From a girls stand point; Yeah gunk can get built up under there, but as long as a the guy washes well it isn't a problem with me. I've been with guys who were and who weren't circumcised, if I love a person I love everything about them.

cut

I couldn't do that to my son (IF I had one).

My fiancé is NOT circumcised, and everything is fine!

As a matter of fact, I know someone who had this son circumcised...doctors botched it SOO BAD!
Poor kid, almost turned into a girl...Not funny....

I was circumcised at birth and have never had an issue with it. I know other guys who were cut and now regret that they have no foreskin, some to the point where they are using techniques to try and restore it. My father and his brother were left uncut, but each developed issues later in life (foreskin too tight) that required a mid-life circumcision, so I'm kind of grateful that it's not something I'd have to endure as an adult if I was facing a similar issue with a tight foreskin.

I wasn't sure how to vote on this. I'm a nurse and a Lactation Consultant and parent educator. I am strongly against routine circumcision. I don't think a potentially dangerous, invasive, painful and possibly deadly procedure, used ONLY for cosmetic reasons should be performed on male babies just because "we've always done it." (At least half a dozen baby boys per year in the USA have such severe damage done to their penises that actual removal of the penis is required. THAT Is something that most OBs are not going to tell you before they put that clamp on your kid's penis or go at him with a knife. (OBs do the majority of circs, as it is a surgical procedure and REQUIRES anesthetic. Pediatricians are not trained to do this procedure, as they are usually not surgeons and ANYONE who would even attempt to do this for any reason without a full pudendal block (a dangerous regional anesthetic for infants, but better than just tearing away and cutting into at their innocent little penises with NO pain relief) should have their medical license revoked for cruelty.)

We haven't "always done it." In the USA, circumcision was not done in the majority of the population until the Victorian Era, when it was believed that circing would "reduce masturbation." It is also known that intact men have better and more intense sensation, so, of course, the Victorians would want to reduce just about anything that made sex better.

Most of Europe and the rest of the world (with the exception of Muslim and Jewish nations) do not circ, and they have no higher rates of any illnesses ect. (And the "not circing causes AIDS" bullshit in some studies in Africa have been proven to have been tampered with, and had the results skewed to meet the end that the people who performed the studies wanted. Men with INTACT penises are no more likely to get AIDS than men who are cut up.) Intact men are no less "clean" than cut up men, and an intact penis requires no more care than an intact female labia. We don't believe (in this country) in cutting up the labia or clitorises of little girls, there should be no reason to perform a similar operation (and it IS a surgical procedure) on little boys.

As a nurse, I refuse to assist in circumcisions, and have seen some horrible things done to little boys in the past based on nothing more than cosmetic preference.

If we had had little boys, they would have remained intact. Most of my friends little boys are intact and either clinically (as a nurse) or socially, I have rarely seen issues with foreskins that cannot be fixed with gentle manipulation and perhaps a short round of ointments. And MOST intact boys don't even have any need for these interventions.

IMO, the Good Lord wouldn't have given men a body part if they didn't need it.

To the OP; you won't regret leaving your little boy the way he was born. One caveat: DO NOT LET ANYONE pull his foreskin back before it will retract on its own. This will happen anytime between 2 and 14 years of age. Most boys will gently be able to retract their own foreskins by themselves as they see fit. Forcefully pulling, tearing or rolling of the foreskin is the main things that cause scar tissue, penile problems and are also the main reason that people claim "My son needed a circ at 3 years of age." In cases like this, someone most likely tore the frenulum and damaged the little boy. This could have been resolved by treating it as an INJURY (and not performing a full removal of the foreskin) but too many American doctors have not been trained to repair foreskin injuries, and resort to full denudation. This makes about as much sense as removing the outside of your ear if you get a case of Swimmer's Ear (but [italic|it makes it easier to clean!") and is about as ethical.

My husband and I both were in agreement to have my son circumcised. My dad insisted on paying for it. We're not religious.

You do what you feel is best.

I chose that it matters only because of this traumatizing incident I dealt with.

So this happened. This friend I knew in high school and I were playing video games at his house in the living room. No, we did not have sex or were even going to have sex. So, as we were playing some Dragon Ball Z game, he said "ouch" a few times while playing and the last "ouch" he looked at his crotch and there was a blood pool on his jeans. He unzips his pants in panic and all we see is blood surrounding the area of his penis, balls, etc... He passes out and continues to bleed everywhere. I rushed to the bathroom to get a towel and then I applied pressure. After stopping the bleeding some, I looked to see if I could find where he was bleeding. When I removed the pressure, I saw that he was uncircumcised and that the frenulum had tore. Not only that, the smell was god-awful and there was an insane amount smegma. You have no idea O.O... The only thing that kept me from vomiting was trying to think medically and pretend I was a nurse to help him. So, I kept the towel on it and eventually got him to wake up for him to take care of it. I believe he had a short frenulum and, by the look of it, did not clean it well if ever. That really disturbed me....a lot. =/ Poor guy.

It cannot be unseen.

Moral of the story, make sure your child knows how to take care of it properly...else some poor friend in their early teens might have to deal with it. If he has a short frenulum, get that fixed.

I wasn't sure how to vote

I don't have a son but my husband is circumcised. We went back and forth about this before we knew my squishy bear was a girl. I do not feel it is necessary and he is on the fence.

It doesn't matter, though I would not circumcise my child.

Doesn't matter.

If our child is a boy, we will NOT be circumcising, for many of the reasons people have already said.

I wouldn't circumcise him but that's just me.

I (as a female) don't love the idea of it. If it were just up to me, I wouldn't do it.

However, I asked my (male) S.O. and he said he would definitely do it to his child, saying that since the majority of kids in are area are circumsised, and he is as well. He thinks it would be confusing for a kid to see himself as different from his father and peers.

I admit I would bow to his feelings on this one, as a person who actually owns a penis!

Ultimately, it should be the child's decision. I am very firmly anti-circumcision.

I don't think you should.

Do it, he'll be made fun of for having a needle dick if you dont

I say don't. Don't alter his body- if the time comes when he's older, he can make that decision for himself. No need to risk regretting it later on

It doesn't matter to me, I think you shouldn't circumcise after a certain age though.

i am circumcised so i have no perspective otherwise on cleanliness and sensation. i would go based on women's opinions. i would not want a dick women are grossed out by.

It didn't matter to me when I had my son, but my fiancee wanted him circumcised because he is.

Circumcised [men]

Men should always be!