Re: Should female circumcision be legal in the US?
 

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non-westeners don't think that they own their bodies?


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Not really, and I doubt most people would put it in those terms. This shouldn't be a surprise, but I guess when interest in humanity is replaced by interest in theory...

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Ask any schmoe on the street in the world or any nomadic tribesman for that matter, "who owns your body?" and they will look at you like you are crazy and say "I do." It is only spoiled wealthy western college kids or their Marxist professors who could seriously consider statements of the form "people do not own themselves."

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I'm not trying to imply that people don't think they have freedom or that their body is theirs or whatever, but:

a) you clearly need to talk to more religious people
b) Marxists are way, way, way more likely to think that a person owns his own body than your average schmoe
c) People generally don't think about it in property rights terms (my point)

Re: Should female circumcision be legal in the US?
 

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Female circumcision destroys the sex life, and very often the ability to orgasm.



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So does sex with 87.9467 % OF 2+2 ERS [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: Should female circumcision be legal in the US?
 

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Male circumcision most likely has positive (physical) side-effects.


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I'm surprised no one has brought up this point yet:
Deaths due to circumcision

Outside of necessary procedures (and what constitutes "necessary" is an argument in its own right) It seems to me to come down to the same argument as abortion: At what point does a person become a person, and obtain the rights associated with that status?

Most "Pro-Life" folk have the line drawn at conception, or some other time prior to birth. Most "Pro Choice" proponents would say at birth.

Clearly it is an arbitrary line. As some here have argued, the line may even extend into the post-birth timescale.

To further complicate matters, it is not even an all-or-nothing line. There are several lines, each of which give you additional rights, each placed at arbitrary points.

This is such a complex matter, I am both amused and incredulous that anyone could either adopt or be labeled with a simple catch all term like "Pro-Choice" or "Pro-Life" (Which I believe most of this discussion has dissolved to).