cultural norm

[ShelleyMom2in2]

Id like to vomit now....a lady from MA ojust told me her son would be circd because its the cultural norm uke: anyone have any stats I can give her to show her she is a moron? she is only concerned with the boston area and doesnt care that circ rates are dropping l;ike a bomb in the rest of the usa.

[Quirky]

Hmmmm.....if she lived in an African society where it is the cultural norm to circumcise a girl, would she do that? Ask her that.

If it became the norm to tattoo babies at birth, would she do that?

In other words, she's trying to follow fashion trends and is willing to allow her baby boy to undergo cosmetic surgery on his penis because everyone else is doing it? When her daughter is 13 and wants a boob job because her breasts are smaller than everyone else's, is she going to do that too?

Good luck with this one. She sounds like a prize specimen.

[jessjgh1]

I'm in the Boston area-- the area is fairly diverse so I'm sure the intact rate would be fairly high.

I know a lot of people in the Boston area who did not circ their sons-- like me, who are white and who went against the family norm. I also know a few Jewish families who did not circumcise. I certainly don't feel alone- the nurses and pedi are supportive and knowledgable- but still approach things from a circ bias-- meaning they ask "are you planning to circumcise" instead of NOT asking at all or asking "are you planning to leave your son intact?"

I don't know how to find regional statistics.

It sounds like an excuse, so maybe as her friend you can try to find the real reason behind her resistance?

Jessica

[Kleine Hexe]

That's the lamest excuse and I hear it all the time. :

[aira]

I lived in Boston for 15 years. I think it's one of the lowest circ rates in the country - balancing the stats coming from the mid-west.

I don't know how to find regional figures, but I can tell from personal account there that *many* moms are leaving their boys intact - including Jewish.

Prize specimen, indeed.

[Frankly Speaking]

I ran across this scholarly writing about the cultural aspect of circumcision a couple of days ago. It may help to understand and combat it:


http://faculty1.coloradocollege.edu/...53/Henerey.pdf



Frank

[ChristaN]

This won't give you exact figures for Boston, but does give some good info including regional variations in circ rates:

http://www.cirp.org/library/statistics/bollinger2004/

[ShelleyMom2in2]

thank you for the links, I will read them after the babies go down for thenight.
This woman is not my 'friend' I really know nothing about her but we are members of the same BBBoard. I am going to have to wash my hands of the subject there because they dont want to know the trueth. There is another woman trying to 'attack' me all I can say is blah whatever. I tried. And I did so in a nice informative scientific way and they dont care what they are doing. So well Im sorry for their kids but I cant do a thing to make them listen.
You know Im pretty sure if someone from that board found this I could be booted from there. Oh well I guess. Im just tired of trying to be nice and informative so they dont make the same mistakes I did (my oldest is circd)
I cant wait until my boys are older and the circ rate is almost 0 then I dont have to feel sick everytime I see someone mainstream is having a boy.

[hummingbear]

One of your most powerful statements might be to say that you circ'd your first and now wish that you hadn't.