New here but needed someone to laugh with

[ariekannairb]

Ok maybe I shouldnt be laughing at ignorance, but yesterday for the first time in years I visited my parents church. Babe stays with me so I nipped off to the nursery to change and feed him. While I was changing him an older lady whom I have "known" for as long as I can remember commented on my son being intact, and then proceeds to lecture me on what a disservice I have done for him. She of course has a story about a 40 year old friend who had to get one done because of infection and then tells me that its going to cause problems for his future partner!

I calmly replied that I have an intact partner and believe you me, there are NO problems

Anyways she must have went on for ages about how wrong I was to leave him intact. I did make the occassional comment about how cruel and uneccessary it is and that even the medical community can see that there is no real purpose in butchering a new borns perfect penis, but it was to no avail. I finally ended the conversation by refusing to talk about it any more.

When I got in my car I very nearly laughed out loud at how horribly out of date and just flat out wrong her information was! It is unlikely that she will ever shift though. I guess its a generational thing, especially here in the states where it is still done so routinely.


Hows that for a first post in this section LOL!

[Crunchy Frog]

I think that my inclination in such a situation might be to begin making comments about aspects of her body that could probably use some improvement or surgical intervention. If she were to then protest, I would agree with her that it's very inappropriate to make those sorts of comments about other people's bodies.

Either that, or ask her why she finds the subject of your son's penis to be of such great interest. I don't know why people even think that sort of discussion is appropriate.

[l_olive]

Exactly.

Say as loudly and clearly as you can, "Please stop talking about my son's genitals. Your interest in his sex organs is inappropriate and disturbing."

[latinalonestar]

My MIL just told me the "horror" of how many boys having to have a circ b/c it was too tight. Then she proceeded to tell me that ds ballooning was not normal. I kindly sent her Dr. Fleiss's article and told her that she was wrong. We have not discussed it since. The old birds think they know everything!

I'd tell you to print her some info, but it will probably fall on deaf ears.

[Arduinna]

It's not generational, it's cultural. There are many many people my grandparents age that were intact and know the truth. Either you come from an intact culture or you don;t, it doesn't matter how old you are. And sadly I've many frustrating conversations with young people that convinced circ is the norm and refuse to change their minds too.

[1littlebit]

Originally Posted by Arduinna

It's not generational, it's cultural. There are many many people my grandparents age that were intact and know the truth. Either you come from an intact culture or you don;t, it doesn't matter how old you are. And sadly I've many frustrating conversations with young people that convinced circ is the norm and refuse to change their minds too.

me too. if i didn't love my friends so much for a 100 other things i might have to get new ones. i am hoping they learn by the time they have kids.. but i am not counting on it.

[perspective]

Its crazy what people believe. The more hard facts you see about how healthy an intact man is, the more situations like yours remind me of videos from Africa or the middle east where people talk about the NEED to cut off little girls clitorises because it will lead to health problems.

Culture scares me sometimes.

[Frankly Speaking]

Originally Posted by ariekannairb

While I was changing him an older lady whom I have "known" for as long as I can remember commented on my son being intact, and then proceeds to lecture me on what a disservice I have done for him.

You have to realize what she was doing was trying to convince you to join her "club." Just the presence of a happy and healthy baby with a foreskin is a threat to her. It says that she did something that was unnecessary or even worse, somewhat perverted to her own son. The rapidly falling circumcision rate is a threat to them too. After all, who would want to be the last person to do this?



Frank

[Magali]

There are so many body parts that can get sick or infected if not taken care of. The circ for hygiene argument makes no sense to me at all. We don't pull teeth as soon as they come in for fear of them decaying etc .