~ Uncutting: On genital mutilation.......
The difference I see is that FGM is a misogynistic ritual, whereas circumcision is not.
Circumcision is definitely fucked up, but I don’t see it as something oppressive. (Please correct me if I’m wrong here!)
Its initial spread…
Circumcision is oppressive to men, and it affects women oppression as well. It is done socially, through institutionalized authority over genitals, and is continued through the legacy of rituals. circumcision as a tradition is reinforced with an array of rationalized modern excuses that are all rooted in removing the agency from the person it is done to. Society has already made the decision for the child, and the male throughout his life.
Circumcision has multiple meanings in separate cultures around the world. There are social implications to circumcision. It is an act of defining masculinity, and a normalization of how the male body is supposed to look. Once everyone gets used to seeing circumcision, everything else is wrong, or weird, and they don’t understand why its there. This is an imposition that there is something wrong with the male body and it must be fixed. Would you say the thought of someones body born broken as oppressive?
Some cultures use this as a ritual to transitioning boys into manhood. If removing the foreskin is a ritual into manhood, then circumcision is mysogyny. It is removing the feminine traits of the male genitals. Covering the penis and “hiding it” as comparable to the mannerisms of feminine social roles. It hides from existence, and only when it is addressed, will it come out. When circumcised it is always there, and “ready”. It is clean and presentable, it has been rid of the filthy underclass feminine traits. It is a symbolic performance of masculinity.
Some of this has continued in the US since we could read the bible. Communism encouraged us to indoctrinate our people to Catholic beliefs and encouraged their value systems on us. This included circumcision as a sacrifice to god, a removal of human pleasures. This created a certain way of talking about the male genitals, which was to not talk about it at all. Same goes for sex. Genitals are for procreation, not pleasure, right? and of course, the male is in no position to oppose this.
Starting in 4th grade children get an explanation of their bodies. Foreskins are not involved in this explanation. Its functions, the need to clean it. Nothing, the teachers don’t even know about it. Boys, taught to be competitive, and tease about differences. They will make fun of what they have not been taught. The foreskin becomes something to get teased about. When girls come into the picture, they are confused, and don’t know what it is, or already have a preconceived notion that there is something wrong with it. This implies pressure on the intact boy. His identity is removed, and in that moment he does not exist as a person, he is judged as an object by society. A image of normality and ideal, which he must be. He will begin to question his own body. His voice, his understanding of normalcy is altered. He begins to think there is something wrong with his body. He begins to think he is not good enough. He begins to dream about the day he will be circumcised so he will be accepted… I must say, this all sounds rather oppressive to me.
Feel free to challenge how I have applied misogyny to this discussion.
Feel free to read this.
(Source: dancing-painted-bears)
