One argument often given for routine infant circumcision is the locker room argument. Parents are worried that their child might be teased. After all, everyone else in the locker room will be circumcised, they think. What if their decision is the reason for their son’s teasing?
- Photo by Jenni C
There are a few problems with this argument. The first is that the majority of men are intact. Over 80% of the human male population on Earth is intact. While the US’s rates are a bit depressing in comparison, having once dipped as low as 15%, the percentage of intact males in the States is on the rise. As of 2009, US circumcision rates were down to 32.5%, leaving 67.5% of males born in the US intact. That number continues to climb, as more parents learn that there are no medical reasons for the procedure. While the actual distribution of percentages which make up that average vary across the country, chances are very good that your son will not be the only intact male in the locker room.
Secondly, is that the enormity of teasing going on in locker rooms is a myth. How do I, a woman, know this? Well, I have brothers, a husband, brothers-in-law, and friends and I asked them. They all laughed when I asked, claiming that any teasing because of intact status is proposterous. While some guys may check out the competition, so to speak, it’s taboo to be caught doing so and even more so to comment on it. Any attempt to make fun of one for their intact status would immediately be shot down with a quickly asked, “Dude! Why are you checking out my penis?”
Thirdly, and on a lighter note, it’s cosmetic surgery. If you are agreeable to cosmetic surgery for your child to avoid any teasing, where do you stop? What if your daughter is teased for having smaller breasts? Do you rush her off to the plastic surgeon? Later, when she develops more and is teased for having larger breasts, do you go again? When your son inherits Uncle Billy’s ears that stick out, do you help him deal with that until he grows into them or run out and have them tucked? Cosmetic surgery for infants? What’s next? What is that teaching our children?
living peacefully with children 
Totally. Also, I think the “locker room” situation is pretty much null and void these days, with gym and PE being cut from the schools. I have heard from some men that the issue has come up later in life, in group nudie situations, but I have heard from far *more* men that they wish their parents had not removed a part of their body without their consent.
Very good point about Locker Room etiquette!