Category — Circumcision

Debra Messing might be as annoying in real life as she is on TV.

Rolling Doughnut has the story.

This Intactivist site is so well done that it is barely perceptible as satire to many. In fact, “clean and sexy” has numerous Muslim friends, not just Intactivist ones.

Embedding is not enabled, apparently because of Youtube discrimination. But I hope my allies find a way to promote these videos.

This post is dedicated to our sometimes-more-PC-than-fair friends at Jewschool.

In today’s multi-cultural times, we all celebrate the solstice differently. And who is to say that any one way is better than anyone else’s?

The Independent reports,

Hundreds of British schoolgirls are facing the terrifying prospect of female genital mutilation (FGM) over the Christmas holidays as experts warn the practice continues to flourish across the country. Parents typically take their daughters back to their country of origin for FGM during school holidays, but The Independent on Sunday has been told that “cutters” are being flown to the UK to carry out the mutilation at “parties” involving up to 20 girls to save money.

It’s just one after the other.

The facts appear to be as follows:
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What group talks like this about their own ritual? I can’t put my finger on it…but it’s so strangely reminiscent of something in my own community, even though it must surely have nothing in common.

VIN translates,

The birth of a son to a young couple from Israel’s Central Region turned into a string of nightmares when the mohel who performed the bris made a poor incision, causing severe injuries. As a result of the slip the infant had to undergo some ten operations and still requires further treatments.

During the bris the mohel bandaged the organ too tightly, causing excessive pressure. The infant cried all night and the next day. The worried parents called the mohel, who said he would come the next day, but did not arrive. The parents took the baby to the hospital, where doctors discovered how serious the damage was.

The Rishon Letzion Magistrate’s Court recently sentenced the mohel to six months’ community service and a fine of NIS 10,000 ($2,650).

Circumcision is just a little snip. No big whoop.

Hat tip: OTD

It seems our Israeli mass-mohel co-religionists have shown their scientific objectivity once again. Remember, these Jews have no cultural bias at all, and they take counter-points to their position seriously, as doctors should when we considering ablating healthy parts of a person’s body.

David Llewellyn reports,

At one of the last sessions, the speaker from “Operation Abraham,” an Israel-based group that apparently hopes to be engaged to assist the U.S. in circumcising black and Hispanic males, put a photo of an intact male up on the screen. The figure of an elephant had been drawn around the penis so that the intact penis looked like an elephant’s trunk. The words “Yes! A circumcision please!” had been added to the photo. I remonstrated loudly until this smear against intact males was taken down. I then promptly left the session.

Where did this happen? At the CDC sponsored 2009 National HIV Prevention Conference.

Dana Goldstein asks,

Why is it that even as Jews have assimilated and rejected many religious practices, such as strict Kashrut, we continue, as a community, to cling to circumcision?

Does Dana accept any other male-only ritual? Or just the one that involves penis slicing? Like most other Liberal Jewish feminists?

Keep in mind, these are the responses of a woman whose “endorsed” section includes such oh-so-gender-sensitive publications as Feminist Law Professors, Feministe, and Feministing.

Goldstein gives some typical responses.

But there’s also a deep emotional tie to circumcision; a feeling of pride that Jews are physically marked as such — that a Jewish man can never totally escape his Jewishness, because it is inscribed on his body through circumcision. During the Holocaust, this was one way in which Jews were identified by the Nazis. We Jews are rightfully attached to that history. One of my friends, who is studying to become a rabbi, recently told me he considers circumcision the single most important Jewish religious obligation.

Her answers don’t reflect the true answer. The true answer is quite simple.

Jews continue to “cling” to circumcision in such large numbers because the kid can’t refuse. That is the only reason. There is no other reason. If Jewish circumcision were done at age 18 or 21, the circumcision rate for Jews would drop dramatically.

Edgar Schoen: Among a long line of Jewish doctors seeking to circumcise all American boys for dubious reasons

Konner seems inclined to fear Intactivism as something prone to anti-semitism, instead of a reasonable concern about cutting babies’ genitalia.
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The article, “Circumcision: Once Banned for Jews, Now Proposed for Gentiles,” is sloppy and meandering. And yet, it is revealing in terms of how Jews conflate religious bias towards circumcision with health issues.

The expected self-congratulatory tone is salient, overriding.

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