Is Infant Circumcision Immoral?

[Bluewind]

I always felt jealous as a teen that other girls had pierced ears and I couldn't because my body rejected them. I tried several times too and they all closed up quickly and got infected as well. One time when I was nearly 20, I stuck with it for months dealing with infection all the time when it finally stuck. I thought I finally had pierced ears, but my ears would get red and irritated whenever I tried to wear earnings even years after. I found out just recently that while nickel is a common allergy, some people react badly to metal piercings in general (some even to things like white gold) especially if they're put in with a gun (which can't be properly sterilized). It's rare that I ever miss not wearing earnings now, but now that I know why I had problems I might buy some earrings that are safe for me for special occasions. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a tasteful nostril piercing when I turn 40. ;)

[aitm]

My dislike of pierced ears is purely selfish. When my kid was 2 I loved to nibble on her ear lobes…..I told the wife absolutely not. So she had her bitch aunt do it when they took her to the mall. I was so goddamned pissed off……

and now, the grandkid was 3 and those little earlobes were so nibbly….fucking bitches ruined those too……yeah I like little girl ear lobes…go fuck yourself!

[drunkenshoe]

Can we add puncturing holes in little girls ears so they be adorned with metal crap that women think looks "cute" but I think looks horrendous?

Definitely.

[drunkenshoe]

My dislike of pierced ears is purely selfish. When my kid was 2 I loved to nibble on her ear lobes…..I told the wife absolutely not. So she had her bitch aunt do it when they took her to the mall. I was so goddamned pissed off……

and now, the grandkid was 3 and those little earlobes were so nibbly….fucking bitches ruined those too……yeah I like little girl ear lobes…go fuck yourself!

They had her ears pierced when she was a toddler?

[Bluewind]

They had her ears pierced when she was a toddler?

It's actually very common in some cultures. I find it a little odd myself. It's not as massive an invasion as removing the foreskin in my opinion (unless it's the earlobe stretching kind), but it's still cosmetic alterations without consent. I've honestly never thought of the moral implications of it until now.

@aitm
What your spouse did was wrong on so many levels. She got your daughter's ears pierced against your wishes behind your back, she had it done at a mall where the staff is usually under trained and use a piercing gun (which is extremely unsterile and pushes tissue to the side instead of creating a hole which can cause problems with the hole later on in life), and she did it when your daughter was too young to give consent. It would have been different if she was a teen begging for piercings and she got them from a trained professional piercer (they are trained in anatomy, have minimum of 1 year internship, and use sterile needles and equipment and medical grade autoclave).

[aitm]

They had her ears pierced when she was a toddler?

Oh yeah, and of course about three days later she slipped in the tub and hit her ear on the side of the tub and it bled like crazy and she was screaming to take it out......yeah...I was really pissed then.

[drunkenshoe]

It's actually very common in some cultures. I find it a little odd myself.

It's in the one I live, but rare in our community. Mostly the conservative, low educated class here does that.

[drunkenshoe]

Oh yeah, and of course about three days later she slipped in the tub and hit her ear on the side of the tub and it bled like crazy and she was screaming to take it out......yeah...I was really pissed then.

Well... All I can offer is, 'don't worry she won't remember it'.

[gentle_dissident]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/baby-dies-circumcision-ritual-herpes_n_1322420.html

"The boy is the second New York area infant in recent years to die from complications related to the Orthodox Jewish ritual of metzitzah b’peh, during which “the mohel places his mouth on the freshly circumcised penis to draw blood away from the cut,” according to the New York City Department of Heath."

[Nonsensei]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/baby-dies-circumcision-ritual-herpes_n_1322420.html

"The boy is the second New York area infant in recent years to die from complications related to the Orthodox Jewish ritual of metzitzah b’peh, during which “the mohel places his mouth on the freshly circumcised penis to draw blood away from the cut,” according to the New York City Department of Heath."

Just when you thought circumcision couldn't get any stranger.

[Bluewind]

Yes. Ritualized circumcision is the most bizarre. In any other circumstance if someone said part of their job involved sucking the blood out of babies penises, they would get thrown in jail so fast their head would spin, but under the umbrella of religion they must be allowed to preform the unsterile practice on an unconsenting (and quite frankly unwilling) recipient.

[Baruch]

Which is why your mom, who used a pin, to get a splinter out of you, should be in jail, for practicing medicine without a license.

Mind you, I would recommend sterile procedures for everything, including circumcision.  Tradition doesn't trump sterile procedure.

If someone used their mouth, to suck a wound, because they didn't have proper medical supplies, would you take it as a perverse sex act?

[Bluewind]

The problem isn't about using unsterile procedures in emergency or acute situation. This is less like a parent preforming first aid and more like a parent slicing open their child's arm and sucking on the wound because it's a tradition. If they have to cut a chunk off their kid because it's part of their religion, it should be done as clean and sterile as possible. It not only protects the child, but the person preforming it as well. Plenty of people have no clue they have an STD and can pass it on to their child as he or she is being born. As many children and the person preforming the surgery must see, the probability of contracting some type of disease is very high even if it is a minor one. The practitioner might be asymptomatic because of being an adult, but babies are going to be very susceptible to complications. This is a non emergency body modification preformed on babies which I find immoral even when done by a doctor, but to do it in a way that is so outright unsafe when a safe alternative is available it the equivalent of going to a professional piercer who uses a thumb tac she found in her drawer.

Also, I was pointing out the ridiculous of the practice. If there was no religious context to sucking the blood off a minor's genitals, that person would be in huge trouble with the law rather it was part of a tradition or not. It wouldn't matter if the person didn't enjoy it. Hell, you could just replace the religion with a pagan one or satanism and everybody would be losing their minds over the fact that it was allowed to happen.

[infidelguy]

None of my boys were circumcised.

[pr126]

None of my boys were circumcised.

Hey there Reggie, haven't seen you in years. How are you doing?