Talk:Circumcision

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Revision as of 16:29, 20 December 2006 by Bt (Talk | contribs)

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Firstly, is there a source that bar Kochba changed the style of circumcision or that it changed around his time? Secondly, I am minded to trim this article. Most of it is not really relevant to BDSM, and it seems rather point-of-view anti-circumcision. I'll wait a bit for views. Female circumcision is a different thing from male circumcision, and I think that most people would condemn it as a barbarity.--Taxwoman 23:40, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

History of radical cirmcision -- There is a considerable literature in re the causes of the bar Kochba war (ca 130CE, if memory serves) and one of the responses to Greek cultural pressure on the radicals' side was to stress circumcision (something the the Greeks regarded as barbaric) and to prevent a partially circumcized man from 'passing', in say public baths, if not closely inspected. One imagines short arm inspection as part of Greek Imperial hegemony... The mind boggles. See the Wikipeida article for references.
Trimming (and what an apt choice of term!) -- As for anti-circumcision tone, there is little justification for it from a medical perspective, which is covered if not comprenhensively. In the US, where non-religious circumcision continues substantially, the arguments for are (generally unstated) financial (an additional fee at childbirth), religious of a particular type (lustfull thoughts will be reduced -- this from that section of society which opposes HPV vaccination of young girls as more likely to encourage promiscuity), and, formerly, prestige (in the 19th century, medical doctors competed with 'amateurs' (eg, midwives, and others), and one of their weapons was to claim specialized knowledge, including pseudo surgical things as circumcision). In much of the US, they got statutory momopolies on such matters, enforced by criminal law. Not much to be said for it, and that's mentioned (the HIV study). On the social cultural side, proponents are the anti-lustful thoughts crowd and few others. Hard to see how to defned that neutrally, especially here.
Relevance to BDSM is, I think, in the issue of body modificaiton. Whether instructed by an owner/Dom or not. I would class quite a lot in that category myself, including genital cosmetic surgery, breast impants or reductions (unless indicated medically), much of cosmetic surgery generally, and so on. Piercing may or may not fall into the same category, I remain somewhat ambivlent myself. Depnds on where and how and how big, I suppose. All these are questions of SSC (or RACK, if you swing that way), and so relevant to BDSM.
As for the point about barbarism, well... There is a substantial and growing group of folks (both flavors) who think just that about non-required (medial, religious, ..) male circumcision. More or less equivalent there, except that male infants can rarely talk/complain. There is considerable testimony from males circumcised as adults, and I've not heard of one who favored the procedure in terms of quality of sex life, self-image, and so on. Being men, they tend to be less voluble about it, in any case. Comments from others? bt 20:29, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
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