i’d just remove “convince” from the title. you know i am 100% with you on that one, it’s just that i do think that people should do what they want to do. if they wanna do it, it will make me sad for their children, but until we are a more enlightened society, it is within their prerogative.

BTW, to those who tell you “I don’t want my child to be different” try and answer: “And should the once in a lifetime opportunity rise for you to move to, say, the US, or somewhere incredible that you always wanted to move to, not even for forever, just for a couple of (probably defining) years. would it bother you that your child will ultimately be completely different from everybody else?” Funny how their logic takes them just as far as comfortable.

I fully agree with you that circumcision should not be performed on babies. I was circumcized as a baby, and I wish I had not been.

At the same time though, I want to point out to you that it is a scientific statistic that men who are uncircumcised have a higher chance at getting STDs including HIV, as the virus or bacteria become trapped in the foreskin.

That being said, if I had a son, he would not be circumcised until he was old enough to make the decision for himself.

I struggled with this decision, mainly because talking with my husband about it was difficult to say the least. For one he got very uncomfortable and squeamish (score one point for not doing it in my books!). But I had pretty much decided I was NOT going to do it and I don’t know how he could have convinced me circumcision was the best choice. I did my research, asked the questions. I knew for one thing the argument of being different carried no weight for me. I was a little uncertain in regards to the health benefits but in the end decided that proper hygiene practises were the best weapon to prevent that, although not a guarantee. At first when the pediatrician told me about the increased risk of being infected with an STD or HIV I felt very conflicted. But after a short time of thinking this one over decided this too was not enough to disuade me, since being circumsized is not PROTECTION from the virus or STD’s that one comes down to open and frank discussion between myself and my children and educating them about the risks and protection. In the end it was an easy decision for me.