Well, I’ve certainly had my “rage-meter” triggered this morning.
For anyone who is not aware, San Francisco is proposing a ban on the routine practice of circumcising little boys. This has caused quite an uproar and I posted a video (made by freedom0speech) the other day, which addresses some of the issues raised by this. This morning, in my inbox, was an invitation to read and follow along a thread at the bottom of this article by Robert Carry. I can’t even get through all of the ignorant, small minded ridiculousness of the comments. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are good comments and there are sincere “I don’t know about this” comments but there are also a lot of utterly unbelievable, mind-bogglingly blinded, stupid comments.
People, I understand that there are a lot of reasons a person might defend cricumcising little boys, particularly if, as a parent, they’ve made the decision for their son or sons. I understand the fact that for some, the concept of making the circumcising of little boys illegal (barring medical reasons) is a shocking and even offensive idea.
That said, it’s really time we put on our grown-up pants, take a step back and look at the one truth that will make or break the argument for this legislation.
It doesn’t matter, for this exercise, that just as many baby boys die every year from complications related to circumcision as do from SIDS in the same neonatal period.
It doesn’t matter that removing the foreskin of a newborn baby boy translates to a fully grown man missing 10-20 inches of the most sensitive tissue on his penis.
It does not matter, for the sake of this discussion, that male circumcision has been linked to erectyle disfunction, painful erections and premature ejactulation.
For the sake of this article, I’m not even going to talk about the fact that up to 50% of infants who go through this mutilating procedure are NOT given anesthesia.
And finally, I’m not going to go into detail about the permanent, irreversable damage done to male genetalia when the protective mucosa barriers are removed.
Why not? Because none of these points matter when it comes to whether or not I support the legality of circumcision.
The question we need to be asking ourselves when considering whether or not to support this legislation is whether or not we have the right to make this choice for our sons.
Many would point out that we make medical, potentially harmful, decisions for our children routinely, from the time they are born. That is true, we certainly do. However, we are not talking about a medically beneficial or necessary procedure. We are talking about a cosmetic procedure performed on a healthy part of the male anatomy that has NO medical benefits that justify it’s routine practice on all baby boys. A procedure that has been repeatedly denied medical benefit even by the prevailing medical authorities, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. The only 100% true “justification” that exists for the routine circumcision of infant boys is the idea that cancer in the foreskin cannot happen if there is no foreskin. I’d love to get a picture of my pediatrician’s face when I ask him to please remove the mammary glands from both of my daughters so that they never have to worry about breast cancer.
That has got to be on of the most ridiculous lines of reasoning I have EVER heard. It doesn’t even make sense. Tired of breaking your toes from stubbing them? Here’s a solution: Get a foot amputation! No more broken toes and the BEST part is, you can’t get foot cancer!
Circumcision is a procedure looking for a medical justification. It is the only amputative surgery that we, as parents, are allowed to choose for our children on the basis that it will save them from a big fat fucking MAYBE crisis, years down the line.
Allow me to put this in perspective for you: YOUR SON IS MORE LIKELY TO DIE FROM MALE BREAST CANCER THAN HE IS TO GET CANCER OF THE PENIS. That is a medical fact and if you don’t wish to take my word for it (and you SHOULD look into it yourself) LOOK IT UP.
If I’m making you angry- GOOD. Get angry. Be offended. Prove me wrong. Start doing some research.
But while you are doing that, remember this: You are talking about slicing off a piece of your son’s genitals. You wouldn’t dream of doing that to your daughter. You wouldn’t dream of slicing off his ear, his pinky toes or paying for cosmetic surgery for his nose so that he had “daddy’s nose”. For God’s sake, THINK about what is being done and what it is we are attempting to justify.
It is illegal to perform a simple prick on a little girl’s clitoris for religious reasons. This practice is illegal because it violates her human rights to integrity and autonomy over her own body. Please explain to me how drawing a single drop of blood should so rightfully horrify and offend all of us but completely removing a vital part of our son’s genitals should be just as rabidly and mindlessly defended?
The ONLY argument for or against cicumcision’s continuing legality is the one that adresses the human rights issue. We are not talking about a defect, we’re talking about a normal, functioning part of the human body. When it comes down to it, all of the other arguments I can think of against circumcision merely support the position that it’s a human rights violation. All of the arguments for the supposed “benefits” of circumcision do not in any way address the issue that a non-consenting minor is having their penis chopped up. Not a single “benefit” to this procedure justifies the extreme nature of this socially acceptable barbarism- a fact which is proven simply by acknowledging that the exact same justifications that are used for circumcising little girls (even the clipping or pricking without any permanent damage!) didn’t and never will hold any water.
Mutilating, slicing, cutting, whatever you choose to call it- it’s still being done to a BABY who cannot consent to or even conceive of what is being done to him. The simple fact remains that THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION for genitally mutilating an infant, child or ANY person against their will. The ONLY person who has the right and authority to make that choice is the person to whom that body part belongs. PERIOD.
Circumcision is a choice- just not one we parents have a right to make. I would go straight to jail if a wandered into a bar, tied a man to a bar-stool and stripped and sliced off his foreskin. No sane person would justify me doing that. It stands to reason then that the social acceptance and even endorsement of doing this exact same thing to a infant is depraved, disgusting and deplorable.
Harsh? Yes. Sometimes the simple truth of an issue is a stark wasteland of painful reality. The question is, are we up to the task of making a change? Can we admit our mistakes and move on to stop this atrocity from occurring? I think we can. I know we can. It starts with you, with me and our children.
