Up Late and Incredulous

I was all tucked in, ready for a night of slumber. It was going to be a wonderful night of dancing fairies, but alas, something woke me up twenty minutes later, and I just couldn't go back to sleep.

I got up, did some work, and caught up on my reading.

Then I got worked up. Sometimes, people are really, really, silly.

In November, San Franciscans are going to vote on if a medical procedure is legal in San Francisco.

I fear that Americans are getting stupid. First, there was an uproar about vaccinations causing autism. Lots of people started believing celebrities instead of real science. Out of these choices, there is now an uptick of whooping cough. For whatever it is worth, it is the right of these parents to choose whatever it is they want to do for their children. At least as a society, we have allowed people to continue to have this particular choice. I don't agree with the choice, but we are Americans, we are free to make bad decisions. My bad decision is your good decision. Knock yourself out, I say.

And now, there are over 7000 people in San Francisco that want to outlaw circumcision?!

First of all. While circumcision is painful, so are lots of things. Yes, male babies cry after the procedure, but you know what, they also cry when they are getting their diapers changed. I am not disputing that it is painful. Pain is a well documented sensation that a fetus experiences. However, we have already decided as a society that abortion is legal, and hello! Being aborted is probably a very painful experience. Yet according to the law, it is OK! How can these people then seriously put this on the BALLOT that circumcision is not allowed due to pain?! HELLO!

Secondly, it is a choice that parents make. We are a society where parents can choose to breast feed, to sleep train, to deprive babies of sleep, is the government going to start regulating all those things too?

Thirdly, it is a religious ritual for many. FIRST AMENDMENT. Enough said.

Is it genital mutilation? Here is the definition of mutilation.
mu·ti·late (mytl-t)
tr.v. mu·ti·lat·ed, mu·ti·lat·ing, mu·ti·lates
1. To deprive of a limb or an essential part; cripple.
2. To disfigure by damaging irreparably: mutilate a statue. See Synonyms at batter.
3. To make imperfect by excising or altering parts.

Circumcision is not depriving of a limb or an essential body part. As matter of fact, 70% of men are circumcised in the US, and they seem to be fine. I think. I don't know for sure, I am not a man. I will have to ask around and check for sure. Is it disfiguring by damaging irreparably? I think the whole reason people do male circumcision is that they don't want the extra skin! So is it disfiguring? I think most people think of it as IMPROVEMENT. Therefore, they are probably actually achieving perfection, not making imperfect.

Of course, as a woman who attended an all-women college, I am thinking about female circumcision. I do think female circumcision is mutilation, because it is depriving a girl/woman of her clitoris, which has an essential function, unlike the flap of skin. Moreover, female circumcision often involves suturing of the labia, and that is damaging the function of the anatomy. Moreover, the idea of female circumcision is about power and control. Definitely an awful thing, but does it require a law for physicians/rabbis to not perform this procedure? No! Use common sense people!

Really, are people getting more and more stupid? Sometimes I think we are.