controversial sort of, so I will just put it in my journal...sounds like a good plan!
I'll be upfront at the beginning so you don't have to read this if you don't give a shit or you are too personally touched by the matter at hand, but this is regarding circumcision. It's a passionate rant of sorts, I suppose.
I got another little pregnancy booklet mailed to me by my health providers... I love the way that the information in here is presented. Breastfeeding is happily encouraged and there is even a statement that specifically says that circumcision is NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY. It makes me sooooo happy that this was printed in a non-hippy crunchy health booklet.
It ought to be common knowledge to most people these days that this is the case, but it surprises me how many people still choose to have this completely pointless procedure done to their baby boys, even when they don't have a religious reason for it (not that I think religion is any better excuse to cut off part of your kids body). I'm not afraid to say this here, because this is MY space to say what I think, but I have to be honest...I DO judge people who do this to their children. I can't help it. It appalls me that it is a socially acceptable thing in the USA to disfigure a perfectly normal penis. How is it any different from any other purely cosmetic alteration? Why is it the PARENTS choice if their childs penis gets a foreskin or not? Shouldn't it be the owner of the penis's choice? If your son grows up and decides that he doesn't want his foreskin, fine. At least then it is his choice about what he wants done with his own body.
I would have survived and not known the difference or remembered the pain if I'd had my labia/clitoral hood removed as an infant, and sure, I'd probably get some pleasure out of sex still. And yet for some reason you don't see people cutting off bits of their baby girls. I fail to see the difference. The only reason this sounds extreme is because this example is not the norm in our society. Male circumcision is. Neither are medically necessary, and yet hospitals will continue to happily offer this service to parents of baby boys because it makes them lots of money.
I got another little pregnancy booklet mailed to me by my health providers... I love the way that the information in here is presented. Breastfeeding is happily encouraged and there is even a statement that specifically says that circumcision is NOT MEDICALLY NECESSARY. It makes me sooooo happy that this was printed in a non-hippy crunchy health booklet.
It ought to be common knowledge to most people these days that this is the case, but it surprises me how many people still choose to have this completely pointless procedure done to their baby boys, even when they don't have a religious reason for it (not that I think religion is any better excuse to cut off part of your kids body). I'm not afraid to say this here, because this is MY space to say what I think, but I have to be honest...I DO judge people who do this to their children. I can't help it. It appalls me that it is a socially acceptable thing in the USA to disfigure a perfectly normal penis. How is it any different from any other purely cosmetic alteration? Why is it the PARENTS choice if their childs penis gets a foreskin or not? Shouldn't it be the owner of the penis's choice? If your son grows up and decides that he doesn't want his foreskin, fine. At least then it is his choice about what he wants done with his own body.
I would have survived and not known the difference or remembered the pain if I'd had my labia/clitoral hood removed as an infant, and sure, I'd probably get some pleasure out of sex still. And yet for some reason you don't see people cutting off bits of their baby girls. I fail to see the difference. The only reason this sounds extreme is because this example is not the norm in our society. Male circumcision is. Neither are medically necessary, and yet hospitals will continue to happily offer this service to parents of baby boys because it makes them lots of money.