Reply to Any Jews having a tough time with circumcision?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let me state this again and state it clearly.  Female circumcision is NOT ALWAYS about slicing off the clitoris.  It is most commonly about cutting the clitoral hood, which is exactly the same as male circumcision and has exactly the same purpose as the foreskin.  I am not minimizing it. I think it is a horrific tradition even in the more minimal form.  However, I also believe that male circumcision is horrific.  That is where we differ.  You need to read up and understand the cultural background of them both and how female circumcision is COMMONLY performed in order to understand and that's why I suggest that you read that blog which I assume you haven't done. If you did read that or read thoroughly on the topic you would understand that there are vast differences in the way that female circumcision is performed AND that the justifications are commonly the same for boys or girls depending on which culture you are a part of.[/quote]

What I find horrific is telling an 8yo girl that you're taking her to a party in her honor, then leading her into a shed where some old lady with no medical training, no anesthetic, and unsanitary tools slices off her clitoral hood (or does any other form of FC/FGM under the same conditions).

Honestly, if they wanted to remove the clitoral hood (or less) at infancy, with anesthetic and a doctor in a hospital, and valid scientific evidence showed that the risk was less than or at least roughly equal to any medical benefit--no, I would not have a problem with that.

But the two procedures are so far different from each other that there is just no comparison, and it's offensive to suggest there is.[/quote]

PLEASE READ THIS:  http://joseph4gi.blogspot.com/2011/06/circumcision-is-child-abuse-picture.html   READ IT NOW!

Sorry for yelling, but seriously please read it and then come back and debate it.  [b]What you seem to not understand is that in many cases female circumcision takes place in medical or hospital settings on newborns - JUST LIKE WITH BOYS.[/b][/quote]

No, you missed my point altogether.  I certainly understand that some female circumcision takes place at birth in a hospital setting, just like most US male circumcisions, and that some male circumcisions take place under the horrifying conditions I described above.  That's what I meant by "two procedures" - hospital/birth/minor removal vs. shed/adolescent/severe removal -- NOT male vs female.

So I'll say it again more clearly--I think the hospital/birth/minor removal form of the surgery for boys OR girls is acceptable.  I'm sure that makes me an outlier because so many people have such a visceral reaction to the topic of female circumcision due to the media focusing only on the horrific form (and rightly so, because I do think that should be stamped out). I'll admit that I still do feel a bit uneasy with the idea of female circumcision under even ideal conditions, but I can recognize that as a cultural bias--rationally, one has to accept both or neither.  I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise.[/quote]

I'm glad we have gotten to the bottom of this and found some common ground!  What we disagree on then is that I feel that it should not happen in either case.  My point in even discussing it was to mention the hypocrisy of supporting one and not the other and also so that people would understand that their support of male circumcision was purely cultural (or religious) and not based in science (just like with girls).  I suspect that you are unusual in recognizing the hypocrisy of these two opposing positions, but thank you.[/quote]

Agreed - if both circumcisions, male and female, are performed on infants and are accompanied by the same amount of medical risk, reward, and non-effect on future health and sexual well-being, then either both practices are fine, or they are both ridiculously weird and barbaric.  I tend to think the latter, and yet am the poster below who knows that if she has a son she will have a bris, because a bris IS culturally acceptable here in America, and I'll go along with that to satisfy my parents and extended Jewish family.  But I KNOW the practice is weird and objectively barbaric.  [/quote]

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