I apparently started writing this about a week ago, but I don’t remember doing so at all.
However, I thought I’d just publish it since the sentences stand on their own:
Male circumcision is bad. The fact that male circumcision is bad is a feminist issue.
I don’t remember what I was getting at, if in fact I was getting at anything more than what’s stated.
Bad in general, or bad if done underage/without consent?
Sorry, underage and without consent or medical necessity.
I should say “routine infant male circumcision.”
I don’t understand how it is a feminist issue. It may be, but I don’t see the link…
Simple, Ed Hicks: bodily autonomy is a core feminist issue, and it should be clear how nonconsensual circumcision is a case of not respecting bodily autonomy.
@ CaitieCat: Ah, I think I’m getting womens issues and feminist issues confused. Cheers!
The kyriarchy hurts us all. :/
You’re most welcome.
I think the feminist issues come in
a) when women defer to their partners because “He’s got [most of*] a penis” – so they can be empowered by reminding them that they have intact genitals and wouldn’t readily part with any of them
*Sorry circumcised guys if that grates, but it’s the harsh truth.
b) when they defer to (male, probably circumcised) doctors. Yet female doctors can be just as bad (see Amy Tuteur for a horrible example).
c) when the double standard is raised, defending MGC as a way of helping to further demonise FGC.
d) because there is anecdotal evidence that circumcision makes men more goal-drected about sex: with ~20,000 specialised nerves removed, they have to work harder to gain the necessary stimulation to “achieve orgasm” (an expression they often use). Intact men are more able to relax and enjoy the journey, as well as the destination.
But I can’t see how neonatal MGC is an issue that directly affects women as women.
It does grate.
My body is whole. Thank you.
Given that circumcision of the penis (“male circumcision” implies that everyone with a penis is male which is not true) is a major cultural and religious issue for religions that are denigrated by US Christians and atheists alike, I think that sweeping statements like this are trite and useless. The issue of circumcision as it relates to bodily integrity, violence against children, and the way the practices of minority (at least in the U.S.) religious and cultural groups is derided in the western world make the issue incredibly complex.
Well, the clarification would cause the first statement in the OP to read “Routine infant male circumcision is bad.”
While that may be a complex issue, complexity doesn’t somehow make it not-bad. I think that’s part of the point in stating it bluntly.
Lots of feminist issues are complex. Issues of reproductive choice, and sexual assault, and oppression of women, can be incredibly complex. But that doesn’t mean one must resort to moral relativism in order to discuss them.
@Armchairshrink: (Every baby with a penis is initially deemed male, even if he grows up to identify as some other gender.) The issues you mention will make eradicating genital cutting difficult, but nobody has ever considered that insuperable, or even difficult to draft law about, when the genitals are female. The beliefs of parents really have no bearing on the inviolability of the bodies of children. Certainly nobody thinks so for any other part of a child’s body.
@Terence: You’ve lost me.
I am unmoved by minority practice arguments in this case, much as I am unmoved by them in regard to female genital cutting. Circumcision remains available as an option for observant people of appropriate age. If it was good enough for Abraham…
Male circumcision is a feminist issue. Miriam Pollack, a Conservative Jew, makes that argument.
For me, male circumcision is a feminist issue because it can detract from a woman’s enjoyment of foreplay and penetrative sex. I suspect that quite a few circumcised young men have a tendency to perform vaginal intercourse by thrusting too fast, too hard, and too deep. They do this because if they don’t, they don’t enjoy sex and may have difficulties ejaculating. Regardless of the reasons, this style of intercourse can leave women feeling assaulted rather than loved. The founding mother of sex positive feminism, Betty Dodson, began writing in 2009 that she agrees that male circumcision damages the sexual capability of both genders.