# "I remember being circumcised at birth"



## KGB (Jan 30, 2010)

Is there any truth to people that claim this? Undoubtedly infant circumcision is a very invasive and traumatic procedure, but do you really think that men could retain memories of that particular incident?


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *KGB* 
Is there any truth to people that claim this? Undoubtedly infant circumcision is a very invasive and traumatic procedure, but do you really think that men could retain memories of that particular incident?

I think there are lots of reports of people remembering their own births, regardless of the circ issue. So yes, it seems possible.

We know of course, that the brain and body will always remember, regardless of an actual recollection of the event. Cortisol levels, neural functioning and pain receptors are permanently marked by circumcision.

I've found that people don't want to believe it's possible b/c that happens to be the only thing that makes them feel anti-circumcision. It seems strange to me. If a man date rapes a woman, should we all be fine with it b/c she won't remember? If we just knocked our kids out first, could we cut their eyelids off? Other issues draw immediate outrage. But circumcision gets hems and haws and excuses.


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## laohaire (Nov 2, 2005)

I think it's possible.

From what I understand, we all keep all of our memories, but most of them are hidden. Think of it like having some memories in brambles and bushes, and others are like little paths in the woods, can be accessed if there is a trigger or something. Others are like formally maintained hiking paths, still others dirt roads, paved roads, interstates, etc. If the brain accesses a memory often, or the memory is so significant (wonderful or traumatic), the pathway can be burned very clearly. Other memories are never accessed again and are overgrown by the bushes (what you had for lunch on December 19, 2007, for example).

Obviously a circumcision would be traumatic and would qualify as something to burn a memory of, but that issue is complicated by our transition from nonverbal beings to verbal beings. When we make that switch, we use our brains very differently. We verbal beings can't even comprehend what thinking nonverbally is like. So for most of us, things that happened before we were fluently verbal aren't really accessible, partly because they get overgrown by those brambles and partly because it's hard for us to "translate" those memories since they are nonverbal.

So I would think that the vast majority of us do not have the ability to consciously recall events that happened when we were preverbal - even though those memories are still there.

But... it IS possible that a few, very few, people bring it over. I suspect that this is only possible if the person recalled (either consciously or was triggered by something to recall it) the event during their transitional time, when they were maybe 18 months to 3 or 4 years old. If they recalled the event strongly enough during a time that they still could access their nonverbal memories, they would effectively "translate" that memory into a verbal one, and thus be able to visit it again later when their nonverbal memories are lost.

So I could see that maybe a few boys thought about their circumcision when they were little - either they were just very reflective children, perhaps, or maybe they experienced something in their toddlerhood that reminded them. Thus making that memory accessible, especially if they continued to think about it from time to time throughout their childhood and adulthood.


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## claddaghmom (May 30, 2008)

laohaire what an amazingly helpful post. My DH remembers his circ, something he does not share openly as it is met with ridicule.

Anyways, when he was a toddler he had open heart surgery. I wonder if the event triggered memories of his circ, and as you say, he would then have been able to transition his circ memories.

Talking about birth...I know that some of my siblings recalled their birth experiences as toddlers, and these are the ones who went on to still talk about it. Perhaps talking about their birth with them at that age, allowed the neural pathways to be stimulated and saved.

I've heard that intense growth in the first 5 years can result in the brain rerouting rarely used pathways, which is supposed to be the explanation for why most people do not remember the early years.


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## MamaChicken (Aug 21, 2006)

My DS (at 3 years old) was able to describe, with amazing detail, his birth. The details he remembered and was able to verbalize were things that he would not have picked up from other birth stories or television. He talked about the happy dark water, the big squeezes, "making big blood on mommy", the cold hands, and then the "bright light that made him warm"(he was immediatley placed under a warming lamp). This was in response to my SIL who commented to me that it is good that kids can't remember their own births.

So I say, Yes, it is possible.


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## PuppyFluffer (Mar 18, 2002)

There is a book written by a guy named Chamberlain called Babies Remember Birth. In it, he talks with people about their births. He does not address circumcision.

I just recently saw a blog post that quoted him where he does discuss memories of circumcision.

I fully believe there is an unconscious mental and a physical memory of circumcision.


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## Freud (Jan 21, 2008)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *laohaire* 
I think it's possible.

From what I understand, we all keep all of our memories, but most of them are hidden. Think of it like having some memories in brambles and bushes, and others are like little paths in the woods, can be accessed if there is a trigger or something. Others are like formally maintained hiking paths, still others dirt roads, paved roads, interstates, etc. If the brain accesses a memory often, or the memory is so significant (wonderful or traumatic), the pathway can be burned very clearly. Other memories are never accessed again and are overgrown by the bushes (what you had for lunch on December 19, 2007, for example).

Obviously a circumcision would be traumatic and would qualify as something to burn a memory of, but that issue is complicated by our transition from nonverbal beings to verbal beings. When we make that switch, we use our brains very differently. We verbal beings can't even comprehend what thinking nonverbally is like. So for most of us, things that happened before we were fluently verbal aren't really accessible, partly because they get overgrown by those brambles and partly because it's hard for us to "translate" those memories since they are nonverbal.

So I would think that the vast majority of us do not have the ability to consciously recall events that happened when we were preverbal - even though those memories are still there.

But... it IS possible that a few, very few, people bring it over. I suspect that this is only possible if the person recalled (either consciously or was triggered by something to recall it) the event during their transitional time, when they were maybe 18 months to 3 or 4 years old. If they recalled the event strongly enough during a time that they still could access their nonverbal memories, they would effectively "translate" that memory into a verbal one, and thus be able to visit it again later when their nonverbal memories are lost.

So I could see that maybe a few boys thought about their circumcision when they were little - either they were just very reflective children, perhaps, or maybe they experienced something in their toddlerhood that reminded them. Thus making that memory accessible, especially if they continued to think about it from time to time throughout their childhood and adulthood.

GREAT explanation!!


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## Laur318 (Nov 25, 2008)

very interesting! i'm so glad that my son will never have a chance to remember something so horrific


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## MyBoysBlue (Apr 27, 2007)

My earliest memory is of an ice bath at the hospital. I remember the rooms general size, the placement of the door and the ice in the tub. I asked my mom about it and she remembers, and she agreed that it was as I remember. I was sick often with fevers in my first year and I was in the hospital quite a few times. I think traumatic things can stick with you even at a young age.


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## GoBecGo (May 14, 2008)

My brother was born at 31weeks by emergency c/s due to an abrupted placenta praevia. He talked as a child of seeing distorted faces and hearing yowling, distorted noises, and the feeling of cold water on his face and being unable to breathe/drowning. He still, at 33, HATES getting water on his face.

Before my mother woke from the GA he was put in an incubator (thick plastic, distorted faces?) in a busy neonate nursery (yowling from other babies crying beyond the incubator walls?) and baptised (water on face) because they thought he was about to die and when the water hit his face his lungs collapsed and they had to whip him out and resuss him.

I too had a memory of a big black woman cuddling me in her arms for a long time. I grew up in a very racially non-mixed town as a small child, so i never knew where the memory came from (i had that memory and aside from it i only ever saw non-white people on tv), but it got really strong when i was 2.75 and a black family moved in next door to us. It turns out that the midwife who attended my birth (by planned c/s - i was the baby after the praevia baby) was a black woman and mum asked her to cuddle me while she was getting sewn up (no dads in the OR in those days, in fact my mother was the first woman her Ob had sectioned while awake with a spinal block). I don't know if i truly remember it now, because i think we can form memories OF memories when they are translated from non-verbal to verbal (like remembering a dream, and later not quite remembering if it WAS a dream or not).


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## hakunangovi (Feb 15, 2002)

Some years ago there was a lady in California who was attempting to write a thesis on this. She had collected stories from parents whose little boys had verbalised a memory of their own circumcisions. I thought her name was Rosemary Kimmel - does that ring a bell with anyone? We corresponded a few times, and I believe that she, unfortunately, ran out of money to fund her project.


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## KaylaBeanie (Jan 27, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *claddaghmom* 
I think there are lots of reports of people remembering their own births, regardless of the circ issue. So yes, it seems possible.

We know of course, that the brain and body will always remember, regardless of an actual recollection of the event. Cortisol levels, neural functioning and pain receptors are permanently marked by circumcision.

I've found that people don't want to believe it's possible b/c that happens to be the only thing that makes them feel anti-circumcision. It seems strange to me. If a man date rapes a woman, should we all be fine with it b/c she won't remember? If we just knocked our kids out first, could we cut their eyelids off? Other issues draw immediate outrage. But circumcision gets hems and haws and excuses.









I agree with all of this. I fully believe that some people have very early memories. Not being able to remember should never be an excuse to violate somebody's autonomy, whether it's circumcision or date rape.


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## gfreelishy (Feb 9, 2010)

This is very interesting!!! I hadn't really ever thought about if babies/ children/ people can remember things from that long ago. But all of these things you've all listed make perfect sense! In which case, I couldn't possibly think of putting my child through something as terrifying as a circ. Just knowing there's a fraction of a chance he could remember it is enough to say no.


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## eepster (Sep 20, 2006)

I don't know if DS remembers things as early as when he was born, but he has shown recall of events from when he was preverbal.

When DS was just starting to sit up on his own at around 4 mo, I thought he might find a game of duck duck goose with his stuffed animals amusing (yeah we were a bit bored.) He didn't find it terribly amusing and it was a lot of work for me, so I never bothered to try it again. One day much later when he was talking and walking (at least 11 mo but possibly older) he just out of the blue started walking in circles around me say "duck, duck, duck" over and over.

I think people often under estimate the cognitive levels of infants.


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## MommytoB (Jan 18, 2006)

Read Circumcision-Hidden Trauma by Ronald Goldman they have men recalling theirs circs, same with parents recalling their kids knowing what happened.

Also, I totally agree that infants can have a mind to know what they are thinking even if they don't have the ability to say they are wondering what it is but they go over to the object of to check it out .

I think when I was 8 yrs after having a mask over my face I proably recalled the stitches I had in my lip when I was 6 wks due to cleft lip . It somehow made me want to scratch my lip and itch it . Even though I wasn't having lip surgery then just palate surgery due to cleft palate.


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## NettleTea (Aug 16, 2007)

I think it is quite possible. I have an acquaintance who told me that one of their family members remembers being circed. I had never considered the possibility of such a thing until I heard that.

The stories in this thread of people remembering their births are fascinating.


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## Cherry_Blossom (Nov 7, 2009)

I remember being born. I had speech and language delays so I think I have a different way of thinking. I have a lot of very early memories - sensations, things I saw.


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## Greg B (Mar 18, 2006)

There are also accounts of people who apparently retain memories of sounds heard while in the womb. I didn't save the anecdote, but basically a guy walked into a room with a peice playing on the piano and had a feeling of great familiarity with it. However, he had not heard it before, as far as he knew. His mother informed him that she had listened to it a great deal while pregnant with him, but then had stopped. I am not getting all the details right, but that is the gist of it.

Fascinating subject.


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## KGB (Jan 30, 2010)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Greg B* 
There are also accounts of people who apparently retain memories of sounds heard while in the womb. I didn't save the anecdote, but basically a guy walked into a room with a peice playing on the piano and had a feeling of great familiarity with it. However, he had not heard it before, as far as he knew. His mother informed him that she had listened to it a great deal while pregnant with him, but then had stopped. I am not getting all the details right, but that is the gist of it.

That sounds like a story in one of my Parenting books. A man that was an orchestra conductor heard a piece of music playing (or the orchestra was practicing it) and he had an eerie sense of familiarity. It kept bugging him until he finally asked his mother about it. Well she was apparently a cellist and played that song very often while she was pregnant with him.

Very interesting indeed. Most people will say that talking to or playing music for an unborn baby will affect him/her in some way. It must truly be at the deep subconcious level of memory that can only be brought back by certain triggers (smells, sounds, etc).


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## SeekingJoy (Apr 30, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *eepster* 
I don't know if DS remembers things as early as when he was born, but he has shown recall of events from when he was preverbal.

When DS was just starting to sit up on his own at around 4 mo, I thought he might find a game of duck duck goose with his stuffed animals amusing (yeah we were a bit bored.) He didn't find it terribly amusing and it was a lot of work for me, so I never bothered to try it again. One day much later when he was talking and walking (at least 11 mo but possibly older) he just out of the blue started walking in circles around me say "duck, duck, duck" over and over.

I think people often under estimate the cognitive levels of infants.

YES! DD has soo many memories from when she was pre-verbal (i.e. <6 months). She remembers even now visits with her grandfather, who died when she was 8 months and she last saw before then at 4 months. She remembers places we have gone, Halloween costumes, games we played, and books we have read.

It wouldn't surprise me that a painful surgery on a newborn could be remembered.


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## Smokering (Sep 5, 2007)

Quote:

I remember being born. I had speech and language delays so I think I have a different way of thinking. I have a lot of very early memories - sensations, things I saw.
Intriguing! What do you remember? Was it a happy memory or a traumatic one?


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## DJay (Sep 10, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *hakunangovi* 
Some years ago there was a lady in California who was attempting to write a thesis on this. She had collected stories from parents whose little boys had verbalised a memory of their own circumcisions. I thought her name was Rosemary Kimmel - does that ring a bell with anyone? We corresponded a few times, and I believe that she, unfortunately, ran out of money to fund her project.

Might you be thinking of Rosemary Romberg? She wrote a lengthy book about circumcision.


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## Cherry_Blossom (Nov 7, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Smokering* 
Intriguing! What do you remember? Was it a happy memory or a traumatic one?

It's purely physical, just being squeezed all over. But then I had pain in my eye. Silver nitrate drops?


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## NamastePlatypus (Jan 22, 2007)

yes it is very real.
My 5 year old can recall things within the womb, ( THAT is a whole other amazing thread!) and birth. I thank God he was not circed, I know he would remember.

I personally remember being placed in my bassient by an older nurse, and being rolled in my bassient deal by dad, and him picking me up and giving me to my mom in the hospital. CLEAR as day.


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## Jaesun's Dad (Feb 19, 2010)

Don't remember it. That doesn't change the fact that I--as an adult--resent having irreversible surgery done on my penis without my permission. But I have no traumatic memories of the procedure.


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## NamastePlatypus (Jan 22, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PuppyFluffer* 
There is a book written by a guy named Chamberlain called Babies Remember Birth. In it, he talks with people about their births. He does not address circumcision.

I just recently saw a blog post that quoted him where he does discuss memories of circumcision.

I fully believe there is an unconscious mental and a physical memory of circumcision.

link?


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## hakunangovi (Feb 15, 2002)

DJay, Good suggestion, but no, I am familiar with Rosemary Romberg. I read her book "The painful dilemma", and corresponded with her when she was publishing articles under "Peacefull beginnings" before she moved from Washington to Alaska. The person I was referring to did not have anything published as far as I know.


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## serendipity22 (Sep 19, 2006)

Quote:

There is a book written by a guy named Chamberlain called Babies Remember Birth. In it, he talks with people about their births. He does not address circumcision.
There are a number of articles by Chamberlain on the web e.g.
http://primal-page.com/babies.htm

I have remembered feelings and sensations from birth during primal/rebirthing etc. I also have some strong womb memories.

IMO people sometimes talk about feelings from their birth.

I don't remember being circed. It doesn't mean the event has no psychological impact.


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## Anastasiya (Jun 13, 2006)

Chamberlain mentions circumcision briefly here

"Generation after generation, an unlucky majority of American male babies have been subjected to circumcision for dubious medical religious, cultural, and cosmetic reasons. I can only assume that parents have tolerated this in the mistaken belief that the baby will not know he is being tortured. He will."

This too. He talks about it pretty lengthily here.


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## BaPef (Jun 23, 2011)

I can tell you 100% it does happen, I remember and the surgury was bad enough, the healing and caring for it after was way more painful, but the worst part was removing the stitches, they had my mother do it, I was sitting up in the bathtub and OMG. Lets just say it has haunted my relationship with my mother well into adult hood because she was there for the surgury and let it happen. If it is a religious argument then let them decide when they get older otherwise don't force such horror.


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## philomom (Sep 12, 2004)

While I don't remember my birth, I do have several clear, non-verbal memories...... mostly having to do with the playpen, the cat, the park near the house... that sort of thing. So these memories stem from a time when I was 6-9 months old.

I'm very glad that my son is intact.


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## A&A (Apr 5, 2004)

"Memories" as we tend to think of them are stored in the hippocampus. Feelings of memories, however, are stored in the amygdala. In general, I don't think the hippocampus remembers newborn circumcision, but I have no doubt that the amygdala remembers the feelings of that experience.


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## Cyllya (Jun 10, 2009)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *A&A*
> 
> "Memories" as we tend to think of them are stored in the hippocampus. Feelings of memories, however, are stored in the amygdala. In general, I don't think the hippocampus remembers newborn circumcision, but I have no doubt that the amygdala remembers the feelings of that experience.


Yeah, I notice that people don't seem to need an actual memory of an event (as in a mental movie they can play back) in order to have their emotions, worldview, opinions, etc, affected by that event.

For example, my DP and I occasionally have a conversation that goes something like this:

Me: Why do you _____?

DP: What? I don't _____.

Me: You _____ all the time!

DP: When have I _____ed???

(And I'll be lucky if I can name two examples, even though he's totally _____ed at least a dozen times.)

(In fact, this example is an example of itself, because I can only think of one thing to fill in the blank with.)

By this time next week, I probably won't remember what I had for dinner tonight, but I still want to enjoy my dinner. I actually don't remember very many events from my childhood, and I guess I kind of work under the assumption that once my kids reach my current age, they won't have many memories of their childhoods either. But I still want to try to have them have a happy childhood, you know?


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## T-man's Mama (Jun 22, 2010)

I was researching infant surgery in general recently and came across some shocking information (though why I was shocked, knowing what I do about circ, I cannot say...). This site (http://ltinnin.wordpress.com/) was the first I came across mentioning the fairly recent custom of performing major infant surgery (including open heart and abdominal) without anesthesia. Just a paralytic to keep them still, but no anesthesia as it wasn't considered safe. It wasn't until 1986 that the Academy of Pediatric Surgeons changed their protocol in this regard. I shared this with a friend who underwent heart surgery at 6 weeks of age. He said it really explained the mysterious PTSD that plagued him all his life. So yeah, pre-verbal memories don't just disappear to never bother us again. God help those poor babies who had to undergo this AND circ.

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *claddaghmom*
> 
> laohaire what an amazingly helpful post. My DH remembers his circ, something he does not share openly as it is met with ridicule.
> 
> Anyways, when he was a toddler he had open heart surgery. I wonder if the event triggered memories of his circ, and as you say, he would then have been able to transition his circ memories.


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## Lisa1970 (Jan 18, 2009)

I have one memory of laying on the floor and looking up at a gold colored couch and was on what seemed like a white blanket. I described it in full and where I was in the room sort of, and it seemed as if it must have been a real memory. It was only a glimpse. But it would stand to reason it is possible that someone might remember an extremely traumatic moment from being a baby. BUT, I am guessing more likely they have read about it enough that they think they can remember it. I just don't really know.


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## Lisa1970 (Jan 18, 2009)

That is horrifying!!! It makes me wants to scream and cry reading it! How awful!!!! Those poor babies!!!!

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *T-man's Mama*
> 
> I was researching infant surgery in general recently and came across some shocking information (though why I was shocked, knowing what I do about circ, I cannot say...). This site (http://ltinnin.wordpress.com/) was the first I came across mentioning the fairly recent custom of performing major infant surgery (including open heart and abdominal) without anesthesia. Just a paralytic to keep them still, but no anesthesia as it wasn't considered safe. It wasn't until 1986 that the Academy of Pediatric Surgeons changed their protocol in this regard. I shared this with a friend who underwent heart surgery at 6 weeks of age. He said it really explained the mysterious PTSD that plagued him all his life. So yeah, pre-verbal memories don't just disappear to never bother us again. God help those poor babies who had to undergo this AND circ.


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## BubbleMa (Sep 24, 2007)

When we were kids my sister claimed she could remember things that happened when mom was pregnant with her, or when she was very small. Maybe she wasn't just making it up.

What a fascinating topic! And more than enough reason not to circ (not that I needed another one).


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## bandgeek (Sep 12, 2006)

I think it's entirely possible. MOST people tend to remember things as far back as about age 3. Just in talking to people, this seems very "average". I've read that it has a lot to do with language? Like once you can verbalize things you start to retain the memories. Makes no sense, but that's the jist I get. But I know people who don't remember anything before age 5. My first memory was at age 14 months, and my dad's is estimated at about 9 months (according to his mother's recollection of what he described to her). So obviously there's a huge range of normal. I was pre-verbal for many of my early memories. I didn't talk until I was 2 (at ALL). My dad's first memory was obviously from when he was pre-verbal. So to me, that doesn't seem to be a factor. I talked to a girl in high school once who claimed she remembered being a newborn. She was a preemie and her early months were very traumatic. My first memories were all traumatic, scary, and/or significant things (nothing like routine care, diaper changes, or nursing, ect). Maybe that trauma plays into how easily it's remembered? My first memory, at 14 month was falling and cracking my head on the patio. It was scary and painful. Makes for a significant memory!


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## MyBoysBlue (Apr 27, 2007)

I have memories that are pre two years old. I remember of the ice baths in the hospital, I had several before I was two for high fevers. I can describe where the room was in the hospital and even where the tub was in the room in relation to the door.


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## Devaskyla (Oct 5, 2003)

When I was 6-8 or so, I had a recurring nightmare that I was trapped in a car with my mother while we sank into a giant mud puddle. Many years later, mom happened to mention that when I was about 6 months old, we were driving somewhere and the car got stuck in a huge mud puddle and dad went to get help to get us out. It obviously wasn't nearly as bad as my nightmares, but it's pretty clear that at least some part of me remembered it.

My first conscious memory is from sometime before 18 months. I crawled into my sister's crib before my parents got up, but I couldn't get back out so I had to wait for them. It might be that I remember it because I did it on a fairly regular basis.

So far none of my kids have said that they remember their births, which makes me kind of sad. I do believe that it is possible to remember it for some people.


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## whozeyermamma (Oct 11, 2007)

As for remembering birth my DD was once talking with me about when she was born and said, "And that's when they pulled me out." Previous to this we had always talked about moms pushing the baby out, that was the only way we ever described it. I said, "No I pushed you out, right?" (I was testing her.) She insisted, "no they pulled me out."

My OB used the vacuum and did, indeed, literally pull her out as I was too numb from the (stupid) epidural. She had a really bad conehead and what my lactation consultant thinks was a jaw problem from the stress of being pulled too hard.

So, I say they can probably "remember" birth and if they can remember that, they can certainly remember circ ...


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## Unconventional1 (Apr 3, 2006)

My husband remembers the sensations of his circ. He could describe it vividly even before we started talking about having children, so when we got to the topic when I was planning to get pregnant he was already completely against it. He is also angry about the side effects he has, which are fairly numerous- but still considered "normal".


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## brant31 (Jan 11, 2009)

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *hakunangovi*
> 
> Some years ago there was a lady in California who was attempting to write a thesis on this. She had collected stories from parents whose little boys had verbalised a memory of their own circumcisions. I thought her name was Rosemary Kimmel - does that ring a bell with anyone? We corresponded a few times, and I believe that she, unfortunately, ran out of money to fund her project.


Well, among early intactivists there is both a Rosemary and a Kimmel, but different people. As has been noted, Rosemary Romberg wrote Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma. And Tina Kimmel is a PhD health statistician with the State of California. She is a good friend of mine and we just got together 2 weeks ago. Could that have been your correspondent?


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## hakunangovi (Feb 15, 2002)

Brant, you are correct - it was Tina Kimmel. Old age must be catching up!! How is she doing, and is she still involved in the inactivist movement? I was very sorry that she was having difficulty with her project, as this is an absolutely fascinating sidebar to the topic of circmcision. Did she ever manage to get anywhere with it in the end?


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## Dan Bollinger (Aug 13, 2006)

I have a "snapshot" of my circumcision three days after birth. We know that some people recall their birth and other early events. And we know that the more traumatic the event, the more permanent the memory. So it is supported by science. A survery of circumcised men showed that 20% had some sort of early recollection of their circumcision. However, even if not remembered, it can cause permanent changes in the brain, which is also supported by scientific studies. More importantly, whether remembered or not it is still an avoidable birth trauma, and, to me, a gross human rights violation, too.


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## mare54 (Jul 18, 2011)

I am in total agreement with you on the human rights violation! I asked my husband if he would have wanted to be circumcised, and he said NO, but nobody asked him. I think that's the point, isn't it? Cutting at a baby boy's genitals at birth is just criminal in my opinion, and if people actually read the history of this practice, I don't see how they could disagree (yet it is a hot subject for debate). How do we really know the impact of such a traumatic experience on a baby boy's brain? And what about the research today on the benefits for men and their partners, of not circumcising?


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## mare54 (Jul 18, 2011)

We had a girl, so we didn't have to be concerned about circumcision, but my husband agrees if we had a boy, he was with me on NO circ! Most men with a circ have sexual issues related to their alteration at birth, but many don't recognize them. The reason is because they don't know sex to be any other way. The ironic thing is that a huge number of women who have "sexual difficulties"..... don't actually have sexual difficulties, except where the effects of circumcision created them! How's that for being lied to for so many years? When you hear that a circ doesn't cause any problems, well, that's the lie. I am just finishing an amazing book, "Sex, the Way Nature Intended it." I recommend this book to all women and men because it is a wealth of information!


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