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

    • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      4 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]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 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]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 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]@hexbear.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 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.

      • Kropotkins_Bread [he/him]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 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]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 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.

      • Phish [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        4 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.

        • TankieTanuki [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          4 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.

            • Amorphous [any]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 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]@hexbear.net
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                4 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]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  4 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.

    • 420clownpeen [they/them,any]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      4 years ago

      Yeah part of the reason I’m wary of the Circumcision Discourse is that it seems like a lot of times it oversteps into promoting yet another dick-related insecurity? When the whole thing, at least before bringing religion into the picture, just seems like a simple question of medical necessity (i.e. it doesn’t seem particularly medically necessary) and bodily autonomy.

      • Rem [she/her]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        4 years ago

        Yeah, I do see it kind of go that direction sometimes which I think is not productive. I just try to spread body positivity where I can. Like don’t get me wrong I’ll make it illegal when I’m supreme leader of the People’s Republic of North America, but I think a lot of guys do project existing insecurities onto it.