I have been an intactivist for years, we educate people on the practice of all forms of circumcision and intersex surgery, not just FGM.
The Intactivism Pages This is not something I normally bring up on this board. The pinprick still falls under female cutting, it isn't just removal of the female foreskin that is called 'circumcision'.
In male circumcision, vastly more or less can be removed. In the original custom given by God to Abraham only the tip was removed, in the US not only was close to the entire foreskin sometimes removed but the frenulum as well. These days they tend to do low circumcisions to avoid all the side effects of the high and tight ones causing other complications. Then in some South African tribes and some other places, there is ritual amputation where the testicles are crushed.
Male genital mutilation (amputation) and its complications: a case report
Mutilated boys are not given nearly as much public awareness as mutilated girls. It happens both ways, in both sterile and filthy conditions, from mild to severe. While people only focus on the rights of women they are overlooking what is happening to boys.
Pricking in the African Diaspora: Current Evidence and Recurrent Debates
The AAP tried to bring back ritual female pricking and nicks
If You Prick Me but this was downturned being called mutilation.
As you can see one rule for males and another for females. Our aim is to speak up and stop all ritual/social cutting on minors. We are not against adults modifying themselves with full consent, but adults modifying children. We want the same standards and rights applied to female, male and intersex children.
I am sure there were some issues for Jewish men, as you don't have a sacrifice without some cost, but very few risks because most of the foreskin was originally left. 100 boys die each year in the US from side effects of RIC. No small health benefit can ever make up to even one life lost. Satan perverted the practice so people believed circumcision was the removal of the entire foreskin, but that was never God's intension or purpose, it was merely the very tip. That happened because people believed masturbation caused all kinds of illness and John Harvey Kellog made the practice popular in America on boys for this reason but failed to make it popular on girls-although he tried. By the way female circumcision only became illegal in the US on March 29, 1997. On intact boys, Kellogg advised that a wire be pushed through. Pleasant chap.
This left the US with the feeling that the foreskin was a sinful dirty piece of the body and it became vilified. This feeling still runs through the US today but people bury that under the guise of 'health benefits' when in reality what most of them think is 'the foreskin is dirty and gross and looks better removed'. It is simple cultural bias, which is no different in countries that circumcise females. Circumcision is touted to lower the risk of UTI, but given that the risk in normal boys of about 1%, the number of circumcisions needed to prevent one UTI is 111. Meanwhile for every boy who presents to the doctor with a UTI will be 6 girls -but nobody mentions that. Females are just given antibiotics and instructions on better hygiene practices.
There are a few minuscule health benefits, most of which are outweighed by the side effects of the operation and negated by condoms. Of course removing the foreskin means no risk of an infection under the foreskin, the same way that removing your toe will stop you ever having an ingrown toenail, but this does not make it a good thing to do on children.
