Hi Shaina,
Excellent article. I am a Jewish woman who has been writing and speaking against the ills of circumcision for nearly 20 years. There is so much doctors do not tell parents. And, you supplied some of the very important missing information. Additionally, it's important to know that the foreskin contains over 20,000 highly sensitive touch receptors, far more than any other area of the penis. The keratinization of the exposed glans, as you mentioned, further de-sensitizes the surface increasing as a man approaches middle age--just when women may be experiencing less lubrication due to the onset of menopause. Typically, it is the woman's menopausal condition that is blamed for the abrasive sexual contact, rather than factoring in the consequences of altering the male genitalia.
There are other critical considerations. Traumatizing infants is very serious. For those who are capable of watching the excruciating suffering of an infant being circumcised (even with the application of topical pain killers), and pretending that the baby's agony is no different from a protest for a diaper change, should read the abundant scientific literature which has measured heart rates, respiratory rates, cortisol levels, etc. on babies having their foreskins ripped from the glans, crushed and cut. We now have a neurological basis to understand the likelihood that such massive trauma to a neonate may very well alter neurological structures.
Those who are Jewish and feeling compelled to repeat this ancient wrong, should know that maternal lineage trumps circumcision: if the mother is Jewish, the baby is Jewish.
I am happy to talk to anyone who is struggling with this issue, and share the path that I have walked. Circumcision goes against every Jewish precept of how we define what is holy and how we are to treat each other. I would urge people to become informed. Check out www.nocirc.org, www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org, or www.cirp.org.
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Hi Shaina,
Excellent article. I am a Jewish woman who has been writing and speaking against the ills of circumcision for nearly 20 years. There is so much doctors do not tell parents. And, you supplied some of the very important missing information. Additionally, it's important to know that the foreskin contains over 20,000 highly sensitive touch receptors, far more than any other area of the penis. The keratinization of the exposed glans, as you mentioned, further de-sensitizes the surface increasing as a man approaches middle age--just when women may be experiencing less lubrication due to the onset of menopause. Typically, it is the woman's menopausal condition that is blamed for the abrasive sexual contact, rather than factoring in the consequences of altering the male genitalia.
There are other critical considerations. Traumatizing infants is very serious. For those who are capable of watching the excruciating suffering of an infant being circumcised (even with the application of topical pain killers), and pretending that the baby's agony is no different from a protest for a diaper change, should read the abundant scientific literature which has measured heart rates, respiratory rates, cortisol levels, etc. on babies having their foreskins ripped from the glans, crushed and cut. We now have a neurological basis to understand the likelihood that such massive trauma to a neonate may very well alter neurological structures.
Those who are Jewish and feeling compelled to repeat this ancient wrong, should know that maternal lineage trumps circumcision: if the mother is Jewish, the baby is Jewish.
I am happy to talk to anyone who is struggling with this issue, and share the path that I have walked. Circumcision goes against every Jewish precept of how we define what is holy and how we are to treat each other. I would urge people to become informed. Check out www.nocirc.org, www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org, or www.cirp.org.
February 26, 2011 - 5:33pmThis Comment
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