When did you first learn about circ? - Page 2

[Nathan1097]

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

Anyways, my NEXT boyfriend, at 19, was circumcised, and I remember wondering what was wrong with his penis. I mean really, the circ does reduce the possibility for play IYKWIM.

So I ASKED what the deal was, because I am the queen of in the lovin' department. He was kinda pissed about it, but did explain. :LOL

:LOL "Honey, what's wrong with your thing?" ( : <---- Eightyferrettoes )

Originally Posted by eightyferrettoes

The relationship was shortlived after that.

Ah relationships! I had a similar experience once, but it wasn't about if he was circ'd or not.

[applejuice]

I was nine years old.

After four sisters, I had a brother!

My brother was born at home.

My parents kept him intact. My Father was intact.

As she changed his diaper once, mother noted to me that in the Jewish religion the end of the penis is cut off.

I realy could not imagine what she was talking about.

Later at age 13, when I began babysitting and changing diapers of other baby boys, I knew what she meant.

However I was not babysitting Jewish boys.

These were Christian babies whose parents circumcised them.

At age fourteen, I had another little brother born at home and he was kept intact.

When I was sixteen I worked for a kosher catering service and often I catered small parties at homes where the brit milah was carried out.

So, I had a learning experience at nine, thirteen, fourteen, and sixteen.

We never stop learning.

[applejuice]

A post script:

Each of my brothers has a son of his own, and those little guys are intact also.

One of them is born at home.

[Nathan1097]

Originally Posted by Kathryn

When I first started having relations with men, they were almost all circed. I always would spend a few minutes looking them over and mentally pointing out all the mess ups caused by circing. I saw at least 3 on every guy.

Sort of goes with my last reply.

Did any of these guys realize you were "critiquing" their circs?

[trmpetplaya]

Yeah, my family is Christian (so I don't understand why they chose to do it, but it was probably just because it was what was done - "hygiene") and my parents explained it by telling me about the circumcision in the Old Testament. I had forgotten about that part...

love and peace.

[eightyferrettoes]

Originally Posted by Nathan1097

:LOL "Honey, what's wrong with your thing?" ( : <---- Eightyferrettoes )
.

:LOL I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed.

[RubyWild]

It was years before I heard a negative side.

In high school, I heard about a boy in the school who was not circumcised. Girls were saying they wouldn't want to date him because of it. It was the first I'd heard about it. Later, I was there when my nephew was circumcised. He slept through it. It all seemed good, something hygenic and what I was used to.

Years later, when I was pregnant, my husband said that he would not want a son circumcised. This was a shock to me. I'd heard of female genital mutilation, but I didn't think of it that way for men. It was then that I learned that my husband felt that his parents shouldn't have done that to him, mutilated him in that way. He understood that they did what they thought was right, and, in fact, had no reason to question it back then. Still, he was adamantly against it for a child of his, and I learned about the other side of it then.

[jyurina]

I also thought it was just something that was done. Then while ironing out birth plan details for ds's birth I was being SO adamnat about no episiotomy and then checked the box that said to circumcese our son. My husband said a very empathic NO WAY(He is circed) he asked me why I said no episiotomy. I said it hurt like hell and was totally unnecessary(yeah I know DUH!) He said he would go along if I researched circumcision. I went to the NOCIRC website and cried for hours that I had even considered it. BTW I ended up with an episiotomy and that pain made me even more angry that i even considered it.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

I dont remember how old i was but I can remember my mother talking about my oldest brother who was left intact because the dr didnt beleive in it. But when he was 3 he had to have it done because of infection and his stream was very thin and it was ballooning. At the time didnt really think that much about it cause I never intended to have kids :LOL but by the time I was 18-20 and got interested in finding my life partner(i was a late developer in that reagaurd) :LOL I just knew that if I ever had a son I wouldnt do that to him. It just seemed so barbaric to my mind and still does.

[sarahsmothering]

I first found out at the age of 9, when my baby brother was born. I thought it was crappy - but just the way things were - since I was at the age when I was realizing a lot of things in life are crappy. I was led to believe that's just the way things had to be. I obviously now know better.

The bf's I've had were circ'd except one... and once I experienced how wonderful uncirc'd is I never wanted to go back! unfortunately you can't control who you fall in love with on the condition of being circ'd or uncirc'd so I did end up marrying my dh who is circ'd. atleast we agree on one thing - if we have a little boy we are going to leave him be - in the perfect one piece he was made!

[sappylady]

I don't remember when I first learned about circ. I do remember when my best friends was pregnant at 17 I tried to talk her out of circ'ing her son. That is the first time I ever gave circ a real thought. I am not sure how or why I knew what it was.

[pjlioness]

I don't remember exactly when I heard about it, but I was pretty young. My folks were telling me about when I was born. My dad was in the Air Force then, so the birth was really cheap. My dad said my birth cost them $8, but if I had been a boy, I would have been circumcised and it would have been $11.

I don't remember when I found out exactly what being circ'd meant, but I know I had the notion that it was the thing to do, and no big deal.

When I was in high school in the mid-80's, my younger (male) cousin and I were staying with our grandparents. There was a story on some news show about circ. It talked about the pain and it being medically unnecessary. My cousin and I talked and decided that we wouldn't want to circ future kids. My cousin now has a son, but I don't know if he's circ'd or not, nor have I ever known if my cousin is, but I suspect he might not be.

When I told my dad we weren't going to circ if we had a boy, he said he was glad, because he'd always wished he was like his dad. OTOH, he still talks about how I would have cost $11 if I'd been a boy. If we ever get into a big discussion about it, I'll probably point him to info on it, but it doesn't seem all that urgent, as he's not rabidly for it.

So, anyway, at least on my dad's side, circ only lasted one generation. It's possible that his brother wasn't done - he was born a few years before my dad, who was born in 1944 - and likely that my cousin on that side wasn't - he was born in Germany and didn't live long. I think my mom's dad is intact, but I have no idea about her brother, who is the above-mentioned cousin's father. I'm proud to carry on the old tradition. :LOL

[Velvet005]

I first learned about circ when I was 17. I am an only child so I did not know there was any difference.

I was taking a healthcare class with my boyfriend (now DH ) it was a class to become a CNT (certified nurse technician - the one who does the "dirty" work) and the instructor was teaching about how to do bed baths and washing and intact (or uncircumsiced as she called it) penis. She taught us about pulling the foreskin back and everything (this was for a nursing home). At the time, I was given the impression that it was gross. However, when the time came for me to clean one, I did not find it to be any more gross than cleaning a circumsiced penis. Honestly, at 17, I did not care for cleaning any old man's genitals. That was the worst and most depressing job I ever had. I lasted all of 3 mos before I said no more. Some of the things I witnessed left me in tears. -Sorry I got off topic. It took me back to those days

[DavinaT]

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[DavinaT]

- Posting from Ireland: I suppose the first time I heard of it was when I was about 9 or 10 in bible study class in my (catholic) junior school. - Perhaps there was a reference to a biblical character being circumcised.
So I went home and asked by mother what circumcision was, she explained that it was an operation a doctor had to do where they cut off the skin at the top of a little boy's 'tinkie' (her little word for penis) if it got sick - like the way my sister's appendix was sick so she had it taken out. Then she asked me where I'd heard about it. When I told her it was in bible class, she explained that it was something all little jewish boys had done. When I asked why and if all their 'tinkies' got sick, she said no, it was becuase of their tradition. When I asked why (being at the age where I questioned everything) she said she didn't know and maybe I should ask the teacher - which I did and she told me that long long ago God had commanded them to do it at the time becuase they lived out in the desert them where there was no water to wash that part of them. I accepted this at the time.
I never knew what a circed penis looked like because here there are no circs carried out whatsoever, except in the case of medical neccessity - such as phimosis or ballinaitis or similar serious infections.
I was shocked to discover in my teens that thse were carried out almost routinely in the U.S. often with no medical basis whatsoever. My poor mother was even more shocked to learn this becuase as a child her generation had always looked to the states as being at the forefront of so many things modern including medecine and tradition.
In fact only, recently I saw a relgious documentary which featued a jewish ritual circumcision. To my horror this was not carried out in a hospital or doctors office under aseptic conditions with a local aneastheic but it a synagogue by a religious leader.
Now, when a child cries my first instinct would be to pick him up, comfort him and try to put right what was causing the problem - feeding, changing etc. But this little boy screamed in agony the way one would imagine a pig screaming as it was being butchered (I don't mean for this compatrison to offend anyone just to give an idea of how excruciating this sounded for the poor little baby) and those around it took not the slightest notice of his screams until they had finished cutting him.
Afterwards, his grandfather proudly told the reporter that the little boy was only 8 days old.
I had to leave the room. I literally felt physically sick.

[oliviagoddess]

I don't know, I think I was like 14 and I had a girlfriend and we were talking about sex. My mom heard us and said "Dear god, don't ever circ your sons, it's why American men are so bad in bed!" She was adamant and said that European men do it longer and have more fun.

Well this was enough to convince my teen hormones that it was a bad thing and stuck with that idea.

I only have a daughter but I have tried telling that to every girlfriend since. If only they'd believe me!

[katallen]

When my mom taught us about sex and body parts she also explained circumsicion. I don't know what age I first heard it because I heard it so much. She was very against circumsising because she had a good doctor who educated her about it and she made sure to educate us about it too.

[earthmama369]

Originally Posted by Frankly Speaking

It would be like going to the grocery store on a motorcycle.

Frank

*lol* I almost fell off my chair when I read that. Thanks.

The first time the difference between circ and intact came to my attention was when my husband and I started dating seriously *ahem* and I realized he was intact, which was new to me. I'd honestly never really thought about it one way or the other before that. (I don't have any brothers.) I just noticed that dh was more fun than previous experience had led me to believe guys could be in that respect.

Later, when I was pregnant, his mother explained that the hospital staff offered to have him circumsized when he was born and her mama instincts came roaring out and she told them if they tried to cut him there would be hell to pay. Good mama. I'd looked into it by that point and dh had made his feelings on the matter extremely clear when his nephew was circ'd, so she was pretty happy to hear that if we ever have a boy we wouldn't consider circ'ing.

[Venice Mamacita]

Like PPs, I learned about it when my first baby brother came home from the hospital, when I was 3.5. But I learned more about it when I was 7 and baby bro #2 came home. I remember it very vividly because the poor little guy's penis was so red & raw, and he cried every time he urinated the first few days he was home. It was awful. I kept asking why his penis hurt but his bellybutton didn't, and why did they have to cut him up like that?

Needless to say, when we got pregnant I was relieved to find that if we had a boy DH was adamantly opposed to circumcision (even though he'd been circ'd himself). He's an acupuncturist & alternative medicine practitioner and filled me in on all the medical info, which strengthened my resolve.

After DS was born, I did watch a couple of videos & saw photos of circumcisions, and it literally made me nauseous and very, very angry. Various friends and family members have commented that they think it's "weird" DS isn't circ'd, but we say -- "No, what's weird -- and cruel -- is routinely performing unnecessary surgery on a newborn infant with no anesthesia."

[Trinitty]

I can't remember when I first learned about it, but, my Mom is an ER nurse, and that's where they do most of them, the parents bring them by most often, leave their baby and then go get a coffee. My mom says it's one of the worst things she's ever seen (keep in mind the things she MUST see) and that she would never ever have it done to a little boy. I only have sisters. I hope my DH comes around and agrees with me before we have kids.