# Genital mutilation of young girls. But it's a religious thing! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 23, 2017, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genital-mutilation-of-young-girls-but-its-a-religious-thing/785057 "2017-04-23T11:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 121
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2017, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genital-mutilation-of-young-girls-but-its-a-religious-thing/785057/121 "2017-05-01T16:06:32Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m about to go answer the other questions now. Check back > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=824972](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=824972) > > in an hour or so. Sure. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > The parts of the world where male circumcision arose are dusty places, where intact men sometimes develop the same problem. > [@Dick-slicers of the world, unite!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-slicers-of-the-world-unite/785432/118): > > This says the earliest record of circumcision is from Egypt, and it’s also traditionally practiced by the Semitic peoples (who may have learned it from Egyptians) as well as the Niger-Congo speakers of Africa who seem to have come from “an area of the Cross River in modern Nigeria.” Also “a common practice among Australian Aborigines and Pacific islanders at first contact with Western travellers.” > > Dusty places? Egypt and Australia are dusty, the Niger not so much. IOW, no cite supporting your claim about “[…] The parts of the world where male circumcision arose are dusty places, where intact men sometimes develop the same problem.” Particularly the part about the medical issues, which is the central issue of your claim. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > The US Army did a lot of emergency, medically necessary, circumcisions during the Iraq war. > [@Dick-slicers of the world, unite!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-slicers-of-the-world-unite/785432/118): > > Here are two articles, one anti, one pro circumcision, that talk about problems uncircumcised soldiers faced: > [Circumcision and sand revisited | Circinfo.org](https://www.circinfo.org/Circumcision_and_sand.html) > [http://www.medicirc.org/summary.html](http://www.medicirc.org/summary.html) > It’s easier to find numbers for WWII than for Desert Storm. IOW, no cite. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > If you don’t have modern medicine, it’s a lot safer to circumcise infants and boys than to do it to adult men, especially adult men who have already developed dangerous inflammation. > [@Dick-slicers of the world, unite!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-slicers-of-the-world-unite/785432/118): > > Seriously, you want a citation for that? IOW, no cite. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > That’s almost certainly the historical reason the custom of male circumcision arose. > [@Dick-slicers of the world, unite!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-slicers-of-the-world-unite/785432/118): > > this is my hypothesis, although it’s not original to me. IOW, no cite. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > Female cutting, in contrast, is all about controlling female sexuality. It increases the risk of infection and death. Yeah, spare me stories of the hypothetical clitoral hood cut. > [@Dick-slicers of the world, unite!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-slicers-of-the-world-unite/785432/118): > > You know, if a girl baby just has her foreskin cut off, I bet the risks are pretty similar to the risks for a boy baby. As I said in the other thread, that’s rarely what is done to girls. (and it’s rarely done when they are babies, I gather.) But I think it’s safe to say that it’s riskier to chop off the penis than to do a circumcision. So no, I’m not attributing the difference in health risks and outcomes to the difference in sex, but to the difference in what is done to girls and to boys. No cite, no facts, but plenty of hand-waving and unsubstantiated opinion. I thought this board was about fighting ignorance, not about shooting unsubstantiated crap. You’re full of shit and just pulled those “facts” out of your ass. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/genital-mutilation-of-young-girls-but-its-a-religious-thing/785057)._