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The variety of reasons given for male genital cutting (and the irrationality of many of them) is amazing. List them all together and your mind will boggle.

(All of these reasons have been seriously offered, or even led to circumcisions. All spelling and punctuation is sic.)

(Yes, there are also some good reasons.)

ANY TIME


0. For no reason at all / Cuz / Because he just should be / She's not even clear on [it]. She just wants it, you know.
   Rosie O'Donnell, in Redbook, October 1997/Responses to a survey conducted by Paul Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu>/Joe Crummey KABC AM 790, Los Angeles Dec 5 1999
   
   

   Austin0205 Message #1148 03/31/07 05:19 PM

   Want to know Why I circed my sons. Ummmmm, let me think for a sec....OH yeah I know, cause I wanted to, thats why. None of you anti-circ, people bashing, assh*les know ANYTHING you just know what you read and hear. You think ONLY you are right and EVERYBODY else is wrong. But guess what, You don't get to tell us what we can do to our own children because their OUR children not yours. If you want your son to look like a freak and feel bad about himself thats fine ,what-ever-floats-your -boat. But when it come to MY child, he is under MY control till he is 18. I say what goes, not him. When we ALL become parents, we have to make a decision right or wrong but it is ours to make. Not yours or Joe Shmo down the steet. I gave birth to my beautiful sons and I am the one to make that choice for him because he can't. So stop making parents that have circed their sons feel bad about because they shouldn't, its their child so keep you big fat fuukin noses out of our(their) buisness....To each their own. Posted in MSN message board

    

1. Because "[I] thought [he] might as well be circ'd." / "just in case" / Because "we just do it. It's better this way."
   Actor Tony Randall on the Late Late Show, Oct 6, 1998 / said to a man being operated on for kidney stones / Told by a doctor to T--, now a restoring father
   
   
2. Because it's better and it has to be done
   Said to the source's mother-in-law in 1971 at Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg VA - <japg[AT-sign]mindspring.com>
   
   
3. Because "without it being done his son would not achieve the high grades needed at school."
   Said to the doctor by the father of a schoolmate of hoodyh1(AT)yahoo.co.nz, posting to Circumsexual(AT)yahoogroups.com on Aug 14, 2007
   This may have been true: hoodyh1 was told "it was expected by the college that a circumcision would take place regardless of the students wishes."
   
   
4. Because "These things must be done for boys and the time had come"
   Told to a schoolmate of matelot923(AT)yahoo.com, posting to Circumsexual(AT)yahoogroups.com on Aug 14, 2007
   
   
5. Because it only seems natural / It seemed like the natural thing to do
   The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398 / Sara, writing to Chatelaine
   
   
6. Because it is a sin not to
   According to a patient of Phil Nguyen, Indiana U School of Medicine
   
   
7. beacuse it is the only decent thing to do
   feedback from M Hogan
   
   NEONATAL
   
   
8. Because "He doesn't choose to be born, either."
   - response by an expectant mother, having been told that circumcision is torturous and denies his right to choose.
   
   
9. To impress the poor
   "Until the Second World War it was regarded as a class symbol in many parts of western European society [False - only the UK]: in the eyes of the poor, circumcision was evidence that a boy's parents were affluent enough to afford some medical treatment." - Dr Thomas Stuttaford in The Times Online
   
   
10. Because it's a lot more easy for the baby
    Response to a survey conducted by Paul Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu>
    
    
11. Because "They're my kids and I'll do any god-damned thing I want to them, so you lost this argument, Asshole."
    posted to <Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
    
    
12. Because of an "accident on medical records..." According to the "paperwork guidelines, I was not supposed to be Circ."
    Told by (ERWI2)<erwi2[AT-sign]aol.com>
    
    
13. "Because any child with a foreskin is a pedafile"
    A woman on the circumcision board at Parentsoup quoting a female friend
    
    
14. Because NOT circumsizing your child is just...well WARPED!
    According to (JL) <merilin[AT-sign]winternet.com>
    
    
15. I am not sure why, but my family has done it for a long time. You could call it tradition, I guess / because my family has always had circumcisions / Because of custom / Because it's habit and the way the society works / Because "it was simply a common social custom which we took more or less for granted" / "mostly because everyone in our family has, more of a tradition. Not really sure how I feel about it one way or another."
    Response to a survey conducted by Paul Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu> / Shannon M. Corn of Knightdale, North Carolina, quoted in the Raleigh News and Observer, 31 Oct 2001 / Response to a survey conducted by Paul Baker <pbaker[AT-sign]nermal.santarosa.edu> / Bryce Courtenay in April Fool's Day. His son was haemophilic and nearly died. / Karijoy writing in the SheKnows blog, March 2008.
    
    
16. Because it's a "religious practice that has been going on for thousands of years"
    feedback from <ALibLaiR18[AT-sign]aol.com>
    
    
17. Because "to NOT BE CIRCUMCISED ... [is] ... old-fashioned"
    feedback from <ALibLaiR18[AT-sign]aol.com>
    
    
18. Because it makes the penis look more modern
    Told in Guadalajara to Dr Sergio Aquilar, who told Gary Harriman<Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
    
    
19. Because it is a good and proper thing to do/Because all the nice families are having it done
    Reported in Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581/Said to the mother of Neal Smith <neal_smith[AT-sign]rocketmail.com> North Carolina, 1940
    
    
20. Because his mother had an episiotomy ("I was cut, why shouldn't he be?")
    
    
21. Because his mother suffered much greater pain during childbirth / Because the father "just didn't want to argue with her after she'd been through all that suffering." / Because "women have to go through a bunch just because we are women. I personally think that a male child should have to suffer a little."
    / According to <JJMaloneJr[AT-sign]aol.com> / Comment by MizMoxie at this isby.us on April 25, 2008
    
    
22. Because the woman is the one to change the diapers
    Mother of Kerri W. on AOL MomsOnline
    
    
23. To teach him that the world is a painful place / that life hurts / To toughen 'em up for real life / Because "It teaches them that pain doesn't matter."
    /Told to Susan Peer <susan[AT-sign]noln.com>/Told to Curt Geiler <curt[AT-sign]null.net>
    
    

    46.

    April 5th, 2007 7:10 pm

    REAL PURPOSE OF CIRCUMCISION: a little pain right after birth to innoculate the boy against the pains of life a little tough love right off the bat — Posted by face it to the NY Times

     

24. Because "I'm not messing around with this guy [God] right now."
    The baby had been born premature, and was in an incubator. Shalom Auslander in his book Foreskin's Lament
    
    
25. Because "his little peepee is so small"
    Said by a doctor to Brooke Channell who tells her story on blOUCH!: the circumcision was botched, the baby haemorrhaged, almost died, and will need more surgery.
    
    
26. Because infant circumcision is much less complicated, painful, and heals faster than adult circumcision.
    According to Gwen A Orel <gaost3+[AT-sign]pitt.edu> 5 October 1996
    
    
27. Because it will have to be done sooner or later
    
    
28. To prevent "psychological trauma due to castration anxiety"
    ( ! )
    
    
29. Because it's just part of being born / Because all males are circumcised/Because it is hospital policy/Because it was pretty much mandatory/Because "they just do it automatically" / Because when his mother said "What's circumcision?" they said, "Don't worry dear, we'll look after it."/Because it's a law / Because "in Tennessee, it was required"/Because "it was THE LAW and they could NOT take their sons home unless they were circumcised."
    / Told to John Chastain//According to Tom H. <workhard[AT-sign]home.com> of Oshawa, Southern Ontario / / T.G.'s mother, told to Ken Drabik/Reported by John M Foley MD in FACT magazine, July - August 1966 / Told to Amber Craig <jcraig2[AT-sign]ibm.net> at the Charlotte, N.C., Baby Show, 6 Nov 99/Told to neighbors of "mattdog" <mattdog[AT-sign]goldrush.com>, now in their 70's, by both Kaiser Hospital and San Jose Memorial Hospital, now part of Stanford University medical school.
    
    
30. Because I was born in the US
    Told by his mother to Mike Giamo <giamomj[AT-sign]post.drexel.edu>
    
    
31. To protect him from being kidnapped and sacrificed
    "In Uganda, the increase [in the circumcision rate] is due not only to HIV risk prevention -- but also because some parents believe that a circumcised child is less likely to be kidnapped, and then offered as a sacrifice." CBC Jan 3, 2007 [It is not clear whether the protection is magical or practical - supposing kidnappers would consider a circumcised child unsuitable for sacrificing, and check first.]
    
    
32. Because the doctor "circed all babys, for their own good" / Because the doctor just did it
    Chris Oehler <COehler[AT-sign]wow.com> had this happen to his sons - contrary to his instructions / John M Foley MD in FACT magazine, July - August 1966
    
    
33. Because the doctor just likes doing it
    I've known of doctors in clinic type settings that gladly circumcise every baby they can just because it's something that they like to do, even when they don't get paid. - Rosemary Romberg, author of Circumcision: the painful dilemma
    
    
34. Because "they were kind of pressuring me at the hospital to do so."
    Told by a friend to mamarama on YouTube
    
    
35. Because they told his mother at the hospital if she didn't have him circumcised he wouldn't be able to father children
    Told by Susan Peer to Al Field <albfie[AT-sign]worldlynx.net>
    
    
36. Because circumcision is insignificant compared to the truly important issues that come with raising a child
    According to Len Denzo
    
    
37. Because the foreskin is a mistake of nature/Because the foreskin is a mutation that only appears on some males and must be removed
    According to Dr Thomas Wiswell/Told by a woman doctor to an intact man, as reported in a newspaper read by Chuck Kappenman <chazbsweet[AT-sign]hotmail.com>
    
    
38. Because his mother had never seen an intact penis and thought it was deformed/To make it look "more like a penis"
    It was "Derek Townsend"'s mother / Said by <notw[AT-sign]my-deja.com>'s girlfriend, told on alt.circumcision
    
    
39. Because "I don't want him to look like he has a dog dick."
    A mother to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
    
    
40. Because it is rooted in our culture
    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah vice-president W. Knox Fitzpatrick
    
    
41. Because we live in the country
    ...the midwife told me that 20 % city people circumcise, and 50% country do it. We are from a country town, so i guess we fit into that. Jennifer05 at Bub Hub
    
    
42. Because it is culturally significant / culturally necessary / a cultural norm
    //According to <prhagen[AT-sign]bitstream.net> (Paul Hagen
    
    
43. Because they have a device to do it, so it must be okay
    According to Michael Lines' <linesm[AT-sign]gnn.com> sister in law
    
    
44. Because the opposition to it is too shrill / bizarre / On principle / To spite its opponents/To spite his absent/divorced father/Because his (gay) uncle recommended against it
    So said Bob Cohen in Living Marxism, May 1996 ////Given by Don Morgan/the case of a guest on an aborted Dr Laura show Sept 18, 2000/The uncle was Fred Bradford <avpower[AT-sign]pacbell.net>
    
    
45. To get even for having been raped as a teenager
    A British nanny, Angela, cited by "The Cutter" <cutter[AT-sign]circum.demon.co.uk>
    
    
46. Because "I don't want to piss off my mother-in-law." / Because "My mother won't babysit him if he's not circumcised."
    A father to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com> / A mother to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
    
    
47. In exchange for not having to change his diapers
    Joe Crummey KABC AM 790, Los Angeles Dec 5 1999
    
    
48. Because if he isn't circumcised at birth he won't want to be circumcised later
    [Well, Duh! And why should he be circumcised later?]
    
    
49. Because his mother doesn't want to have to explain why his penis looks different from his father's./ "I didn't want him to question why daddy looked different"
    (...so now he can question why they look the same...)
    / A (former?) friend of Rockett <dropforged[AT-sign]sprintmail.com>
    
    
50. To prevent any discussion about it later
    
    
51. Because the decision was made for me, so I'll make the decision for my sons / Because I had no choice
    
    
52. Because it's part of his father's identity
    Mrs Ines Ford-Bruins in the NZ Sunday Star-Times (Nov 9, 2003), New Zealand, where routine circumcision is almost obsolete
    
    
53. If I had to, he has to.
    Husband of  mattdog[AT-sign]pacific.net 's niece
    
    
54. Because his father had been circumcised as an adult and had been traumatised by it.
    (The father's foreskin "had torn during intercourse" - it was probably his frenulum, but in any case circumcision was not required. Wasn't the son lucky his father never had his arm amputated!)
    "Tilly" <climbaboard[AT-sign]hotmail.com> on alt.circumcision, 12 August 2003
    
    
55. Because it saves him from the embarassment of having to ask for it
    
    
56. To keep peace in the family
    
    
57. "To save our marriage"
    (Her second husband wanted the boy cut and she didn't want to have a big argument. )
    She'd had the first son cut because she missed her dead husband's penis! Sent by remdog <remdog[AT-sign]earthlink.net>
    
    
58. Because the foreskin will fall off if a baby is put into a hot tub of water for a bath.
    "His perception was that the foreskin was something like the umbilical cord, and that it needed to be removed shortly after birth, lest it become the site for infection."
    (Babies shouldn't be put in hot water, of course.)
    Believed by a 20 y o friend of Art Boy (Jeff Borg) <artboyz[AT-sign]worldnet.att.net>
    
    
59. Because the foreskin would fall off by itself if it wasn't cut off by the doctor, just like the umbilical cord.
    Believed for 24 years by Steve Wilder <wilder[AT-sign]ksl.stanford.edu>
    
    
60. "...since he had heard of some intact baby boy who had gotten a hair wrapped around his glans and strangled his penis!!!"
    A first-year medical student at the U of Chicago to Dan Strandjord" <danstrandjord[AT-sign]att.net>
    
    
61. To prevent tears later in life (in the skin, not the eyes)
    This is quite false: the circumcision wound may tear.
    Given on Medline: http://www.medscape.com/HomeExamRoom/spotlight/05.97-spotlight.html
    
    
62. Because a friend of a friend of a... "had to be" circumcised later in life.
    
    
63. Because a neighbouring year old was born "naturally circumcised" and needed it
    (?)
    Told to vuckovic[AT-sign]interaccess.com (G. Vuckovic)
    
    
64. Because it's covered by Medicare / National Health / Social Security / Health Insurance / State insurance
    ////At Charity Hospital, New Orleans, told to John Erickson
    
    
65. Because doctors make money from it / Because if he didn't some other doctor would get the money. / Because the hospital charges a circumcision fee whether he's cut or not
    / Said by a retired OBGYN to Patricia Robinett<patricia[AT-sign]efn.org> / Said to the source's mother-in-law in 1971 at Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg VA
    
    
66. Because a military surgeon "wanted to get back into practice because she could get $100 apiece for them in private practice." / To provide practice for house-surgeons (interns) / To provide practice for Navy surgeons waiting for action / "... circumcision also benefits the future health workers of the country. It is through circumcision that they hone their surgery skills before they perform that risky procedure to save someone else’s life."
    The surgeon spoke to Darillyn Starr <sstar[AT-sign]vii.com> / Jason Ashley / Aboard USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea, 2 Nov 2001, Reuters / PreMEDitated by John D Cruz MD
    
    
67. "In order [for the doctor] to be granted privileges in neonatal circumcision"
    Practice guidelines of the University of Manitoba medical school
    
    
68. Because they're fun to do.
    '"I like doing circumcisions. They're fun procedures because they're one of the few procedures I can do on a healthy kid." Then she immediately said something like, "Why are you looking at me like that? I knew you wouldn't understand!" She made this comment in a roomful of other students which had two other doctors in it and they were nodding in agreement.' - a midwife posting on the Midwifery Today forum
    
    
69. To get sterile urine samples, to see if he has a urinary tract infection.
    Letter to Pediatr. Ann. 1997: 26(5): 278 from S A Bailis

    When you see a young baby that has a very high fever, one thing you immediately think of is a UTI. To rule it out, you need a sterile urine sample. A circumcised penis gives sterile urine naturally, but because of bacteria under the foreskin, an uncircumcised penis doesn't. So, for a proper workup, you need to tranquilize the baby and pass a tube in, and it becomes an invasive procedure just to get a sample. Dr Edgar Schoen, in The Nest Baby Talk about snatching victory from the jaws of defeat! It was the unsterile urine samples of the intact boys that formed the basis of Tom Wiswell's (false) claim that they are more susceptible to UTIs!

    
    
70. Because [doctors] would not be able to pull the foreskin back to see if anything is wrong. The circumcision would be free now, but if she went out the door, when she returned it will cost her. [$25 off if you call in the next ten minutes!]
    Told by doctors at Kaiser Permanente to a pregnant woman who visited David Bradt's Intactivist stand at Venice Beach, Los Angeles. He succeeded in savng the baby.
    
    
71. Because doctors know best
    
    POST-NEONATAL
    
    
72. To make the penis look like that of a kangaroo
    John Cawte, cited in The Universality of Incest
    
    
73. To symbolise humanity's unique essence as more than animal
    Ben David <b_david2[AT-sign]netvision.net.il>
    
    
74. To keep a bargain Abraham made with G*d
    (Gen. 17:10-14)
    
    
75. "... because Jewish men should be able to feel the pain of others more easily."
    Dr Aaron Jesin, quoted in the Toronto eye, 7/99
    
    
76. Because he's heir to the British throne and Queen Victoria believed they were descended from King David
    The second part of this has been disputed.
    
    
77. To bribe Satan: "Kabbalah explains that we say to Satan that we take the holy part, which is the child, and the unholy foreskin we give to Satan. Because of this gift, the Satan is bribed to the extent that he then praises the Jews and becomes a defender rather than a prosecutor."
    http://www.shemayisrael.com/mikvah/britmilah1.html
    
    
78. As a badge of Jewish identity.
    Rabbi Lawrence, in "The Naked Penis" TV3 New Zealand, May 30, 2001
    
    
79. Because "when the Ethiopian Jews were discovered in the Gondor region, and they had been separated for 2,000 years from Jews with Talmudic traditions, ... they STILL circumcised their boys. ... If they hadn't done this ritual, we'd have lost the connection to a whole branch of the family."
    posted by "paying3tuitions" at College Confidential
    
    
    
80. To make him look different from outsiders
    
    
81. To remind him of anti-Semitic persecution
    (which was facilitated by circumcision)
    
82. To get revenge on anti-Semites
    "Curt to the point of rudeness, [the mohel] shouted over the baby's cries that every time we circumcise a Jewish child, we are getting revenge upon the anti-Semites who wanted to crush us." - Lila Hanft, Becoming a Jewish Mother
    
    
83. To prevent another Holocaust (he's a gentile: circumcising gentiles will hide Jews)
    Helen Latner, columnist for Jewish Week, quoted in "Humanistic Judaism. Volume 1, No 4 (Winter 1983) pp 46-6 no. 4 (Winter 1983): pp. 43-46
    
    
84. To prevent Jews and Muslims from being marginalised (he's a gentile: circumcising gentiles will normalise Jews and Muslims).
    "Ancient ritual does no harm", Catherine Ford, Calgary Herald, March 31, 2001
    
    
85. Because Allah wants him to be a Muslim.,
    Davoud Jenkins has formed a Yahoo! group, Circumcised became Muslim

    ... I am a Muslim American, circumcised at birth by the will of Allah. This was His sign to me to become a Muslim. ... Were you circumcised without any reason, like already being a Muslim? You are probably wondering why you received the sign of circumcision. Well, welcome to this group! Here you can discover the true reason for your circumcision from Allah, the Merciful.

    
    
    
86. To bond him with his community / To enforce social cohesion
    Gwen A Orel <gaost3+[AT-sign]pitt.edu> 3 July 1996 / Yehudi Cohen, cited in The Universality of Incest
    
    
87. To educate him in his parent's faith / Because it is "an educational measure".
    
    
88. Because the sexual organ is where the future generations of Jews come from. Comment by Sarah Sutton on Newsweek on May 3, 2007
    
    
89. To signify the union of body and spirit
    (Cutting part off to signify union...)
    According to <b_david2[AT-sign]netvision.net.il)
    
    
90. To offer our children to a higher spiritual life
    Ruth Ostrow, "Tradition cuts to the present" the Weekend Australian, June 16-17, 2001
    
    
91. To ensure a share for him in the world to come
    According to Matt Prastein <smp[AT-sign]fgi.net>
    
    
92. To draw down the Divine light, bring down the soul of holiness into the body, reveal the Jew's inherent connection to G-d
    According to CHABAD-LUBAVITCH in CYBERSPACE <listserv[AT-sign]chabad.org>
    
    
93. Because the foreskin concentrates negative energy
    (from the Advocating Circumcision Today website)
    
    
94. Because "[t]his paring away of the superfluous skin allows for Shechinah energy to permeate the seed of Israel."
    "Yechidah" <thehealingshelf[AT}hotmail.com> on alt.circumcision, June 12 2004 (Shechinah energy is defined by Riain Barton <riain[AT]columbus.rr.com> as "the 'essence' of the Universal Deity")
    
    
95. To "spiritually remov[e] and eliminat[e] undesirable character traits...
    
96. ...depressive tendencies and so on...
    
97. ...[To] eliminate from the body of the child, forces which might try to cultivate overindulgence in physical pleasures, etc."
    (from the Advocating Circumcision Today website)
    
    
98. Because "The blood of milah suppresses Hashem's anger"
    According to act-now.org, "... the blood shed is laid by the angels before G-d's palace. When the power of severe judgment is aroused in the world, the Holy One, blessed is He, looks at that blood and does not allow evil influences to do any harm."
    
    
99. 
    

    The book, Symbols of Judaism states, “Circumcision is a way of introducing language into the body and bringing the body of the infant into the sphere of language…[it] enables human beings to enter into the dimension of language.”

    [...which makes you wonder how women and gentiles are able to enter into it.]
    Oedipus and Circumcision
    
    
100. 
     

     I would argue that circumcision is the human form of pruning; it is designed to prevent the child (plant) from overstepping his boundaries (becoming a hybris) by means of connecting the son to the father. This ritual of symbolic pruning essentially establishes paternal authority (though it does not establish paternity) and marks the beginning of what will hopefully become a healthy relationship with the law.

     Oedipus and Circumcision [The author of this, shemote, is apparently under the impression the ancient Greeks practised circumcision.]
     
     
101. For "its positive effects on the generations to come."
     Friends of Refugees of Eastern Europe (FREE) an arm of Chabad Lubavitch - a strict and somewhat controversial form of Orthodoxy
     
     
102. Because Jews do it and they are so clean
     a common 19th century reason
     
     
103. "So that he will be rich as a Jew"
     A Peruvian mother said it (apparently seriously ) to Ari Zigelboim <akp[AT-sign]communique.net>
     
     
104. "I think my parents thought it would save trouble later on if I wanted to be the real thing [Jewish]." - English actor Stephen Fry. (He never did.)
     Interview with Deborah Ross, The Independent, April 20, 2002
     
     
105. Because Jesus was circumcised
     Luke 2 21
     
     
106. "...because of our Biblical beliefs. We just felt it was a covenant between God and his people. We are God's people and felt it was right for us." / Just in case G-d had good reason and it wasn't someone's misinterpretation religiously...we felt we had "covered ourselves"...(we are Episcopalian, actually) / Because his father thought the Covenant applied to him somehow, though he wasn't Jewish
     Kay Henson <serenity[AT-sign]herbcare.com> /told to Patrick Draper <pdrap[AT-sign]ctp.com>/A caller to Dr Dean Edell, 6 Mar 1998, heard by Wayne Hampton <hampton[AT-sign]netcom.com>
     
     
107. Because of Acts 15 1: "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
     Yet the chapter goes on to repudiate circumcision for Christians.

included on a painting called "Circumcision" by Samoan naïve artist Tony Schuster, April 2003


108. Because it is a good Christian thing to do

(said by a Lutheran) to Duane Voskuil <dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com>


109. Because we're Pentecostal
     (Circumcision is not among the "Gifts of the Spirit")
     told to Patrick Draper <pdrap[AT-sign]ctp.com>
     
     
110. Because we're Episcopalian
     A couple to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
     
     
111. Because we're Orthodox Albanians
     "the priest does come and it is considered a rite of passage into our faith" - a poster on a list for midwives and doulas, reported by "cam" <cmay[AT-sign]flash.net>
     
     
112. Because it's a tradition of the Orthodox in Northern Greece
     Markos, personal communication
     
     
113. Because he (a Navajo) was placed during the school term with Mormons
     
     
114. Because a baboon the Egyptians considered sacred is "born circumcised"
     
     
115. Because Mohammed was "born circumcised"
     
     
116. Because his mother's boyfriend is a Muslim
     the father of David Williams, <21davidwilliams[AT-sign]supanet.com>
     
     
117. Because impurities collect in the foreskin and by removing it we are purer and closer to God.
     Said to Dan Bollinger<danbollinger[AT-sign]home.com> by a Lebanese Moslem man. He replied, "Exactly what impurities would these be?" The man said nothing and changed the subject.
     
     
118. Because it is required by Islam
     (But it's not in the Qur'an)
     
     
119. Because it is required by the Catholic church / For religious reasons...my parents were Catholics
     / personal communication
     
     
120. Because it is required by his stepfather's insurance policy
     Don Morgan
     
     
121. Because women's magazines advise it
     Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
     
     CHILDHOOD
     
     
122. Because his mother was having another baby, so they could go in together
     (He was 18 months old, and became an elective mute)
     Grandson of a workmate of Erick L. Gustavson <egustav435[AT-sign]erols.com>
     
     
123. "To advertise sociopolitical relief organisations in Turkey"
     (?)
     E. Ozdemir, Significantly increased complication risks with mass circumcision, British Journal of Urology (1997) 80, 136-9
     
     
124. To celebrate a newspaper's anniversary
     "Relax, it's good for our circulation" [picture] "A BOY grimaces in pain at a mass circumcision at the offices of Kompas, Indonesia's largest daily newspaper, in Jakarta yesterday. In an Islamic rite of passage, 171 Indonesian boys were circumcised in celebration of the newspaper's 36th birthday." - The Australian, July 6, 2001, p30 (Marketplace)
     
     
125. As a tourist attraction
     (Malaysia, Indonesia)
     
     
126. Because it is a routine procedure in his parents' country of origin
     Reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
     
     
127. Because everybody else is doing it
     
     
128. Because his mother's friends kept asking why he wasn't
     (He was, but didn't look it, so it was done again)
     Told to George Hill
     
     
129. Because only the Mexicans don't do it (in San Diego)
     Told by Kent_and_Liz[AT-sign]msn.com (Liz deForest)
     
     
130. Because it is a status symbol: "If you ain't circumcised, you ain't shit."
     
     
131. Because it is an act of the civilized world
     
     
132. Because "It's one more thing that sets us apart from the apes."
     
     
133. Because he is a nervous little boy
     Father of Carla <Carmilarms[AT-sign]aol.com>
     
     
134. To make him better-tempered
     R N Jones, 1965
     
     
135. To show the child "We love you, but we must rid you of your infantilisms"
     Theodor Reik, cited in The Universality of Incest
     
     
136. To prepare him to receive tribal secrets / priestly secrets
     (Australia) / (ancient Egypt)
     
     
137. To make him immortal, like a snake gaining a new life when it sheds its skin
     (Egypt)
     
     
138. To enable him to reincarnate
     (Australia)
     
     
139. To enable him to communicate with the spirits of his ancestors
     (Xhosa)
     
     
140. To separate him from his mother
     (Xhosa)
     
     
141. To break an excessively strong dependence upon the mother
     John Whiting, cited in The Universality of Incest
     
     
142. To ward off evil
     (Xhosa - and who else?)
     
     
143. To cement mutual respect among those circumcised
     (Herero of Namibia)
     
     
144. To make him an Olympic runner
     (Kenya) "...a pet idea of [John] Manners, that the male circumcision ritual, in which boys are shamed if they react to pain, uniquely prepares Kalenjin men for the pressure of an Olympic final" (but "female circumcision" is "often debilitating"): "Fast Forward: The rise of Kenya's women runners" by Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, PA, May 5, 2002
     
     
145. Because he belongs to the Spanish royal family
     
     
146. Because he belongs to the upper class
     TIM HUISAMEN <AKTH[AT-sign]warthog.ru.ac.za> and widely reported
     
     
147. Because he's an orphan
     
     
148. Because he's to be adopted
     
     
149. Because he's been adopted
     Rosie O'Donnell's adopted son Parker was circumcised at 18 months in a pseudo-bris.
     
     
150. Because he's disabled
     
     
151. Because "I kind of think it is 'American'... in the early years of this great nation, we took pride in BEING DIFFERENT thon ether nations"
     Offered by Sean <JSQB03B[AT-sign]prodigy.com> - sent by George HIll
     
     
152. Because "it's the American thing to do"
     Medical advisor Dr Cohen on AHN TV - posted on alt.circumcision by Chele <rickw409[AT-sign]aol.com> (RickW409) 26 July 1998
     
     
153. Because the Americans do it. / Because the Arikwao (white men) do it.
     Peter Frazer (Roy Cohn's lover), Arnold Schwarznegger / (Solomon Islands) personal communication
     
     
154. Because "a boy should look like his brother" / Because if only one brother is cut, "neither will know which one is normal"
     (and which one is?)
     Mark H, who was cut at the last minute for this reason, and has never seen his brothers' penises / Surgeon-General Everett B. Coop, 1993
     
     
155. "For good measure" because his older brother was being c.
     Told by the (French) older brother to Martin Novoa <acroposthion[AT-sign]hotmail.com>
     
     
156. For variety (leaving brother/s intact)
     "Steven Daniel"
     
     
157. To make him look different from his twin brother
     
     
158. "We don't want him to look and ask why... 'why do you look like that, daddy... and I look like this?' ...
     
159. ...We wanted him to fit in...
     
160. ... to feel that he's part of the family...
     
161. ... that there's nothing wrong with him... (!)
     
162. ... and he's just the same as daddy!" / Because "a boy should look like his father" / 'Like father like son' / "Because his father is and it is better for them to be alike."
     /"bahoda" in the LA Times, March 29, 2008/(said by a woman who had broken off contact with the father before she knew she was pregnant)
     John [Masseli], in NBC Today Show, Nov 9, 1998/Joe Crummey, KABC Radio, Los Angeles/ letter to Suzanne Cook <nocircofmaine[AT-sign]juno.com> / from Darilynn Starr <sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
     
     
163. Because his mother feared his father wouldn't bond with him if they didn't look the same.
     (This may have some basis - though not justification - in biology)
     
     
164. Because fathers and sons are natural enemies / To channel a father's natural anger and jealousy into one controlled cut
     "The day I cut off my son's foreskin" by Daniel Silberman Brenner/Rabbi Joshua Hammerman in Good Weekend, May 28, 1994
     
     
165. Because "In the primeval way of things procreative, we decided to pass on a tradition from father to son."/ Because I wanted to share the circumcision bond with my sons
     Parents Magazine, February 1999/Dr Alan Greene, www.parenthoodweb.com
     
     
166. Because everyone in our family is circumsised
     Reported by John M Foley MD (in FACT magazine, July - August 1966)
     
     
167. Because the mother missed her dead husband's penis [ ! ]
     (posted on an email list for stay-at-home attachment parents: the first husband died before the birth of his son, and the mother posted "I took comfort that if I couldn't have my husband, at least I could have a penis I was comfortable with." )
     The same woman let her second son be cut to save her marriage. Sent by remdog <remdog[AT-sign]earthlink.net>
     
     
168. To make him look like his mother's father
     
     
169. Because of an inborn "vagina envy"
     Bruno Bettleheim cited in The Universality of Incest
     
     
170. To make him look like his peers / To make him feel "regular"
     
     
171. Because "until more people start objecting to this procedure, it's easier on the kid to get him circumsised"
     (i.e. Somebody else go first.)
     Bill <Wes676767[AT-sign]aol.com> on the Superconsciousness (?) list
     
     
172. To protect him from being teased / called "cheese dick" / "To prevent "locker-room syndrome" / Because his mother heard of an intact boy in a locker-room being called "flappy".
     
     
173. Because if we ever live in Egypt [my husband is Egyptian] my son won't feel different from other boys
     Lisa <ljahmed[AT-sign]mailcity.com>
     
     
174. Because his foreskin had been (but was no longer) swollen after a dog bite.
     http://www.medscape.com/HomeExamRoom/spotlight/05.97-spotlight.html
     
     
175. "Trim the twig to strengthen the limb" / Because plants require pruning for growth
     Foreskin, p121 / Gwen A Orel <gaost3+[AT-sign]pitt.edu> 3 Dec 1996
     
     
176. Because it does him a favour / Because circumcision is "the KINDEST CUT OF ALL" in a man's life."
     / James Yello <jamesyello[AT-sign]aol.com>
     
     
177. To provide skin for growing for grafts
     
     
178. To provide collagen for cosmetic surgery on lips and cheeks
     "Herd on the Street", Maureen Dowd, New York Times, April 11, 2001
     
     
179. To use for research into arsenical cancers (Bowen's disease)
     Scientists at National Taiwan University called for volunteers, November 2004
     
     
180. To use his foreskin for testing cosmetics for irritation
     
     
181. To use his foreskin to make TNS Recovery Complex^(TM), an anti-wrinkle cream.

     Skinmedica Tns Recovery Complex - ...The biotechnology of the skin's natural healing process has arrived with the first tissue repairing complex containing growth factors found in normal, healthy skin. The TNS (Tissue Nutrient Solution) Recovery Complex System with NouriCel-MD®, a research based cosmetic ingredient only found in TNS, is comprised of natural growth factors, antioxidants, matrix proteins, and soluble collagens, to help restore what time takes away. SkinCareShop

     Did someone mention soap?
     As seen on Oprah!
     
     
182. To use his foreskin as a culture medium
     Dr Gerald N. Weiss <gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
     
     
183. To graft on to mice to experimentally induce skin cancer
     HealthSCOUT, quoting "a recent issue of the American Journal of Pathology
     
     
184. To make his penis cleaner / "For hygienic purposes" / Because "no son of mine is gonna have a doggy dick."
     / / steve-o <smcarus[AT-sign]syr.edu>
     
     
185. Because it's too much trouble for his mother to clean / Because we sometimes go to Africa where hygiene is impossible
     / told to Pat A Miller <patm.tapsac.nocircoh[AT-sign]juno.com>
     
     
186. "Because I was afraid I would not know how to clean it...
187. "...I am embarrassed to admit I do not know how to clean it...
188. "...I would be humiliated to take him to the doctor with an infection...
189. "...If he got an infection, I would be considered a dirty incompetent mom."
     All four told to Eileen Wayne <EileenWayne[AT-sign]aol.com> by the same woman
     
     
190. Because the cleaning instructions for intact boys are contradictory
     Dr Gerald N. Weiss <gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
     
     
191. Because he lacked co-ordination and his mother couldn't imagine him being able to retract his own foreskin
     A friend of Anne LaMotte, quoted in her book "Operating Instructions"
     
     
192. Because men prefer a maintainence-free penis
     Dr William Sears on ParentTime
     
     
193. Because his mother thought that cleaning him was too much like masturbating him / Because cleaning him could be misinterpreted as masturbating him / Because parents might be uncomfortable discussing penile hygiene with him
     /Steve Scott at the 6ISGI/ Dr Marianne Neifert in "Dr Mom"
     
     
194. To make his genitals odourless
     
     
195. ...male circumcision is a beautiful thing and not a barbaric thing or mutilation. That is why we circumcise..because it is beautiful.
     Candybags <candybags[AT-sign]shaw.ca> on the circumcision_pro_or_con group, Aug 5, 2003
     
     
196. To make his penis look nicer / cuter / sexy
     / / <vuckovic[AT-sign]interaccess.com> (G. Vuckovic)
     
     
197. Because it exposes the most beautiful part / Because it's an "aesthetic enhancement"
     The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398 / <wadi4885[AT-sign]my-dejanews.com>
     
     
198. Because "circumcision provides the perfect penis".
     A urologist to an adult man who told John D. Dalton <cole[AT-sign]dentfell.demon.co.uk>
     
     
199. Because an uncircumcised penis looks funny /... like a piece of meat / "...sort of marsupial, or like [a] little rodent[] stuck in [a] garden hose[]."/ "Because if your not cut.....you look like a freak!!"
     The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398 // Anne LaMott, "Operating Instructions" / Bradley Wells <QHRQ11B[AT-sign]prodigy.com>
     
     
200. Because it makes it uniformly pink
     (It doesn't, of course - on the contrary.)
     The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398
     
     
201. Because our son ended up being born with a really tight foreskin, so much so that it was discolored and our OB said it really had to be done.
     Lisa <ljahmed[AT-sign]mailcity.co>
     
     
202. Because he was "presenting with a megaprepuce that had both physical and mental effects, eg in his relations with his peers and in emotional anxiety for his parents" / Because his foreskin is "excessively long"
     Gomez, British Journal of Urology 1997; 80:357-361 / Gomez et al, British Journal of Urology (1996), 78, 959-960
     
     
203. Because the doctors said his urethra was too long
     (This is nonsense. The state of the foreskin has no effect on the urethra. They probably meant his foreskin was too long - for their comfort.)
     I. H. personal communication
     
     
204. "Because [my sister's] doctor said having his glans exposed would help calm him down a little (he's terribly hyper)." (The writer goes on "It's certainly more natural than using drugs like Ritalin")
     Posted Feb 24, 2000, on ParentSpace by chelle_ken
     
     
205. To prevent excessive crying / Because "If you don't have him circumcised and he gets an infection, he'll cry and cry and cry and you'll never be able to get him to stop."
     Reported in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 /
     
     
206. Because "it improves his health"
     Beth on www.parenthoodweb.com
     
     
207. To prevent/cure yeast infections
     
     
208. To prevent/cure balanitis
     
     
209. To prevent/cure phimosis / "tight skin" / Because it wouldn't retract at birth
     / Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 / The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398
     
     
210. Because "it defiantely reduces chances of ... painful stretching of muscle during coitus."
     Patrick Muigai in the LA Times, March 30, 2008
     
     
211. "I had him circumcized because the foreskin kept getting tighter and tighter as he got older to the point where he could no longer retract it and if he did not get it circumcized the chances of his developing gangrene were not even a question."
     www.pregnancy.org
     
     
212. Because "apparently there is something in the Korean genotype [hereditary makeup] that causes problems with penile phimosis"
     (Only the South Korean genotype, it seems)
     A teacher in South Korea to Matthew L <mjl[AT-sign]f1.net.au>
     
     
213. Because he was (one of 16) in the control group for an experiment that showed that topical steriods succesfully treated phimosis
     Br J Urol 1996 Nov; 78(5): 786-788
     
     
214. To prevent/cure paraphimosis
     
     
215. To prevent Urinary Tract Infection
     
     
216. To prevent infant epididymitis (infection of the sperm-storage tubules behind the testes)
     
     
217. Because he had an accumulation of water in his scrotum which, had he not been circumcised, would have made him sterile
     (They probably just took the opportunity to c. him when they were draining his scrotum. Maybe they lied, maybe he misunderstood.)
     A schoolfriend of John D. Dalton <cole[AT-sign]dentfell.demon.co.uk>
     
     
218. To prevent high blood pressure
     Dr Thomas Wiswell, Knight-Ridder newspapers 2/Apr/97
     
     
219. To prevent the formation of gallstones
     Dr Edgar Schoen, quoted in USA Today, July 1995
     
     
220. To cure a stomach infection
     A man at a NORM-SoCal meeting, sent by Gary Harryman <Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
     
     
221. To prevent prostate cancer
     Dr. Abraham Ravich
     
     
222. Because he was born with ichthyosis
     (A rare skin condition affecting the whole body)
     A friend of Nathan Kennard <nathankennard[AT-SIGN]hotmail.com>
     
     
223. "An urologist who checked my penis suggested me to circumcise my penis because he says the little white points [around the gland] can be dangerous, meaning being transmited while sex."
     These papillae coronis are perfectly normal and common.
     A correspondent to David Stevens <davidstevens[AT-sign]sbcglobal.net>
     
     
224. To prevent rupture
     Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
     
     
225. To prevent boils
     
     
226. "To combat the ravages of schistosomal infectious symptomatology"
     A schistosome is a threadworm. Symptomatology is the study of symptoms.
     Gerald N. Weiss M.D. <gnweiss,frii.com>
     
     
227. To cure genital crabs
     A caller to the Howard Stern Show, September 4, 2003
     
     
228. To prevent or cure alcoholism, asthma, curvature of the spine, epilepsy, gout, hernia, headaches and rheumatism
     P C Remondino, 1891
     
     
229. To help him cope with chicken pox
     Geoffrey T. Falk
     
     
230. Because he hadn't urinated hours after birth
     (He had.)
     MBLNovoa <chuff[AT-sign]pacbell.net:>
     
     
231. So that the tip of the penis (glans) and the opening of the urethra, through which the baby urinates, are exposed to air
     The foreskin is the tip of the penis
     Supplied by Pat a. Miller <patm.tapsac.nocircoh[AT-sign]juno.com>
     
     
232. Because "a small piece of skin that covered my urethra had to be removed so I could urinate."
     Posted by Jim to fathermag.com, Nov 5, 2007
     
     
233. Because a foreskin that completely covers the glans is abnormal
     On this basis, the same study found 49% of intact men to be "abnormal"
     Osmond TE. Is routine circumcision advisable? J Royal Army Med Corps. 1953; 99:254.
     
     
234. To stop him dribbling when he pees / sprinkling on the toilet seat / To prevent difficulty with micturation in childhood
     Jason Ashley//
     
     
235. Because "If you don't do that they get a rupture.... The urine will get all backed up and won't come out properly." / To allow him to urinate
     A nursing graduate to Coontail <coontail[AT-sign]my-deja.com> /
     
     
236. "We did it for potty training. It's just easier that way."
     In "a local daily paper" submitted by <gdavis[AT-sign]griffin.emba.uvm.edu> (Gary Davis)
     
     
237. To confer "societal health benefits"
     
     
238. Because scar tissue had formed at the end of his foreskin making it hard to urinate (the doctor had ordered the mother to retract his foreskin forcibly from four months onward)
     From Darillyn Starr <Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
     
     
239. Because "my cousin's penis, started growing shut, and if he wouldn't have had it cut, he could have died. (if it was let closed shut completely)
     An anonymous poster on misc.kids.pregnancy
     
     
240. Because "there wouldn't have had any place for my penis to grow"
     [Name removed at writer's request]
     
     
241. Because he had a large glans
     Peter Patterson, Toronto, Canada, personal communication.
     
     
242. Because "the foreskin and the frenulum stop the growth of the penis and in some cases circumcision is necessary to protect the boy or man from the psychological trauma of an abnormally small penis."
     a respected gynecologist, doctor's union official, and a political power in the Institute Mexicano Seguro Social (Social Security) to Dr Sergio Aguilar
     
     
243. To prevent stunted growth of his whole body
     In the Philippines, where boys are circumcised before adolescence.
     
     
244. Because "his father tried to tell him that the procedure would make him taller"
     Janma, writing in Indonesia Matters on March 18th, 2008. She goes on: "we all looked at him somewhat blankly before collapsing into laughter. He never mentioned it again." - a fitting reaction to many (if not all) of these reasons.
     
     
245. Because he is under anaesthetic already for another operation
     Combined tonsillectomy and circumcision became so common it was called "T & C"
     One mother told Suzanne Cooke <Scookie5[AT-sign]aol.com> how she'd fought in 1977 to keep her son intact, but they got him when they were bringing down a testicle.
     dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com (Duane Voskuil Ph.D.)
     
     
246. So that he will do better at school
     Recommended by Dr Manuel Neto of North Dakota to Mona Goheen, who wrote to the National Post, October 27, 1999
     
     ADOLESCENT
     
     
247. To protect him from getting stuck in a zipper
     
     
248. To extract him from a zipper
     
     
249. Because "it reduces a boy's excessive fascination with his penis"
     Beth on www.parenthoodweb.com
     
     
250. To prevent masturbation - and prevent or treat about 100 allegedly consequent ailments, including arthritic hips*, blindness, headaches, hydrocephaly, insanity, kidney disease, kleptomaina, leprosy, moral depravity, rectal prolapse, plague and tuberculosis
     John Kellog, 1888
     *Lewis A. Sayre, 1870s (vehemently opposed to routine c., though)
     
     
251. To punish him for masturbating
     
     
252. So that he will be easier to control as a teenager
     
     
253. To "create a rosebud that will bloom when he's 18."
     An angry man to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com>
     
     ADULT
     
     
254. To punish him for homosexuality/cure his homosexuality
     D-----, friend of B------, was 26, and it was done at his parents' behest in Colombia while he was under general anaesthetic for another operation. Personal communication./Dear Abby, June 9, 2006
     
     
255. To punish him for going AWOL / trying to escape from prison
     / Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 153
     
     
256. To punish him for bestiality
     Dr Charles E. Briggs was surgeon of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry, a unit of black soldiers. Private James Riley was accused of bestiality with a mare, but acquitted. Nevertheless Dr Briggs had the soldier bound and gagged, then performed a punitive circumcision and mutilated the soldier's penis with a hot iron, all without anesthetics. (For this malpractice, torture, assault, and battery, Briggs was court-martialled.) - Tarnished Scalpels: The Court-Martials of Fifty Union Surgeons by Thomas P. Lowry and Jack D. Welsh, Stackpole Books. (Read reviews and order from Amazon.com)
     
     
257. To punish him for stealing a Circumstraint (tm)
     "Babyboy", New York,
     
     
258. To punish him for anti-Semitism
     On the ABC programme "The View", comedienne Joy Behar suggested this for actor Mel Gibson after his drunken anti-Semitic tirade on July 21, 2006
     
     
259. To punish him for catching an STD
     
     
260. To prevent STDs
     (syphilis) Jonathan Hutchinson, 1856
     
     
261. Because he had had an STD and "otherwise it would have resulted in a sterile future"
     told by a Navy medic to the father of a correspondent with Ken Avery <kenny318east3rd[AT-sign]hotmail.com>, 1950s
     
     
262. To prevent HIV
     • because the foreskin is deficient in Langerhans cells (Weiss, 1993)
     • because the foreskin is rich in Langerhans cells (Szabo and Short, 2000)
     
     
263. Because his foreskin was growing back (after his first circumcision)
     Friends of Gabrielle Rhodes' husband <rhodes38[AT-sign]home.com>
     
     
264. To initiate him when crossing the Equator
     
     
265. Because "circumcised (Samoan and Tongan) men are better Rugby League players."
     Metro (NZ) September 1999
     
     
266. Because he will be prevented from speaking in public if his (Samoan) father is intact.
     Pacific Star (NZ) February/March 1999
     
     
267. Because it was a requirement before you could see the doctor
     Told to Tom H. <workhard[AT-sign]home.com> of Oshawa, Southern Ontario in 1954 by his family
     
     
268. Because [the Jews] lived in the desert, and the dust and dirt would get in there in young boys and cause infections
     (This belief is widespread, and has no foundation.)
     An anonymous poster on misc.kids.pregnancy
     
     
269. To protect him from irritation when fighting in the desert / Because his mother had heard that Americans in the trenches in World War I got infections under their foreskins
     Tried on HY's mother in 1942, and by Kim Saffron's mother in 1964 / Darillyn Starr <Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
     
     
270. Because he was going to serve in Vietnam and "might have to walk through swamps" / Because men in Vietnam got crotch rot.
     (As the man himself said, wouldn't his foreksin protect him in that case?) / According to emedicine, crotch rot (Tinea cruris) typically spares the penis and scrotum.
     Brother of G--- J---; personal communication. / Posted on YouTube by JoeBobOneHalf
     
     
271. To be allowed to work in a US Army kitchen (in Korea)
     Prof. DaiSik Kim
     
     
272. To make him fit for military service
     
     
273. To promote military discipline
     
     
274. Because it is "a requirement for admission to the armed forces / the US Marines / As a requirement of joining the Coast Guard, because the foreskin is a "health problem"
     Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581 / Helen Bryce <bryce[AT-sign]cruzio.com> quoting Dodie Hall on fgm-l citing Marvin Zindler of LeGrange, TX / Randy Reinhart >randyr[AT-sign]connect.net<
     
     
275. Because "My grandpa told me then when he was in the navy in WWII that any dude who had a foreskin was required to get it cut off. i remember him telling me how they would put a barber chair in the middle of the deck and line up any uncut kids to get circd on deck while other sailors watched. he said it was kinda like entertainment cuz there was lots of down time even out in the pacific. anyways, grandpa was cut so he never had to go through that but he said it like convinced 100% of dudes to make sure their kids were cut. thats why my dad, uncles, and all us kids were cut as soon as we popped out. LOL.
     Told by "jmgcoonhunter" on circumsexual.com on Nov 6, 2007 Notice that nowhere is any actual reason given.
     
     
276. Because you get two days off military service to recover (Taiwanese army/UK troops in Singapore)
     D.J. Toman <milesian[AT-sign]asiaonline.net.tw> / "The Virgin Soldiers" (film, 1969, UK)
     
     
277. Because a friend of the adoption social worker was circumcised in the Navy, and he was a mess
     Darillyn Starr <Sstar[AT-sign]vii.com>
     
     
278. To make him look like his master / Because his master ordered it
     Advice column, Friction magazine, August 1989 (advised against allowing it) / Tom Hodgson ordered it for his "lover"/slave, Robert McEwan in Perth, Australia, in the 1980s. McEwan stabbed Hodgson 42 times in 1994. express newspaper, Auckland NZ, February 8, 1997 and Outrage, Sydney
     
     
279. Because he's in prison
     
     
280. Because he's a Prisoner Of War
     A friend of B--- M---; personal communication
     
     
281. To prevent him from concealing/transporting drugs under his foreskin
     Tim Huisamen <AKTH[AT-sign]warthog.ru.ac.za>
     
     
282. To encourage your children to become more creative when they are adults.
     Dr Dave Mirkin. It turns out he means "much more creative in lovemaking" based on the Laumanns' finding that circumcised men of some ethnicities masturbate more and have more oral sex than intact men. Creative?
     
     
283. To enable him to become not just a very fine, but a great actor
     Noël Coward to Derek Jacobi, told in the Daily Telegraph, July 16, 2002
     
     
284. To prevent him becoming a presidential assassin.
     These two together make one wonder about John Wilkes Booth....
     
     
285. Because it was "too long" and would get tangled when he was rowing (ordered by the doctor of his rowing club)
     A friend of Ari Zigelboim <ariz[AT-sign]communique.net>
     
     
286. Because I am heartily sick of it rolling forward and trapping my hairs!
     "John Hobson"<johnhobson[AT-sign]ntlworld.com> on alt.circumcision. He didn't take the option of trimming the hair seriously, suggesting this was not the real reason.
     
     
287. To frighten his enemies
     
     
288. To give him the appearance of permanent arousal / Because a circumcised penis always looks ready to go.
     / Gene McGough <genem[AT-sign]caveman.net>
     
     
289. To weaken him ready for slaughter
     Genesis 34:14-25
     
     
290. In exchange for a grant of land from the Temple in ancient Israel
     Ari Zigelboim <ariz[AT-sign]communique.net>
     
     
291. To make a / real / American / man of him
     In 1996 in Queensland, an Aboriginal woman identified as "Gladys" told Ambrose John Neal to "make a man of" Irwin Brookdale, which he did with a broken bottle. Brookdale got $A10,000 in damages. AFP Oct 8, 1997. / /
     
     
292. As a proud mark that one was not French
     An Algerian man describing life under colonial French rule in the film "Circoncision"
     
     
293. To pass as a Muslim
     Sir Richard Burton - the explorer, not the actor
     
     
294. Because he's a slave in a Muslim brothel, so he has to be a Muslim
     Reported in Gay News (UK) April 2005
     
     
295. Because he is a Promise Keeper
     

     Jack Hayford, another charismatic Baptist preacher, ... is a frequent speaker at Promise Keepers seminars ... One of the other beliefs that Jack Hayford promotes stems from ... a vision of [Jesus] seated in heaven, ... Jesus told Hayford why God required circumcision in the Old Testament. "God wants to touch your very identity as a man," Hayford explained to the group, in an effort to encourage adult circumcision on those men who had not yet experienced the ritual. "He wants to reach out and touch your secret and private parts. This enables Him to better perform surgery on the heart. God wants to touch man¹s creative parts." (from a speech made by Hayford to the Promise Keepers during their regional conference in Anaheim, California, 14 May 1994.) Barbara Victor, "The Last Crusade, Religion and the Politics of Misdirection" Constable & Robinson Ltd, London, 2005, ISBN 1-84119-955-9, p 178. Read reviews and buy this book from Amazon.com

     
     
     
296. To pass as a Jew (in kibbutzim)
     Article by Herb Keinon in The Jerusalem Post, Oct 18, 1991
     
     
297. To pass as a member of the English upper class
     The father of mervyn <mcripps[AT-sign]mergetel.com>
     
     
298. Because he has been captured by Muslims
     
     
299. In case he is captured by Muslims (the British surgeon would take more care, 1661)
     Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 31
     
     
300. In order to be allowed to live in Saudi Arabia
     
     
301. In order to be considered worthy to be elected President of South Africa / Kenya
     (Xhosa said they would not vote for an intact man, April 1999) / Kikuyu tribe members forcibly circumcised Luo in riots after the election of a Luo, January 2008
     
     
302. Because "They say that those who are circumcised are wiser than the uncircumcised ones. They do it [forcibly circumcise] ... so that we can be wise like them."
     John Lallo, 62, of Kibera, Kenya, January 2008
     
     
303. Because his penis was "too big, to make it more comfortable"
     R--, personal communication (26 May 2002), circumcised in his fifties without him having presented any symptoms
     
     
304. "As a way of reinforcing his African heritage"
     White South African performance artist Peet Pienaar, October 2000
     
305. As "a symbol of me broadening my identity"
     Pienaar again when African cultural objections were raised to the first proposal
     
306. As a work of performance art
     Pienaar again in the final event. The exhibit included close-up video of the circumcision and the foreskin itself in formaldehyde
     
     
307. In case he becomes quadriplegic and needs a catheter
     (False. Men in non-circumcising countries are routinely catheterised while intact)
     According to Dr Gerald N. Weiss <gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
     
     
308. Because he was diabetic, so he was "bound to have problems with it sooner later" [details suppressed for confidentiality]
     
     
309. To demonstrate the circumcisor's prowess as a warrior
     Bud Berkeley, "Foreskin", p 31
     
     
310. So that other members of the circumcision club can watch and masturbate
     
     
311. Because the foreskin's purpose is to facilitate rape
     
     
312. To remove the female element from him: "A boy is female from his foreskin; a girl is male from her clitoris"
     According to the Dogon of West Africa
     
     
313. As an "equalizer for the inconvenience, sometimes pain, that the female of the species suffers month after month"
     Adrian E. Cristobal in Manilla News Online, July 20, 2003
     
     
314. So that men can have the same blood-bond as women: "Our mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters experience the awesome spiritual bonding power of blood every month. Men have this opportunity only during circumcision."
     Rabbi David Zaslow, "Circumcision and Brit: They're Not the Same Thing" Tikkun May/June 2001
     
     MARRIAGE AND SEX
     
     
315. To prepare him for marriage
     
     
316. to prepare the young man for physiological roles of fatherhood and
317. to define his sexual role regarding marriage.
     A CULTURAL APPROACH TO HIV/AIDS PREVENTION AND CARE, by Dr. Maria Antónia Castelo Dr. Miguel Gaspan and Dr. Balbina Ventura Félix
     
     
318. To impart a sense of sacredness to the act of conjugal union
     Rabbi Reuven Bulka of the congregation Machzikei Hadas, Ottawa (Ottawa Citizen, Oct 21, 1997)
     
     
319. Because "it helps with the love connection."
     Father of Carl Schutt, author of "I want my Foreskin for Giftmas"
     
     
320. To reduce his sexual performance
     Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed, p.378 of the Dover edition, 1956
     
     
321. Because it cuts down excessive libido, which leads to adultery
     
     
322. For "the subversion of sexual energy into productive societal endeavours in a supportive environment."
     "pantera" <nick_msk[AT-sign]hotmail.com> on alt.circumcision on 20 Mar 2003
     
     
323. To prevent infertility / ensure fertility
     Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
     
     
324. Because his sperm were abnormal in a test for in vitro fertilization, and balanitis could be the cause
     BMJ, (1998;316:1438-1441 9 May)
     
     
325. To prevent cervical cancer in his partner/s
     
     
326. Because he was giving his wife yeast infections
     (and she was giving them to him...)
     Told to <dvoskuil[AT-sign]tic.bisman.com> (Duane Voskuil Ph.D.)
     
     
327. Because his partner demands it / To make him attractive to his partner / "Because no woman wants to look at a doggy dick!!"
     Jason Ashley // Bradley Wells <QHRQ11B[AT-sign]prodigy.com>
     
     
328. To "make him 'respectable' to the female of the species."
     Adrian E. Cristobal in Manilla News Online, July 20, 2003
     
     
329. Because his mother and her friends prefer circumcised men for sexual pleasure
     Letter to Suzanne Cook <nocircofmaine[AT-sign]juno.com>
     
     
330. Because his mother had sex with an intact man once and it was "dirty"
     
     
331. Because women don't like performing oral sex on intact men / Because prostitutes prefer circumcised penises
     / Attributed to an Australian medical journal
     
     
332. Because women think it looks "more natural"
     (!)
     Said by Edgar Schoen, Today Show, 11/11/98 apprently in refernce to Williamson & Williamson's survey of Iowa women
     
     
333. To use his foreskin for a dowry
     (1 Sam 18 25-7)
     
     
334. To make his penis bigger / To allow the penis to become more erect and hence 'bigger'. / Because the Tip of the Penis will surely be diminished in size due to the presence of the foreskin./ To make it look bigger
     Reported in "NZ Truth" / A father to nurse Mary Conant <wholebaby2[AT-sign]juno.com> / told to <BFKOUBA[AT-sign]aol.com> by a Japanese youth who failed at self-c. / "South Park" May 20, 1998
     
     
335. Because "the foreskin and the frenulum stop the growth of the penis and in some cases circumcision is necessary to protect the boy or man from the psychological trauma of an abnormally small penis"
     Told by a respected gynecologist, doctors' union official, and political power in the Institute Mexicano Seguro Social (Social Security), to Dr Sergio Aquilar, who told Gary Harriman<Glharryman[AT-sign]aol.com>
     
     
336. To make his erection shorter [tight circumcision is specified] and so protect future partners from painful bumping on the far end of their vaginas
     Chris "sianick1994" <sianick1994@yahoo.co.uk> in the Yahoo group circumcision_pro_and_con, Oct 1, 2003
     
     
337. To avoid tearing in tight situations / Because it is better for overall comfort when you have a stiff erection
     The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398
     
     
338. To prevent pain in intercourse
     (Herero of Namibia)
     
     
339. To enhance his sexual performance / prevent premature ejaculation
     
     
340. Because "his early sexual experiences are likely to be enjoyable and enhance his self-esteem[.] Clumsy experimentation may be reduced or eliminated."
     John Pritchard <jpritcha[AT-sign]escape.ca> alt.circumcision Nov 17, 1998
     
     
341. Because it enhances sensitivity
     The Hite Report on Male Sexuality, pp. 397-398
     
     
342. Because it reduces sensitivity / (at 11-13) To remove the foreskin before the boy starts to gain sexual stimulation from it at puberty.
     / http://www.circlist.org/cconsider.html
     
     OLD AGE
     
     
343. To prevent penile cancer
     Abraham Wolbarst, 1914
     
     
344. To prevent urinary obstruction in his old age
     Canadian Medical Association Journal, Vol 95 (Sept 10, 1966), pages 576-581
     
     
345. Because "If he gets ill and cannot manage his personal hygiene himself he will have to put up with some stranger (whoever) attending to this problem of pulling back the foreskin weekly [!] to clean the area. This would be most disgusting and belittling for him." / "The procedure of being cleaned is emotionally difficult for the older uncircumcised patient."
     Shirley Murray on the Australian "60 Minutes" discussion board / Ruth Frank, RN, CS, VA Medical Center, Durham, NC, in PEDIATRICS Vol. 106 No. 4 October 2000, pp. 954
     
     
346. Because if "a guy has a car accident and is incapable of [cleaning under his foreskin] for himself[, h]e will now need this service regularly to be done by some strange (probably a nurse) person for term of his remaining life."
     Shirley Murray on the Australian "60 Minutes" discussion board
     
     
347. In case he needs a catheter when he is senile
     Dr Gerald N. Weiss <gnweiss[AT-sign]frii.com>
     
     POSTHUMOUS
     
     
348. So that his children will not be embarrassed when they perform the ritual bath after his death
     (Korea) Kukmin Ilbo, Sep. 24, 1996, cited by DaiSik Kim in "Male circumcision: a South Korean perspective", British Journal of Urology, Vol 83 Jan 1999
     
     
349. To prepare his corpse for the study of male anatomy
     
     
350. Because the foreskin "is a disgrace to him"
     (why a Jewish baby who dies before his Bris must be circumcised at the graveside)
     Code of Jewish Law, ... by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried (NY, Hebrew Publishing Co, 1961) vol 4, p 44
     
     
351. To admit sinful Jews to Gehinnom (Hell): Abraham sits at the gate of Gehinnon and takes the foreskins off Jewish babies who died uncircumcised and puts them on bad Jews
     A Cohen, Everyman's Talmud, (New York, Schocken, 1975) p 381
     
     ...BUT:
     
     
352. "The bodily pain caused to that member is the real purpose of circumcision."
     - Maimonides
     
     

And this doesn't include the underlying reasons - to show him who's in charge and what they think about his sexuality.

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4 Good reasons for post-neonatal circumcision

(There is nothing a baby can be born with that makes immediate (neonatal) circumcision necessary.)

That was quick, wasn't it! Now back to the top.

30 kinds of circumstition

May be republished freely in the cause of ending infant circumcision, but please let me know.

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