Dad Allegedly Attempts Son's Circumcision

[Florida_Geek]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Bathroom-Circumcision.html

This sounds like a true red Bush supporter. IMHO.....

September 9, 2004
Dad Allegedly Attempts Son's Circumcision
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 8:43 a.m. ET

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) -- A father who allegedly tried to circumcise his 8-year-old son in the bathroom after reading selections from the Bible has been charged with first-degree assault of a child.

Edwin Bruce Baxter, 33, was charged Tuesday in Clark County Superior Court. Judge Diane Woolard set bail at $50,000 and scheduled an arraignment for Sept. 17.

If convicted, Baxter faces at least 10 years in prison.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, Baxter told sheriff's deputies he tried to circumcise his son with a knife Friday after reading Genesis 17 and Exodus 4 -- both passages refer to the procedure.

...more at AP

[lazarus]

1. And yet

doctors get away with this form of assault on a daily basis...

[LiberalEsto]

4. and so do mohels n/t

[chikin]

5. Precisely.

Do it to a girl, and it's called genital mutilation. Do it to a baby boy, and it's an accepted religious tradition done for thousands of years. I'm sure you could make a compelling argument that it's also been a tradition in those parts of the world where female genital mutilation is practised, but it's still viewed as barbaric and millions of people are rightly working to outlaw the procedure and stop its practice.

This is bullshit. Both male and female circumcision are barbaric and cruel. And don't tell me that there are sanitary and health benefits--they have been debunked.

[Warpy]

9. An equivalent for a girl would be a hymenotomy

The equivalent male operation to FGM would be removal of the penis.

Get it?

[lazarus]

10. wrong

there is no equivalent, except that both have their genitals mutilated.

Yeah, female circumcision is worse. And murder is worse than rape or assault. That doesn't mean rape and assault are okay, though, does it?

[Warpy]

13. Wrong

Hymenotomy and circumcision are cosmetic operations that do no harm, although any break in skin carries some minor risk.

FGM is a drastic surgery in which necessary body parts are removed. The equivalent would be amputation of the penis.

Please educate yourself on this subject.

If you find circumcision "icky," then by all means forego it in your own sons. However, don't arrogantly second guess other people who have it done for cultural or religious reasons.

[lazarus]

19. once again

I'm very educated on this issue.

Amputation of the penis is not even remotely equivalent. For one thing, women who have had a clitorectomy or other form of circumcision can still have sex. A man without a penis cannot.

Either way, it doesn't matter.

What does matter is that, every time the subject of male circumcision and its barbarity is brought up, there's an inevitable comment about how female circumcision is much worse. Okay, yeah, it is. And, as I said above, murder is worse than rape. But that doesn't mean rape is okay.

As for "arrogantly second guessing" people, well, aren't you doing the same when you arrogantly second guess people who have female circumcision done for cultural or religious reasons? Or is it only things that you approve of that we're not allowed to second guess.

I don't find circumcision "icky", I find it appalling and barbaric. If you can look at a baby boy and think, "Hey, let's just cut off part of his penis!", then something's seriously wrong.

As for being a cosmetic procedure, care to list for me the other cosmetic procedures that are regularly done on infants?

[BiggJawn]

15. But yet it's OK to have bags of plastic tucked into your breasts...

...or Botulism injected into your face, or metal studs put through your ears (the last procedure is performed on infants. I put that in there to forstall any "but babies don't get boob jobs" complaints)

Said it before, I'll say it agaian. Never had a woman look at me, go "Ewww! a cut dick!" and grab her clothes and run.

Think of it as another form of "body sculpting"...

[lazarus]

18. yeah

and I've had women tell me they think uncircumcised dicks look unnatural.

We don't give infants boob jobs. But we do circumcise them. Something's wrong there.

[cprise]

23. Not quite right

Circumcision removes 50% of the nerve endings on the penis. That is drastic by any measure.

And the risk of complications (e.g. havng to remove the penis) is IMO too high.

[Scairp]

24. It isn't the same AT ALL

Cutting a young girl's external genitalia OFF is mutilation. Circ on male infants does not render the child unable to have and enjoy sexual pleasure as an adult. Yes, it's unnecessary and probably cruel, but it causes no long term problems for the boy child. And a very recent study found that the risk for penile cancer IS higher for uncircumcised men. And, the female sexual partners of those men are more likely to suffer from chronic infections.

[truthspeaker]

12. When doctors do it, they are trained, use a scalpel and anasthetic

Big difference.

I respect those parents who choose not to circumsize their sons, but male circumcision is a far cry from "mutiliation". We're talking about a small piece of skin that doesn't serve much of a purpose. I consider it on a par with getting your ears pierced.

Personally I don't miss my foreskin, and I'm glad not to have to go through the minor inconvenience of cleaning under it.

The health benefits of circumcision have not been "debunked", they have just been found to be minimal. Circumsized men have a slightly lower chance of contracting HIV and HPV during unprotected sex.

[lazarus]

20. slightly lower

because there's less skin to have open sores on, since that's how you catch HIV.

And a man with no penis would have no chance of catching VD while having sex.

Since you don't have a foreskin, you won't realise that THERE IS NO inconvenience, slight or otherwise, to cleaning it. It doesn't take any special tools or instruments. One just bathes as normal.

Ear piercing? How many infants have their ears pierced when they're less than a week old? Is ear piercing done by trained doctors?

As for a "small piece of skin", so's your earlobe. Why don't parents just have earlobes cut off, too. Less chance of infection, etc.

It's genital mutilation. A part of a boy's penis is cut off. The very fact that we, as a supposedly civilised culture, could even have this debate is appalling to me.

[Bread and Circus]

16. Not me! Ha! The guy should really be tried for trying to practice medicine

without a license as well.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. I imagine this guy thinking, "Hmm. Abraham made it look so easy in the

Old Testament . . . "

[madmax]

3. Animal!

Are right-wing born agan fanatics any better than Islamic fantatics?

[leftchick]

7. nope..... n/t

*

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. Are right-wing born agan fanatics any better than Islamic fantatics?

They drink from the same cup.... it is only a matter of degree....

[Maddy McCall]

11. This has very little to do with fanaticism and a LOT to do with insanity.

This guy is OBVIOUSLy disturbed.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. This guy is OBVIOUSLy disturbed.

Maybe his healthcare ran out... and he decided to do like the repugs suggest... make do... be resourceful... make sacrifices.... kidding of course....

[Ganja Ninja]

6. He didn't call a Rabbi because he wanted to save the tip.

The cheap bastard!

[Fridays Child]

17. Imagine that poor little boy's terror.

What a monster his father must be.

[lazarus]

21. according to some on this thread

it would have been fine if only the boy was a baby.

[artboy]

22. isn't it really a matter

of preference.....barbaric..naw....I think its just part of the environment (culture) one grows up in. Im cut...so are my 2 sons...I have friends that are not...some like it..some dont....I even know one grown man (friend) who went and had this done in out patient surgery...he did not like the look of the anteater..and he wanted a helmet....heheh

**********preference!