Circumcision should be banned.

I was circumcised within days of being born. Our family doctor was adamant that the foreskin served no useful purpose, and increased the possibility of infection.
In later years, I was happy with having been circumcised and always flinched at the idea of a penis that was "uncut."
I will have to reread this thread to see if there are posts from women who express any preference either way in respect of partners

In what way do you consider them different?

As someone whose child has to undergo potentially life saving surgery when very young, I really struggle with this unnecessary mutilation of a perfect newborn/infant. I will never forget my eldest needing a cannula put in his hand as a newborn: that was horrendous enough to put him thorough although, again, medically necessary.

I read in a Gloria Steinem book that circumcision can increase sensitivity by exposing more of the sensitive area. She overall stated that, while not comparable to FGM, it's mainly an act of submission to a patriarchal God. I think I agree- but does anyone agree about the possible increased sensation? I stil think any benefits are not worth infant circumcision.

The thread developed and has covered male and female circumcision as well as the rights of the child.
Childish to suggest my not wanting FGM in this country is xenophobic. It's done to 100% of girls in large parts of the world and done in the UK now too despite it being illegal. Such is the problem there is even a court set up to handle FGM cases. Why you consider it xenophobic NOT to want this practice in the UK is beyond me, I don't want it here. What's your reason for not being bothered by it?

educate yourself. Circumcision is scientifically proven to be a hygiene/ health benefit. FGM has no health benefit and in fact, as the name suggests - is mutilation. FGM is banned, and rightly so.

so we have two dodgy individuals breaking the law, and so now we ban circumcision??

A dodgy builder built a death trap of a house. We should now ban all builders from ever building a house.

give me strength!

That is about male circumcision, not FGM. Read properly before spouting xenophobic nonsense.

It became popular in (puritanical) America for the same reason it became popular in religions: because it makes masturbation less fun. Everything else is post hoc justification and not based in science.

I've heard Muslims trying to claim that eating pork is intrinsically harmful to the human body in a way that eating beef isn't (as opposed to potentially poisonous because pigs are not very clean), and I would not be at all surprised to find that some highly orthodox rabbi has a video demonstrating that if you cook veal in a cream sauce it transmogrifies into plutonium or something.

Circumcision offers benefits of easier cleanliness though and can avoid issues of the foreskin becoming too tight. FGM offers no benefit whatsoever…

That graphic is shocking. 100% FGM in many African countries. Whilst FGM is illegal in the UK we now have a court dedicated to FGM cases as it happens here albeit hushed up of course.
We need to stop migration from these places, FGM has no place in the UK. The law matters nothing to these people who want to practice their culture.

Would you say this regarding FGM though?

I think involuntary (as in parents deciding for their children) male circumcision is as barbaric as female - men can lose sensation and it affects their sex life and can provoke profound mental health issues for assorted reasons. There was an article about a man who committed suicide due to the impact it had had on him a few years ago and more should be publicly discussed about it.

It’s ridiculous that this subject seems taboo or out of bounds just bc it is practised by non-Christian religions. Also the inhumane way animals are butchered in the name of some religions is just as vile. What about child brides? Should they be allowed again? Thats finally being stamped out, and they’re now discussing in hushed tones the matter of banning cousin marriage due to the horrendous impact it has on the children involved with numerous birth defects etc.

Why is C of E allowed to be openly mocked in the media, and in society in general, but the gross customs of others tolerated and worse still protected? Anyone?

I really don't care who this offends but if you cut your child's foreskin off for religious or cultural reasons or because it's 'the done thing' where you live, then you're a child abuser. Your sons foreskin is not yours to decide what to do with. If your 'god' or 'community' call for you to mutilate your child and you go along with it then you're brain dead.

If your son wants to remove his foreskin when he's 18 to impress his 'god', or because it's the cultural norm then that's up to him. But to do it to an infant with no say is abhorrent.

Who decides that our moral limits trumps that of others. As I said, the name for that attitude is supremacism

I don’t think parents should be allowed to modify their child’s body for non-medical reasons until the child is old enough to decide. It’s the parents’ religious belief in play, not yet the child’s.
When I first changed my newborn son’s nappy I remember thinking that some parents hand over their perfect baby to have a bit cut off. I can’t imagine being able to do that. (Also, so few people conform with every precept of their religion so it surprises me that they feel entitled to follow this one that alters another person’s body.)

Attempting to yoke male circumcision together with FGM is trolling, a bit. The former is a pretty small procedure with trivial hygiene/health benefits and no lifelong downsides. It’s also impractical to outlaw it whilst it remains a religious practice for two major world religions.

This is both antisemitic and false (and I am both Jewish and live in the USA). The influence of Jews on American circumcision practices is wildly exaggerated. In fact, there was an active effort to keep Jews out of medicine for a kong time, which is why there are so many hospitals in major cities named things like Beth Israel and Mount Sinai. They were founded by Jewish doctors who weren't allowed to practise in the other hospitals.

Even today Jews are less than 2% of the US population.

It was promoted by 19th and early 20th century doctors who weren't Jewish. John Harvey Kellogg (of cornflakes fame) was a Seventh-Day Adventist who promoted circumcision to reduce masturbation.

The history of circumcision bans has a lot of antisemitism and today Islamophobia.