Last week I wrote an item about the recent court decision in Oregon on whether or not a 12 year old Olympia boy should be circumcised. The court ruled the lad should have a say in the matter. My concern was whether the dispute itself--public litigation between his divorced parents--could itself be psychologically damaging to the boy. My brief post quickly went to the top of the Crosscut charts. One reason: men arguing the pros and cons of the procedure. Emotions ran high: some men liken the experience to being raped. Now the debate has spilled over into feminist circles. That right, a girl fight over penises. On Huffington Post, Erica Jong has a piece railing against Jewish circumcision (and circumcision in general) that is bound to inflame, saying, basically, that the practice is why Jewish men are so screwed up: Ever wonder why Jewish boys are so fucked up about sex? Ever wonder why they fall for mile-high models from Slovenia who wear those big cold crosses? Ever wonder why they like Chinese girls, Chinese-American girls, Blonde shiksa cheerleaders from Kansas? Or those cool black models who dance like Beyonce? It's because of the Covenant with Jahwah or G-d: I take this piece of your pecker, with your mother, father, grandfathers and grandmothers looking on, teary eyed. And you think of nothing but your pecker for the rest of your life! Yikes. And I was worried about a court case doing damage to the psyche. What prompts her tirade is her grandson's briss. Yes, if your family isn't going to court over your penis, might as well have grandma turn it into a column on the Internet! One reason grandma is so worried? Neo-nazis: It killed me to see my grandsons marked like this so future Nazis can identify them. What is wrong with the chosen people? Chosen for pain? All the psychological troubles of Jewish men -- from Sigmund Freud to Lenny Bernstein to Philip Roth -- must stem from this dubious ritual. I want to tell my adorable grandson, Max, who is four: Just make sure you never make pee pee in front of a skinhead. But he doesn't know what a skinhead is. Has any man out there ever experienced being checked out by a neo-Nazi skinhead in the john? Another reason not to get circumcised: If anyone notices, they'll think you're Canadian. As you can imagine, Jong's comments have riled some people up. Blogger Jill at Feministe asks the question: "Is Eric Jong insane?" It appears to be quite possible. I'm all for greater discussion about male circumcision. Personally, I find circumcision seriously troubling. I wouldn't do it to my kid. If you want to be circumcised, more power to you, but I think parents have an obligation to allow their children to make decisions about permanent body modifications for themselves, once they're old enough to understand all the of the issues involved. That said, I don't blame individual parents who have made the decision to circumcise their children - at least for my generation in the United States, circumcision was billed by the medical establishment as "clean," as "healthy," and as "normal...." I don't think that those boys have parents who are cruel or stupid. I don't think that these boys are mutilated; I don't think there's anything wrong with them or their bodies. I think that religious and cultural reasons behind circumcision are compelling, and I believe that most parents have the best interests of their children in mind. But I do think that circumcising children without that child's consent (and at an age where the child is totally unable to give consent) is wrong. But that isn't really what Jong is talking about. Instead, she writes a bizarre screed about how Jewish men have issues with women, and manages to not only insult Jews and men in general, but Asian, Asian-American, black, African-American and Eastern European women in one fell swoop. So, race, religion, culture, class, rape, mutilation, psychological scarring, family dynamics, feminism, public health, sexual function, anti-Semitism, and neo-Nazi's in public restrooms: The circumcision debate has it all.
The feminist fight over circumcision
Last week I wrote an item about the recent court decision in Oregon on whether or not a 12 year old Olympia boy should be circumcised. The court ruled the lad should have a say in the matter. My concern was whether the dispute itself--public litigation between his divorced parents--could itself be psychologically damaging to the boy. My brief post quickly went to the top of the Crosscut charts. One reason: men arguing the pros and cons of the procedure. Emotions ran high: some men liken the experience to being raped. Now the debate has spilled over into feminist circles. That right, a girl fight over penises.
Last week I wrote an item about the recent court decision in Oregon on whether or not a 12 year old Olympia boy should be circumcised. The court ruled the lad should have a say in the matter. My concern was whether the dispute itself--public litigation between his divorced parents--could itself be psychologically damaging to the boy. My brief post quickly went to the top of the Crosscut charts. One reason: men arguing the pros and cons of the procedure. Emotions ran high: some men liken the experience to being raped. Now the debate has spilled over into feminist circles. That right, a girl fight over penises.
