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From: stanwyck@ihuxr.UUCP (Don Stanwyck)
Newsgroups: net.women.only,net.religion
Subject: Re: "sexist" surgery
Message-ID: <826@ihuxr.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 5-Jan-84 10:12:26 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxr.826
Posted: Thu Jan  5 10:12:26 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Jan-84 02:38:54 EST
References: <307@flairvax.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 71

****************************** QUOTING *****************************************
Talking about barbaric sexist practices (such as clitoridectomies), think
about the most common bodily mutilation performed by our society -- on
infant *males* -- circumcision! Too bad most `concerned' mothers (who are
equally responsible for forcing this decision on their male children)
aren't required to undergo the equivalent disfiguration!

In case you did not know, the foreskin is a sensitive region of the male
anatomy capable of highly pleasurable sensations that are totally
unattainable once a penis has been so deformed.
***************************** END QUOTE ****************************************

Oh, really?  Every book and article I have read suggests that there is no
difference in the sensations realizable by a circumsized male than those
realizable by an uncircumsized male.  What is your source of information?
Your imagination?

****************************** QUOTING *****************************************
Some support this sad practice as `hygienic' -- even though a natural man
with reasonably modern personal habits can expect far fewer hygiene
problems than ANY woman.
***************************** END QUOTE ****************************************

Yes, many do justify it on hygenic grounds.  Studies done many times over the
years have suggested that wives/lovers of circumsized men have a lower
incidence of cervical cancer than wives/lovers of uncircumsized men.  No,
it is not the man's health that is the worry, it is the health of the one he
loves that caused many to undergo such surgery.  

NOTE***  Studies done in the last decade suggest that with most modern
hygeine practices here in the US/Canada  (i.e. daily showers) there
is no longer any difference.  But circumcision is a practice that goes back
many years to when daily showers and the like were not available.

My source of information is the cytotechnology department head at Fong
Diagnostic laboratories, Sacromento, CA.  I have not seen the studies myself.

****************************** QUOTING *****************************************
Maybe it makes sense as a `trade' for some kind of `spiritual bonus' --
provided, of course, you're Jewish or Islamic.  But why does America's
male-dominated, largely Christian-derived society mutilate the majority of
its own male offspring with this `sexist surgery'?
***************************** END QUOTE ****************************************

Regardless of what some people have been saying about the US not being
a Judeo-Christian culture - YES, JUDEO-CHRISTIAN, we do in fact have
such a background.  Christianity came out of Judism.  Many of the
traditions of Christianity came out of historically Jewish practices.
Paul, in his letters, addressed the issue of circumcision of adult males,
which many in the early church were seeking to require of Gentile
believers.  Many Christians refer to the "church" (the group of all
Christians) as the New Israel, and seek to remind themselves of the
Abrahamic Covenent through such means as circumcision.

Additionally, as our pediatrician said to us when we were debating whether
to have our newborn son circumsized or not - some psychiatrists believe
there is less trama for a boy who "looks like his daddy" that for one
who is different.  Sure, they will eventually see both kinds, but at the
age of two or three when many such things are first noticed by kids, it
seems to be easier for those who are like daddy than for those who are
unlike daddy.

Anyway - have it as you like for you and yours - 

-- 
 ________
 (      )					Don Stanwyck
@( o  o )@					312-979-3062
 (  ||  )					Cornet-367-3062
 ( \__/ )					ihnp4!ihuxr!stanwyck
 (______)					Bell Labs @ Naperville, IL