De penis van een jongetje heeft minder rechten dan een varkensstaart / A boy’s penis has fewer rights than a pig’s tail

17 comments

  1. Don’t know if it’ll be paywalled but the article points out there’s a discrepancy in the way female genital mutilation is viewed and circumcision. You can hear it in the name as well.

    So, what’s your opinion?

    I was shocked when I learnt that my vasectomy wasn’t reimbursed by healthcare but circumcision was.

    The only argument that people have for it is that it’s a religious thing and is perceived as being more hygienic. Which i guess is true for those who don’t wash themselves thoroughly and regularly.

    edit: apparently vasectomies are reimbursed nowadays. Don’t know when it changed.

  2. “In mijn partij, Vooruit, heeft een aantal mandatarissen zich positief uitgesproken over een verbod op jongensbesnijdenissen om niet-medische redenen,”

    Hehehe. Niet verwonderlijk, met zo’n partijnaam!

  3. Its a dumb barbaric cultural or religious custom that should be banned. No parent should be allowed to mutilate a babys genitals .

  5. As someone who has had a medical circumcision performed on him at the age of 6, I’d appreciate it if you all could stop pretending like I was mutilated. There is nothing wrong with my circumcised penis. Boys who get circumcised aren’t mentally scarred for life unless if you make them so. There are major parts of the world where circumcision is normal, so stop pretending like it’s cruel. It’s not. (I looked it up: apparently 38.7% of men are circumcised worldwide – ref https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772313/ )

    To repeat: There is nothing wrong with my circumcised penis!

  6. Good thing that this is getting more recognition. A big believer in the “my body my choice” mantra and this fall’s 100% in that category.

  7. I once saw a video of a male circumcision and since then I know there are different types of circumcision than just removing the foreskin. I would pay a good amount of money to unsee that video.

  10. In Belgium it’s viewed as barbaric. While in USA there are people who would think it’s disgusting not to circumcise. The ones holding that opinion being women.

    It’s usually the mom that gets their kid circumcised. Obviously they never had a penis of their own and are overstepping boundaries of the life they just created.

    The trend is lowering in USA which is a good thing.

    But as I said earlier, for a good reason imo, we think it’s something barbaric to do. Circumcised guys usually don’t care as they don’t know the difference, but majority with a foreskin will feel violated at the thought of someone trying to cut that off. Blijf es me a poten van mijn lijf 😁

  11. In de bio-ethiek worden klassiek vier pijlers gehandhaaft voor de evaluatie van medisch beleid:

    – bevordert welzijn

    – verhindert schade

    – bevordert autonomie

    – bevordert gelijkheid

    Ik ken niet veel van het debat over besnijdenis, maar het besnijden van kleine jongens stelt toch bij elk van deze punten serieuze vragen, voor zover ik kan zien.

    Aan de andere kant kan ik wel argumenteren dat religieuze ouders, als ze geen toegang krijgen tot gezondheidszorg, wel eens durven overgaan tot zelf gebruiken van een keukenmes, met alle gevolgen van dien.

    Desalniettemin zou ik persoonlijk de morele equivalentie tegenover religie toch niet zomaar volgen. Lichamelijke schade volgens traditie is nog altijd lichamelijke schade.

  12. I vind het nogal bizar en onkies dat religie zo geobsedeerd is met geslachtsorganen van jonges en meisjes en de seksualiteit in zijn geheel…

  13. I admit that I am not well versed enough in the religious reason to have a clue as to why it is important. If it was about showing some sort of devotion then wouldn’t it make more sense to do it when you can make a conscious decision sacrificing a part of yourself rather than of someone else? I mean at that point it’s you don’t you as far as I’m concerned. The same can’t be said about children though.

  14. Tbh: for medical reason is it sometimes necessary to be circumcized.
    But it should be forbidden by law to be circumcized without consent/for purely religion reasons.

  16. Principally, it’s an easy case to make to be against it, but practically? You just antagonize the large majority of Muslims and Jewish people, and the people on whose behalf you’re doing it for are very likely to predominantly listen to their parents and be angry it wasn’t allowed when they’re young. Muslim youths are getting more religious and more conservative with each generation. It’ll also make Muslims call this islamophobia and create rising tensions, as well as make them continue doing it underground unsafely, just like in centuries passed Jewish people were banned from circumcision. Practically speaking it’s just not a useful thing to be arguing about, as long as Islam and Judaism in its current state is here male circumcision is here to stay. Let’s just be glad those old Hebrews didn’t practice female circumcision.

  17. I’m a Muslim who had a medical circumcision, I think when I was one week old 🙂 where I come from (a country in the Arabic peninsula), I’ve never known anyone who has had a non-medical circumcision, it is part of the “health care” that newborns have in the country, and it is an option that almost everyone is taking. Also, FGM cases are close to non-existent and banned. Now, to be honest, it is the first time I’ve ever known that some of these procedures can be unsuccessful and people suffer from them, and I’m really sorry for them.

    After this long intro, I want to add that from an Islamic point of view, circumcision is “optional” but favorable. To make it clear for non-muslims, we have “halal” which represents the majority of things, “haram” which is a big no no, and “favorable” which is “halal” but it’s nice to do them. Actually, circumcision was mentioned in the same sentence with other favorables such as: shaving your mustache, trimming your nails, .. etc. And for example, in my tribe, they will make fun of you when you shave your mustache 🙂 So for me, if a medical evaluation recommended not circumcising my boy, I don’t see it as a big problem from a religious perspective.

    About the consent debate, especially when it’s about kids, this is a minefield, so I’ll not try even to come close to it 🙂

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