/08/21/if-circumcision-rates-keep-falling-health-costs-and-infections-will-spike/

 

Effectiveness of condoms in preventing HIV transmission

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277953696002584?via=sd&cc=y

 

Circumcision, the ultimate parenting dilemma

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19072761

 

To cut or not to cut? Personal factors influence primary care physicians’ position on elective newborn circumcision

http://www.jmhjournal.org/article/S1875-6867(10)00050-3/abstract

 

Complication rate after circumcision in a paediatric surgical setting should not be neglected.

http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/23905566/Complication_rate_after_circumcision_in_a_paediatric_surgical_setting_should_not_be_neglected_

 

Incidence of asymptomatic meatal stenosis in children following neonatal circumcision.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20851685

 

Incidence of meatal stenosis following neonatal circumcision in a primary care setting.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16429216

 

Alexithymia and Circumcision Trauma: A Preliminary Investigation

http://www.readperiodicals.com/201107/2478941811.html

 

Prevalence and correlates of premature ejaculation in a primary care setting: a preliminary cross-sectional study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21492404

 

Male circumcision decreases penile sensitivity as measured in a large cohort.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23374102?dopt=Abstract

 

Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17378847

 

Comparison of ring block, dorsal penile nerve block, and topical anesthesia for neonatal circumcision: a randomized controlled trial.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9417009

 

Circumcision Practice Patterns in the United States

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/101/6/e5.full

 

German court defines circumcision of children as bodily injury

http://www.nationalturk.com/en/german-court-defines-circumcision-of-children-as-bodily-injury-20406

 

The Global Prevalence of Male Circumcision

http://www.who.int/hiv/mediacentre/infopack_en_2.pdf

 

US Birth Data

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/births.htm

 

Two more babies stricken with herpes after ritual ultra-orthodox Jewish oral blood sucking circumcision in New York City

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2304793/Two-babies-stricken-HERPES-ritual-oral-blood-sucking-circumcision-New-York-City.html

 

http://circumcisiondecisionmaker.com/circumcision-facts

http://www.intactamerica.org/

http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/

[MaxM]

As someone who got a circumcision at age 19 I'll give my input.

 

I had phimosis (forskin cannot retract), which was more common than I would have thought. So I had the choice and did the research and In my situation I decided to get the cut. I was put under completely and woke up a few hours later. After gettting home the pain kicks in. I was couch/bedridden for just under 2 weeks. Any movement below the waist caused intense pain, I mean taking a piss was a challenge and liquids were consumed in moderation. I mean wow, I feel sorry or those abused babies. I was informed by the doctor that It was common to start bleeding again from movement and whould have to go back to the hospital. Luckily I was carefull did not need that. He told me it was not uncommon for the dick glands to swell and block the urerthra and sometime people had to get another surgery to cut open a bigger urethra WTF?!

My dick was useless from a pleasure stand point for 1.5 months! the doc said 2 months I mean I'd need some wheel barrow for my balls after that.

 

No regrets for me but obviously I would never chop my sensitive dick parts off without a forskin issue in the firstplace. Circumcision causes phimoses In decendants I read so it seems riligion has fucked up my life from birth.

 

After the forskin is removed the glands dry up and becomes rougher and far less sensitive over a month to the sensitivity level of your earlobes-ish.

You can get the forskin back stretching or some shit and you get some of the sensitivity back apperantly, but not worth it in my opinion unless you want a prince albert and a bowlingball in your pants 24/7.

 

That's a personal experience which may help you comprehend the transition.

[Pepin]

I felt rather sick to my stomach watching this.

[voluntaryistmitch]

I think this has the potential to go viral.  Please share this everywhere - Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, etc.  I've been posting it to groups who are already very anti-circumcision as well as those who would be in favor of it like Jewish and Islamic groups.  Both sides need to see this presentation, and I think this will help it get many more views.

[Panoptic]

I almost threw up from watching the first 5 minutes. I had to sit down and come back later to finish the video. I had no idea the type of torture these children are subjected to (myself a victim). I skimmed through the sources. Of course, the pro-circumcision articles are main stream media outlets that provide no sources. I did read about this on Wikipedia and it is very biased from what I could tell. Some of the evidence states that it reduces HIV, but you're supposed to wear a condom anyway so what's the point? Oh yeah, money.

[LovePrevails]

I can't actually bear to watch this video, I have a psychological reaction - I was just wondering if included is any information about any psychological effects of circumcision as well as physiological ?

[Panoptic]

Yes, just jump to 5 mintues and start from there. The horrible footage is over after that, then its just information.

[fer]

I had phimosis (forskin cannot retract), which was more common than I would have thought. So I had the choice and did the research and In my situation I decided to get the cut.

No expert on phimosis here and just did a quick visit to the wikipedia page, why did you choose circumcision over the non surgical options? Even the other surgical options sound more appealing than full circumcision.

[Gaurav251]

After watching this video I always wondered why my dad had skin in front of his penis and I didn't, and now I seem to know why,

 

it seems I was circumcised, I checked many times over and over to make sure I didn't because my parents (or rather my mom) told me I wasn't circumcised (didn't want to take in the fact that my mom lied to me about my penis) but it seems like I was,

 

I seem to be missing the front foreskin that should be there while my dad isn't I am not gonna bother asking him why because he is to violent in nature and will probably bring up something about religion needing it or some other bull I don't care about,

 

knowing that I am the unlucky 20-30% of the male population that was circumcised does not please me, however it does bring a clear answer that I was missing when ever I seemed to question on why my dads penis skin was different then mine. However I have another 'private' question regarding circumcised penises,

 

are they supposed to hurt when you have a boner? I always had this pain ever since I was growing up that I felt pain when ever my penis felt the need to 'ejaculate' and I would never ask any one for help or tell any one about it as I thought it was a 'normal' thing to feel pain there. Maybe it has nothing to do with my circumsion but I just want to ask because I cant really trust my parents to tell me any good facts relating to this pain. It would be embarrassing to talk about such stuff to any one around me. But now I have to bring this into question and maybe even visit a doctor to see if anything is wrong 'down there'.

[RestoringGuy]

It can sometimes hurt if there is insufficient remnant of skin on the shaft.  I also had points along a keloid scar that healed unevenly and create extreme pinching sensation.  Foreskin restoration has helped with both of these issues.

[MaxM]

The alternatives were there but I didn't have access to them I went througn public not private and public simply didn't have those other surgeries available (doctors simply don;t know how to perform the surgery) also the cream didn't help in my rather extream case. So being 19 and wanting a free quick solution to this embarrasing-ish problem I decided I would do it after getting perspective on both perspectives. I didn't feel that it was that big of a deal. Had I had some thousands to go private onviously I would have takem the more minor surgeries.

No regrets and no problems since. Girls don't mind and after the pants came of if i'v never had a negative reaction I simply explain and then sexy time.

[Wesley]

Circumcision Rate in the U.S. Drops as Societal Attitudes Waver

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-08-22/circumcision-rate-in-the-u-dot-s-dot-drops-as-societal-attitudes-waver

 

 

From 1979 to 2010, the rate of newborn circumcision declined to 58 percent from 65 percent, according to a report today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate was the highest in 1981, with 65 percent of male infants circumcised, and lowest in 2007, at 55 percent, the CDC said.

The removal of the foreskin from the tip of the penis is prevalent in the U.S., as well as in Israel and in Muslim countries because of the religious laws of Judaism and Islam. In the U.S., where medical guidelines have fluctuated, doctors currently don’t recommend the practice for medical reasons.

“I’ve been in practice for over 40 years and there wasn’t any question about whether to circumcise in the ‘good old days’ because parents were worried about what might happen in the locker room in middle school or high school,” said Thomas McInerny, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a telephone interview. “But circumcision is less frequent in Europe and Asia, so in time as more immigration has occurred, there are more uncircumcised floating around in locker rooms, so you’re not going to get an embarrassing situation.”

What’s more, the days when doctors said “do this” and patients didn’t question them are over, said McInerny, who wasn’t involved in the CDC study.

...

Rates of circumcision in Western U.S. states dropped the most in the 32-year period studied. In that region, 40 percent of newborns were circumcised in 2010, compared with 64 percent in 1979. Rates in the Northeast remained flat, with about two-thirds of infants undergoing the procedure. That’s likely due to demographic changes from immigration, McInerny said.

Some patient and parent groups argue that circumcision is an unnecessary medical procedure and should be avoided, and Medicare had stopped funding the procedure in 18 states.

“It’s a brutal and unnecessary procedure to inflict on a baby that can’t consent,” said Georganne Chapin, the executive director of the anti-circumcision advocacy group Intact America, in a telephone interview. “The biggest reason people have moved from circumcising their children, moving toward leaving their children as they’re born, is they’ve realized circumcision isn’t necessary and it’s painful.”

...

“The advocacy against circumcision has been highly vocal, and they have done a better job of communicating to the lay public than scientists have,” Tobian said.

...

 

Overall, the article seemed to lament the decrease in circumcisions and to only mention "anti-circumcision" as this irrational other opinion that is contrary to science.