re: Easier to raise as small kids: Boys or Girls

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couldn't disagree more, I have one of each. My girl sits and colors and listens to us. My boy is constantly climbing and getting into everything and doesn't hardly listen. Love them both.

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It could be argued that in Japan, Norway, Sweden, high standards of hygiene are maintained. The variable in penile cancer prophylaxis may be hygiene, not retention of foreskin. This is essentially the position taken by the 1975 American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force, which denied a relationship between circumcision and prostatic cancer and stated that "non-circumcision is not of primary etiological significance" in cervical cancer.2 In regard to penile cancer, they wrote: "There is evidence that carcinoma of the penis can be prevented by neonatal circumcision. There also is evidence that optimal hygiene confers as much or nearly as much protection" (emphasis added)2 In 1981, 6 years later, Grossman and Posner took a more forthright position. Writing in Obstetrics and Gynecology, they stated: "No one today seriously promotes circumcision as a prophylactic against cancer in any form. No significant correlation between cancer and circumcision has ever been proved."22

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While circumcision has potential risks and alters normal, sexual functioning of the penis, proponents of the practice consider it to confer many "prophylactic" benefits on the recipient. This rationale was initiated in the English-speaking countries during the 19th century when the etiology of diseases was unknown. At that time, circumcision evolved from a religious ritual or puberty rite into routine surgery for "health" reasons.

Within the miasma of myth and ignorance, a theory emerged that masturbation caused many and varied ills, so some physicians thought it logical to perform genital surgery on both sexes to stop masturbation. In 1891, P.C. Remondino advocated circumcision to prevent or to cure alcoholism, epilepsy, asthma, hernia, gout, rheumatism, curvature of the spine, and headaches. As scientific research uncovered legitimate pathological etiology for diseases previously thought to be prevented or cured by circumcision, new rationales were postulated to validate the practice. Prophylactic circumcision of females fell out of vogue in English-speaking countries, but the incidence of male circumcision steadily rose. In the early 20th century, circumcision was advocated as a hygienic measure. Though criticism of the practice mounted, it was not until 1975 that the American Academy of Pediatrics came out in opposition, arguing that good personal hygiene would offer all the advantages of routine circumcision without the attendant surgical risk. The advent of antibiotics negated the rationale that circumcision was needed to prevent venereal disease.

As a religious ritual, circumcision is practiced by Jews and Moslems in accordance with the biblical account of Abraham's covenant with God. Even so, the ``purpose'' of the Jewish ritual of circumcision has been argued by Jews throughout history. Noted Rabbi Moses Maimonides, in the Guide of the Perplexed, explains a rationale for circumcision that merits attention when circumcision is considered relative to human sexuality.

"As regards circumcision... [s]ome people believe that circumcision is to remove a defect in man's formation; but every one can easily reply: How can products of nature be deficient so as to require external completion, especially as the use of the foreskin to that organ is evident. This commandment has not been enjoined as a complement to a deficient physical creation, but as a means for perfecting man's moral shortcomings. The bodily injury caused to that organ is exactly that which is desired; it does not interrupt any vital function, nor does it destroy the power of generation. Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust; for there is no doubt that circumcision weakens the power of sexual excitement, and sometimes lessens the natural enjoyment; the organ necessarily becomes weak when it loses blood and is deprived of its covering from the beginning."

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But is it really true that circumcised penises are more hygienic? According to some medical experts, the answer is no.

Circumcision does make it "easier to keep the area clean," Dr. Carey Chronis, pediatrician and author of Dr. Carey's Baby Care: First Year Baby Care Guide, told Mic via email. But that doesn't mean an uncircumcised penis can't be as clean as a circumcised one — only that men need to wash beneath the foreskin, which is not a difficult task for most people.

According to a Mayo Clinic guide, all it takes for good hygiene is pulling back the foreskin, cleaning underneath with mild soap and water, rinsing and drying, then pulling the foreskin back into place. It's an easy routine parents are encouraged to teach their young boys.

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The health risks: Folks with uncircumcised penises are more likely to get urinary tract infections, according to Chronis. But "the incidence of urinary tract in uncircumcised individuals is not high," he told Mic, "and this alone is not likely to be a deciding factor in choosing to circumcise."

"Periodically, in uncircumcised males, the foreskin does become infected," Chronis continued. But "with good hygiene, this should be a nonissue."

For Georganne Chapin, executive director of the anti-circumcision advocacy group Intact America, some parents who opt to circumcise their babies mistakenly believe their sons won't be able to clean themselves properly. But that's ridiculous, she told Mic: If we can learn to blow our nose and brush our teeth twice a day, men should be expected to clean underneath their foreskins.

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When you are changing a boy's diaper, there is no concern for how to wipe.

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