Here’s a semi-religious topic I haven’t approached yet.
And I’m female, but I’m pretty sure I can approach this anyway:
Infant circumcision.
If I had fur, it’d be all ruffled every time I hear those words.
I say semi-religious, of course, because it started as a religious practice (as far as I know) and has just become part of the deal when you give birth at the hospital. Giving birth is, of course, not something I plan on doing, but were I to ever do it, and I had a boy, I would sure as fuck not allow any doctor to hack pieces off of my child’s genitals.
Do people even think about this? There is no logical reason to do it, besides a few maybe-benefits that really just do not outweigh the incredible injustice of altering someone’s body without their permission, before they are old enough to understand. Even the hygiene issue- if you’re too embarrassed to teach basic hygiene, you will be a horrible parent PLEASE DO NOT BECOME ONE.
This practice just disturbs me on a very deep level, definitely when it is done for religious practices, but almost moreso when it’s not. Because for some reason, some people think circumcised penises are more attractive. And that is a valid reason to CUT PIECES OFF YOUR BABY without his consent.
More attractive?
You do not need to be attracted to your child.
That has extremely unfortunate implications. I shudder.
And as for people that are all like, “God said we need to cut up people’s dicks!” you should also be very ashamed of yourself. How do you know for sure your child is going to grow up and still believe in the faith you raised him in? He might very well not. This should be his decision to make. Doing it while he’s too small and helpless to understand, defend himself or get away is disgusting.
How the hell did genital mutilation become a side dish for a typical hospital delivery? People are twisted. Would we still do this if the Old Testament God had demanded the slicing off of fingers? Ears?
As a female, I often think about how lucky I am to have avoided this, and how lucky I am to not live in a country where female genital mutilation is the norm. We hear those stories and are disgusted; and unfortunately, we are in a similar boat, although our goal is not to cause the victim pain when he has sex.
Yeah, it’s weird. Not sure it’s standard practice over here though..
Thank you for your great article. I pray that male genital cutting stops in my lifetime. I sometimes wish it had stopped before I was born.
I was circumcised at birth. I really wish my parents had not decided to have me cut. I would have preferred to keep all my parts. My penis is my sex organ. It is not my parents. I am the one who will use my sex organ, not my parents. It is my choice, not my parents. I am restoring my foreskin and can attest that everything is much better with a foreskin, even a restored one.
The Internet is a great educational tool and many young men are learning what happened to them when they were circumcised. Many question why their parents choose to circumcise them. Unlike many men who were circumcised years ago and who are in denial about the ill-affects of circumcision, the youth of today are much better informed and are more willing to question why. Many young men are questioning why they were circumcised when there was so little, if any, true benefit to the surgery. They are questioning why their parents consented to the surgery when there was all sorts of information available about how circumcision is primarily a cosmetic surgery performed for the benefit of the parents.