I guess the old hygiene argument about circumcision was correct after all. Men can be so sensitive about their privates (myself included). I am surprised that more men aren’t adopting something that can increase their safety. This isn’t the first time officials pushed the case for across-the-board circumcision for men living in high-risk areas. I wonder what laws would have been mandated by now if it had turned out expanding female circumcision curtailed AIDs?
In a report issued on 28 March, the World Health Organization and UNAIDS issued a series of recommendations to increase rates of circumcision in countries where the HIV problem is most serious.
“We reviewed all the evidence, and the evidence is compelling,” says Kim Dickson, coordinator of the joint WHO/UNAIDS working group that produced the report.
Studies in South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have recently shown that circumcised men are on average 60 per cent less likely than uncircumcised men to pick up the virus (New Scientist, 25 November 2006, p 8).
Would the religious right consider circumcision to reduce potential spread of venereal disease a behavior that promotes promiscuity?
Hmmm…
Does anyone else NOT think that AIDS is a poor person / stupid person disease? Wouldn’t condoms and some edumacation work to reduce the spread by over 90%? And since we in the west have running water, when was cleanliness a problem? Good hygiene is a no brainer. Lets see, pull back foreskin, wash with soap and water, rinse and repeat if you like. And dry it off afterwards. Sheesh!
a) female circumcision really doesn’t belong anywhere near a discussion of male circumcision because the two don’t really share anything in common except their name.
male circumcision is basically a cosmetic change with slight disease transfer and hygene effects.
female circumcsion is a horrible disfiguring method of exerting sexual control over unprotected young women.
to trivially suggest that there might be benifits to female circumcision is disgusting and totally wrong.
A friend of mine that was considering circumcision asked me if it was painfull. I said it hurts like hell! After I had mine done, I couldn’t walk for a year.
If circumcision has been proven to reduce the risk by 50%, and now people are saying that this is a wonderful reason to circumcise, then shouldn’t the near 100% reduction of risk from condom use make people twice as eager to distribute/use condoms?
Of course, birth control defies the beliefs of some people’s mythology. Discouraging their use allows people to get sick and die. Yet another proof that religion has outlived its usefulness, and should now go away.
2,
You miss my point. My point was that men would push an ugly, painful procedure on women very readily while dodging the most minor unpleasantness.
Discussion on circumcision coming from Kim Dickson, oh the irony.
Oh and wouldn’t cutting it off do even more for the cause;-)
Is the God-bashing a requirement on all of the comments on this site?
Circumcision is mutilation of the male penis. It is wrong and should be a crime to remove it (US of A). The foreskin is not a “skin tag”, nor is it dirty and nor does it cause bad things to happen.
Men are born with a foreskin and it doesn’t need to be removed!
Circumcision is no excuse for an education on good hygiene and sexuality.
Rosebush
7,
Hey, I didn’t God bash!
#2 & #8 – my thoughts exactly. Circumcision is something cosmetic or religious these days, nothing more.
Female circumcision is not a circumcision. It’s called excision and consists of removing the clitoris to deprive women of an easy physical means to enjoy their sexuality, thus becoming more “tame”. It’s a mutilation by all accounts.
Mutilation? You people or circumphobes! Get a grip on reality.
Furthermore… the “religious right” crack at the end is uncalled for. I’m sure the RR couldn’t care less about this issue unless the RR happens to be Jewish.
#3, Very very funny, Larry. And I won’t explain it.
#12, Oh I get it now. He was a newborn baby at the time. Very clever.
The above posts pretty much say all the random things that can be said on this topic. A few clarification points though.
Condoms arent as prevelent in Africa as in the US (and how often do they go unsed here) and they tend to not be present when the mood is, or they fail, or they do not feel good.. ect. Every sexually active person knows the various ‘flaws’ of condoms.
*One* circumsied penis will be in every sexual situation in every mood, through out that whole persons life and 1000 Condoms cant come close to that. That makes it, in terms of HIV transmission, better.
More to the point of why this is the case, I believe from what I hear and have read on the matter, is that the foreskin is prone to tearing or bleeding during sexual encounters (I do not have mine so I wouldnt know firsthand). It is this bleeding that helps transmit the disease into the male, who then spreeds it to more femals than he would have if his skin had not torn and given HIV direct blood access.
‘Mutilation’ claims seem moronic. Modern humans take out all kinds or bodily features to increase their overall health. Gallbladders, tonsils, wisdom teeth.. I am sure there are more examples.
Beavis: Uh Uh eeh eeh Uh…he said “fisthand”.
Butthead: Beavis you dork, that was “firsthand”.
#8 and other uninformed people
Bacteria thrive in places that are: warm, moist and dark. You don’t need a PHD to figure out that it is healthier to reduce places like that on your body to help fight disease. if you consider circumcision a mutilation then don’t get any cavities filled in your teeth either.
14 — (1) you have a point about condoms not always used, but when they are, they are much better than no foreskin. So don’t think, “if I get nipped, I can have promiscuous unprotected sex”. This is about harm reduction.
(2) the science I have read says that the actual skin of the foreskin is more porous to the virus. Normally, splashing a little vaginal mucous on the skin is no big deal, but if it is splashed on the foreskin, it can penetrate into the bloodstream. Bad news.
Oh and Smartalix, I got your point, but just the mention of female “circumcision” turns my stomach. It is barbaric.
#16
So is a woman’s vagina and yet men continue sticking their penises into it; your mouth is also moist and warm and yet you use for eating and drinking. A higher level of education is just another oportunity to commit a newer act of stupidity.
#1 – Named &
#8 – Rosebush
Damn right, bofayaz!
I said mutilation about excision.
Not about circumcision. But…
…in my account of things it’s damn close..
“Kim Dickson, coordinator of the joint WHO/UNAIDS working group that produced the report.”
What a dumb bitch, if you tell a man that he’s going to have that high margin of protection against AIDS then they will not wear a condom.
Otherwise the cases of HIV in the USA would be way lower than on the rest of the world.
Circumcision is mutilation, specially when the reason for it is an idiotic “I was in the ARMY and I want my kid to fit in the group” opinion that came from the father or “I don’t want my boy to be rejected by women!” when it comes from the mother.
#16 reminds us that “Bacteria thrive in places that are: warm, moist and dark.”
Cancun at night is an even better place for a bacterium or virus to party till the sun comes up, although I don’t think you’ll see that in any of the tourist brochures 😉
I SAY, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!
http://thecountsworld.blogspot.com/
#14 – Maybe I am just being ignorant, but I am not sure that bleeding and tearing of foreskin during sex is all that common UNLESS the hygeine is poor in the first place. It seems that this whole arguement could be ended if we would just continue to educate people on hygeine and safe sex practices!
Circumcision is a very personal choice and sensitive on many cultural as well as personal levels, that I can’t imagine someone dictating this choice for my children…
That’s it! I had it.
I wrote a lengthy piece only for it to get lost after the first try didn’t go through with the “whoa, cowboy crap”.
I’m leaving John. Fix that crap.
#22: Viruses thrive in dry cool places
#18 Angel has the wong kind of dick!
#24
It happens when there’s not enough lube 😉
#26 They feel so warm in my hand and foreskin feels even better 😉
Any woman that demands his BF to get a circumcision has to be forced to get some canteloupe sized breast inserted in their bodies.
Any man that is stupid enough to cut his d*ck for a woman must be forced to have the world “dumbass” tattooed on their forehead.
Wong dick!!!!!!!!
#28
Eat foreskin and die.
Angel, is it possible that you missed Milo’s joke? I’m guessing that every male in your family would have the *Wong* kind of dick 😉
Anyway, this thread seems to have *petered* out.