Daily Kos

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  •  Good for you! (4.00 / 4)

    Every since I found out the purported reason it was done to me, and I figured out that I was in a country where that "reason" was obviated by ready access to soap and water, I've been pissed off. (Though not at my birth mother. At that time, 1954, circumcision was consented to on one of the many hospital admittance forms a mother signed, and the matter wasn't even discussed.)

    Alito. Kennedy. Roberts. Scalia. Thomas.
    More important than ever: ERA NOW!

    by greeseyparrot on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 07:27:21 AM PDT

    [ Parent ]

    •  The *real* reason (4.00 / 5)

      that isn't often talked about

      was to prevent masturbation.

      Dodd '08!

      by Irrelevant Prolixity on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 09:12:59 AM PDT

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      •  The reason that it isn't talked about ... (none / 1)

        ... is that it didn't work. Ask any 13 year old circumcized male in America and you will probably hear a failure rate of about 1-4 times a day between the advent of puberty and getting a driver's licence!

        by Roosevelt Democrat on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 10:38:52 AM PDT

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        •  True enough (none / 0)

          Why do you suppose it was seen as such a good solution back in the day?

          What changed from a hundred years ago to today?

          Dodd '08!

          by Irrelevant Prolixity on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 01:10:19 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  It wasn't just circumcision... (none / 0)

            It was circumcision plus, basically, what amounted to several weeks of torture designed to make boys so ashamed, afraid of, and hurt by their genitalia that it would be impossible for them to treat it sexually.

            Of course that didn't work.

            It was suggested that circumcision should be performed at puberty, without anasthetic, and then salt should be rubbed into the wound by parents in order to re-enforce the "lesson".

            Circumcison was used as "punishment" for masturbation. Go look up Kellog some time. He didn't just create a bland breakfast cereal. (The cereal, curiously enough, was also created with the goal of elimination masturbation.)

            The Shapeshifter's Blog -- Politics, Philosophy, and Madness!

            by Shapeshifter on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 09:54:48 PM PDT

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        •  WOW! (none / 1)

          Check this out... I can't frickin' believe it

          As late as the 1970s, leading American medical textbooks still advocated routine circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation.

          M. F. Campbell, "The Male Genital Tract and the Female Urethra," in Urology, eds. M. F. Campbell and J. H. Harrison, vol. 2, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1970),1836.

          I thought that rational ended around the turn of the previous century.

          Dodd '08!

          by Irrelevant Prolixity on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 01:20:56 PM PDT

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          •  and in 2000: (none / 1)

            A policy statement released in July 2000 by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends sex reassignment surgeries should be done on boys born with small penises: "The testes should be removed soon after birth in infants with partial androgen insensitivity or testicular dysgenesis in whom a very small phallus mandates a female sex of rearing."

            When do I get to vote on your marriage?

            by tvb on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 03:16:03 PM PDT

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          •  the "you'll go blind" rationale (none / 0)

            In 1928 the AMA recommended routine circumcision to prevent masturbation, because they believed masturbation led to epilepsy, dementia, and blindness.

            I just wonder whether the medical community also came up with the hairy palms thing....

            I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. -- Mark Twain

            by vinifera on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 08:41:12 PM PDT

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        •  Color me naive. Sounds like... (none / 0)

          I was completely misinformed or mislead due to embarrassment when I inquired as a kid. Virtually everyone I asked about the reason for the procedure, told me it was a matter of hygiene and preventing infection. Doh!

          Alito. Kennedy. Roberts. Scalia. Thomas.
          More important than ever: ERA NOW!

          by greeseyparrot on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 03:13:04 PM PDT

          [ Parent ]

          •  Oh, that's the EXCUSE... (none / 0)

            But if you--you know--take a shower or otherwise clean yourself occassionally there's really no difference at all.

            Don't forget that routine circumcision is actually pretty new. Although it has been practiced probably as long as there was society the US is actually a bit unusual in terms of overall trends. Any sort of argument that circumcision is natural and lack of it is somehow unnatural or dangerous must be viewed in light of the fact that--if i remember correctly--there are more men alive today who are uncircumcised than circumcised.

            The Shapeshifter's Blog -- Politics, Philosophy, and Madness!

            by Shapeshifter on Sat Oct 15, 2005 at 09:38:21 PM PDT

            [ Parent ]

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