why does the US still just routinely mutilate children? fuck john kellogg’s eugenicist corn flake ass

  • SaberTail [any]
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    25 years ago

    it’s fucked up, and there’s definitely some creepy psychology behind parents still doing it to their kids

    • TankieTanuki [he/him]
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      25 years ago

      It’s primarily circumcised fathers who drive the cycle of abuse. To leave their son intact would be a tacit admission that they were robbed of something valuable, and that their parents did something horrific to them. This puts up a huge psychological barrier which makes it easier to simply cut their child and move on like nothing’s wrong. It also doesn’t help that men’s ego’s are strongly linked to their genitalia.

      • VeganGuyDebord [he/him,comrade/them]
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        25 years ago

        I’ve talked to couples who are parents that said they circumsized their son just because they didn’t want their son to ask why their dick looked different from dad’s, and men who said they’ll circumsize their future sons just because they’re circumsized. But I’m not circumsized, and when my relationship with my girlfriend became more “serious” we sort of talked about having kids. And she said it would be up to my whether we would circumsize any of our sons or not, and I was just like “it’s not my penis, I’ll let them do whatever they want with it but I won’t make the decision to cut anything off”.

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]
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          15 years ago

          they didn’t want their son to ask why their dick looked different

          This is the result of the brain thinking (all subconsciously, of course) “I don’t want to contemplate how my son’s dick is different” and translating it to sound like it’s for their son’s benefit.

          • VeganGuyDebord [he/him,comrade/them]
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            15 years ago

            Yeah one of the couples I’m thinking of had already had their first son circumsized and had talked about how much he screamed during the process, and they were justifying why they would have their second son circumsized as well.

      • Phish [he/him, any]
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        05 years ago

        Let’s be clear that not all fathers who circumcised their sons are driving a cycle of abuse. Especially not that long ago when it was just viewed as a normal thing many people did. These parents simply didn’t know better. They weren’t abusing their kids. They didn’t do it based on ego. It was just something you did with newborns.

        • Amorphous [any]
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          25 years ago

          Abuse is still abuse even if it’s normal and even if you don’t think it’s abuse.

            • Amorphous [any]
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              25 years ago

              mutilating your child’s genitals without anesthetic for cosmetic reasons is abuse. if you disagree with that you’re fucking wrong.

              • Phish [he/him, any]
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                05 years ago

                That’s the thing. A lot of parents didn’t do it for aesthetic reasons. They thought it was healthier. This is what I mean when I say people are extreme about it. You’re being completely hostile about it. The reality is it’s an unnecessary practice we should stop doing but it doesn’t negativity affect the lives of the vast majority of people it’s done to. Implying that every circumcised male in history was abused by their parents is ludicrous.

                • Amorphous [any]
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                  5 years ago

                  mutilating your child’s genitals because you couldn’t be bothered to inform yourself about it is also abuse

                  imagine making this argument for literally any other form of abuse. hell, even any other form of mutilation. oh, yeah, i cut off the baby’s earlobes because, uhh … i get cysts in mine sometimes and thats kinda scary. earlobes must be bad.

                  and yes, im being hostile. we should be hostile toward INFANT GENITAL MUTILATION and those who support it.

                  • Phish [he/him, any]
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                    05 years ago

                    But you’re being hostile to somebody who doesn’t support it.

                    It’s not that parents couldn’t be bothered to inform themselves. They were given the wrong information. Though it is factually correct that it’s more hygienic.

                    I would argue that missing earlobes has a more profound effect on a person than missing foreskin.

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]
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          5 years ago

          I do sympathize with parents who didn’t know better, including my loving parents. The medical establishment is to blame. Nobody who chooses circumcision thinks they are abusing their son, nor are they criminally negligent. But I can’t say that someone who circumcises their son isn’t technically continuing the cycle. Also, sorry to hear about your son.

      • Kropotkins_Bread [he/him]
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        15 years ago

        Yeah, this is bullshit. My sister, among others, mutilated both her sons because she thinks intact members look “gross.” I have heard similar sentiments, and their ensuing mutilations, from women in similar demos.

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]
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          15 years ago

          I didn’t say that women don’t participate in the genital cutting culture. Men are just more likely to give strong pushback to criticism of the practice because it’s more personal. It also happens to be that almost all of the medical authorities and researchers responsible for endorsing and promoting circumcision are circumcised men, and they bear the most blame.