In case you missed it, recently a bunch of folks managed to gather enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot that would ban circumcision in SF. It made national news due to the oddity of such an initiative. Of course as usual, everyone starts over-generalizing about ‘liberal SF’. I’ll be the first to admit people here are so initiative happy it borders on hysterical. [1]Seriously, if you can get enough signatures, you can put virtually anything on the ballot for people to vote on. Some things should require a little more review and decision making before just putting it to a vote. But while it was a bit of an extreme, the idea itself did have some merit IMHO.
Anyway, I knew right up front the initiative would fail. One, it didn’t allow religious exemptions and two it was very poorly written and overly broad. Circumcision has been part of “religious” ceremonies long enough it would take some serious doing to get something passed that didn’t include said exemptions. Being overly broad, it would have also created to many legal problems for enforcement. In the end, a judge actually ordered it removed from the ballot before it even went to a vote. That in itself is rare so that should tell you just how poorly it was written.
Frankly, I don’t think the government should be legislating something like this. I also think that we’ve become overly dependent on such an unnecessary procedure. While rare, there can be complications from a circumcision. And once done, its very hard to undo and even then its usually not the same. Why risk it unless its necessary? It is true circumcision has shown to be slightly more effective at preventing the spread of HIV. But the studies mentioned were for 3rd-world countries that don’t have ready access to clean water, good hygiene, medicines, etc. How very convenient to leave that detail out. lol And yes, there are cases where it ends up being medically necessary. But said complications are the exception not the rule.
Most people hide behind the “medical benefits” of circumcision to cover up the fact they are just uncomfortable with it. Cosmetically, it may look nicer but that shouldn’t out-weigh common-sense. Making a decision for your child based on a purely cosmetic preference is a bit selfish and extreme. Frankly, I’m glad I still have my hood. Its not overly pronounced or anything weird. When I’m “excited” you barely even notice. Side note here: One time after a “biblical encounter” with a guy, he went off on a tangent about it saying how he disliked it. Wasn’t he surprised when I pulled the sheet down and showed him! lolol True story!
Anyway, for .02, instead of coming up with more laws that limit social behavior, we should focus on community education. Communities rarely focus on public awareness campaigns anymore and its obviously showing. We’ve become a society fixated with telling people what they can/can’t do vs actually teaching people the pros/cons of their decisions. /rant
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| ↑1 | Seriously, if you can get enough signatures, you can put virtually anything on the ballot for people to vote on. |
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I've always found the amount of gay men that fetishize foreskin a bit fascinating. I've met so many gay men over the years that crave uncut cock like I crave chocolate that it's not even funny! While I neither like or dislike foreskin, I do think that circumcision is a practice that should be stopped. It's probably there for a reason, so why chop it off? 😉
Also, tons of gay American's I've met seem to think that every man in Canada is uncut! Not sure how that rumour started, but even as recent as yesterday I had a dude on Scruff ask me if I was a "real" Canadian. i.e. did I have an uncut cock. 😛
I knew a guy who had a botched circumcision. Awful. I have tried to convince my straight friends not to do it. Usually it happens because the straight father is freaked out by foreskin.
One of the sites I studied when reading about circumcision pointed out that a hospital can sell a single foreskin to researchers for about $1,000.00 They use it for various kinds of research on skin. I don't know if this is still the case (info was not new when I read it, some five years ago), but if it is, that should be stopped. And I'm a firm believer in the wisdom of nature. If we have them still after some several millions of years of evolution, and the presumption should be that there's a good reason for it, even if we don't know what that is. Frankly, I think we do. There are more nerve endings per cubic centimeter in the foreskin than any other part of the male anatomy, with the possible exception of the brain. It's there for PLEASURE and that supports the survival of the species.
There are several cultures that practice circumcision for a variety of reasons, contrary to nature, and despite the searing pain. I agree they should be permitted to do so, but also challenged to do so humanely and with compassion. I'd also suggest they re-evaluate the wisdom of their culture, but that's probably going too far.
We have the same problem here in Portland. There seems to be an initiative for everything, or a bond measure, or a levy. Can we just get down to business and fix what the actual problems may be?
As for circumcision? I'm not a fan of Coffee ice cream, doesn't mean I'm not gonna make a pig of myself if it is in front of me.