andrewJ
13-05-2007, 23:44
The following is from a book called
Y: THE DESCENT OF MEN
It is written by a well known geneticist, Professor Steve Jones who lectures at my university (University College London.)
The book is about the declining size of the Y chromosome, the uselessness of many of its genes, at its potential for extinction. I.e men may be becoming extinct!!
one chapter is titled "man mutilated" and much of it is relevant here as food for thought.
"like the hand and the mouth, the prepuce is a sense organ. Its sensitive self is more importwnt to enjoyment than is the glans, which is less responsive to touch than is the sole of the foot."
"at the time of erection the sheath withdraws to provide the extra cover needed for the enlarged organ."
"after the operation the glans thickens and loses some of its already limited sensitivity."
"maimonides, the twelfth-century philosopher and historian of judaism favoured circumcision on those very grounds. In his guide for the perplexed, he described the operation "as aa means to perfect man's moral shortcomings. The bodily injury caused to the organ is exactly that which is desired; it does not interrupt any vital function, nor does it destroy the power of generation. Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust'"
"all mammals possess a prepuce, but Homo sapiens alone has the urge to destroy it."
"the operation has been justified in many ways. It was once recommended as a specific against masturbation. A president of the royal college of surgeons of England in the 1890s was quite forthright. 'Clarence was addicted to the secret vice practised among youg boys. I performed circumcision. He needed the rightful punishment of cutting pains after his illicit pleasures.'"
"whatever excuse is used, the fashion is ancient indeed."
"For ritual, as for diet, fashions can change...even so, two prepuces are lost every minute, an so common is the surgery that a third of those who undergo it do not realise what has happened to the (an even larger proportion of their partners fail to appreciate what their bedmates have been through)."
"At least a hundred thousand operations would be nneded to prevent a single case of penile cancer(which in any case is almost certain to affect an already aged individual). Each death by penile cancer is matched by two hundred and fifty from cancer of the ovary or breast. Many girl babies at risk of those diseases could be diagnosed at birth with a genetic test and their prospects improved by surgerym but nobody would accept the removal of child's breasts or ovaries on such grounds. Even women of thirty who have had children are advised about the risks and possible benefits before they decided themselves whether or not to undergo the operation.
Young boys it seems do not merit such concern and the surgery is done without much thought for their feelings. The medical decision to do so is made by people who are not doctors, and some physicians feel that the level of pain involved is higher than would be tolerated by any adult."
"Everywhere, surgeons (most of all those who are themselves circumcised) are keener on the practice than physicians. Fewer than half of British physicians would recommend such treatment for a non-retractile foreskin, but nine out of ten surgeons are happy to do so. In the United states, the procedure can cost three hundred dollars for a few minutes work.
The attachment of their Canadian fellows to such surgery plummeted as soon as the insurance system withdrew payment."
"over the years, circumcision has been, like bloodletting, a treatment in search of a disease. The united Nations convention on the rights of the child sets out to put an end to practices harmful to their health. It has been adopted by all nations except the United States and Somalia. The Swedes have passed a law to restrict such assults on the young. Any medical treatment, they say, calls for informed consent, and if the operatin is necessary on social grounds, why not wait until the child is old enough to make up his own mind? Nobody is born Jewish or Islamic; rather they have Jewish parents and, at least in some places, are free to decided whether to follow their parents beliefs. And what right does one generation have to determine the erogenous habits of the next? Most people in the developed world abhor the mutilation of girls (once justified in the terms still used against boys), but their brothers are attacked almost without question."
"Whether to protect against brass posoning or AIDS, the medical case for removal of the prepuce is unproved at best and thos who do it must realise that they do so for reasons symbolic rather than scientific."
Steve Jones goes on to talk about castration, patriachal societies, and the resulting pecularities in relation to the Y chromosome.
Y: THE DESCENT OF MEN
It is written by a well known geneticist, Professor Steve Jones who lectures at my university (University College London.)
The book is about the declining size of the Y chromosome, the uselessness of many of its genes, at its potential for extinction. I.e men may be becoming extinct!!
one chapter is titled "man mutilated" and much of it is relevant here as food for thought.
"like the hand and the mouth, the prepuce is a sense organ. Its sensitive self is more importwnt to enjoyment than is the glans, which is less responsive to touch than is the sole of the foot."
"at the time of erection the sheath withdraws to provide the extra cover needed for the enlarged organ."
"after the operation the glans thickens and loses some of its already limited sensitivity."
"maimonides, the twelfth-century philosopher and historian of judaism favoured circumcision on those very grounds. In his guide for the perplexed, he described the operation "as aa means to perfect man's moral shortcomings. The bodily injury caused to the organ is exactly that which is desired; it does not interrupt any vital function, nor does it destroy the power of generation. Circumcision simply counteracts excessive lust'"
"all mammals possess a prepuce, but Homo sapiens alone has the urge to destroy it."
"the operation has been justified in many ways. It was once recommended as a specific against masturbation. A president of the royal college of surgeons of England in the 1890s was quite forthright. 'Clarence was addicted to the secret vice practised among youg boys. I performed circumcision. He needed the rightful punishment of cutting pains after his illicit pleasures.'"
"whatever excuse is used, the fashion is ancient indeed."
"For ritual, as for diet, fashions can change...even so, two prepuces are lost every minute, an so common is the surgery that a third of those who undergo it do not realise what has happened to the (an even larger proportion of their partners fail to appreciate what their bedmates have been through)."
"At least a hundred thousand operations would be nneded to prevent a single case of penile cancer(which in any case is almost certain to affect an already aged individual). Each death by penile cancer is matched by two hundred and fifty from cancer of the ovary or breast. Many girl babies at risk of those diseases could be diagnosed at birth with a genetic test and their prospects improved by surgerym but nobody would accept the removal of child's breasts or ovaries on such grounds. Even women of thirty who have had children are advised about the risks and possible benefits before they decided themselves whether or not to undergo the operation.
Young boys it seems do not merit such concern and the surgery is done without much thought for their feelings. The medical decision to do so is made by people who are not doctors, and some physicians feel that the level of pain involved is higher than would be tolerated by any adult."
"Everywhere, surgeons (most of all those who are themselves circumcised) are keener on the practice than physicians. Fewer than half of British physicians would recommend such treatment for a non-retractile foreskin, but nine out of ten surgeons are happy to do so. In the United states, the procedure can cost three hundred dollars for a few minutes work.
The attachment of their Canadian fellows to such surgery plummeted as soon as the insurance system withdrew payment."
"over the years, circumcision has been, like bloodletting, a treatment in search of a disease. The united Nations convention on the rights of the child sets out to put an end to practices harmful to their health. It has been adopted by all nations except the United States and Somalia. The Swedes have passed a law to restrict such assults on the young. Any medical treatment, they say, calls for informed consent, and if the operatin is necessary on social grounds, why not wait until the child is old enough to make up his own mind? Nobody is born Jewish or Islamic; rather they have Jewish parents and, at least in some places, are free to decided whether to follow their parents beliefs. And what right does one generation have to determine the erogenous habits of the next? Most people in the developed world abhor the mutilation of girls (once justified in the terms still used against boys), but their brothers are attacked almost without question."
"Whether to protect against brass posoning or AIDS, the medical case for removal of the prepuce is unproved at best and thos who do it must realise that they do so for reasons symbolic rather than scientific."
Steve Jones goes on to talk about castration, patriachal societies, and the resulting pecularities in relation to the Y chromosome.