Post here if you were formerly pro-circ and changed your opinion on it!

[BlessedMommy2006]

Just an encouragement for all of us who are sharing facts with our friends...

[Marnica]

I guess I was pro circ. I never really thought about and and figured it was just what one did if they had a boy.

Began researching....saw a video...never went back. Little man is intact

[2boyzmama]

I'm going to post on behalf of my husband and my mom.

My mom circ'd my brother. I outright asked her about it and she said "well, it just never occured to me to question it, I questioned so many other things, but that didn't occur to me." I asked her what she would do if she had another boy NOW and at first she said "I probably wouldn't" then after reading more she said "I wouldn't do it unless the baby's father insisted on it" then when I pointed out to her how it's more than just a "not medically necessary thing" but an ethical thing, she said "you're right...I'm anti-circ now."

My husband was in the tribe of "it's just what's done". I told him I had been researching it, and was against it, and asked him to research it. A week later I asked if he had, he said no. The next day I had the video keyed up on the computer (the video that even "I" haven't watched, the research alone was enough for me) and I said "watch this, and if you agree that you will stand there next to our son while this is being done, then we can discuss it more, otherwise the issue is off the table, we're not doing it." He refused to watch it, said "fine, we won't do it, no big deal" and that was that!

A few months after our second son was born, we were at a mall and walked past a little 12 month old-ish girl getting her ears pierced, she was screaming while her mom held her down, and he said "why wound any parent hold down their child and rip a hole in them, just for cosmetic reasons???" I loosely equated it to circ (because I don't think it's nearly as heinous), and he finally "got it". He's now anti-circ

[CrunchyKnitter]

I guess I used to be. Not so much pro circ, but it's just what I thought was normal and needed to be done. I am Jewish (though not horribly religious) and my entire family (extended) had babies who are circumcised and are more religious than we are. Even being Jewish, after learning all that I have and the thought of putting my newborn through that for no good reason, just does not appeal to me.

[Quirky]

I used to be in the camp of assuming it had to be done. (Long before I got pregnant with my son, thankfully.)

My father grew up intact (born in 1938, so I guess maybe he missed the wave of mandatory hospital circs) but then chose to be circumcised while serving in the military in Viet Nam in 1966 or thereabouts.

The story I heard growing up was that he had to be circed because of "jungle infections" or some such nonsense. So yeah, I believed the whole "it's cleaner" thing growing up. And since it was my dad who "had" to be circed for "infections," rather than the cousin's friend's mechanic's barber's cousin...I thought I had good info.

As I now understand it from my mom, he was hoping the circ would solve a hair trigger problem. (Def. a TMI conversation to have with my mom.) Or maybe he wanted to look like all the other fighter pilots in the bunkers....I don't know. It's very possible he might have gotten flak, he went to an Ivy League school and belonged to a fraternity, and at the time it was all very upper/upper-middle-class white males. He has always been someone who's a conformist and cares what other people think, so I do think in his case social pressure may have had a lot to do with it.

I'm just glad I found Mothering and MDC while I was pregnant with my son! : Once I started researching it, it was a no-brainer to become an intactivist. DH has never been as intactivist as I am, and gets annoyed when I talk about it too much, but has been perfectly fine leaving ds intact and even advocated for my nephew (lost that battle but I was so proud of him for trying).

[Sasharna]

I used to think that an intact penis was "weird" and "looked funny". Then I did my research. Now when I think of circumcision, it is a sad thing. I think about generations upon generations of people slicing the genitals of infants and I think of that bizarre, complex web of cognitive dissonance supporting the practice. I can hardly believe now that there was a time I could think about infant circumcision and not be horrified. It truly feels like my eyes were opened.

[2boyzmama]

Originally Posted by Quirky

The story I heard growing up was that he had to be circed because of "jungle infections" or some such nonsense. So yeah, I believed the whole "it's cleaner" thing growing up. And since it was my dad who "had" to be circed for "infections," rather than the cousin's friend's mechanic's barber's cousin...I thought I had good info.

Something similar in my family. One of my older brothers was born in Australia, and was intact. When he was 5-ish (and in America) he "had" to be circ'd supposedly because his foreskin was too tight and he was having erections in his sleep causing splitting and bleeding.

I have talked to him about this...he's married, but has no kids (not sure if he ever will) but I wanted to ask him about it. I told him all of my research, and he listened pretty openly, but in the end he said he probably would still circ his son because he would never want an older child to go through the hell he went through (he remembers being circ'd). I asked him why he would put his newborn through that instead, and he said that his understanding is that the nerves aren't fully developed, it's a smaller wound, and their pain response is different as a newborn. All rubbish, as we know, but at least I've planted a seed. If he and his wife are ever pregnant, I'll bring it up again. Another of my older brothers left his son intact after doing a bit of research, so it's not a lost cause!

[~Christina~]

For me, I guess I was never "pro" either way. I had never heard any facts for either side so DH and I always just assumed we'd have any of our sons circ'd. After I had my first DD I babysat a little boy who had to have his forskin ripped away from the head of his penis at every well baby visit for the first 18 months b/c they didn't take enough of it off during his circ. Seeing how horrible that was was the first time I questioned why I would possibly chance putting my child through that. 5 years later when I was pg with my DS I knew 100% he would not be circ'd. A friend of mine passed on two awesome articles from Mothering and that sealed the deal for me. I now pass on those articles to anyone trying to decide.

[CrunchyChristianMama]

I always assumed I would circ my boys until I found MDC. One of the biggest selling points for me was learning about what some of the "minor" complications can be and realizing that my DH had them. I saw how it affected our sex life. Then I got angry and have joined the anti-circ crusade.

[Ron_Low]

I don't suppose I was every strongly in favor of cutting babbies because it contradicted my view that evolution wouldn't create a mistake, but I was strongly of the mind that it's no big deal, the foreskin is dirty, parents just need to choose, conformance with peers is vital, etc.

I didn't mind having a circumcised penis myself into my 20s because I had no idea what I was missing and - as I've found out by helping over 10,000 men restore their foreskins - my circumcision was about as far from botched as you can get.

I had been exposed to a pro-intact view through some radio discussions and magazine letters to the editor in the 80s. But it was persistent online activists in the mid/late '90s who helped me finally turn the corner and recognize what is trully lost in every circumcision and the horrid unacceptable risks that make some circumcisions especially dreadful.

When I knew what I had lost I grieved but lucky for us, some pioneers have created workable foreskin restoration techniques to undo an appreciable degree of the damage.

With no exaggeration, my wife and I are having the best sex of our lives at age 47 thanks to restoration.

[D'sMama]

Originally Posted by Sasharna

I used to think that an intact penis was "weird" and "looked funny". Then I did my research. Now when I think of circumcision, it is a sad thing. I think about generations upon generations of people slicing the genitals of infants and I think of that bizarre, complex web of cognitive dissonance supporting the practice. I can hardly believe now that there was a time I could think about infant circumcision and not be horrified. It truly feels like my eyes were opened.

: That's me, exactly.

Cognitive dissonance is for sure. Female genital mutilation? Oh, the HORROR. But male circumcision? Somehow that's cleaner, prettier, better and normal.

I don't understand how, but I thought that way too and absolutely thought I would circ my sons - until I got on mothering while pregnant and realized I was a damn fool.

[borobaby]

DH was pro-circ when we found out we were having a boy only because it is "what you do" . I told him I didn't want to circ and asked him to do research on it. he did and decided that we wouldn't do it! I think the main points that turned him were the circ rates at only a little above half in us and he just kept repeating that EVERYONE agrees that is Isn"t medically necessary.

[borobaby]

also...

Dh and I are christians, he was raised christian, i wasn't raised that way as much. I didn't know if he would want ds circ'ed cause I know it talks about it in the bible a lot. He mentioned that that was apart of old testament law and as Christians who believe in Jesus as the savior, we don't live by old testament law anymore. That was taken care of with the sacrifice of the Son. I thought that was interesting.

[CountryMommy]

I am mostly like the others who have posted about not really being for it but thought it was just something that just had to be done. Thankfully, I did my research before I had my son and did not circ him. I would never put him through such unnecessary pain.