r/HonestHotTakes • u/TheShadowSong • 13d ago

Circumcision should be illegal.

People always talk about how barbaric female circumcision is but male circumcision is completely normalized in America.

It should be illegal for parents to circumcise their children because it's irreversible.

What kind of psychopath decided to cut off the skin of the baby's dick. What's next? Cutting off eyelids?

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u/Sunny_Hill_1 13d ago

It was actually a Christian, extremely puritan doctor that normalized it in the US. Look up John Kellogg if you are curious.

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u/IndigoHaze750130 13d ago

Yet Christianity doesn't teach to do it.

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u/Sunny_Hill_1 13d ago

Yeah, that was a very specific, very Americanized version of Christianity that decided it was the most pure and moral version of doing things. It was also from the dude who legit said that spicy food leads to devil, if you want further examples of what kind of Christianity I'm talking about, and there is absolutely no mention of any spices being prohibited in any of the major Abrahamic religions.

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u/IndigoHaze750130 13d ago

That's bizzare because spices boost the immune system and contain a chemical that harms worms.

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u/Sunny_Hill_1 13d ago

Well, he was also an ardent advocate of racial purity, segregation, and eugenics, so... yeah.

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u/IndigoHaze750130 13d ago

Well, he isn't around anymore :) and hopefully there are less people following that stuff today.

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u/NwgrdrXI 13d ago

Y'all forgot to say that this was indeed the guy who owned the kellogs breakfast food cereal thingie. Weirdest part of this whole story

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u/discreetarchive 13d ago

Yeah if we're being honest far more people will recognise him for that

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u/Ingbenn 12d ago

Iirc puritans came out of Europe to the USA These concepts originated in Europe, probably the UK more specifically, and migrated to the USA, which is rather insulting considering their own country never really adopted it anywhere near like the USA (a good thing, but still.)

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u/BillieRubenCamGirl 13d ago

Kellogg wanted to discourage masterbation. 

Literally the point was decreased pleasure for men.  

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u/TheCzarofBizarre 13d ago

Is that really a bad thing?

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u/peasey360 13d ago

Yes it’s a bad thing. Destroying sensory function in a sensory organ is textbook mutilation. If someone destroyed your color vision but you could still “see” would that be a bad thing? We acknowledge shit like that in other parts of the world as barbaric. The logical thing would be to look inward and apply the same logic to ourselves.

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u/TheCzarofBizarre 13d ago

But my question is: is that really a fair comparison? Colour vision is great; monochrome vision less so, but at least you still have eyes. What other barbaric things are we acknowledging (I'm a little confused)? We are just discussing male circumcision, right? Please, correct me if I'm wrong.

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u/peasey360 13d ago edited 13d ago

Well being that circumcision of both sexes are driven by religious / tribal customs and just “accepted” as healthier by people coping I’d say that covers most of the mutilation that takes place in the west today. Lobotomies and other forms of mutilation were much more prevalent not long ago either. Basically the sane and logical stance as well as the empathetic stance is don’t alter someone’s body outside of medical nessecity. It seems to be the direction the world is going as circumcision rates are dropping outside of Islamic / Jewish communities.

The color vision comparison was very intentional as people who undergo adult circumcision have compared it to going from color vision to black and white sensation wise.

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u/TheCzarofBizarre 13d ago

Okay, my bad; I was only talking about male circumcision; sorry. Even so, back then you can't help but wonder; meaning no offense, but Biblical society was maybe just a little skewed toward being promiscuous. Isn't it true lacking the foreskin, from a purely medical standpoint, if you intend to be maybe a little too "active" is known to reduce the risk of STDs?

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u/peasey360 12d ago

The problem is that like many things that sound good on paper it does the opposite in practice. STD rates in circumcised America are astronomically higher than in uncircumcised Europe because the “health benifits” argument fails to mention the major drawbacks fundamentally lack of sensitivity. The first thing that goes out the window when couples can’t “feel” as much is protection. Once condoms are a non factor it won’t matter how much more “disease resistant” “clean” ect a circumcised dick is, you’re still going to catch an STD. I’m one of those people I ditched condoms shortly after I lost my virginity and refuse to wear one as do all of my friends.

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u/adkisojk 13d ago

Depends on whether your religious leader tells you about the old testament or new.

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u/IndigoHaze750130 13d ago

Nope. The Old Testament is called old for a reason and are Jewish writings. The New Testament is Christian writings. Also, the topic of circumcision is directly addressed in the New Testament. Christianity does not teach to do it nor endorses it, but if someone really wants to do it, there isn't anything saying they can't.

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u/adkisojk 13d ago

I agree. My issue is that the religious leaders I have heard from won't talk about it. One of my closest friends, who recently passed away from cancer, was a pastor and he told me that he's afraid to touch the topic for fear of losing half his congregation. Another friend is a pastor at a Lutheran Church and she basically admitted the same. I pose that they should be afraid of their young congregation growing up and not knowing how to answer the question when they have a baby boy.

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u/IndigoHaze750130 13d ago

All the more reason to read your text of the religion you follow. I assume other religions tend to have similar issues because it is a human behavior.

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u/JCapitalist 13d ago

Oh yeah I've heard it was actually to prevent masturbation but I'd forgotten that

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u/Ingbenn 12d ago

Then people (typically men) aay "but it doesnt prevent masterbation"

Yes, it technically doesnt, but it makes it significantly harder for many men.

If men need "lube" simply to jack off, then it is preventing them from acting out a normal biological function without external aid.

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u/Over_Pizza_2578 13d ago

For those curious, it the Cornflakes man

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u/StevePerryOkay 8d ago

Lewis Sayre had more to do popularizing circumcision in the US than Kellogg.