Compartment 14B

The unkindest cut. 2008-01-30 - 10:17 a.m. Now that we know that the Biscuit is a boy, on a practical level we�re confronted with boy-related decisions like what to name our little guy. This isn�t a bad thing, actually, because it turns out that J and I can NOT agree on another girl�s name, at least, not easily. For boy�s names, we at least have a short list that we�re kicking around. After the name, however, is the first big decision � to circumcise or not to circumcise � which we didn�t have to face with Grommet. Interestingly, I�ve already been asked this question by nosy interested co-workers (notably, one of the same ones that couldn�t resist sneaking in an unauthorized belly pat on the first round). This one has pretty much been decided actually, and my thoughts go like this: you know how they used to take people tonsils out because �they didn�t do anything anyway�? And now they�ve realized that tonsils actually do have a function and feel they were too hasty in chopping off thousands of �em, some as just a �preventative measure�? I�m quite sure that this is true of pretty much every single body part, including the foreskin, and to cut it off without a medical or religious reason is, well, kind of not right in my eyes. I actually prefer �cut� to �uncut�, but I don�t think my sense of aesthetics should guide whether to eliminate a body part on my child. The foreskin provides protection and lubrication and word has it that removing it decreases sensitivity and thus enjoyment of sex (not that circumcised men seem to not enjoy sex, from my experience), so I don�t think it�d be right to cut it off the Biscuit. Besides, more boys these days aren�t circumcised than are, so it�s not like he won�t fit in with his peers, so that argument doesn�t hold any water with me. C�mon people, remember, this is me we�re talking about. If I feel that piercing a baby girl�s ears without a serious cultural or religious reason is akin to mutilation, do you really think I�d actually cut off a piece of my son�s body? You have the right to make these choices for your own kids of course and I�m sure you too have your reasons for the decisions you make; this is just what my decision will be. Before - After All content � Shawna 2003-2010 That means no swiping my stuff - text, images, etc. - without asking. P.S. If you're emailing me, replace the [at] with @ in the "to" line. Oh, and if you put the word "journal" in the subject line it'll have a better chance of making it past my junk mail filters. recommend me HTML and design help by Jo hosted by Diaryland