OMG, it's a circumcision debate!

[conuly]

Man, I haven't seen a good one of these in ages, people are all too polite!

And already we've got some good comments. "I'm so happy I was circumcised!" leads to "That's great, good for you, but you didn't have a choice in the matter." leads to "YES HE DID! HE SAID HE'S HAPPY, DIDN'T HE????"

Apparently this guy never learned that babies can't consent for shit. Not for necessary things (appendectomies) nor optional things (circumcision).

But my favorite has to be the comment or two talking about how people with their penises in the natural state "risk" the horrors of smegma. (Gosh that's a fun word to type. Smegma, smegma, smegma.)

After my shocked and horrified comment that one should never ever ever ever EVER retract their darling baby's foreskin (EVER!) until their darling baby can do it himself (at which point you still shouldn't be doing that because, dude, let's not play with our kids' penises!) I wandered off and looked up "smegma" at Wikipedia.

Aside from confirming that it's not a guy-only thing (I knew that) this is what they have to say on the subject:

In males, smegma helps keep the glans moist and facilitates sexual intercourse by acting as a lubricant.

I am shocked and appalled that this happens. Shocked. And appalled! The horrors! We must never let anybody have this happen to them ever again. Because that sounds terrible.

Okay, I mean, it does in that bodily secretions always *do* sound kinda gross - but honestly, if you're wondering now whether or not you should circumcise your son or yourself, I suggest you don't lose too much sleep over the smegma issue.

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

??? "The horrors of smegma"? People don't know that everybody has smegma, particularly women, but also circumcised males? Oh the horror.

LOL, my teenage boyfriend at summer camp used to call it "Framunda cheese", because it came framunda dere.

There's no medical reason for circumcision, and as a religious tradition it's downright creepy. As a cosmetic surgical procedure, it's a minor one in infancy but a major one in adulthood, so if it's going to be done at all, that's when it ought to be done. I don't see it as genital mutilation, don't think it should be illegal, but would like to see it become unfashionable.

LOL, so true, "all penises look weird"; so they do. All genitalia of any variety, actually. Bodies are just intrinsically weird, and biological processes and products are intrinsically gross; it doesn't do to dwell on the matter too much. Yeah, smeg happens. There are worse things.

I don't hold with piercing babies' ears. Where's the thrill of that? Getting your ears pierced is supposed to be a Rite of Passage, that you beg and pester your Mom for over the course of several years until she finally gives in and takes you to the piercing store, where you chicken out and go home to think about it till your next birthday, when you finally REALLY DO IT, and pick out your first-ever earrings, and feel so proud. And then you don't take proper care of the holes, so they get infected and you have to deal with it, and hopefully learn something from that. It's supposed to be a sign that one is not a baby any more, but old enough to bear some pain and some responsibility .