Letters to the Editor
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Sugarman is Uncle Leo
Anyone who disagrees with him must be an anti-Semite. Europe's parliamentary democracy and good rail systems are probably also a result of anti-Semitism?
The truth is that circumcision was rare in the West until, in America, there was a campaign for it as a way to prevent masturbation. The backlash now may be a bit over-emotional, but it just means getting back to the tradition of leaving the human body well enough alone. We don't do routine tonsillectomies these days, either.
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well i found out from wiki who uncle leo was
(and it wasn't very flattering). is leperchaun a misspelling of leprechaun? or some joke involving leper? as for the origin of american circumcision, what lep says *is* on the net, but there are so many anti-circuncision sites that i didn't know whether it was truth or propaganda. i wondered why that was. must be unhappy circumcised american men. a hint for you - if you concentrate more on the *girl* than on your dick, you *will* get laid. (and it will feel good)
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This sounds like a terrible book
Lots of fingerpointing and no medical insight. Take a look at this video if you want to learn something useful about the epidemic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMo8Rqn7RqI
Comparison to small pox, the social obstacles, history and complications to finding a vaccine are discussed by Dr. Peter Piot - Executive Director of UNAIDS, co-discoverer of Ebola who has dedicated over two decades to fighting the epidemic in Africa.
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thanks for the url, lythic
it was very informative (if *really* depressing). i know this is a dead thread, but i just wanted you to know, if you stopped by, that *someone* looked at your offering.
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Anticircumcision Does NOT Equal Antisemitism - and Mutilation Will NOT Prevent AIDS
I think it is pretty disgusting to impute motives like antisemitism to the anticircumcision movement. This is a clear attempt to avoid anything like a rational argument in favor of slurs and insults designed to do nothing but stifle debate. In fact, many Jews have serious questions about circumcision; I myself, a Jew, am adamantly opposed to the surgery and utterly reject the notion that my identity as a Jew can only be enforced and transmitted through coercive infant genital mutilation. If that is all that being a Jew means, and if that is what you think it takes to be a Jew, I’d say that’s a pretty sick (and sad) commentary on a great religion, and a great people. As for sexual pleasure, AIDS and circumcision, many studies have brought up conflicting information:
1. Independent researcher Laurie Milner, citing a number of studies, explained that malaria and so-called "dry sex" are greater threats to public health and the spread of HIV in Africa than the presence of the human foreskin.
“From a mechanical point of view a penis modified [by circumcision] becomes akin to a piston which ‘pumps’ vaginal fluids out of the vagina creating the conditions that cause abrasion and soreness to both the man and woman.
The combined affect of circumcision and dry sex is going to cause even more abrasion to the vaginal walls than either dry sex or circumcised sex alone and thus increase transmission of the HIV virus.”
2. A South Korean study by DaiSik Kim and Myung-Geol Pang: Masturbatory pleasure decreased after circumcision in 48% of the respondents. Masturbatory difficulty increased after circumcision in 63% of the respondents. About 6% answered that their sex lives improved, while 20% reported a worse sex life after circumcision.
3. Langerhans cells produce a protein called Langerin. It is the primary barrier to infection and, when overcome, the Langerhans cells themselves become an entryway for infection. Normally, infection is about 1 in 100-200 incidences of vaginal intercourse. With boosted Langerin, it could be much lower. The foreskin is exceedingly rich in Langerhans cells.
This vastly complicates the conclusions of the male circumcision studies. We simply don't know the mechanism of infection well enough to know how circumcision factors in. The bottom line may be that any new biomedical efforts to boost the presence of Langerin could be short-circuited by the removal of Langerhans cells during circumcision.
4. A team led by Robert Van Howe of Michigan State University measured penile sensitivity at 19 points among 163 circumcised and uncircumcised men.
The five most sensitive points are all in portions of the penis removed by circumcision, especially those in folds exposed as the penis becomes erect, Van Howe believes.
"The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis," his paper says. "(...) Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis."
5. The Stallings study found an equally protective effect of female circumcision in reduction of AIDS transmission. I am certainly not recommending female genital mutilation by any means, but it is worth noting that many people automatically reject its possible benefits while just as automatically touting male mutilation, and with no more reason.
I should also note that female genital mutilation comes in many forms including (type 1) the removal of labia and clitoral hood only, leaving the clitoris intact – an exact equivalent to male circumcision (but banned in the USA and other countries, unlike male genital mutilation). Furthermore, while most female genital mutilation is undeniably worse than the male equivalent, it is also far less widespread; as an analogy, clearly we can say that murder is far worse than robbery, and probably less common as well – but both are crimes, and shouldn’t both be stopped?
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if sex is disappointing, eshu21
there was an entirely different head that wasn't screwed on straight. (that's the only reason i could come up with for your caring at all). after all, it's too late for you. you can *call* yourself a jew but there's no chance you'll marry a jew or ask her to convert and if you have a son, he won't be circumcized. so your children won't be. fine. let me guess. you live in S.F. you are anti-zionist, but don't call it antisemitic.