Reply #258: I see that you're insuniating that we don't read the studies [View All]

[FunkyLeprechaun]

But as my two family members who are doctors and have different views of circumcision:

My dad: He doesn't believe in it. He simply says that it's easy to keep it clean and teach your children personal hygiene. Of course he's originally from Ireland so he'll have these views.

On the other hand...

My sister: born in America, grew up in America, and started to opine that circumcision is ok. She became a doctor and her position on circumcision is simply "they might want to look like their daddy."

I think it's rather insulting of you to say that circumcision prevents HIV. You have to consider the factors:

1) There is a lack of clean water in Africa, which means there's no chance of having a clean personal hygiene schedule. The men cannot always go into the shower everytime they have sex. I should know, my (Irish) mother was born and grew up in Africa when Nigeria was a British Colony and since her family was well off, she had the luxury of having a shower when the poorer people didn't.

2) Lack of personal education of cleaniness. My parents admittedly didn't tell me how to keep my bits clean, but they did give me a book which instructed me to keep clean. Even the sex education classes, as graphic as they were, didn't tell us how to keep clean.

There might be other factors such as preventing men from having sex (too painful to have sex, loss of sensation, etc). JFK compared his circumcision at 21 to being "castrated".

You have to take a grain of salt with this report, like all other studies. They did research in Africa where medical care is rare in some parts of the continent and where did they do their studies? Also who did they offer the circumcision to? Adult men? Teenagers? Infants?

Compare the studies to AIDS rates in America. How many american men are circumcised? How many american men have AIDS (heterosexuals or gay men combined)? You can't go about checking if they're circumcised but if you find those numbers, there's a ratio count, so if there are 2 circumsised men for every 1 AIDs affected male, that's not a good indicator of circumcision working.

You really have to read between the lines.