Decided to Have My Son Circumcised at 13

The reasons for male circumcision change every 10-20 years. It's worth remembering that no-one except for Jewish people and Muslims would even be having this discussion if it weren't for the fact that 19th century doctors thought that :
a) masturbation caused various physical and mental problems (including epilepsy, convulsions, paralysis, tuberculosis etc), and
b) circumcision stopped masturbation.

Both of those sound ridiculous today I know, but that's how they thought back then, and that's how non-religious circumcision got started. If you don't believe me, then google this: "A Short History of Circumcision in North America In the Physicians' Own Words". Heck, they even passed laws against "self-pollution" as it was called.

Over a hundred years later, circumcised men keep looking for new ways to defend the practice.

It makes no sense to be promoting male circumcision in Africa.
From a USAID report:
"There appears no clear pattern of association between male circumcision and HIV prevalence—in 8 of 18 countries with data, HIV prevalence is lower among circumcised men, while in the remaining 10 countries it is higher."
http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/CR22/CR22.pdf

It seems highly unrealistic to expect that there will be no risk compensation. The South African National Communication Survey on HIV/AIDS, 2009 found that 15% of adults across age groups "believe that circumcised men do not need to use condoms".
http://www.info.gov.za/issues/hiv/survey_2009.htm

It is unclear if circumcised men are more likely to infect women. The only ever randomized controlled trial into male-to-female transmission showed a 54% higher rate in the group where the men had been circumcised:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60998-3/abstract

ABC (Abstinence, Being faithful, and especially Condoms) is the way forward. Promoting genital surgery seems likely to cost African lives rather than save them.

This is interesting. I wish my parents had approached me and asked if I'd like to be circumcised. I was too embarrassed to ask them about it when I was about 13, and I would have jumped at the opportunity. Now I'm 23 I don't really feel like undergoing the procedure, and just wish I'd gotten it out of the way years ago.

The reasons for circumcising sure are changing. Recent studies show that telling African men that circumcision helps prevent AIDS has only given them a false sense of protection. What happened to using condoms? Doctors used to circumcised because they claimed it reduced the amount of urinary tract infections. It was said to prevent all sorts of ailments prior to that from curing insanity to stopping bed wetting. In England, circumcision was used to prevent boys from masturbating. They used to place devices on both boys and girls to keep them from touching themselves. You are very uninformed and it shows in your very backwards way of thinking. The rest of America is waking up and are now allowing their boys to remain natural. Keep lying to yourself if it makes you feel better. Most of the males in my family are not cut, while I am, so I grew up being around a lot of natural males. Not a single one of them got circumcised as an adult. If circumcision is so great then why do the majority of the worlds male population still have theirs? Like I said, the reasons keep changing and that is because people keep needing reasons to justify the procedure. One last point is the fact that doctors claim to do the procedure for health and cleanliness. Okay, then please tell my why many males have their frenulum cut off or gouged out? This has nothing to do with cleanliness. You got a thumbs down and it was not by me. Your old, tired way of thinking is dying along with the practice of circumcision. Your ship is sinking and you fail to realize it. A smart man would not be so stubborn but instead accept the truth and try and make life better for his children. Not mutilate them as to not have to be reminded by their natural bodies of your own mutilation. The reason for circumcision will again change in the future. We as Americans no longer talked about the old reasons given for circumcision. Again, look it up and you will see that I am telling the truth. It's okay, you can curl up in a little ball and cry yourself to sleep if you need to.

I know the feeling. You are not too old to enjoy the benefits. Knowing what I know now, I say get it done as soon as possible. You will not regret it.

Or all three have told him! DUDE! They told him that because it's true. “Chicks don't like the 'mudflap'!” Girls in the US at least, really don't like foreskins, and practically every thirteen year old boy in America knows it, and the ones who aren't circumcised REALLY know it. Is is it any wonder the kid perked up when you mentioned the C word? So if you're reading this and your thirteen year old isn't, ask him if he ever thought he'd like to be, and see what kind of reaction you get. But be warned! Asking this question may open a Pandora's Box, and there may be only one way to close it...

Would you mind citing some of this wonderful research for the rest of us poor unenlightened souls? Why do you tell us to do the research ourselves? Wouldn't it be easier to name some studies and their authors and tell us where to find them? Wouldn't that make it more likely that someone reading your post would actually take your advice? And by the way, do you have any training or credentials in statistical analysis so that you are qualified to spot "bogus" studies based on the parameters described by the people who made them? Enlighten us, please, we beg of you!

The panel is also predominantly Jewish ;) Secondly, the United States has one of the worst medical associations in the world compared to European countries. If I were you, I'd get your head out of the "We're number one" club and start reading from the medical associations who actually are.

seriously get yourself some help - i might not be a doctor but even i can tell that there is something seriously wrong with your mind. If you define yourself only by the absence of your foreskin u really have a mental-health-problem.

I for myself thanked the doctor who finally noticed that i had a tight foreskin and circumcised me. My life improved but not only because i was circumcised but because i realised that every problem has many ways to solve them.

So instead of fixating yourself on your lost foreskin try fixating yourself on healing your mind.

Why not, i mean i was 17 when the doc at school finally got the hint and discovered my tight foreskin, well truth be told i was to embarrassed to tell my parents or the doctor directly so i tried to let him know without actually telling him. (We where 2 boys with the doctor at the same time, so if i had told him directly the whole class / school would have known)

Anyway the doc discovered it, said nothing but wrote it down and told me to get the note to my parents. And about 1 week later i was circumcised, 15 days after that i had the best sex ever ;D

Anyway if u want to get circumcised, get it done!

But i agree, i would never force it on a boy - routine infant circumcision is just wrong.

I'm glad you're happy with the outcome, but in Europe, there's no way you'd have been circumcised within one week of being seen by a GP. Circumcision is treated as a last resort and is rarely actually necessary. American doctors only seem to know one thing about foreskins though, and that's how to cut them off.

Here are some alternative treatments:
http://www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_alternative_treatments.html

It seems really strange for the doc not to have seen each boy separately btw.

I agree with this 100%. When I was in elementary school, I hated being uncircumcised so bad I considered cutting my own frenulum so that my foreskin might stay retracted to be more like the other kids my age. I know that would have been a terrible decision but that is how much I disliked my foreskin. I could never bring myself to it, but I also considered looking into having it removed professionally without the knowledge of my parents.

I only went to school with two other boys that I knew of being circumcised (just noticed in the locker room, etc.) but to my knowledge the rest of my friends were. It bothered me less through middle school even though boys are boys and like to point out differences (gay, lol). In high school, it never even crossed my mind as I started fooling around with girls and none of them seemed to notice or care.

Now I am so thankful that I was left intact and would have been devastated to have made a hasty decision when I was too young to understand. Moral of the story: if my parents would have asked me when I was 13 if I wanted to be circumcised I would have unequivocally said yes. Then when I came about sexual age I would have deeply regretted it.

13 year olds don't know what they want for dinner, let alone whether or not they will like their foreskin once they start messing with girls (or boys, whatever). If you don't circumcise your son, THEY decide when they turn 18 what they want. Shame on the original poster for biasing their kids research and attempting to bribe them to cut of a part of themselves! Disgraceful.

If your son didn't want circumcision, would you have let him remain uncircumcised?, if not, please continue reading, although its only my opinion and you don't have to listen to it.   I am aware that he agreed to it, but he's old enough to make decisions for himself, it's his body. At thirteen years of age, a person should be able to decide what part of their OWN body they want to keep; his body, his decision.  And anyway, there's absolutely no medical reason for circumcision, and even though it is said that circumcision prevents disease, at the end of the day, its like amputating your feet to avoid athletes foot, or cutting your ears off to avoid ear wax.  If he didn't want it done, he would be within his right to sue you and the doctor, from the day he turned 18.  Just wanted to know if you would have had him circumcised him against his wishes, because apparently, circumcision preventing HIV is a myth, doctors say it so people pay for circumcision and doctors earn a shitload more money, (that's just what I've read, it may not be true).

Funny though, i was born and raised in germany, still live there. I had the note from the doctor at school and handet it to my parents after school, my parents read it and told me to see our family-doctor - i did the same afternoon. Our family-doctor was a woman and she only asked why i was there and i just gave her the note i got at school. She read it and said i would have to see another doc and made a appointment at the hospital for the next day. I went there right after school and meet with a surgeon, he asked me a few question and finally checked me down there just to confirm what i already knew, that i had a phimosis and needed to be circumcised - even though i also wanted to be cut because i find it quite attractive but thats just my opinion. Well he told me that he would perform the op himself and that he had an opening the same week on friday so i agreed and had my parents meet up with him the next day to get the paperwork out of the way. Well thats how it was, i wont go into the bloody details and yes there was some blood. Seriously i take a pitty with you - those alternative treatments you intactivists are talking about are a modern form of torture to a teenager. You see sometimes the "easy" way to deal with a problem is really just that - sure like i stated in my post above i dont support forcing something like circumcision on a boy but if he is old enough to play with it, he definitly is old enough to have a say in this matter. So as a parent you have to "men up" and get your son educated about his options and that includes ALL the options with all there Pro's and Con's. And maybe even a consultation with a doctor for that matter so the boy can make up his mind and decide for himself or at least give his opinion on the matter.

If a patient wants the best treatment in the world, where who that patient go? USA If a medical student wants to get the best education possible, where would that student attend a university? USA What country leads in medical research and the development of most new drugs? USA You should beging to see a theme here. It is amazing just how many foreign medical students and doctors there are in the US.

Steroid creams and stretching are hardly a form of torture. I'd go through a lot of pain anyway to avoid circumcision, which I would regard as the worst possible solution. Sometimes it has to be done, but it's rarely actually necessary. The rate of medically required male circumcision in the UK is down to 1 in 140 and dropping.