As an Austrian, circumcision is a fairly new thing to me. In Europe circumcision is not automatically offered to new parents at the hospital. It is only administered, if medically necessary. 

So when I moved to the United States, where circumcision seems like a routine procedure, I had to get some more information. And where do we get all our good information? – Google! And Google came up with the following explanation:

“Circumcision is the surgical removal of the foreskin, the tissue covering the head(glans) of the penis . It is an ancient practice that has its origin in religious rites. Today, many parents have their sons circumcised for religious or other reasons.” (webmd.com)

The first thought I had in my mind, after reading this result of my Google search was: “But why???” I still didn’t know why circumcision is such a routine procedure in America. 

I have a 12 year old son, who was born in Austria. As mentioned before, in Austria circumcisions are not performed, unless medically necessary. And my son has had a normal life without any problems with his intact foreskin. So I asked myself, would he have had a better life, without his foreskin? 

Needless to say, I got right back to research and found a movie on Netflix, named “American Circumcision”, which I watched with horror. In the movie is explained, what happens during circumcisions and how babies have to undergo this procedure without any anesthesia and some even go into a kind of a trance state because their body shuts down with all the pain. 

They talked about how circumcisions don’t always go as planned and the baby’s (and later man’s) penis would never be the same again. The procedure is performed by a pediatrician and not a plastic surgeon. And I am sure the pediatrician is amazing, but he is not a plastic surgeon. The decision whether you are going to have your child circumcised or not, can have a bigger impact on your child, than you think. 

I don’t want to lead anybody one way or another on such a controversial topic as circumcisions, all I ask, is that you get informed. By all means! Talk to your doctor (s), google the topic, watch movies, read books. Every mother (and father!) should go out and research this topic to be able to make an informed decision for their son. 

Love, Sabine