US circumcision rate

[Angol]

Hi,

I often hear that rates are decreasing in US and now it's only 54% or something like that. I find this number really low to be honest.
Each time I go on a circumcision forum to try and educate parents how this procedure sucks, there are polls to know if parents circumcise their sons.
And unfortunately, the results are always something like 80% circumcised vs 20% intact.
Obv the sample isn't big enough most of the time, but I've never seen a poll where it's 50/50 and it's not even close.
Not to mention, a lot of parents who decide against circ come from Canada, UK and Australia.

So I was wondering if the rates were really decreasing ???

[Americut]

It may be that a lot of parents that post in forums and polls about their approval of circumcision, are just looking for justification and reassurance that what they heard about mutilation and circ damage isn't true. So they gather together in their sick little worlds, pretending that its all good and well. It could be the context of the search that leads them all to similar forums and polls, such as "benefits of circumcision" or some shit. But the rates are decreasing. Just keep in mind WHY many of them are on sites like that in the first place. Again, I do believe they are looking for reassurance that they didn't make a horrible mistake. The sad thing is once they get just that, they may actually believe it really is ok. And that doubt they had -that instinct- is lost because some despicable shithead said its good to cut skin off your son's dick. Excuse me though, I just got a little pissed off :o

The rates are going to continue to drop because of people like the members of this forum. We can all contribute.

[SamJS]

I get aggravated thinking/talking about it too. When I asked my mom why I was circ'd, she gave me the "pot" answer: because everyone was doing it. It's a cultural indoctrination that is our responsibility to change. Saving the world, one foreskin at a time.

I still can't figure out how people justify this practice anyway. Well, I'm restoring so in the future I can have a son who will look just like me! (except maybe a little better).

[TLCTugger]

I've never seen a poll where it's 50/50 and it's not even close.

I spend (waste?) at least an hour a day promoting intactivism online, and I do see polls that are close.

[Linedriven]

I think that the sample size is not only to small but it is also a slef selected one. If, for example you were to put the same poll in this forum you would get wildly different rates. I'm not sure of the us rates, but I'm sure you could find the numbers with a quick search of the web. I found the Canadian rates the other day, and was pleasenly suprised how much they have lowered. I really think that there is a big change in attitudes comming. I would trust science, not Internet polls.

[Joseph]

A lot of good points have been made here, inclusively that a group of pro-circumcision parents is a pretty limited audience.

One must always remember that there is also a different between circumcision rates, and the rate of infant circumcision.

I'd say the rate of circumcision in the US is still a pretty high 80%, but only because we're talking about ALL the men in the US, where we include generations where the infant circumcision rate was at 90% or so.

The rate of infant circumcision is probably around that 50/50 mark, but you gotta remember that doesn't elliminate the circumcised population, which is still, for the most part, circumcised.

Even when circumcision is finally expelled from the American medical system it will be a few generations before circumcised men start dying out and a circumcised population is a thing of the past.

This is important to know, because currently the HIV hype touts a circumcision as a "vaccine" against AIDS. You can't tout the protection of circumcision, while at the same time boast that 80% of all Americans are circumcised, so people like Schoen will have to watch how loud they brag about the circumcision rate in America, and definitely circumcision advocates in parent forums.

[Dachstein]

The rate varies a lot by geographical region and especially, ethnicity. Here in southern CA latinos are now the majority and circumcision is virtually nonexistent in that demographic. They produce the most children too, so consequently the circ rate is very low in LA. I think i read 10%. Really I think the influx of immigrants and gradual diversification of the USA is what has contributed most to the decline in circ rates.

[Joseph]

Discounting Latinos and other races that do not circumcise to make the white "real American" population the "real" circumcision barometer is something Schoen does, and I think it's something that's self-serving (naturally, only circumcised people count as "American") and quite racist indeed.

We need to dispose of this separation of circumcision rates by race if we're going to get anywhere in lowering the circumcision rate in the US, IMO...

Either Latinos, Asians, people from India etc., count as "Americans" and are equally worthy of protection from circumcision, or they do not.

I hope we're in agreement that we need to lower rates in circumcision across the board, and not just in the "white non-immigrant" population.