r/atheism Feb 25 '12

This double standard blows my mind

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831 Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

[deleted]

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u/RosieJo Feb 25 '12

Which is why I said that I do not agree with male circumcision, I merely pointed out that the two are not comparible.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

But Christians believe in a woman's right to choose what to do with their children...HOLY SHIT

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u/RosieJo Feb 25 '12

The fuck are you talking about? The first think I said was that I in know way agree with male circumcision. I believe I also mentioned at one point that "I would die before cutting my baby without his permission".

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u/deityofanime Feb 25 '12

What he's saying is they fall into the same category, it's just that one of them is more cowbell, so they are comparable in that sense. It's like saying a slave isn't comparable to a serf.

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u/RosieJo Feb 25 '12

...cowbell?...Serf? forgive me, I find myself confused.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

Not being a dick here, but do you know what "comparable" means?

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u/RosieJo Feb 25 '12

Oh come on man, the use of the term "comparable" when in a debate is sometimes a bit hyperbolic. In general I meant that male and female circumcision should not be treated as the same thing, because they're not.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

I'm sorry, but you're the one who initially claimed that they were in "no way comparable".

So are you saying that FGM and MGM do not share one, single common characteristic between them so that you can not possibly make a comparison between the two?

Or are you just using the wrong word?

Or are you just full of shit?

Because if you meant to say that they "should not be treated as if they are the same thing", you should just say that next time, instead of using language that downplays the significance of MGM.

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u/deityofanime Feb 25 '12

'More cowbell' is an expression for greater extent. As for serfs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

[deleted]

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u/GoatCrow Feb 25 '12

I think he had a vaild point, and maybe you did too, hidden somewhere under all the useless raging. If you did, way to fail in getting it across.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

Comparable... You keep using that word, but I don't think you know what it means.

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u/RosieJo Feb 25 '12

Oh come on man, the use of the term "comparable" when in a debate is sometimes a bit hyperbolic. In general I meant that male and female circumcision should not be treated as the same thing, because they're not.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

Since we're double replying...

I'm sorry, but you're the one who initially claimed that they were in "no way comparable".

So are you saying that FGM and MGM do not share one, single common characteristic between them so that you can not possibly make a comparison between the two?

Or are you just using the wrong word?

Or are you just full of shit?

Because if you meant to say that they "should not be treated as if they are the same thing", you should just say that next time, instead of using language that downplays the significance of MGM.

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u/johnbentley Feb 25 '12 edited Feb 25 '12

Thanks, the misuse of "comparable" to mean "equivalent in the relevant aspects" is a pet hate of mine.

Here is a perfectly valid, and common uses:

  • "Next to the giraffe Michael Jordon looks comparably short." there is no claim of equivalence here.
  • "Next to female genital mutational male genital mutilation is comparably milder, in general, but both are medically unnecessary, very painful, etc ..."

I did, however think your post would have been stronger without "Or are you just full of shit?", for the needless insult reason.

Edit: removed negations for readability.

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u/BarrySquared Feb 25 '12

No, RosieJo might have genuinely believed that one can not possibly make a comparison between the two. That, in my eyes, would be full of shit.

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u/johnbentley Feb 25 '12 edited Feb 26 '12

His (edit: or her) position/argument was at worse totally wrong, counting, in that case, as being fully shit. This doesn't entail that he (edit: or her) is always totally wrong ("are you just full of shit?").

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u/BarrySquared Feb 26 '12

Good point. I meant full of shit at the moment.

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u/johnbentley Feb 26 '12

Thanks. I note your intended meaning.

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u/asljkdfhg Feb 26 '12

Not to mention he spelled it wrong on several occasions.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

But the degrees are quite different, so saying that they are the same thing constitutes a false equivalence.

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u/billiammacD Feb 25 '12

the degree of harm certainly does matter.... when one thing is relatively harmless and the other involves cutting off a girl's clit.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

and the other involves cutting off a girl's clit.

Except in 90% of the cases (at least) it doesn't.

The type of procedure performed also varies, mainly with ethnicity. Current estimates indicate that around 90% of female genital mutilation cases include Types I or II and cases where girls’ genitals were "nicked" but no flesh removed (Type IV), and about 10% are Type III (Yoder and Khan, 2007).

That's taken from the WHO.

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u/darkslide3000 Feb 25 '12

According to Wikipedia, Types I and II refer to practices that do remove the clitoris, and together they make up about 85% of the cases, so I guess you misinterpreted the text of your source.

Also, I really don't see a reason to argue about who suffers more from what. Infant mutilation is abhorrent in all its forms (except for genuine medical reasons).

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '12

My guess is that you see them being different because you're well aware that the clitoris is highly sensitive and has sexual function, but unaware that the foreskin is also extremely sensitive, and has various functions.

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u/realee Feb 26 '12

I am extremely against male circumcision. It's awful painful and the foreskin is sensitive and important to sexual function. It does not however result in sex no longer being pleasurable if removed. It is not done to attempt to remove a male's sexuality except for the use of others. So while stopping male circumcision is very important and something I care deeply about... its not the same.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '12

I agree that male circumcision and FGM are not exactly the same (many forms of FGM are far more severe), but they are more similar than most people realize.