[ExI] Circumcision continued

[Keith Henson]

It's always a shock to find out that people you thought were close to
you in thinking were so far off.

Much of this is due to poor information out there in the general
culture.  One woman my wife asked told about her experience of being
pressured at ever step before she left the hospital to circumcise her
boy.  She had a sign a waver to get her boy out.  I thought that was
weird and so did she until I read the Wikipedia article about the
legal case that caused them to be required.  They used to circumcise
all of them as a matter of routine.

There has been substantial discussion about the practice in the
comments page at the current issue of The Economist.  They had an
article mainly about how to end the practice of FGM and it spawned a
lot of discussion about MGM.  (I am circumcised and don't mind it
being called what it is, mutilation.)  The point (valid or not) is
that it's hard for the US to take a stand against FGM when it's the
default treatment of males in the US.  It's rare in Canada the UK and
most of Europe.

I talked to some lawyers I know and they say I am right about it being
sex discrimination to outlaw FGM and not apply the same law to males.
They also say it would not be hard to find plenty of qualified
plaintiffs but it would be a waste of time and money since the appeals
courts are full of judges of a certain faith who would take this as a
personal attack and rule against you.

So, what else can we do to reduce or end this barbaric practice?

There are lots of good web sites out there, I don't think anyone who
has read what you find by Googling for “men do complain” would to this
to their boy.  But it doesn't get a lot of traffic.

It flashed on me today that a tatoo that outlined the 15 square inches
of skin (adult size) taken from men would be an effective way to get
the word out.  There are some who would do this permanent I am sure,
but how about a temporary tat?  I would wear this on a forearm at
least sometimes.

Dashed outline, 2 x 7.5, inside two versions,

I am circumcised, this is the amount of skin I am missing.
alternate
I am uncircumcised, this is the amount of skin I still have.

Inside the outline:

www.mendocomplain.com/

or

http://www.intactamerica.org/

This isn't an issue for list members outside the US, but I welcome all
comment about the idea.  It may or may not have merit.  What do you
think?

Keith

PS.  The long term losers in ending most circumcision would be the
"personal lubricant" manufacturers.  Always wondered why it was
needed.