To Cut or Not To Cut?

Have you heard about this?  I recently learned about this tribe in Africa with a very unusual tradition. This tradition dates back hundreds of years.  You see, the tribe felt that the outer ear lobe was a useless part of the body and started to remove them from their infant children.  Being that it was so long ago, medical research was not what it is today.  The tribe felt that the outer ear lobe led to dirty ears and ear infections.  Instead of teaching children to properly clean their ears they started to remove the outer ear from infants in order to prevent ear infections.  Infants were restrained and the unnecessary part of the ear was removed; it was a painful procedure.  Eventually local anesthetics were discovered to make the procedure more comfortable for the baby.  Most of the time the ear removal was done well and there were no complications for the child, but not always.  Here is the dilemma, modern research shows that the outer lobe of the ear actually serves a function.  It actually protects the ear and directs sound waves into the ear.  And as you and I know, with proper care and cleaning, we can keep the ear clean and minimize ear wax.  But the tradition in the tribe remains.  Due to the culture of the tribe, the tradition, and the desire of the parents to have their children's ears look like their own, the antiquated tradition still remains.

If you were to speak with one of these expectant parents, what would you tell them.  It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?  It is ridiculous and the story is completely fake.  I made it up to prove a point.  I think it is safe to guess that a majority of you who would tell an expectant couple in the tribe to leave their baby's ears intact, would have their son circumcised.  You wouldn't dare remove an ear but you wouldn't think twice about removing the foreskin from his penis, which is very sensitive and filled with nerve endings.

I chose to not have my son circumcised when he was born and I don't regret that decision at all.  I couldn't see any reason to put my baby through that pain and the possibility of have physical problems if the circumcision doesn't go well... for no real good reason at all.  There really is no medical reason behind doing it and it was originally started for religious reasons.  In fact, circumcision isn't performed on boys for non-religious reasons in any other country besides the USA.  I think most Americans would shudder to think of circumcising a female, yet it is performed in 28 African countries (more commonly called female genital mutilation).  If circumcision was called male genital mutilation, would you still consider having it done to your child?

Obviously, the decision of whether or not to have a baby circumcised is left up to the parents and if you are already the parent of a boy, what's done is done.  But I do think that circumcision is too popular in America, for all the wrong reasons.  Therefore, I'm presenting you with my opinion and some starter facts.  For anyone that will have a boy in the future, before deciding to have your son circumcised, do your own research.  The medical evidence for the procedure is very limited, meaning the medical risks circumcision is thought to reduce are very limited and avoidable in non-invasive ways.  It is a painful procedure, don't let the idea that an infant won't "remember" the experience fool you into believing that your baby will not feel pain.  And lastly, let your child decide if they want to be circumcised when they are an adult.  They can always remove their foreskin later, but it cannot be put back.

I leave you on this note, have you ever seen how a circumcision is performed?  I haven't either.  But I found a picture on the internet and it looks so terribly painful!