Now this wouldn’t even be a debate really, because I’m not planning on circumcising this baby. However I have had maybe 6 separate people tell me that the reason I have boys, or that I deserve boys, or that my boys are luckier than other boys, is because they won’t be circumcised. Now this statement kinda pisses me off. For one, it presumes that I’m a certain way, it just happens in this case to be true. For two, to me this implies that I wouldn’t deserve my boys if I were to circumcise. Well that’s just ridiculous. For starters, my first son IS circumcised. I regretted it immediately, and won’t do it again which is why son #2 and soon to be #3 will not have to go through this process. Why did I have my first son’s done? I didn’t know any better. Pure and simple. And I would wager a bet that mothers circumcising their sons today don’t love their boys any less and are doing it because they too don’t know any better, think they have a medical reason, genuinely do have a medical reason, or perhaps are devoutly religious. Granted, while there are more and more Jews coming out against religious circumcision, when your people have been doing it for at least a millennia and here it is a highly ritualized deeply spiritual event, it’s hard to be the one to step forward and say, nah, I ain’t gonna do it. Also keep in mind that many other cultures have far more severe and painful rituals for their boys, often at early adulthood, and their mothers probably don’t love them any less either. I’m also sure that not knowing any better isn’t the greatest excuse. You could argue that is someone breaks the law because they didn’t know any better they should still be prosecuted. My guilt was my sentence, and we all have to learn somewhere.

I do suppose that one could make the argument that this is similar to the difference between mothers who breastfeed and mothers who don’t. There is some similarity in that many mothers formula feed because they’re told it’s ok or that everyone is doing it, but it’s not quite the same. There are more medical reasons not to nurse, many women try and give up early due to lack of support (a whole other issue all together…), have to work and can’t pump, etc etc etc.

In either situation if you haven’t walked a mile in the shoes of another mother, who are you to judge or assume that you know their reasoning or belief behind anything? I know the women who tell me that my boys are lucky mean well, and I support any movement for whole babies, nursed babies, etc, but I can definitely say that there are better ways to go about educating the masses then just assuming a mother’s position on a subject.

And one other thing: if I had girls I wouldn’t circumcise them either, so would they be deserved any less as well?