The increasingly sensitive issue of circumcision

Submitted by Mastodon on Fri, 2015-02-13 06:26

Article here. Excerpt:

'A couple of weeks ago, I found myself wandering through a fascinating exhibition called Snip It! Stances on Ritual Circumcision in the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

In addition to displaying a lot of terrifying-looking ceremonial scalpels and some rather gruesome wax penises, the exhibition invited attendees to weigh the moral pros and cons of this ancient ritual – something I’ve trained myself not to do as the mother of an uncut son.
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Circumcision isn’t something I’d ever really thought about until after I had my son. I remember being asked by an acquaintance, when James was just a few weeks old, whether I’d taken him in for the snip yet. “Of course not,” I answered without hesitation. “Why would I? It’s barbaric.” And then I watched as the woman’s face folded itself into a pursed little smile and she muttered something about her two boys being circumcised “for cultural reasons,” before turning away from me altogether.
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As “personal choices” go, circumcision is becoming an increasingly sensitive issue. A controversial Danish study released last month concluded that boys who are circumcised as babies are twice as likely to develop autism spectrum disorder before the age of five. Researchers at the respected Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen studied more than 340,000 boys born in Denmark between 1994 and 2003. The results are startling – though as critics of the study point out, the link is speculative, not established.'

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Comments

For me, the most interesting thing in this article was the comment that data suggests a correlation between circumcision and a doubled rate of autism.

I'm not so sure it is that direct (I was circumcised and did not suffer that).

Instead, I would suggest that in the US, a lowering of circumcision rates is coming from an increased respect for men, boys and masculinity (by both mothers and fathers). And THAT, I think, is what is lowering the rate of autism.

All in all, though, the signs are good.

Also, I have noticed that there is NEVER an article on female genital mutilation without someone bringing up male genital mutilation. Eventually, the feminist argument "It is not as bad," will expire from over-use and the knowledge that it IS, sometimes, as bad (and in some cases, worse).

I have mentioned here that I am pained by the knowledge that I cannot teach my son how to retract his foreskin as he goes through puberty (nor can I understand his discomfort in doing so). But at least he will not have this problem when (assuming as such) he has his own son. It stops with me.

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Submitted by ThomasI on Sun, 2015-02-15 09:53