Quote:
Originally Posted by HPLovecraft
However, I don't believe that comparing male circumcision to female circumcision is apt, though, since there are a great variety of types of FGM and they are most often done as a means of sexual control in a male dominated society -- something male circumcision isn't done for.
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In a sense, non-religious male circumcision was popularized as a means of sexual control. The main proponents of it in the late 19th Century supported it precisely because it reduced the sensitivity of the head of the penis and would reduce the desire for masturbation.
Here's a quote (
from here, about halfway down the page) written by Jonathan Hutchinson, who is basically the father of non-religious circumcision in the English-speaking world:
Quote:
The only function which the prepuce can be supposed to have is that of maintaining the penis in a condition susceptible of more acute sensation than would otherwise exist. It may be supposed to increase the pleasure of the act and the impulse to it. These are advantages, however, which in the present state of society can well be spared, and if in their loss some degree of increased sexual control should result, one should be thankful.
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Basically, he was a religious man who didn't like masturbation, so he made up some dubious science to convince other doctors that circumcision had general health benefits (he said that Jewish men had a lower rate of infection for syphilis than non-Jewish men, but as the chart on that page shows, as a percentage of the population, the Jewish infection rate was actually quite a lot higher than the non-Jewish rate).
Other supporters of the practice were Kellogg and Graham (inventors of Corn Flakes and the Graham Cracker) who had weird ideas about healthy lifestyles and also encouraged routine infant circumcision for the purpose of reducing depraved behaviour in young boys and men. In fact, the Graham cracker was created to be a bland, low-energy food to give to children before putting them down for a nap so that they wouldn't touch themselves in their sleep (not directly circumcision relate, but gives you an idea of his mindset).