Spinoff: If you were born in the 70's or 80's and your parents were anti-circ... - Page 3

[bugmenot]

Originally Posted by Minarai

I was born in the 80s and my brother in the 90s.
My brother was initially left intact but was circ'd later because of all the old arguments

I became an intactivist because I felt I could have done something to prevent his suffering (albeit I was a toddler at the time) and my entire family hates me because of it, calling me a "wack-a-doodle" and a "pervert." I have since resolved to leave the country for good and NEVER let anyone in my family have contact with my children (if I ever have any).

Yet, the real pervert is the one who gets paid to slice up penises!

[Veritaserum]

Originally Posted by BlessedMommy2006

This is kind of a spin off, but just wondered for those of you who are guys born in the 1970's or 80's and left intact, or for those of you who are women who wouldn't have been circ'ed if you were male or whose brothers were intact, how did your parents learn about intactness and how did they dodge the circumcision assembly line?

My dad is intact, so he thought circumcision was a pretty stupid thing to do. My four brothers (born 1978 - 1988) are all intact.

[dollysods]

I would not have been circ'd had I been a boy.

My in-laws were hippies on a commune-- so no circs for their sons.

[SlackerDad]

I don't quite fit your criteria as I was born in 1969. In my case, my parents were American grad students doing research in Kenya when my mother became pregnant. They planned to return to the U.S. for her to give birth, but the airline would not let her on the plane. So I was born there, where RIC is not performed, and by the time they got back to the U.S. they had gotten used to me in my intact state (which is an interesting side point: if you think about it, there is no reason to do a circ so quickly after birth, except to keep parents from doing exactly like mine did and getting used to the intact penis and thus getting cold feet--also, they've got the baby in the hospital already in most cases which makes it easier to accomplish while parents are in a foggy state of mind).

I am tremendously grateful to that airline for not letting my mom on the plane, even though after 9/11 it caused me a great deal of hassle when I applied for a passport.

[RJones1204]

My oldest brother (from my Dad's first marriage) is from the 70s and he was circed. My dad watched it and he said "NEVER AGAIN!!!". So my other brother was born in the 80s and my dad told my mom before they even had kids that any boys they had WOULD be left intact. So my other brother was left alone. And my dad even made my mom watch a video way back then. They were both in agreement.

[Juvysen]

I don't have any brothers... but my mom was adamantly anti-circ (my dad adamantly pro, so it's probably good that i don't have any brothers...). Apparently she became anti-circ when she was at the hospital either giving birth, the days after birth, or visiting someone in the maternity ward and happened across a circumcision in progress. When she found out *I* was having a boy, she went on and on and on about how horrible it is and how no one can possibly tell her that that little baby was not in pain from the operation. So I guess it was just from the trauma of having seen it. This would have been in the very early 80s.

My midwife said she had the same feeling about it when she was in nursing school and had to help out with them. Her son (born in the early 90s? late 80s?) is apparently not circ'd for that reason... she just saw it as brutal and unnecessary?

[graceomalley]

Doctors were outspoken about it here by the mid 70s. I asked my Mum once and she said she read about it being unnecessary and cruel before she got married.

[Meadowlark1978]

My brother born in 1986 is intact. My mother was an RN and had seen them done. She thought it was a barbaric and unnecessary. DH born in 1972 on the other hand has a botched circ. His mother is very pro-circ even though DH's was such a mess. She actually gave me grief because my sons aren't circ'ed. She is all about looking like everyone else especially FIL.

[Frootloop]

Ugh, I just realized something. My DH is circ'd (and rather tightly, unfortunately).. and he was born almost 3 months premature in 1978 and wasn't *supposed* to make it. I wonder when they circumcised him? I know that he had to have surgery for a hernia at some point after he had gotten to go home. I'm hoping that that is the time he was circ'd, since he was already under anethesia. Circumcision disgusts me anyway, but the idea of circ'ing such a preemie (and likely with no anesthesia whatsoever) makes me want to bawl my head off and vomit repeatedly.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by Frootloop

Ugh, I just realized something. My DH is circ'd (and rather tightly, unfortunately).. and he was born almost 3 months premature in 1978 and wasn't *supposed* to make it. I wonder when they circumcised him? I know that he had to have surgery for a hernia at some point after he had gotten to go home. I'm hoping that that is the time he was circ'd, since he was already under anethesia. Circumcision disgusts me anyway, but the idea of circ'ing such a preemie (and likely with no anesthesia whatsoever) makes me want to bawl my head off and vomit repeatedly.

My MIL seems to think it's some sort of christian doctrine that boys/men be circ'd or they won't go to heaven. She'd TOTALLY do the same thing, if she could. I have no doubt.

[Frootloop]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

My MIL seems to think it's some sort of christian doctrine that boys/men be circ'd or they won't go to heaven. She'd TOTALLY do the same thing, if she could. I have no doubt.

Not surprising at all. My cousin feels the exact same way.
You know, I've never brought it up with MIL since DH and I can't have children together, but I wonder what her reasoning was back then.. or if she was coerced or whatever. I don't know if religion played into it, and I know we can't discuss that here, but she's a VERY strict Catholic.

[MyBoysBlue]

Apparently the Catholics are against circumcision. That is one of the reasons almost everyone in my family is intact.

[Sk8ermaiden]

Originally Posted by MyBoysBlue

Apparently the Catholics are against circumcision. That is one of the reasons almost everyone in my family is intact.

Yup, my intact DH and BIL are a result of devout Catholic parents. My (intact) FIL even went to seminary.

And I know the Mexican population here is largely Catholic and largely intact.

[Frootloop]

Originally Posted by MyBoysBlue

Apparently the Catholics are against circumcision. That is one of the reasons almost everyone in my family is intact.

Originally Posted by Sk8ermaiden

Yup, my intact DH and BIL are a result of devout Catholic parents. My (intact) FIL even went to seminary.

And I know the Mexican population here is largely Catholic and largely intact.

Really?? I had no idea. Huh.. learn something new every day! Well, now I'm definitely curious as to why DH was circ'd, as MIL has always been a devout Catholic. I have no idea if BIL is circumcised (DH's older brother). I really don't want to bring this up to MIL, but I'm just really very curious.

[njeb]

Originally Posted by glongley

Well, I am one of those mothers who had two sons in the 1980s. I did not circumcise them for two main reasons: 1) I had seen circumcisions in nursing school and knew them to be barbaric, and 2) I was into natural everything, did all the attachment parenting things - which meant respecting my children's bodily integrity. My parents also had taught me to think for myself, and not to follow the crowd, so I think that also helped.

Gillian

Me, too. My sons were born in the 70's and 80's and are intact.

In my case, however, I credit it to the fact that my sons were born at home, and my midwives were very anti-circ. I thank my midwives from the bottom of my heart that they educated me!

[Otto]

Originally Posted by Frootloop

Really?? I had no idea. Huh.. learn something new every day! Well, now I'm definitely curious as to why DH was circ'd, as MIL has always been a devout Catholic.

The Catholic Church is indifferent to circumcisions for cultural or perceived health reasons, the assessment of which is up to the parents. It's a pretty well known dispute; for authority, it's probably easiest to just ask a priest if you don't want to bring it up with the MIL.

[lillacfaerie]

I think for my parents it was easy. They didn't have their sons circumsized because my dad said it was "unnecessary mutilation". We are first generation american though. I think my parents did a lot of things differently than everyone else.

[Birdie B.]

My husband, born in 1975 to teenage parents, is circumcised. But, his parents saw how horrible it was and became staunchly anti-circ. His younger brother was left intact.

I have no idea about my dad or brothers, but I suspect they are cut, because my brother had his son circumcised. Against his wife's objections.

[GinnyMama]

My husband, born in 1980, is intact. His father is circ'd. The entire reason that he is intact is because the hospital forgot to do it right after the birth, and they never got around to making the appointment. I thank my lucky stars every day for this mistake. Unfortunately, DH's parents had no idea how to take care of an intact penis and I'm nearly sure they retracted him to clean. There doesn't seem to be any lasting damage, thank goodness, but I shudder to think of the suffering DH went through.

I don't have a CLUE whether my parents would have circ'd me if I was a male. I was born in 1986. I don't know if my dad is circ'd... I think he is, but I'm not sure. Considering how mainstream they were back then, (formula fed me, left me to CIO, etc.) I'd say I probably would have been circ'd. *shudder* They haven't said a thing about my DS being intact (although he is only a week old, so who knows), but they also know that I'm pretty crunchy compared to them, and they know better than to argue.