"Forced Genital Cutting," and Jewish circumcision

[Revoltingest]

In the news....
Andrew Yang, Upstart Democratic Presidential Candidate, Comes Out Against Circumcision
It doesn't look all that strong a position....

Outsider presidential hopeful Andrew Yang’s latest idea is both literally and figuratively his most unorthodox yet: He’s taking a strong public stance against circumcision.

The Democratic candidate revealed in a little-noticed tweet last week that he was against the ritualized practice of cutting a newborn’s foreskin. But in an interview with The Daily Beast, he said that if he were elected he would incorporate that view into public policy, mainly by pushing initiatives meant to inform parents that they don’t need to have their infants circumcised for health reasons.

“It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations,” Yang said, describing pressure to circumcise a child as a “cultural onus” imposed on families.

 

[sooda]

"Yesterday, during a meeting in Oslo, Nordic ombudsmen for children, Nordic paediatricians, and paediatric surgeons agreed a resolution urging their national governments to work for a ban on non-therapeutic circumcision of underage boys.

Dr Antony Lempert, a GP and spokesperson for the UK Secular Medical Forum (SMF) applauded this historic resolution and urged the UK and devolved Governments to work towards protecting all UK children at risk of forced genital cutting.

Dr Lempert argued that, "with an increasing awareness of serious irreversible harm caused to boys and girls from forced genital cutting it is time for the genitals of all children to be protected from people with knives and strong religious or cultural beliefs. There can be no justification for healthy children to be forcibly cut. All children deserve society's protection from serious harm."
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And

"The world should learn from the Nordic countries how to ban non-therapeutic, nonsense circumcision of underage boys. Children’s rights must be protected. We adults do not have the right to impose our superstitions, religious belief and madness on our children and abuse, or mutilate them. It is a nasty crime against children

The human right to bodily integrity is more important than the human right to freedom of religion. Religious tradition is a poor excuse to subject a baby to circumcision. People started practicing circumcision long before the birth of monotheistic religions. The risks of circumcision are many, infection, necrosis, gangrene, BXO, urinary tract infection, urinary retention, meatal ulceration or stenosis, urethral fistula, hypospadias or epispadias, lymphedema etc. Circumcision also affects sexual function and desensitizes the penis. Seriously, how many diseases do we need to ban circumcision?
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As a kid I, and almost every guy I knew, was circumcised early on, so anyone who was not was looked upon as rather odd---this was apparent in the changing area at the local pool. Asking my mother about the difference I can remember being told that circumcision was done to facilitate cleanliness---not in those words of course. It's something I never came to regret, but can now see why it's not only unnecessary, but possibly harmful.

Back to my childhood; I learned that two of my cousins who were Jewish---I was not---were also circumcised, but for religious reasons. Told that because of their religion they were required to be circumcised brought a whole other dimension to the practice. I remember thinking that it was quite curious that a religion required some of the skin on the penis be sniped off. How utterly strange---what significance could penis skin have to a religion? In any case, at least my cousins could more easily keep their tools clean.

Then I found out that this Jewish practice wasn't a religious requirement at all, but simply a social custom that could be ignored. Looking it up for this thread, I came across the following.

"Like the American cultural practice of circumcision, Jewish circumcision (bris or brit milah) is dependent on the acceptance of cultural myths. Of all the myths that Jews believe about circumcision, the one that is paramount is the belief that all Jews circumcise. With this belief, we put ourselves under tremendous pressure to conform.

Bound by this burden to comply with social expectations, most Jewish parents do not recognize that circumcision is a choice. Since open communication about circumcision is discouraged, there is virtually no awareness of others who feel similar conflicts and doubts around circumcision. Moreover, if a Jewish parent does decide not to circumcise a male child, it is not generally known to the rest of the community. As a result, many parents submit to the pressure and then discover only too late, perhaps after witnessing the circumcision of their son, that they wish they had chosen differently. Some parents report that if they could take back one decision, it would be their son's circumcision.
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How about you, what are your thoughts?

Circumcision is a very old rite.. It comes from ancient Egypt long before Judaism.. and may be found elsewhere for all I know. I think that in ancient Egypt it was for Temple priests .. both men and women. In Judaism women were never Temple priests so I guess they dodged the bullet. Muslims are circumcised..