Circumcision for boarding school or public school in the UK?

For what it's worth, Prince Harry reported in Spare that he and his brother had been snipped (contrary to what the press reported about their mother successfully opposing it) and that he knew which boys were cut and which were not in the exclusive boarding school he attended, which suggests that, even though it was not compulsory, it was very common for boys of the upper classes to be circumcised.

Since NH will no longer pay for medically not necessary circumcisions. It can also demonstrate the parents have money to pay for one on their own. A class distinction.

@Examined With today’s social media I think if there were such schools undergoing this practice then I think it would be well known and talked about.

I was at an all boys grammar school in the 70s and the rate there was about 10% in my year I’d say.

@Dwayne At the boarding school I attended I would say the proportion was a little higher, but it was nowhere near half were circumcised, maybe 20% at most.

It is certainly my understanding and experience in the UK , that it is a pretty much a class/ money thing . However , on one rare occasion I recall speaking with a mother of two boys who explained that having them circumcised meant having "just one less thing to worry about" .

You're talking 10-20%.. What is the percentage of Jews in those schools? Muslims?

I also wonder about the percentage of boys circumcised for phimosis in the non-Jews, non-Muslim population, whether justified or not.

I wonder how many here actually went to either boarding or public school in UK.

To clarify, British 'public school' is a private school with selective admission and tuition fees.

Back then when I was at school there were very few Muslims and Jews, the vast majority of pupils being British Christian. As for phlimosis, I agree it would be difficult to know. The doctor suggested I had phlinosis between about the ages of 7 and 10, and I know of circumcisions which were carried out as a recommendation from the school medical.

Unless there was a sound medical reason at least opinion behind it I can't see why a boarding school or an sort of school would require a student to have a medical procedure including circumcision. As for nobility The British Royal family is from Germany. Before world War one their name was House of Sax coburg and Gotha.Sounded a we bit to Germanish. King George the Fifth changed the name to the House of Windsor in July 1917. Circumcision is and was not a popular thing to do in Europe . It was considered a Religion specific thing. Think on it and read some history. Jewish expulsion in Briitain and Spain go way back to start. Then take the social temperature in the room. I can hardley see Christian Nobility thinking of it as a good way to make themselves stand out in a crowd.

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_(genital_piercing)

Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Albert_(genital_piercing)

And how does it relate to the topic? PA piercing can be done on penis with or without foreskin, as well, the name comes from 1970s and there is no evidence at all that Prince Albert had such piercing, not even questionable, that dates from before 1970s.

@Jacana There were only a few Jewish boys at my school and none in my year. The number of boys of South Asian heritage was also tiny and I think they were all Hindu.

Therefore the 10% figure I gave I would think represented all those who were operated on for phimosis during childhood. At that time (early 1970s) I don’t think it was available anywhere as a non-therapeutic service.

@Dwayne Prince William and Prince Henry were circumcised for non-therapeutical reasons and they were born in the 1980s. Thus it's highly likely that circumcision was available for the upper classes in the 1970s for non-therapeutical reasons, isn't it?

A friend of mine who went to a fee paying school in UK in the early 2000s tells me that the 'posh boys', in US that's maybe equivalent to those whose family were generational members the country club, were usually circumcised and mocked him (my friend) for having a long foreskin. That suggests that circumcision is more common among the upper social classes, a sign that you belong.

In my 1980s state grammar school there were very few who were circumcised, especially when you discount those for whom it was a tradition of their religion. Those who were cut arrived that way to secondary school and I wasn't aware of anyone who was sent away to have it done in adolescence. One or two who were quizzed about it simply dismissed it that it 'had always been like that' implying that it was done at a very early age. I can see that if a father had been circumcised and was happy that way then he would advocate the same for his son and hence a 'family tradition' is established.

Whilst surgery arising from medical issues does happen the first course of action for dealing with my phimosis in my teens was to treat with topical steroid cream and stretching exercises which was successful rather than referring straight for surgery.

@AndrewSW Similarly my tight foreskin was treated with stretching exercises and cream, rather than circumcision, although a doctor was rather keen to have me be circumcised when being examined in a few school medicals.

@Jacana well yes, I understand the royal family used o use tthe services of a Jewish doctor who was also a mohel (was his name Snoman?) and I suppose others in the upper class might know of someone willing to do it for a fee. Maybe a pro-circ doctor through the golf club, Masonic lodge or word of mouth etc.I’m guessing it was probably down to having the right contacts.

What I meant was you couldn’t just turn up at your family doctor’s surgery and ask for it to be done. That’s still true but there’s now a growing number of clinics that operate commercially and advertise online who are happy to oblige.

@Dwayne Through NHS sure, impossible, but how about private consultancy?

@Jacana 50+ years ago, how would you iidentify a private consultancy? There was no internet and no adverts for such services. Like I said, you’d have to be’in the know’

@Dwayne I'd say any urologist surgeon would do it, if paid, no?

So it's a matter of opening the "yellow pages". Or just ask one's GP to recommend some urologist.

I went to a traditional UK boarding school - I boarded from 1974 to 1982. There was a medical but the "below the belt" inspection was nothing more than a quick grope down my underpants to check there were no issues with the testicles. There was no visual observation or any interest in whether I was intact or not.