Doctors in Denmark want to stop circumcision for under-18s - 'It is most consistent with the individual’s right to self-determination that parents not be allowed

Boys should not be circumcised until they are old enough to choose for themselves, doctors in Denmark have said.

The Danish Medical Association said it had considered suggesting a legal ban on the procedure for children under the age of 18, because it believed circumcision should be “an informed, personal choice” that young men make for themselves.

When parents have their sons circumcised, it robs boys of the ability to make decisions about their own bodies, and choose their cultural and religious beliefs for themselves, the organisation said.

Lise Møller, chair of the Doctors' Association Ethics Board, said it was wrong to deny an individual the right to choose whether or not they wanted to be circumcised.

“To be circumcised should be an informed, personal choice," she said.

"It is most consistent with the individual’s right to self-determination that parents not be allowed to make this decision, but that it is left up to the individual when he has come of age."

The organisation said that because male circumcision is not without risk it should only be performed on children when there is a documented medical need.

The doctors stopped short of calling for an all-out legal ban on the procedure, which is currently allowed but remains relatively rare in Denmark, because it said the move could have too many negative consequences.





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“We have discussed it thoroughly, also in our ethics committee," Ms Møller said. "We came to the conclusion that it is difficult to predict the consequences of a ban – both for the involved boys, who could for example face bullying or unauthorised procedures with complications – and for the cultural and religious groups they belong to."

The Danish Health and Medicines Authority estimates that somewhere between 1,000 and 2,000 circumcisions are performed in Denmark each year, primarily on Jewish and Muslim boys.

The majority of those procedures occur outside of the public health system and are done as part of a religious ceremony in the child's home, or in a private clinic.

The Danish Health Ministry announced on Monday that beginning in 2017 all circumcisions, regardless of where they take place, will have to be reported to Denmark's national patient registry.

According to a major 2007 study by the World Health Organization, roughly 30 per cent of the global male population is circumcised.

Past polls have shown that upwards of 87 per cent of Danes support banning the practice on boys under the age of 18, the Local reported.
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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...umcision-for-children-under-18s-a7459291.html
 
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Good.

There is that medical condition, but it is rare, and even when it happens, it usually happens when hygene is not adequate.

Sailor_Jupiter said:
Don't boys who don't get the snip sometimes have problems with the skin not retracting or something? I think I read that in some parenting blog somewhere when I was linksurfing, but I can't recall where. It was sort of squicky because they were like, mums could prevent it by bending the skin back a few times a day when changing diapers. ;__; I think snipping them is a good idea if the alternative REALLY IS having to mess with that. Any mums of uncut boys knew if that's true?

I hate having to discuss this, but I'm curious if I ever have a kid.
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The chances of that happening are very low. If you choose to let your kid be natural, when he grows up he will be spared from lots of chafing and dryness that is pretty uncomfortable.
 
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Sailor_Jupiter said:
Don't boys who don't get the snip sometimes have problems with the skin not retracting or something? I think I read that in some parenting blog somewhere when I was linksurfing, but I can't recall where. It was sort of squicky because they were like, mums could prevent it by bending the skin back a few times a day when changing diapers. ;__; I think snipping them is a good idea if the alternative REALLY IS having to mess with that. Any mums of uncut boys knew if that's true?

I hate having to discuss this, but I'm curious if I ever have a kid.
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as in the uk most people are uncut this came up in asex ed class here. apparently its a rare problem but easily solved with application of a cream over a few weeks. no idea how accurate that info is or what is in the cream - that class must have been a decade ago.

as to the general subject of the thread- restricting non essential cosmetic surgery in minors seems wise.
 
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Vitriol said:
as in the uk most people are uncut this came up in asex ed class here. apparently its a rare problem but easily solved with application of a cream over a few weeks. no idea how accurate that info is or what is in the cream - that class must have been a decade ago.

as to the general subject of the thread- restricting non essential cosmetic surgery in minors seems wise.
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Again this is old info so it may be wrong, but apparently it occurs less if you wash your parts properly every day. So in the modern age it is much less of a problem, where people bath on a hopefully daily basis.
 
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Fine with me. I think circumcision is barbaric. Cut dicks look weird too.
 
People will be banging down the doors to the clinic to get it done the day they turn 18 if it's so great.

At least in the U.S., it's mainly still done because, tradition aside, it's just one more thing that can be overcharged for at a hospital.

The best that can be really said about its utility is it usually doesn't lead to extravagant complications. Usually.
 
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I still don't know what the pros and cons are of having your penis circumcised or the other way around. . Could someone who feels strongly about the subject please explain it to me as I blindly click a new topic and never check this thread again?
 
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Lackadaisy said:
In my specific sect of Judaism, boys don't get circumcised until they're 18 anyways so they can have it done as an elective surgery of their own free will. So, you know, no biggie.
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If only all of them were this reasonable!

Batman VS Tony Danza said:
I still don't know what the pros and cons are of having your penis circumcised or the other way around. . Could someone who feels strongly about the subject please explain it to me as I blindly click a new topic and never check this thread again?
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It is a surgery that removes a very sensitive part from an organ which a young man would very much like to get the full benefit from.

Basically, this is one of those "should be the kid's choice when he knows enough" issues.
 
Batman VS Tony Danza said:
I still don't know what the pros and cons are of having your penis circumcised or the other way around. . Could someone who feels strongly about the subject please explain it to me as I blindly click a new topic and never check this thread again?
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I'm not a complete expert on the subject, but I have read a few arguments on it in the past. I did some quick research and this is what I've found.

Pros:

  1. Protects against UTIs in the first year of life
  2. Prevents infections under foreskin and prevents persistent tight foreskin
  3. Decreases chance of getting some STDs including HIV later in life
  4. Lessens chance of getting cancer of the penis
  5. Better hygiene
https://saludmovil.com/circumcision-son-pros-cons-experts/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/circumcision/basics/why-its-done/prc-20013585



Cons:

  1. Extremely painful. Most circumcisions are done without anesthesia on infants less than a month old. While some anesthesia can be provided to lessen the pain, it'll still hurt like hell. If this account is anything to go by, the baby will be "entirely different".
  2. The argument that they won't remember it and that it won't effect them is debatable at the best, and outright false at the worst. Some studies have shown that infants who have gone under circumcision have higher pain responses than that of non-circumcised infants.
  3. Less pleasure during sex. Getting rid of 20,000 nerve endings will do that. Best comparison I've heard is that it's like being color-blind, if that makes sense.
  4. Botched circumcisions. Anyone remember that guy who was raised as a girl but was actually a guy (I think he went from a Bruce to a Brenda or something?)? This is why. To be fair, the one doing it used an electric cautery machine and basically fucked it up more than anyone thought possible.
  5. Disease transmission. True with any kind of surgery, disease and infection is always a risk. But if you a preforming circumcision the metzitzah b'peh way, which involves sucking the blood from the wound, the risk increases dramatically. 13 cases of herpes broke out in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in NYC a couple years ago.
Sorry that this probably feels biased, but from what I've found there seems to more evidence against circumcision than there is for it. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong about any of these.
 
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There are also two things that are not listed:

Pro: It also helps to protect your dick from chafing and drying out. This is more important in colder climates where people wear trousers and undergarments, not loose robes.

Cons: If you are a semite and live in the middle East and don't bathe, sand will get under it.

The whole "hygene" argument boils down to how clean the individual is. It made sense for the arabs who never washed their dicks.
 
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I can't help but wonder how many people who insist that it'll irreversably ruin sex to get circumcized are uncut anyways and just really defensive.

Calling it Barbaric to circumcize an infant, rather than the much more accurate Outdated, are reaching Helen Lovejoy levels of hysteria.
 
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"My son is uncircumcised!" will be the new "My son is gay!"

I feel the kind of parent that allows others to cut their newborn's genitalia would be the one that pressures him into doing it anyway once he's 18, lest he goes to live somewhere else
 
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