Subject: Re: Circumcision
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 11:26:26 +1000
From: Richard Kerr <>
Organization: University of Sydney
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion,nz.soc.religion

Laurie Bisman wrote:

> Richard Kerr wrote in message <37CC9698.E507D100>...
> >Since having a baby boy and deciding not to have him circumcised, I have
> >had to learn about genital hygene for uncircumcised infants. It turns
> >out that the foreskin of an uncircumcised child is actually connected to
> >his glans by a membrane called the "synechia". This is the same sort
of
> >thing that attaches your fingernails to your fingers. Obviously when
> >washing a baby boy you _do_not_ pull the foreskin back, the synechia
> >will dissolve naturally by age five and only then do you need to wash
> >the glans.
> >
> >This means that any form of circumcision that breaks the synechia,
> >including the kind of thing you're talking about here, is the equivalent
> >of ripping a baby's fingernail off. Obviously not something you'd do
> >without very good reason.
> 
> This is outrageously specious reasoning! Just because the membranes are made
> of the same sort of material does NOT mean that circumcision would feel the
> same (or be the equivalent of) ripping fingernails off!

Well... the nerve density in the glans is about the same as the nerve
density in your fingertips, so I would have thought that it's a pretty
good comparison. The only part of your body that's _more_ sensitive than
either is your lips.

-- 

Regards,

Richard Kerr 

University of Sydney