I understand why people are against female genital mutilation, but why does no one care about male genital mutilation?

Dick-Lemon · 2015-10-06T03:26:11+00:00

A lot of reasons. On reddit specifically the majority of the audience is American, thanks to a successful campaign made by John Harvey Kellogg(yes, from the cereal) in 1878 to curb masturbation the vast majority of American males are circumcised. It is so common that most doctors will just assume that you want it and ask when you have a baby.

Hard to admit that your parents mutilated your genitals for no reason.. So most men wouldn't even call it mutilation, that causes problems in its self. Few people would take you seriously in America if you called circumcision GM.

Most people also have this assumption that all FGM is removing the whole clitoris or all of the lips, but the're many kinds, some do remove almost the whole thing and those ones are legitimately much worse than circumcision. Some remove almost nothing and are arguably "better" than MGM.

What I find interesting is that on the WHO page they say that the're are no health benefits, this is interesting because locals say that it makes the girls behave better and is easier to clean(sound familiar?). Of the course the behavior part is bullshit but the easier to clean piece of it is interesting. It is a reason the WHO lists for male circumcision so you would think it would go both ways, but no it doesn't...

Note: This will also be an issue never tackled by the UN, frankly circumcision is mandated by Islamic law and any attempt to stop it would get vetoed out by America(second highest circ rate behind Middle East) and the Middle East itself. It would be the worst diplomatic move a country could suggest because it alienates millions of people and a handful of countries. FGM is not religion mandated(as far as I know) and involves small African countries not the big dogs like America, Syria, Eygpt, and Iraq(to name a few).

Note+: If you want more sources I can get those, it's late and I'm tired so I went pretty bare bones evidence wise here so feel free to ask for more.

Edit:Clarity

Drakaris · 2015-10-06T10:57:46+00:00

Oh, my sweet summer child...

Rwillsays · 2015-10-06T10:03:43+00:00

In my experience I never looked at it as genital mutilation. Before coming to this sub, I never even realized that circumcision is something that people are upset about. I have never felt victimized by it and have literary never discussed circumcision with my parents or any of my guy friends. I just thought it was something that you do and that's that.

lethatis · 2015-10-06T13:58:51+00:00

To add to existing replies:

Gynocentrism: women's concerns matter most
Girls must be protected, boys are disposable.
Some women claim to prefer their sex partners cut. So they cut their baby sons, despite presumably not intending to have their son as a sex partner.
Mothers are ignorant about penile anatomy.
Fathers don't want to admit that they were harmed
Social conformity & inertia. Has been around for a long time (FGM never caught on) and is a profitable industry.
Fathers feel an (unconscious) sexual threat from a new son, it is a symbol of waning attractiveness and aging, counteract that by partially emasculating the baby
The boy must fulfill a role as a hardened and callous achiever, with dulled emotions and little awareness of bodily feelings in order to provide maximum value to society (it bolsters conformity to a negative male gender role)
It's heteronormative-- by taking away male sexual pleasure, it reduces sex to the context of hetero reproduction.
intended to bolster monogamy for the same reason

xynomaster · 2015-10-06T03:16:26+00:00

It's the same reason people are against men raping girls but no one cares about women raping boys.

Or the same reason people are against women fighting in war but have no problem ripping men from their families and sending them to die.

Girls just matter more than boys.

CountVonVague · 2015-10-06T11:45:18+00:00

One we view as a semi-common practice established in western tradition and of variable acceptance between cultures whether for religious or secular reasons, and the other is viewed as a horribly violent assault on the sexuality of vulnerable women and girls by ignorant, backwards fanatics of patriarchal domination practiced primarily in the unruly territories of african warlords.

now, you tell Me why people laugh when they hear someone say they want to ban circumcision when there's infinitely more important things to be worried about? like, seriously, why are your priorities so outta wack? aw is ur widdle mashcuwinity fewing fwagile? stop being so defensive, god!

it's so sad these conversations have to happen over and over again

MagicRocketAssault · 2015-10-06T03:22:13+00:00

Feminists consider any compassion towards anyone but them a threat to their narrative. Their narrative being that women are the sole, helpless victims of the Patriarchy. Playing the victim is what gives them power. If it is known that men have issues, too, it takes from them their total power. Feminists don't like sharing.

I know people will disagree and call tat a conspiracy theory, but based on the actions of feminists, what they believe and the fact that anyone could see mutilating little boys is bad, I'd say it's not so hard to believe.

Feminists are evil. it's not ignorance. They are not simply "misguided" snowflakes looking for equality. They are bullies.

2015-10-06T03:17:20+00:00

Because nobody cares about men.

/thread

cottonthread · 2015-10-06T07:40:00+00:00

A couple of points I haven't seen mentioned yet:

People think (falsely) that being circumcised protects you from HIV infection. Also not just Jews but Muslims perform it as religious practice.

YabuSama2k · 2015-10-06T09:18:58+00:00

People haven't been talking about circumcision that long and it really is catching on. I've been surprised to meet as many women as I have who are against it.

marcooni1 · 2015-10-06T10:11:13+00:00

Because then you would be jew hater and only women can suffer from genital mutilation.

TorontoIntactivist · 2015-10-06T10:32:36+00:00

Male disposability. A corrupt medical system that goes to great lengths to censor the truth. A traumatized society that is currently ensnared in a state of pathological denial.

TheDude41 · 2015-10-06T04:54:26+00:00

Because chivalry is shit.

ExpendableOne · 2015-10-06T15:28:55+00:00

Human history is filled with a lot of really dumb or horrible shit being justified because they learned it from their parents and because they don't want to be social outcasts for thinking differently. Conformity is a really powerful force that people still have a hard time moving away from even when they know better.

It's psychology 101, really. When you have impressionable kids getting a lot of positive/negative reinforcement for something, and a lot of positive/negative punishment for not following along, they will eventually adopt those views consciously and subconsciously. You see the same things, all across the world, with religions, mannerisms, politics, traditions like marriage or courting, gender roles, bullying/violent behaviour being rewarded or glorified(by both men and women). Even something like dancing could be, arguably, completely learned irrational behaviour(kids who get positive reinforcement from dancing as children basically learn to enjoy it because they associate it with that good feeling, even though it's complete arbitrary and absolutely ridiculous when looked at objectively).

Circumcision is just one of the many aspects of society that people have just come to accept, and that they don't want to question because it's either not worth it for them(socially), because it makes them very uncomfortable(especially if they were circumcised or directly responsible for a child being circumcised) or because that just can't really conceptualize any other way. Part of it too is, obviously, that women are and have always been this protected and elevated class. Conformity has kind of conditioned us to see it that way too. Boys grow up seeing girls being given special treatment and protection, and being told that they need to be stronger and don't get that special treatment because they are boys and need to protect girls. Girls just grow up wrongfully expecting this from men.

Female circumcision is a subject of controversy because, culturally, there is this conflict between protecting girls from anything and everything, and religious practices(which are also culturally considered to be in women's best interest). Male circumcision isn't really a subject of controversy to most people because they have been brought up not to care about men, been brought up to dismiss/ignore male pain and that circumcision is just a harmless thing that boys go through for the pleasure of women or for religious reasons(these days, male circumcision mostly justified as being "cleaner", "more attractive" and "more enjoyable" to women. Even though none of these things are actually true or completely unrelated, we still accept these answers because it's part of the status quo).

McGauth925 · 2015-10-06T23:55:23+00:00

I have to think that the covenant of Jews with God, symbolized by circumcision, has much to do with it. It's in the fucking Bible no less.

Y_dilligaf · 2015-10-06T02:55:04+00:00

Jews said it was cool

Astronut128 · 2015-10-06T14:46:04+00:00

In order to stop male genital mutilation the millions of circumcised men would have to admit that they are damaged. This has tremendous psychological costs.

I had a nervous breakdown in my 20's when I fully understood the harm of circumcision and that my penis had been damaged without my permission. It all made perfect sense- the constant irritation from the glans rubbing against my underwear, tight erections, a painful scar and masturbating almost to the point of pain because I had to rub the penile skin with lotion rather than the natural gliding (and stretching) action of the foreskin. Fucking bullshit.

RagingFuckalot · 2015-10-08T16:03:17+00:00

There are complaints about it everywhere. Are you new to the internet?

cmumford · 2015-10-06T14:07:40+00:00

Circumcision and female genital mutilatio (Wikipedia link) are both mutilation, but in all honesty what happens to women can be much worse than what happens to men. I don't know the numbers, but reading that Wikipedia article really made me cringe and was tough to get through.

To be honest I am very much for mens rights, but I am more against female genital mutilation (because it's worse) than I am against men's circumcision.

2015-10-06T20:49:11+00:00

Normalcy. I think this is the primary reason for it.

People have been desensitized to it. I think this is the same reason why it's okay for FGM to happen in other countries.

They use a lot of the same arguments to normalize it and make it okay.

It looks better
"I had it done, and I like it/don't care!" - both men and women say this about their own MGM and FGM.
It's cleaner
Religious/cultural reasons

Ignorance being another huge part. "It's just a flap of useless skin". "It's extra skin". I've heard that many times, and it's patently false. People don't know what the natural purpose of the foreskin is. It's there for a reason.

Title	I understand why people are against female genital mutilation, but why does no one care about male genital mutilation?
Author	hjgfcdfv
Upvotes	36
Comments	59
Date	October 6, 2015 2:42 AM UTC (10 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/3nnp28/i_understand_why_people_are_against_female/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/i-understand-why-people-are-against-female-genital.969993 https://theredarchive.com/post/969993

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