Why is circumcision genital mutilation

EsraYmssik · 2018-09-17T13:08:21+00:00

Mods, please leave this up. It may be a troll question, but still IMO a discussion worth having.

From Merriam Webster, 'mutilation' is defined as:

to cut up or alter radically so as to make imperfect

to cut off or permanently destroy a limb or essential part of : cripple

So, first point, MGM¹ counts as it involves the removal of healthy tissue, ie "making imperfect".

Sure, by definition, ALL surgery counts as mutilation, but performed because the damage caused is outweighed by the positives of surgery and the negatives of inaction.

However, that is not the whole of the question as the word 'mutilation' carries negative 'baggage'. So, does MGM deserve that baggage?

I would say yes. MGM is a surgical procedure, carried out routinely on otherwise healthy individuals who (in the case of infants) cannot consent.

There are no conclusively proven health benefits to MGM (frex there are arguments that it reduces HIV infections, although that is still controversial). However, those 'health benefits' are not to the advantage of sexually inactive infants.

Yes, SOME infants have health problems that require surgery, that require 'circumcision'^2. The majority do not.

Ultimately, MGM is a medically unnecessary surgical procedure.

Finally, there are no compelling arguments that FGM is sufficiently different from MGM such that reasons to consider FGM as mutilation are not applicable to MGM.

^1. Male Genital Mutilation, easier to type than 'circumcision', I concede that it could be taken as circular reasoning or loaded language.

I'm not arguing that, "circumcision is mutilation because I call it MGM, therefore it is mutilation by definition."

I will use MGM to refer to routine infant male circumcision, the common practice, as separate from the individual surgery.

^2. Phimosis, "a condition in which the foreskin of the penis cannot be pulled back past the glans," being the classic example.

Groggster11 · 2018-09-17T14:36:06+00:00

Unnecessary elective surgery that the victim has no say in.

The-beat-man · 2018-09-17T13:42:39+00:00

The United States, a nation with 4.5% of the world's population, consumes 47% of the world's Viagra (Pfizer's own figures). Turns out the same nation has been circumcising the majority of its male infants for generations.

http://www.thewholenetwork.org/twn-news/does-circumcision-cause-erectile-dysfunction

Imnotmrabut · 2018-09-17T13:45:59+00:00

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) prevalence was significantly and positively correlated with male neonatal circumcision (MNC) and prematurity rates. MNC explained 14.2% of the variability of SIDS's male bias in the US, reminiscent of the Jewish myth of Lilith, the killer of infant males.

Elhaik, E. (2018). Adversarial childhood events are associated with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): an ecological study. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. https://doi.org/10.1101/339465

TruthGetsBanned · 2018-09-17T17:59:03+00:00

Imagine if ~20 of the nerve ending bearing flesh of all the vulvas of baby girls were being sliced off, without anesthetic, for religious reasons, to no benefit whatsoever. Would you call that genital mutilation? Yes. Then you must also agree to the same term when it happens to male babies, or you're a sexist by definition.

Hadashi_blacksky · 2018-09-17T20:25:38+00:00

Harmless, huh? It raises the boy's risk of cot death. It makes your penis less sensitive. It removes around 15 square centimeters of skin (when an adult) that protects the head of the penis. It is often not preformed with any kind of pain relief. It is irreversible. It can go horribly wrong. And it mainly exists outside of Judaism as a means to stop boys enjoying sex and masturbation.

And the baby CANNOT consent to it.

Title	Why is circumcision genital mutilation
Author	Minostz12
Upvotes	9
Comments	39
Date	September 17, 2018 12:19 PM UTC (7 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/9gjttg/why_is_circumcision_genital_mutilation/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/why-is-circumcision-genital-mutilation.893901 https://theredarchive.com/post/893901

Comments

Mods, please leave this up. It may be a troll question, but still IMO a discussion worth having.