Link blog: medicine, dance, lindyhop, genital-mutilation

[pw201]

Infant male circumcision is genital mutilation | Martin Robbins | Science | guardian.co.uk "Men should have the right to choose circumcision, not have the choice forced upon them. Infant circumcision without consent or immediate medical justification is an unjustified violation of basic human rights, that shares more in common with ancient coming-

Comments

[simont]

Seems fair enough to me: the only reason we permit this is because of the common error of "respecting" religious opinions.

Is it, though? I was under the impression that it happened a lot in the USA even among people whose religion has nothing to do with it.

[cartesiandaemon]

That's how I understand it, so I think it's religion and culture, not just religion, but I think that much the same arguments apply.

I desperately tried to avoid wading into this debate when it came up on AndrewDucker's links. Basically, I think unnescessary medical procedures on children are wrong, and if they cause significant harm (as in female genital mutilation) they should be stopped. But the situation on male circumcision seems fuzzy: since no-one can point to any clear benefit, it probably shouldn't be done just because of cultural inertia. It seems likely it causes at least some small harm, but as with most controvertial issues everyone seems to disagree vigorously about what studies are valid, and lots of people still claim it's a good thing

[pw201]

But the situation on male circumcision seems fuzzy: since no-one can point to any clear benefit, it probably shouldn't be done just because of cultural inertia. It seems likely it causes at least some small harm, but as with most controvertial issues everyone seems to disagree vigorously about what studies are valid, and lots of people still claim it's a good thing.

I agree that it's much less harmful than FGM, but it's still surgery so carries the risks or surgical intervention for what seem like some pretty hazy benefits. There's also problem of consent, or lack of it: the author of that article is pretty clear that he's not opposed to people choosing to be circumcised at a later date.

But my problem is that it's SO central to Jewish and Muslim culture (including many of my friends) you're likely to have to basically go to war to eradicate it, and I don't want that, and that there's so many things which seem clearly clearly bad to fix, that I'm happy to leave this issue till later, even though I don't like ducking the issue...

[cartesiandaemon]

And yes, I basically agree. It's a bad idea to circumcise everyone for dubious benefits, and agree that driving it underground is a good reason to not instinctively ban it, and that it's a good thing to maintain awareness of it. I guess I just wouldn't want to say "batshit" because I can see why people want to do it, even if I disagree, and I know how describing it like that would make my friends and family feel, although I'd probably use the same language for other things I disagreed with.