To circumcise or not to circumcise?

[Little lunch]

I don't think we should be too hard on people who have had their children circumcised.
I think we can generally except that it is a fact that none of them did it to be mean.
They may have been medically misguided or driven by cultural norms.

It seems to me that if there are medical benefits, it appears to be in the area of sexual health.
Given our level of understanding on the issue these days, maybe it would be better to wait until the child is of sexual age and let them make the decision/incision then.

[GrandizerII]

Actually they've found no evidence to support that FGM has any health benefits whatsoever, and it has a whole host of complications that can arise

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs241/en/

Just thought it was important to put this out there.

Well, there have been at least two reports that have shown "health benefits" of FGM. Two links provided below (the second link does not have the full text available for free to the public, so unless you have a subscription to the appropriate journal, just ignore that).

http://documents.mx/documents/female-cir...gendo.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1442755

But anyway, point is, health benefits or not, the practice itself is barbaric and should be seen as such for both male and female genital mutilation.

[Little lunch]

By the way, I am circumcised, as was my father and his father, and is my brother and his son.
I have always been proud of this fact and am only recently starting to appreciate that this pride has come from a sought of primitive, tribal loyalty.

[Losty]

By the way, I am circumcised, as was my father and his father, and is my brother and his son.
I have always been proud of this fact and am only recently starting to appreciate that this pride has come from a sought of primitive, tribal loyalty.

I love whenever people say sought instead of sort. I always read their post in a snooty upperclass southern person's accent.

[Aroura]

Why would you be in favour of male genital mutilation?
You Americans are barbaric!

Because it looks better that way. Don't you think?

The Chinese practice of footbinding was done because they believed it looked better that way.  do you think that makes it acceptable?

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to show you a parallel.

[Edwardo Piet]

Exactly right.

[thesummerqueen]

I don't think we should be too hard on people who have had their children circumcised.
I think we can generally except that it is a fact that none of them did it to be mean.
They may have been medically misguided or driven by cultural norms.

It seems to me that if there are medical benefits, it appears to be in the area of sexual health.
Given our level of understanding on the issue these days, maybe it would be better to wait until the child is of sexual age and let them make the decision/incision then.

I think this is what really bothers people. There's a lot of shit we used to do because it was the best medical knowledge we had at the time. Or the best 'common knowledge'. That doesn't make it correct or scientifically accurate, or that the health benefits outweigh the physical autonomy of the child. But no one's blaming people from back in the day. We should just stop perpetuating the cycle.

This isn't like getting a vaccine which contributes to herd immunity or an individual case of UTI problems or what have you. This is a broad-stroked operation that gets applied to kids without their consent, usually because "well everyone does it" rather than for medical reasons, which usually only get brought up to justify the decision.

[Homeless Nutter]

I'm not sold on the health benefits of circumcision. The studies I've found all show a negligible benefit. ...]

Most benefits shown seem to be in places, where hygiene standards are very low and infection rates very high. So - as I said before - perhaps for people, who live in a warm puddle in the middle of a jungle, it might be a useful procedure; better than doing nothing, anyway.

In a similar way , if you don't have modern antibiotics available - then perhaps immediate amputation may be the best treatment of an infection. But if a doctor did that in a modern hospital - he'd be considered a hack and a monster. Because WE HAVE BETTER OPTIONS AVAILABLE NOW. Of course - people who already had their limbs hacked off would probably attempt to glorify the "benefits" of stumps in an attempt to rationalize past decision - because it's not like they have a choice now, do they? Might as well make yourself feel good about it...

Another good example - beating children. I don't care how many times someone tells me, that their father beating them bloody was a necessity, or even beneficial in some way. That still doesn't make it right...

[Edwardo Piet]

Then on the other hand, human males evolved to have foreskins and humans evolved to be adaptable to many different climates and environments.

[paulpablo]

I'm not sold on the health benefits of circumcision. The studies I've found all show a negligible benefit. ...]

Most benefits shown seem to be in places, where hygiene standards are very low and infection rates very high. So - as I said before - perhaps for people, who live in a warm puddle in the middle of the jungle, it might be a useful procedure; better than doing nothing, anyway.

In a similar way , if you don't have modern antibiotics available - then perhaps immediate amputation may be the best treatment of an infection. But if a doctor did that in a modern hospital - he'd be considered a hack and a monster. Because WE HAVE BETTER OPTIONS AVAILABLE NOW. Of course - people who already had their limbs hacked off would probably attempt to glorify the "benefits" of stumps in an attempt to rationalize a decision - because it's not like they have a choice now, do they? Might as well make yourself feel good about it...

Another good example - beating children. I don't care how many times someone tells me, that their father beating them bloody was a necessity, or even beneficial in some way. That still doesn't make it right...

They still do perform circumcision to treat some medical problems in modern hospitals.

I don't know the precise details but I know 2 people who've been circumcised during adulthood and I'm pretty sure one was std related and both were seemingly the recommended medical procedure given by doctors.