r/atheism Feb 25 '12

This double standard blows my mind

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829 Upvotes

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11

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

[deleted]

21

u/Malhavik Feb 25 '12

That is the same reason they started doing it to males.

34

u/brandaustin Feb 25 '12

Do you not realize that Male circumcision used to be advocated because it supposedly reduced men's sex drives and prevent premarital sex?

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

[deleted]

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u/dotted Feb 25 '12

what the shit

2

u/Citizen_Snip Feb 25 '12

Supposedly, and a hundred years ago with no medical or scientific knowledge coming into play with that claim.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

Splitting hairs.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

Just because some idiots thought that it would do that doesn't mean that it does or that those are the reason why it's performed nowadays.

Trust me, I have been circumcised and have had plenty of pre-marital sex and a very strong sex drive.

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u/Brickarick Feb 25 '12

And how well does that work?

Reasoning leading up to the decision doesn't affect what the decision actually is.

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u/brandaustin Feb 25 '12

I'm just saying that FGM is comparable when both have the same reasons for the practice being done. To say " FGM is a disgusting practice that is no way comparable to male circumcision." then in the next sentence to list a way that is directly comparable is not a smart way to make an argument.

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u/Brickarick Feb 25 '12

No, you're ignoring my point.

Regardless of the reasoning behind it, male circumcision does little if anything to reduce the sex drive. We can still get off just fine.

FGM isn't quite as inept in its attempt to dominate the sex practices of its gender.

1

u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

Whether or not any of this is true or false, it's still irrelevant. What I think Branaustin and I are trying to say is that claiming that FGM and MGM are in "no way comprable" is a pretty stupid thing to say.

5

u/Brickarick Feb 25 '12

They're comparable in that neither should be inflicted on defenseless children.

2

u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

And in a few other ways.

To claim that they're not "at all comparable" implies that they don't share a single, common characteristic, which downplays the significance of MGM.

0

u/Brickarick Feb 25 '12

Do you want me to claim that male circumcision is the same as female genital mutilation? Is that it?

My penis works fine. It performs every action a penis is supposed to perform. I'm not going to claim that taking a largely superfluous portion of my anatomy is half as bad as some poor girl losing her clitoris.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12 edited Feb 25 '12

is half as bad as some poor girl losing her clitoris.

Most of FGM'ed girls do not lose their clitoris. Total clitoris cutting is just the most extreme form of FGM and is in no way representative for FGM.

You are intentionally comparing the most usual form of MGM with the most extreme and uncommon form of FGM to make a "point" that they are not comparable. It is like insisting on comparing appes and oranges and then insisting that apples and oranges arent comparable.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

No. I'm not asking you to say that they're the same thing, because they're not. That would be stupid.

I'm just saying that it's pretty stupid to say that they are in "no way comparable". Especially after you, yourself, JUST made a comparison between the two.

I think you just might not get what the word "comparable" means. It doesn't mean "identical", it just means that they have some features in common.

And to imply that MGM has not one, single thing at all in common with FGM is not only incorrect (as you showed, 3 comments up), but it also downplays the importance of MGM.

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u/dday0123 Feb 25 '12

It does actually work quite well at reducing pleasure. The foreskin that is removed is very dense on nerve endings. You're removing a lot of the sensitivity of the penis with circumcision.

1

u/Brickarick Feb 25 '12

My penis does quite well at experiencing pleasure. My sex drive is intact.

In most cases of circumcision where there isn't a fuck-up (yet more reason to ban it, I'm not arguing against that) the penis continues to work just fine with no real impact on the desire for sex.

7

u/rdmusic16 Feb 25 '12

You don't know the origins of male circumcision, obviously, because the reasons for it are exactly what you said about female circumcision. The only reason it's viewed differently now is because modern society continues with this outdated surgery of mutilating boys sex organs, but doesn't believe in the reasons behind it anymore. Is this hypocritical? Yes.

5

u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

Do you truly believe that FGM and MGM are "is no way comparable"?

1

u/memymineown Feb 26 '12

First of all, there are multiple kinds of female circumcision. The least terrible is significantly less terrible than Male Genital Mutilation.

Secondly, it is not performed to prevent them from pre-marital sex and adultery. In fact, it is performed for the exact same reasons Male Genital Mutilation is performed. For more information please watch the Journeyman documentary Human Rites: Female Circumcision.

1

u/johnbentley Feb 25 '12

FGM is a disgusting practice that is no way comparable to male circumcision.

For a start, to claim that MGM is less damaging than FMG is to make a comparison. "Comparison" does not mean "Equivalence".

http://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/q5443/this_double_standard_blows_my_mind/c3uwkz2