• ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      70
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      11 months ago

      What’s even funnier to me is how people will full on rage when someone brings up female genital mutilation while in the same breath saying circumcision is fine

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        49
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        People will defend the most batshit insane things just because they’re used to it.

        But I also think there’s an element of (understandable) insecurity to it.

        If they concluded that mutilating the penises of babies is wrong, then that makes their penis “wrong”, and society is really weird and judgemental about penises. There’s a huge amount of pressure applied to men about their genitals.

        We constantly talk about big dicks and “big dick” energy. Casually saying someone has a small, soft, or ugly dick is seen as a scathing insult, we constantly mock people for it, both in life and in media. Comments about their penises is something used to build up or knock down men. It’s used to make them feel powerful and manly, or weak and emasculated.

        It’s no wonder people rally so hard against those who want to see an end to male genital mutilation. The very victims of it typically don’t want to feel like their dick is “wrong”, because society at large has told them that if their dick is bad, they aren’t real men.

        • Emerald@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          19
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          11 months ago

          I think it’s important that circumcised people realize that their body isn’t wrong, but rather the procedure is wrong (without a medically necessary reason).

      • Microw@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        26
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        The main problem is that people tend to intuitively think of the least invasive form of male circumcision and the most horrific form of female genital mutilation.

        For both genders, all kinds of forms exist

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          11 months ago

          the least invasive form of male circumcision

          Is what’s in these discussions.

          the most horrific form of female genital mutilation.

          Is there any other kind in regular discussion? When people refer to FGM, they’re not talking about labiaplasty (which would be a more appropriate comparison).

          • Cockmaster6000@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            A labiaplasty is not equivalent to removal of the foreskin. It would be like removing the clitoral hood. Educate yourself before sharing your thoughts please.

          • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            edit-2
            11 months ago

            labiaplasty (which would be a more appropriate comparison).

            How are you coming to this conclusion?

            The foreskin has more nerve endings than the glans, and double that of the clitoris. The labia in contrast has much fewer nerve endings, which is why sexual stimulation is not easily accomplished with simply stimulating the labia. Possible? Yes. But not nearly to the same degree as clitoral stimulation.

            Edit: Given the lack of elaboration, I’ll have to assume the conclusions reached by a gut reaction of “skin is skin” which is not at all how this works.

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      50
      arrow-down
      5
      ·
      11 months ago

      That wasn’t the original reason. It was to stop masturbation. The whole cleaning thing was a later rationalization when they realized how fucked up it was.

        • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          11 months ago

          Yeah instead of doing it at birth they should have done it as a punishment for people who masturbate. That would have worked much better

      • Emerald@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        25
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        11 months ago

        That’s fine, as long as that isn’t used as a justification to normalize this procedure’s continued use without medical necessity.

      • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        I mean, people just like what they’re used to.

        If you never got circumcised, you’d likely be saying “I prefer uncut. Looks a bit weird with a piece missing.”

        I’m willing to bet if you surveyed, say, Israel or Saudi Arabia, on what looks better between chopped and natural, they’ll say circumcised. And if you surveyed, say, Australia or Spain, they’ll say uncircumcised looks better.

    • Jarix@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      11 months ago

      First I agree with you. Need to say that first.

      If you go back to the beginning of this procedure, how(/if) people cleaned themselves looks very different from. Our modern world.

      Because of that it seems it being a health issue is a lot more likely for the origin of circumscision as a regular societal practice. Even if that was not the main reason but one of the supporting reasons people allowed it to become normalized. The history of hygiene(or the lack there of) is horrifying.

      I mean Lysol was developed as a feminine hygiene product… We have done some very questionable things because of snakeoil practices even in relatively modern times (which i think religion is one of the OG snakeoils)

      What are we doing today that will look as crazy to the people of the future as circumcision does to many of us right now I wonder?

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      70
      ·
      11 months ago

      I’ve seen people lose their shit over babies with pierced ears and young children getting tattoos. There’s all sorts of dental work you go through as a kid that you have functionally no control over.

      Even had someone chew me out because a foster kid I was taking care of got a haircut (three years old and she’d literally never had one before).

      At some point, it is the parent’s duty to take care of the child, and that extends to medical decisions with profound long-term consequences. I get wanting to change the culture, but the degree to which people exaggerate the harm of circumcision struggles to eclipse the degree to which it is defended.

      Cutting off your legs also makes them easier to clean.

      There is some substantive utility to legs that doesn’t extend to the bit of flesh around the tip of your dick.

      • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        50
        arrow-down
        8
        ·
        11 months ago

        Yeah but as a dad, i don’t like legs. I want my kid to look like me. I was amputated voluntarily. Legs get dirty anyway.

        Actually, why not just cut off the penis and replace it with a tube? That’s a lot cleaner and still functional!

        • Hello Hotel@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          If this is /s its verry funny and asys somthing interesting, im frustrated that the thread has fallen into a false dichotomy,

          Its not ‘not okay’ in the same way its ‘not okay’ to cut off someones leg because thats unamniguiosly being crippled. (Good spoof though!) its amniguiosly immoral.

          • 𝕯𝖎𝖕𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            Yeah a better analogy would probably be female genital mutilation but americans generally aren’t familiar with that.

            The real issue is consent. I get that parents consent for their children, but that doesn’t mean the parents are correctly predicting the kid’s preferences.

            It’s just a strange practice that we do in america, not due to religion, but due to … reasons? Cleanliness? “I want my son’s cock to look like mine?” it’s weird as hell, but accepted for some stupid reason.

            • Hello Hotel@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              11 months ago

              female genital mutilation

              okay… wow.

              circumcision is a harder to understand, wrapped in the cloak of medical hospitality to be blunt, its a different form of female genital mutilation.

              I believe its a remnant from old Christianity (Judaism?), where it would mark and/or purify the child in some way. If I’m not mistaken, the god of Abraham communicated that things like sacrificing lambs and other rituals isn’t useful as a sign of good will.

              but yet this literally unholy practice remains to this day.

              to be absolutely fair, mom said yes, telling me the doctors said there was some kind of health benefit, somthing about infections.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          32
          ·
          11 months ago

          Yeah but as a dad, i don’t like legs.

          Correlating ear-piercing with decapitation, and holding a picket in front of “Forever 21” with a big sign that reads “STOP MURDERING CHILDREN” and a picture of a tunnel drill going through a baby’s forehead.

      • MTK@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        11 months ago

        Honestly, can you elaborate on what would be a justified reason to do it?

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          arrow-down
          34
          ·
          11 months ago

          I mentioned in another comment how circumcision dramatically reduces the rate of spread of STDs. That is, at least from my perspective, the primary (and original) incentive to circumcise. Significantly less of an issue now, because you can just get a condom. But in areas where access to a consumer profilactic isn’t readily available or one in which STD infection is high, it would make a great deal of sense to perform the surgery as a preventative measure.

          Same as giving your kid vaccine shots or putting them in the NICU for the first few weeks of their life or demanding that they wash their hands regularly.

          • Cockmaster6000@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            14
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            11 months ago

            I’m sorry, cutting off a newborn’s foreskin is the same as washing their hands?

            Did you eat a lot of paint chips growing up?

          • MTK@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            As far as I am aware there is only one study done in Africa that showed that there is a correlation between circumcision and a reduced chance to get HIV.

            But that is the only study and only HIV, not all STIs.

            Also this is moot in most of the world where you have access to condoms.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              11 months ago

              CDC has a whole thing on it

              Circumcised men compared with uncircumcised men have also been shown in clinical trials to be less likely to acquire new infections with syphilis (by 42%), genital ulcer disease (by 48%), genital herpes (by 28% to 45%), and high-risk strains of human papillomavirus associated with cancer (by 24% to 47% percent)

              By all means, you should still wrap that shit. But if you’re living in a rural community or one that has a strong stigma against contraception, or you’re just in a place where the disease is rampant and you need a secondary precautionary policy, this will have a meaningful impact on disease spread.

              • MTK@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                11 months ago

                Still not really reasonable, especially considering that for the most part this decision can just wait until adulthood

          • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            11 months ago

            Not so dramatically you can not wear a condom. So given you’re going to strap up anyway, what’s the benefit to having surgery on your genitals?

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              11 months ago

              CDC has a whole thing on it

              Circumcised men compared with uncircumcised men have also been shown in clinical trials to be less likely to acquire new infections with syphilis (by 42%), genital ulcer disease (by 48%), genital herpes (by 28% to 45%), and high-risk strains of human papillomavirus associated with cancer (by 24% to 47% percent)

              By all means, you should still wrap that shit. But if you’re living in a rural community or one that has a strong stigma against contraception, or you’re just in a place where the disease is rampant and you need a secondary precautionary policy, this will have a meaningful impact on disease spread.

              • el_abuelo@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                ·
                11 months ago

                The majority of US citizens do not fall into those categories, and for that reason I see it as an unnecessary procedure that is more cultural than scientific.

                • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  11 months ago

                  The majority of US citizens do not fall into those categories

                  They did once, and they very well might in the near future, depending on how we handle legal contraception going forward.