Circumcision In MexicoCircumcision In MexicoI was born (1968) in Mexico and circumcised when I was 16 years old. Like most Mexicans, I am Catholic. Many Americans think of all Mexicans as the field worker that they see on the nightly news. However, if you watch a Mexican television broadcast, you will find that the middle and upper class Mexicans look and act much like the middle and upper class Americans. Likewise, these classes of Mexicans have adopted circumcision as a routine practice on many of my countries infants. Those not circumcised at birth, are usually circumcised before they reach adulthood.
The only reason I was not circed at birth was that I was premature. By the time I was ten I was fascinated with circumcised penises, they just looked so much better than mine, and I was sort of self conscious...after puberty my foreskin became even more of a problem because it was too long, too tight and I kept getting infections. All my friends were circumcised, except for one and he was also thinking about it. So I asked my doctor and he said that if it made me feel better I should go for it.
My uncircumcised friend and I both decided to have it done... it was quite simple in the end although it was sort of freakish to watch. I was sore for three weeks, but the sutures were no problem and after that I was better than new. I really like my penis now. I much prefer being circumcised to having a foreskin.
My interest in circumcision lies in the fact that I've been seeing these groups pop up that blame circs for all sorts of bizarre things...I don't think that this opposition to circumcision is rational at all. For health, aesthetics and other reasons I think that all males should be circed at birth..It's a good thing that it's still overwhelmingly common in the US and also in Mexico for the middle and upper class population.
Lewis (Mexico)
I'm an American who was, unfortunately, not circumcised at birth or as a boy. I always wanted to be circumcised when I was young. As I got older, I tried to learn to love my foreskin and the foreskin of other men. Of course, finding an intact foreskin in America is not easy and many of the guys who were circumcised often found my foreskin, shall we say, less than desirable.
As I don't live far from Mexico, I finally decided to immerse myself in a culture ripe with foreskins (pardon the pun.) I thought that being around all uncircumcised Mexican guys would make me feel like one of the crowd and that no matter which guys I befriended or ended up in bed with, all would have a foreskin like me. While I personally never found an uncut cock more attractive, I assumed it was because I was raised seeing nothing but circumcised cocks all around me.
Imagine my surprise when I visited Mexico for a three week vacation, made all types of new friends, and found that many, perhaps the majority I ended up in bed, were circumcised. When I raised the subject, I was told that circumcision was popular in Mexico among the middle and upper class and they were in fact, surprised that I was an American and still uncircumcised. One even asked me if I my family was poor when I was young. I've attached a photo. I'm the skinhead in the middle. One other guy (next to me) was uncut, the other three cleanly circumcised, two of which were done at birth and the third who had it done when he was a teenager.
After several return visits, I can attest that circumcision is popular in Mexico and is done on all boys whose family can afford it. I've decided that by the time of my next trip to Mexico, I'll be a clean cut roundhead too! Thanks for CIRCLIST and for helping me make the right decision, to be rid of my foreskin.
Sean (USA)
Regarding the topic about Latinos and circumcision I can speak for myself. I'm Mexican (from Mexico city) and I'm proudly circumcised since birth. Almost all my friends in my country are circumcised too and this is related to the fact that I came from the middle class and being circumcised somehow means status. Circumcision only is available in private hospitals, so if you were born in a poor family (Social security hospitals) it's almost sure thing that you're uncut.
However...In Mexico more than half the population is rural, so they're uncut. AND most of the immigrants come to the USA came from a rural setting, so that's why ALMOST all the Latinos in USA are uncut.
As a teacher in USA I have had the opportunity (during routine medical exams) to check the circ status in my students and the only ones that are uncut ARE the Latinos. For the rest of the American boys it must seem that besides the language we Latinos have another thing in common that differentiate from them. None of my students know about my circ.
Enrique (Mexican Born, US Resident)
A friend of mine tells me in Mexicali at the border of Mexico and California a doctor has an adult male circumcision clinic. He charges $75.00 each, uses a Gomco.
First of all I would like to tell you about my own experience with circumcision, as you know I was circumcised as a newborn (1976), since I was a kid I realized there were two kind of penises, one that looked like mine and the other that had foreskin over the glans, but it was until I was 10 that I learned all about circumcision and my penis. Altough circumcision seems to be an unknown issue in Mexico, the truth is that it is well known in a general sense.
In my family, my father, uncles and 4 of my 8 male cousins are uncut. Most of my friends, neighbors and former schoolmates, all around my age (ranging from +/- 5 years) are circumcised, believe it or not. One day I found out about neonatal circumcision in the U.S. and I thought the same thing was happening in Mexico, I also learned about circumcision history in English speaking countries and all regarding the issue, you know, statistics, religion matters, etc.,etc.
In Mexico is well known most Americans men are circumcised; I wanted to be sure about the surgery conditions in my country, so I started a deep research with many pediatricians and well informed people. There is not official information about circumcision in Mexico or at least there is no available information for general public, but there are some interesting facts I could collect.
It seems circumcision is usually practiced in the largest and most populated cities like Monterrey, Guadalajara and Mexico City and it isn't that practiced in smaller cities, towns or rural zones, therefore circumcision is not a medical routine in my country. It seems it started to be practiced in the 50īs, although it was rarely practiced, it started to be more popular by the second half of the 60īs, not just as a neonatal thing but with infants and teenagers, in those days it was performed as a medical advise rather than a family preference, apparently the surgery reached it highest point in the end on the 80īs and it continues to be a fairly common practice.
These days parents are taking decision about their sons circumcision status. There was a direct influence by the U.S.A. nearness, it also depends in the hospital or clinic you born (or were born), it is possible that circumcision is has been more practiced in private hospitals or clinics (I was born in a public clinic), therefore, circumcision is considerated to be spread among medium and high social classes or at least if you were born in a private institution. Influence of the doctors is important too, some pediatricians are in favor, some others are not, no matter where you were born. I canīt tell how many circumcisions have been performed in Mexico, but surely many have been performed.
Alex Rodriguez (Mexico)
Did you know that the Aztecs used to circumcise too? Similar to the Egyptians, it was a ceremony only for the priests and for the sons of kings. But for the warriors they used to make a lot of little incisions in the foreskin all around the glans (more like a piercing thing than a real circumcision) and sometimes they put stones in these little holes or even kind of a medals. So, if your were really brave in combat the only thing you needed to show it was your penis. And for the kings or priests foreskins, in the first case they use to give the skin to the mother and she needed to eat it. For the priests they used to put it in some kind of firework and send it up to the sky. It's really strange to see how similar were the traditions in early America, early western civilizations and even some Asiatic cultures. (Why the foreskin, why the cutting, why a celebration, what was the secret meaning of all that in that times, why a lot of different cultures have the same thing in common?.. these are the things that obsessed me (us)).
EnriqueHello everybody!!!, I'm a circumcised guy 29 years old, I'm from to Toluca city and I like so much the circumcision, I think that the circumcision is the best operation of the world, the circumcision is cool. That's the reason because I love the circumcision, and obviously, I love so much a boy circumcised. In Mexico isn't a custom to circumcise the male, but there are a 30-35% of males that we are circumcised. I'm circumcised since 6 years ago and I'm very happy, very, very happy, because my dick is nice, pretty, and very sexy and horny with my big mushroom head. I'm very hot and always, when I fuck a boy, I prefer a boy circumcised, including when I jack off with my circumcised cock.
neptunoposeidon (Mexico)
The Aztecs and Call for Law to Mandate RIC in Mexico
Recently I found a book that I remembered reading years ago. The book is
"Medicine in Mexico - from Aztec Herbs to Betatrons." by Gordon Schendel with
Dr. Jose Alvarez Amezquita and Dr. Miguel E. Bustamante, U. of Texas Press,
1968. Here are some excerpts.
pp. 58-59. "The Aztec and earlier Indian civilizations of Middle America were
far more enlightened than their Spanish conquerors in their attitude toward
circumcision.
"At the ruined temple city of Teotihuacan, for example, there is a mural graphically depicting a youth about to be circumcised by a Toltec surgeon whose instrument is a sharpened mussel shell. And from reports of Cortes and his soldiers and the contemporary historians it is known that many Aztec males were circumcised. "After the Conquest, however, the Spaniards swiftly stamped out circumcision among the Mexican Indians. They themselves did not practice it, and the Catholic clergy then condemned any attention paid to genitalia as a barbaric and sinful obsession with sex. "As a consequence, circumcision is not the custom today in Mexico, or in other Latin American countries. "Significantly, Mexico and all of Latin America today have one of the highest incidences of penile cancer in the world. In view of cumulative recent medical research confirming that the most important carcinogenic agent in penile cancer is smegma long retained in the preputial cavity -- principally due to phimosis and inadequate cleansing -- the Aztec and other Indian surgeons who performed circumcisions demonstrated creditable perspicuity. The Spanish (and Portuguese) conquerors by abolishing the hygienic Indian practice unquestionably contributed to a medical and public health retrogression throughout Latin America."
p. 87. "Despite the dedicated medical work of the padres, the religious
fanaticism of medieval Spain continued to operate as a negative force. Among
other things, it discouraged healthful native practices such as circumcision and
frequent bathing."
pp. 174-176 "Dr. Jaime Woolrich, professor of urology at the University of
Mexico Medical School, reported {at the 1964 World Union Against Cancer
sessions} some significant conclusions from a study of 3,620 carcinomas of male
genitourinary tracts.
"Of 389 cases of cancer of the penis, virtually all were found among males of a low economic strata: rural farm workers, 55.8 percent; factory workers and laborers 30.9 percent; white-collar workers, 5.6 percent; business and professional men, 2.1 percent. "'In the pathogenesis of cancer of the penis,' Dr. Woolrich said, 'we are now almost certain the etiological agent is the action of smegma, which is intensified by phimosis, lack of hygiene, and redundant prepuce.' "Commenting that 'Latin American countries are underdeveloped, most outstandingly, probably, in the field of individual hygiene,' he emphasized that practice of circumcision is not customary among these countries' lower economic levels. "He noted that 98 percent of the cases of penile cancer studied 'had phimosis or redundant prepuces, thus affording the requisite condition for the retention of smegma, which, it is generally conceded, has carcinogenic action. Only two of the 389 patients with penile cancer had been circumcised. And, in one of these two exceptions, circumcision hadn't been performed until the patient was an adult - at which time the cancerous lesion was discovered.' "Dr. Woolrich observed that there probably was a much lower incidence of penile cancer in Mexico before the Spanish Conquest than at any time since.
'There are numerous references in historical records of the Aztecs that indicate circumcision was practiced among them and the other Indian nations -- if not universally, to a wide extent,' he explained. 'After the Conquest, however, the Indians were forbidden by the Spaniards to continue the practice. This was due to the Roman Catholic clergy's teaching at that time that circumcision indicated a sinful obsession with sex.' "Mexico today has one of the world's highest incidences of cancer of the penis, the doctor noted; penile cancers constitute approximately 2.1 percent of all cancers found in males. "Dr. Woolrich has urged the Mexican Society of Urology to recommend legislation requiring all male infants in Mexico to be circumcised at birth. Such a law, he said, would virtually eliminate cancer of the penis."
A list of term circumcision terms in Spanish is also available.
Last Friday I listened to a radio show where they talk about sexuality issues, to my fortune the topic that day was "male circumcision", the host talked with 2 sex experts and 2 pediatricians, and well they basically talked about the well known information there is available in any public library. There was a little heated discussion between the two pediatricians about circumcision benefits, one was against it and the other was in favor.
The two sex experts were in favor, the host didnīt give his opinion, but he claimed he was RIC born in 1968 here in Mexico City. The most remarkable thing of the 1 hour radio show was at the end when a caller asked about the present circumcision rate in the country, one of the pediatricians said: "The RIC rate in Mexico in the year 2000 was about 15%" The other pediatrician and the two sex experts agreed.
Alex R.
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