A ped on my other board who circs (and teaches how)

[Quirky]

I saw in a post that she circed her two boys, offers circ, and teaches residents how to do them. Should I try to PM her and try to talk her out of it? Educate her? She's relatively crunchy in other ways, very supportive of BF, etc. I'm almost positive she doesn't circ for religious reasons from the way she talked about it.

I was thinking about sending her to the Taylor articles from the British Journal of Urology on the function and innervation of the foreskin, as well as the http://research.cirp.org site. This is not a person who's going to be convinced by non-medical journal articles, are there any others I should cite to her?

This other site is not about debate on parenting choices at all; although there are a lot of crunchy moms there there are a lot of mainstream moms too. It's more of a friendly "you're doing the best for your kids so no one else can judge" with AP leanings kind of site than one promoting AP/NFL in a hard-core way. I have feebeeglee's blog link in my siggie there and I know it gets noticed, as I've had PMs about it and Phoebe has seen traffic from that site on her website.

This is all by way of saying, I'm not sure whether and how to approach this doctor and what would be the best approach. I know she is going to be defensive both professionally and personally because of what she does for a living and the fact she circed both her sons.

[eightyferrettoes]

Why not? She may be a little defensive, but it could plant a seed. You don't have to fight her uphill, just share some info.

[Frankly Speaking]

Ooooh!!!! I would love to get into it on that one! I would definitely do what ever I could! This is an opportunity to make a huge difference.




Frank

[Quirky]

That's what I'm thinking, too - as someone who DOES circs and trains residents, she could have a huge impact if she would come away from the Dark Side! To move from Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica analogies :LOL converting her would be like taking out a Cylon mothership instead of just a Raider. :LOL

Any thoughts on other articles, Frank?

[feebeeglee]

Dr. Christiane Northrup is a doctor who used to perform circumcisions and has since become a staunch intactivist, as is Dr. Dean Edell (he 'examined' circumcision with the birth of his fourth son, thanks to Marilyn Milos.) If you poke around on their sites you might find some good perspectives from some in her profession who have converted to sanity from a position similar to hers.

http://www.healthcentral.com/ - Dr. Dean
http://www.drnorthrup.com/ - Dr. Northrup

I'm sorry I can't do more legwork than that right now - good luck Q!

[Quirky]

Sigh....it's so depressing. I just read through some threads on "are you crunchy or not" and am so depressed at how many otherwise crunchy/NFL types circ. I just. don't. get. it.

Still thinking the best way to approach the ped, though....

[Frankly Speaking]

Originally Posted by Quirky

Still thinking the best way to approach the ped, though....

Just like with any parent considering circumcision, you ask why she provides the "service." Probably the first thing she is going to say is "Because parents demand it." You just tear that argument down and show it as a profit motive. What other procedure would she perform on perfectly formed body parts simply on the demand of the parents?

She's probably going to come back with "It's a parent's right" and to that, you explain that it's only considered a parent's right because of societal acceptance foisted on them by the medical profession and that that right may not exist as warned by the CPS/Saskatchewan and as shown in the William Stowell case. You also give the constitutional legal arguments and back them up by articles by legal experts.

Finally, when all else has been defeated, I would make it very personal as in "Why do you (very personal) feel you have any right to deprive me (also very personal) of perfectly functional and beneficial body parts simply on the demand of someone else who has no idea what they are asking and has no medical expertise and little or no knowledge of what they are asking for?" I would also hit her with why she would do it to a son but not a daughter and ask her if she has a male dog, would she have it circumcised to enjoy the benefits of circumcision.

It's something you do bit by bit and one step at a time until the walls come tumbling down.

We once had one of those mother/pediatricians posting here. She contacted me through a PM and we exchanged messages for a few days. I finally mentioned that if she does perform circumcisions that I would not recommend that she not let it be known publicly on this board. She never answered me and she never came back. I can only assume that she does perform circumcisions and did not want to show her face here again out of shame.



Frank

[paminmi]

Veering slightly OT, does anyone know if Dr Sears circumcised his sons? I know in the past he addressed the topic in a "politically correct" sort of way and it's been years since I read any of his books. He may be another doctor who changed his mind about this topic.

Just wondering if anyone knew...

Thanks,
Pam

[aja-belly]

from dr sear's website - http://www.askdrsears.com/html/1/t012000.asp

he refutes alot of mythes about circ and lists the only reason to do it is for religious reasons.

[wendy1221]

He most likely did. In his books, he admits to being very mainstream w/ his first 3 kids (all boys) until his high-needs daughter was born. Also, in the (older) version of the Baby Book I have, he doesn't seem to be very strongly against circ and talks about the what he uses for pain control when he does them.

[paminmi]

Originally Posted by wendy1221

He most likely did. In his books, he admits to being very mainstream w/ his first 3 kids (all boys) until his high-needs daughter was born. Also, in the (older) version of the Baby Book I have, he doesn't seem to be very strongly against circ and talks about the what he uses for pain control when he does them.

That's what I remembered, thanks. I guess it's just another case of "when you know better, you do better!"

I just glad he came around.