SAN FRANCISCO –Â The City Council of San Francisco voted yesterday to outlaw circumcision.
The new law makes it a misdemeanor to “circumcise, excise, cut or mutilate the…genitals” of all minors, and does not make exceptions for religious reasons.
The decision to permanently remove a boy’s foreskin should not be made by parents, says William Barfield, the author of the new law.
“People can practice whatever religion they want, but a man’s body is a man’s body,” said Barfield. “His body doesn’t belong to his culture, his government, his religion or even his parents. It’s his decision.”
Some parents interviewed by WWN disagreed.
“What? It’s my baby boy and I’m going to clip his wee-wee about five minutes after he’s born, because that’s the way we do things,” said Jefferson Tomkins of the Haight.
“Government can’t rule us on everything we do,” said Ashley Morter. The San Francisco mother told WWN that she had her son circumcised just 3 weeks prior. “It’s a health issue. It’s cleaner,” Morter said.
In July, a researcher from the Centers for Disease Control presented statistics showing that 32% of boys underwent the procedure in 2009. While the figure does not include circumcisions done outside of medical facilities, it’s a precipitous drop from the 56% of boys who were circumcised three years earlier in 2006.
Some supporters of male circumcision argue that the practice helps stop the spread of HIV and is more hygienic. Opponents say it can be painful and robs men of greater sexual sensation.
“We must stop genital mutilation in this country,” said Barfield.
Good. It's not your penis. We don't allow female cutting. This is simple equal justice under the law. Keep the hoodie on the woodie.
King David of the Old Testament used 200 foreskins to buy himself a wife. No doubt the doctors in San Francisco have been collecting wee-wee clippings to buy themselves wives, and now they will have to hit the singles bars just like everyone else.
The Biblical reference to foreskins as a bride-price is a euphemism. He actually delivered the entire penis, along with the testicles.
You mean something in the bible is not literally true??
Leave my wee-wee to meeee
If doctors in the U.S. are cutting healthy, normally functioning foreskins off of babies for $300, what healthy, normally functioning body structures are they cutting off of adults for $3,000?
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For all those who think it's ok to mutilate a perfectly healthy infant boy (or girl) against it's will or consent then I say MAN up and spread your legs. I was robbed of my foreskin shortly after birth. I was born prematurely as if that weren't enough of a challenge and the doctors convinced my mother to mutilate me with out her fully understanding what it meant (I was her first born son). My father, 4 younger brothers, 2 nephews and my partner are all intact.
Even though I don't have a badly botched cut I do have a skin bridge on my shaft and inner skin, I have a scar and a small piece of missing flesh from the head of my penis and a crooked messy scar line (jagged and imperfectly symmetrical)
I didn't ask for any of this. If I had to choose to do this I never would have! But that's the point I wasn't given a choice. That was stolen from me at birth. But it's my body and I have to live in it for the rest of my life. My mother doesn't clean my penis, hasn't for a very many years now. The doctors and my parents aren't in bed with me and my partner. It's my body my choice.
Stop this bull about it being just a snip, just a flap of skin or the crap about not being able to remember any of it. The trauma is there. The damage is done. As I get older I'm noticing more and more difficulty with sensitivity and sensations ( I'm 34!!)
Agree to disagree if you want. I don't care. The bottom line is NO ONE DID ME A FAVOR by mutilating me. They violated my body and my rights. Point blank.
Politics, religion, doctors and parents have nothing to do with a healthy boys penis. He is born perfect as god intended him to be. If he want to get cut for religion or hygiene or his partner or whatever, then he can and should make that decision for himself. He and he alone!
Men have an ultimate right to this body part and its functions, that no other person has the right to take from them, especially when they are infants and unable to resist.
There go the "gratuities" or tips as they call them…
There is no redundant tissue in the male anatomy (with the exception of the appendix perhaps)
If its there, its meant to be and has a function.
These people have NO RIGHT to force their opinion on parents Only parents have the right to decide what is best for their child and this should be enshrined in the Constitution
HOW DARE THEY !!!! I hope they get sued
Easy. Improper medicine should not be forced on parents to make an improper decision. Hope you get sued.
Science has now proven the preventative healthy benefits of circumcision !!!
The anti circs have NO SUCH DEFENSE Only emotional diatribe They are now in panic mode because the American Academy of Pediatrics will soon support the procedure and no longer sit on the fence
Rest assured, molecular techniques can find HIV HPV and syphilis organisms wherever they are including under the foreskin For example, the HIV virus is now known to be absorbed by the inner lining of the foreskin within ONE HOUR of making contact
The anticircs cannot refute the scientific facts and never will be able to
Rubbish circumcision is great. I was unfortunately left uncut as a child as our doctor at that time "Did not believe in it" stupid man. I was circumcised at my own choice at the age of 40 and it was the best thing I ever did. Why should not parents have their sons circumcised if they think it best. Female circumcision is an entirely different thing and cannot be compared to male. I agree this should be banned totally
Neville in England
Nonsense. If what you say is true you should have had a Dorsal Slit or a Z-N Plasty. The connection between FGM and MGM is not the physical procedure. It is a genital attack whose attribute belongs to the Signature of a crime. Both are socialized forms of child abuse and molestation through the socialization of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Specifically: Munchausen Syndrome in Collective Transmission. Genital rituals are forms of a Culture Bound Syndrome and the psychology of Repetition Compulsion.
It would be interesting to see how Ruth Bader-Ginsburg or Stephen Breyer would rule on the constitutionality of freedom of religion of circumcision. Also interesting would be how the other Justices would hold.
I unfortunately wasn't circumcised when a baby. At age 70 because of phimosis I
had to be circumcised. It should have been done much earlier. Much much cleaner
and no odor. Parents should be able to make that decision.
You should have had a Dorsal Slit.
God made us in his image and likeness but he didnt make us perfect. Circumcision is one of those improvements to Gods design. He did give us some leeway to find out things for ourselves. Many are born with cleft palates and spina biffida among other ailments.
Parents make many choices and non choices for their children. My parents chose not to have me circumcised as a baby. I did it as an adult at the age of 59. Best thing i ever did . Being on both sides of this issue, i wish that my parents had me snipped. Life has been so much better without a foreskin. Circumcision is the gift that keeps on giving.
I think the real target is the female mutilation practiced by some African tribes, some members of which have moved to the USA, In its most severe form, it includes removing the clitoris and labia, and sewing the vagina shut — which is indeed mutilation. And it is done on young girls, not babies, and often without any anesthesia. Many African Muslims practice this, although it is NOT part of Islam per se, but has gotten mixed in as a folk practice. Unfortunately, it's difficult to target one group without somebody screaming "discrimination." But all this law will do is cause people to go somewhere else to have it done. A law like this would never fly in New York.
Umm… SF didnt ban it… it's not even on the ballot yet for the november election. That being said, circumcision is an outdated practice. The foreskin plays an important part of sexual function and has 20-30 THOUSAND nerve endings. Removing it permanently affects a males physiology, his sex life and that of his partner.
Is there any other ways of get in touch to this site without having subscribing on the RSS? I am not sure why however I can’t obtain the RSS filled with the viewer even though I can see this from the IE.
Actually I feel you are not true about yourself similar to a previous post. But if so, which I have known cases such as this, please look into a Dorsal Slit, Partial Dorsal Slit, or the Z/N Plasty procedures. Be well.
San Francisco needs to cede from the rest of california. To many people there suffer from
extreme psychosis and are morally corrupt. Circumcision as a baby is a heck of a lot better than when you are 40 . Who appointed these idiot's in the city of San Francisco to say what you can and cannot do in your personal life. They need to be put in their place and I hope the voters send them a message they will never forget! Someone needs to fire these big headed, power hungry dolts. Who do they think they are!
Since the mid 1800s, all sorts of claims were made to favor infant circumcision. All are bogus. The procedure removes 80%of the nerves that provide pleasure in intercourse. The latest "fad" reason is a claim that circumcision will prevent HIV!! Tell me this then—the disease is transmitted via exchange of bodily fluids.–So–if a man with HIV ejaculates into another person, WHAT POSSIBLE DIFFERENCE COULD IT MAKE WHETHER THE MAN HAD BEEN CIRCUMCISED OR NOT??? PLEASE–STOP MUTILATING OUR BOYS!!! THE REST OF THE WORLD DOES NOT!! Only here in the USA !! I believe it is only so MDs and hospitals can make morey and then sell the foreskins to a research lab for big bucks!!
Finely. the rest of the united states should adopt this too. a foreskin is not a birth defect it is functional tissue that is very useful. there is no need to fix something thats not broken. circumcising minors is WRONG!!!!
I wish it was explained in the article why circumcision is supposed to be healthier and more hygienic. Is there a scientific basis to that?
While I think it should be a felony and not a misdemeanor as that is demeaning that you can mutilate a boys genitals and it's equivalent to the severity of a parking ticket under the law.. Nevertheless, it's at least a small step in the right direction to help protect human rights.