Which sex is hurt more by circumcising?

There is a common misconception that "Female Genital Mutilation is worse than Male Circucmision". This is a generality, and untrue in many respects and in many individual cases.

While the sweeping generality obscures the particular realities, examining the details, the specifics of the question can instruct.

Posted below is a news report on a way that Female Genital Cutting and Mutilation (FGCM), on average, might be worse than Male Genital Cutting and Mutilation (MGCM), on average. I'm guessing that MGCM wouldn't cause infertility in men to the extent that the research posted below indicates FGCM might in women. MGCM can and does cause infertility in men. The question here is one of the rate at which it causes this particular damage in each sex.

It is equally wrong to mutilate either sex, no matter which sex might be, in any particular way, hurt worse by it. The question of which sex is hurt worse by genital cutting and mutilation, if approached in detail rather than as a generality, if approached honestly, scientifically, and without sexism or prejudice, is an extremely complex one. The answer to the question will vary with respect to many different kinds and instances of mutilation and many different kinds of harm.

But the simple reality is that the harm can be 100% in either sex. 100% harm = death. Circumcising kills both male and female children. Dead is dead. Neither sex has any advantage in the grave.

In my opinion, nothing that adults claim they are trying to achieve by circumcising children is worth risking any child's life to achieve, let alone killing any child. Make no mistake about it, deciding to continue to circumcise children is deciding to kill some of them.

Who can legitimately decide to kill children unnecessarily, even if which exact ones will die is unknown in advance?

What adult can legitimately subject children to an unnecessary death lottery?

Who can legitimately force the unnecessary game of Russian roulette on children, be they male, female or otherwise?

Which sex is hurt more by circumcising?

Both of them.


http://tinyurl.com/damot

Female circumcision could cause infertility-study

By Patricia Reaney Fri Jul 29, 7:35 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Female circumcision, which is practised in more than
30 countries and affects 2 million girls each year, could cause
infertility.

Swedish researchers, who examined nearly 300 women in Sudan where the
practice is widespread, said on Friday women who had undergone
circumcision, or female genital mutilation (FGM), were five to six times
more likely to be infertile.

"All sorts of female circumcision, not only the severe forms, probably
cause an increased risk of infertility. This is a very important argument
to be used in areas where this is practised," Dr Lars Almroth, a
paediatrician and researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,
said in an interview. Despite efforts to stop what human rights
campaigners have described as an atrocity against womanhood, female
circumcision is practised in Africa and is common in some countries in
the Middle East. It involves the removal of part or all of the female
genitalia.

An estimated 135 million women and girls have been circumcised, according
to the human rights group Amnesty International.

It is considered part of the culture, a tradition or a rite of passage to
adulthood. In some countries it is viewed as a means of reducing a
woman's sexual desire and of safeguarding her fertility.

The research, which is published in The Lancet medical journal, is the
first clinical study to show it has the opposite effect.

"We found that the more extensive form of genital mutilation, the higher
the risk of primary infertility. The risk is very high -- 5 to 6 times
higher -- than in the other group," Almroth said referring to women who
had not been not circumcised.

He and his colleagues believe infertility may be caused by infection,
inflammation, scarring or by the physical alterations resulting from the
circumcision.

In Sudan up to 90 percent of women have had some form of genital
mutilation. The average age of circumcision for women in the study was 7
but it is performed on girls as young as 4, according to Almroth.

In some countries crude instruments are used to perform the circumcision
and nothing is given to relieve the girl's pain.

The researchers examined 99 infertile women and 180 others who were
pregnant for the first time from two hospitals in Khartoum. They
controlled for other factors that could cause infertility, such as
sexually transmitted infections, age and social and economic conditions.

"It is only female circumcision that stands out," said Almroth.