Driving home the other day, I once again had to maneuver three lanes and dodge a yellow light just to catch up to what I thought and actually DID see... CIRCUMCISION- his body, his rights.
Who honestly cares (was my initial reaction), with so much going on in the world today do we really need to add another issue. Everything is always a debate, an opinion, just another thing for people to agree/disagree.
okay, okay..my second initial reaction? what exactly is this bumper sticker talking about? What exactly is the issue of whether or not a male should be circumcised? It was time for some reasearch...which i found to be quite intriguing and a great conversation starter ;)
Circumcision dates all the way back to Ancient Egypt, adopted as a religious sacrifice. It was a rite of passage marking a boy's entrance into adulthood. The most common reason for the procedure began as a means to suppress sexual pleasure and method of treating and preventing masturbation (usually from an authoritative religious aspect).Circumcision was eventaully accepted in the English-speaking world by the early 1900s. The main theory behind it was the "Germ Theory of Disease". Like anyother news media scare, the theory suggusted the operation acts as a preventative medicine for dirt and bodily secretions that could be harmful to the males health. Besides being a common method for religious faiths, most notably the Jewish and Islamic ones, studies have shown circumcised men have a lower rate of contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted disease. Studies still remain skeptical, and moreover issues such as the pain factor and the loss of sexual nerves are more prominent.
HIS BODY, HIS RIGHT? - so whats the controversy?!
From 1930 the number of new born American boys being circumcised jumped from 32% to about 65% in 1987. Recent studies show that parents choose circumcision over "concerns about the attitudes of peers and their son's self-confidence in the future." Stumbling upon this research I realized there was just not one debate, but numerous ones! Whether or not it was just a social norm and we were depriving sexual sensation to parts that males are intially entilted too when born...to whether or not it could prevent penile cancer! The bumper sticker I saw on the red 19990 chevy truck however stated a different question, one of personal rights. Although the procedure might be an immense amount of pain when old enough to make the decision for oneself, shouldn't we have control over our own bodies? As a strong advocate for pro-choice, should men also be entilted to these claims when it comes to, well circumsion? Apparently the chevy truck infront of me felt very entitled!
While this may not be one of the most important issues of our time, it's definitely controversial and risque... and thus very entertaining to talk about!
ReplyDeleteI see it this way: circumcision was, as your research shows, initially started as a primarily religious rite of passage into manhood. Why not treat it that way, then? Because parents are stupid, and they always have been. Most parents want their kids to be perfect---i.e. carbon copies of themselves with all the bad stuff taken out. Religion, and, as a result, circumcision, is a very big part of that.
I personally believe the decision should be made by the boy/man/whatever himself, at the appropriate time, much like how religion should be learned and believed rather than inherited.
First off, what is with the weird font? All I can see is the bumper sticker, is this on purpose. I personally don't care on this issue at all but to comment on what Troy said about it being up to the boy/man/whatever , that just sounds cruel. That is why they do it at such a young age, so you don't have to decide or remember the pain. If your were old enough to make that decision don't you think you would say "HELL NO!" OWWWW
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's wrong with the font!! It says its normal every time I try to reedit it
ReplyDelete