{"id":10196,"date":"2014-03-30T20:24:39","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T20:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/?p=10196"},"modified":"2022-10-18T15:24:04","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T05:24:04","slug":"circumcision-the-topic-nobody-wants-to-talk-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hypnobirthingaustralia.com.au\/circumcision-the-topic-nobody-wants-to-talk-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Circumcision \u2013 The Topic Nobody Wants to Talk About"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"scissors\"<\/p>\n

Circumcision. This is a topic that is discussed rarely \u2013 and yet it has lifelong effects for our baby boys. The procedure of infant circumcision is still quite common in many parts of Australia, today.<\/p>\n

Being the parents of three young boys, my husband and I know the pressure that \u2018social norms\u2019 can exert, regarding this issue, all too well.<\/p>\n

Circumcision was much more common in the 70\u2032s & 80\u2032s in Australia \u2013 and so many fathers and fathers-to-be would have been circumcised themselves, as babies. A common thought that fathers have is, \u201cIf my son isn\u2019t circumcised, he may feel that there is something wrong with him if he doesn\u2019t look like me\u201d.<\/p>\n

We felt quite uninformed regarding the subject. It was always something that was \u2018just done<\/em>\u2018 within our social network \u2013 without question.\u00a0However it just wasn\u2019t sitting right with us. So we did our own research and started asking some questions.<\/p>\n

We were surprised to hear that the United States and Australia are two of the only countries in the world that still perform this procedure on infants,<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0for non-religious or cultural reasons<\/strong><\/em>. In the UK, Europe, Latin America and many other parts of the world, the procedure is uncommon.<\/p>\n

We listened to the advice of a well known and experienced paediatrician in our city. We were shocked to discover how strong his opinion was, about the topic. He stated that he flatly refuses to perform the procedure. He said that he has had to help too many male children over the years, who had been mutilated with lifelong repercussions, due to \u2018botched\u2019 procedures by others.<\/p>\n

I urge all parents to do their research regarding this issue.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself the difficult questions before making any decisions.<\/p>\n