What do you all think about male circumcision?

[Zippy1111]

Please hear me out instead of dismissing this post as a "whiny MRA post"

To be more specific male circumcision done on baby boys and young boys for non-medical reasons?

I am personally against it for these reasons:

-The foreskin is a part of the body and everyone should have the right to an intact body

-Babies cannot give consent

-The foreskin is full of nerves. Removal means less pleasure from sex/masturbation. The glans of the penis eventually becomes desensitized after rubbing against clothing instead of being kept lubricated by the foreskin.

-Last Nov a baby boy in Manchester bled to death after being circumcised (for medical reasons)

If it is to be done, I believe it is best for the boy to make the decision for himself when he becomes old enough

[runningforthebusinheels]

I would disagree with male circumcision in all cases, except medical necessity. Someone once posted a link on here, and I just couldn't watch it - it was horrific.

Sunnywithshowers post made me wonder though. Are there any cases of male circumcision carried out in the conditions described in her post? When the boy is on the brink of puberty, in unsanitary conditions and without anaesthesia?

Are young boys spirited away from UK schools in the summer holidays by there families and transported to countries to have this horrific procedure done to them, as in the cases of a small but significant group of UK girls?

Perhaps it's time to make this about the wimminz.

[seeker]

I think that the word circumcision should not be used for girls. It was adopted as a way of trying to put the practices on a par. Female Genital Mutilation is the term I would use. They are by no means the same thing.

[runningforthebusinheels]

Yes, I use FGM for girls as well - the procedures are not remotely on a par.

I would ban male circumcision in a heartbeat, except for medical reasons. However, in the UK at least, the reasons for males being circumcised are predominantly religious - and as has already been said on the thread already, practised by the patriarchal religions.

[runningforthebusinheels]

*Should really say I use the term FGM....

[TheDoctrineOfSciAndNatureClub]

Hi Zippy

Are you actively campaigning for a change of law in the UK? If you have a petition to sign or anything, I'm sure many here will sign it but you may get more traffic in another area of the board.

[SirBoobAlot]

It's assault. If you removed any other part of a baby because you thought it looked nicer, you would be locked up.

It's barbaric and as wrong as FGM.

I just hope beyond hope that people start to see that, views are changing slowly, the rates in places like the USA are going down.

[beautyfades]

i don't agree with circumcision. And i don't understand what the problem is with it being posted here? That is why i don't post alot as i cannot fathom mumsnet rules?

[HecateWhoopass]

I am totally opposed to it. Fiercely opposed to it.

My husband comes from a culture where it is done ritually at age 14 to mark transition to adulthood.

I refused point blank to allow it. We argued it out for a very long time. But he knew my view on it when we married and married me with that in mind. He had no right to try to change the agreement (that if we had sons they would not be circumcised) afterwards! I think he thought he could wear me down.

He tried to offer me a compromise of them having it done at birth. I refused. I said if he tried it, I'd have him deported.

I feel that strongly about it. And, like I say, he knew that from the start. From before we had a child. He had the choice to not marry me!

Now our eldest is approaching 14, he has returned to it, with some guff about them not being accepted as males in the tribe. My answer is the same. On your bike. We agreed right at the start.

As it happens, our youngest may need it done for medical reasons. He has a problem and they're monitoring him. If it needs to be done, then ok. But not for any other reason than medical need.

[FastidiaBlueberry]

runningforthebusinheels I believe there are still some societies which practice male circumcision as a passage to manhood.

I could be wrong though, I don't know whether it's died out altogether.

[FastidiaBlueberry]

Oops, cross posted with Hecate, clearly it hasn't died out.

[FastidiaBlueberry]

Oh Hecate that must be awful for you, that constant attempt to wear you down.

[TheDoctrineOfSciAndNatureClub]

Beautyfades, nothing wrong with discussing it in FWR. Odd to post that "Feminism means gender equality which means men's issues as well as female issues, please correct me if I'm wrong." and then when the next poster did correct, to respond with, "With that attitude, don't expect men to give a shit about women's issues." Strange red

[HecateWhoopass]

He's totally brainwashed about it. He truly believes that it will harm them in some way to not have it done. He doesn't see it as cruel. He loves them very much and honestly believes that it is in their best interests. They won't be accepted, it's not clean, etc etc.

But it's not constant as in a weekly row, or anything. He didn't raise it for years after the first couple of years of it being a hot topic. But now, as they are getting to that age, his conditioning is kicking in and it's becoming an issue to him again.

Conversations about it are very short. I assure you.

[SirBoobAlot]

Hecate for you. You're right to dig your heels in though.

[TheDoctrineOfSciAndNatureClub]

Beautyfades, nothing wrong with discussing it in FWR. Odd to post that "Feminism means gender equality which means men's issues as well as female issues, please correct me if I'm wrong." and then when the next poster did correct, to respond with, "With that attitude, don't expect men to give a shit about women's issues."

Strange response given that every poster on this thread, including the one who corrected the redefinition of feminism by the OP, have condemned the practice he has asked us to condemn.

[Sunnywithshowers]

The fact that it only gained a few signatures is sad, Zippy. I would sign a petition against it.

Have you thought of starting another one?

[FastidiaBlueberry]

Is it an MN rule that we're not allowed to bash MRA's now then?

Are we not allowed to bash racists either?

[runningforthebusinheels]

Oh Hecate - I honestly thought cultures practising MC at puberty as a right of passage was a thing of the past. Really pleased you're standing your ground on that one.

[McBalls]

Zippy, your last post makes no sense.

The crucial part of the quote which you have cut off relates to views on circumcision...you then imply that that it was a comment about MRAs.

I think that's your whole problem here, we can be (and clearly are) against unnecessary circumcision. That really has nothing to do with MRA. Your decision to post the op here specifically may well be though.

[SolidGoldBrass]

Zippy, MRAs believe that feminism has 'gone too far' and that women can't be allowed full human rights because they are not human, they are 'women'. As I said upthread, there are plenty of good causes for people to get involved with (fighting poverty, racism, etc) but feminism is about women and about putting women's interests first. So when feminists are discussing women's issues, then we don't want to talk about or hear about men because they are not relevant to the discussion.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

I think male circumcision is a horrible thing to do but it is in no way comparable to FGM. Given how common male circumcision is in the US I wouldn't mind betting that the majority of the world's most powerful men have been circumcised. It hasn't stopped them from being powerful, neither, as far as I'm aware, has it stopped them enjoying a fuck on the whole.

I'd love to see the end of it, as I think it's barbaric - maybe ask all those powerful men to do something about it. It's not an issue for feminism, we have enough issues that affect women, FGM being only one, with which to concern ourselves.

[PlentyOfPubeGardens]

Please hear me out instead of dismissing this post as a "whiny MRA post"

Heard you out for 4 pages. This is a whiny MRA post.