Ga. Man Accused of Circumcising Daughter

[bsobel]

Both are useless in today's modern world with soap and water. Both are archaic and still religiousely driven.

There is a medical reason (in some cases) for male circumcision as well as it has been shown to greatly reduce the spread of aids within a population.

Female circumcision is the wrong word, that implies just a little extra skin was removed when in fact the entire organ is detached to remove the nerve endings.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

Originally posted by: IAteYourMother
I think the loss of sensitivity does exist, but since our brains adapt and are so malleable, especially when at a young age, that it ends up really not mattering. Of course, after having masterbated and lived with an uncircumscised penis, your body is accustomed to such sensitivity and therefore after circumscision, you WILL lose sensitivity you had, so it does really matter. To say that one person enjoys sex or has more pleasure in sex than another based upon circumscision probably isn't so accurate.

there has been extensive research on people who lose their limbs. I'm no doctor, nor am I such an expert. I'm just going to reiterrate what i've read around about phantom limbs.

You generally do not lose any "feeling" because it's still intact in the brain. If you lose a limb, the area of the brain that is responsible for sensory information for that limb "craves" for input. So that area is "invaded" by surrounding neurons. People who have had their feet amputated report feeling orgasms in their missing "foot" along with their genitals.

That is because in the sensory area in the brain, the neurons responsible for the sense neurons in the foot has been "invaded" by the ones reponsible for the genitals. In the brain map, they're right next to each other.

In a sense, people who had their foot amputated report greater orgasms that reach towards their "foot" that's no longer there.

likewise for people who had their arm removed, if you touch their cheek, they'll report that you are touching their missing arm as well.


So, if you do cut your foreskin, in most cases, you WILL NOT LOSE feeling, since the area in your brain responsible for "feeling" the foreskin will be replaced by another area.



The only way you probably will lose more feeling is if you lose that specific brain area. So goddam people, do not worry about losing feeling when circumcised. .

In the early 1990s, Tim Pons, at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), showed that the brain can reorganize if sensory input is cut off (Pons et al. 1991). Hearing about these results,V. S. Ramachandran realized that phantom limb sensations could be due to "crosswiring" in the somatosenory cortex, which is located in the postcentral gyrus (Ramachandran & Blakeslee 1998; Ramachandran & Hirstein 1998), and which receives input from the limbs and body. Input from the left side of the body goes to the right hemisphere and vice versa. The input from extremities comes into the somatosensory cortex in an ordered way, the representation of which is referred to as the somatosensory homonculus. Input from the hand is located next to the input from the arm, input from the foot is located next to input from the hand, and so on. One oddity is input from the face is located next to input from the hand.

Ramachandran reasoned that if someone were to lose their right hand in an accident, they may then have the feelings of a phantom limb because the input that normally would go from their hand to the left somatosensory cortex would be stopped. The areas in the somatosensory cortex that are near to the ones of the hand (the arm and face) will take over (or "remap") this cortical region that no longer has input. Ramachandran and colleagues first demonstrated this remapping by showing that stroking different parts of the face led to perceptions of being touched on different parts of the missing limb (Ramachandran, Rogers-Ramachandran & Stewart 1992). Through magnetoencephalography (MEG), which permits visualization of activity in the human brain (Yang et al. 1994), Ramachandran verified the reorganization in the somatosensory cortex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_limb_pain

 

[Enig101]

Phantom limbs are fascinating. I assumed that the "loss of sensitivity" in male circumcision was the glans becoming desensitized without the foreskin over it all the time. I have never really tried to find out though.

Also, the female "circumcision" makes me feel sick.

 

[beyoku]

This is something that they have been doing for a LONG time. Its just one of those cultural things that is only begining to stop. The problem is some 1st generation Africans dont know that its now Illegal to do in the US. As a matter of fact just 10 years ago they would go to the doctor and have them do it for them. There were doctors that would perform it, and they got many requests in areas with large populations of Africans. Not all Africans do this but the ones that do think of it as common as a man getting circumsiced in the US. Also the argument against it in palces where its common is about the same as arguing against it for men in the US. For men, really if you have good hygene - you have good hygene and wouldnt have to worry about foreskin. So will we stop doing it?? I doubt it, women think it "Looks better" and im told in gay communities in the US it is almost a must and would be listed in a list of requests such as "white male, tall, muscular, CUT non smoker, etc. Also most men would WANT it in the US because women perfer it, and its in american culture....we think it Looks Better. In places where its done, Teen girls actuall WANT it to be done because it "Looks Better" and looks cleaner. In some cases the mothers are against it....Right know in Ethiopia it is illegal. If you do it and anyone finds out you got to jail for a long long time. Anyone under 25 or so (city girls) probably are not cut.

What Ethiopians are saying about it

My post on the Ethio. Message board.
Comment from: asten b [Visitor]

It can make sense that the mom didnt immediatly know. Both boys and girls have been raped and abused as infants, todlers and beyond it it never comes out for years. How many times have you heard of this? We dont know all the circumstances so at this point we can only speculate. In American you are inncoent until proven guilty. Also, as far as i know this is NOT practiced now in the Cities in Ethiopia(On Christians) and I hear its now Illegal in the countryside. . I had a discussion about this with my fiance and they did NOT have this performed on them. She is 21 and has 4 sisters. Her younger sister of 19 is NOT cut also an older at 26 is NOT cut. As for her 2 other older sisters of 31 and 32 I am not sure. Her mother is curcumsised though. Also, of the many Ethiopian women that i know around my age (26 and lower) - NONE of them are circumsied, they all grew up in the city and their parents tell them stories on how they were cut.

koftanaw - This is a major factor in the pleaseure a women recieves during sex BUT it depends on exactly what type was preformed. There are different things that can be removed. The most drastic would be the removal of the entire clitoris and external genitalia (outer labia.) But not all the feeling goes away. I did know a few Somalians that told me thier wife is cut. Also i hear this may be practiced now more in Islam vs. Christianity,. NOTE: In America most boys are circumcised by default at or days after birth. There is also a growing discussion about if that is needed.

 

[Dudewithoutapet]

Well someone in that court case need to get PWNED because that is some f*cked up sh1t. Even if it is their culture, it is illegal in the US, where this took place.

 

[Brutuskend]

UPDATE:

Father Convicted in Genital Mutilation
By ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 1, 11:44 AM

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - A jury Wednesday found an Ethiopian immigrant guilty of the genital mutilation of his 2-year-old daughter in what was believed to be the first criminal case in the United States involving the ancient African tradition.

Khalid Adem, 30, was convicted of aggravated battery and cruelty to children. He could get up to 40 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Adem used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in his family's Atlanta-area apartment in 2001. The child's mother, Fortunate Adem, said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

During her father's trial, the girl, now 7, clutched a teddy bear as she testified on videotape that her father "cut me on my private part."

Federal law specifically bans the practice of genital mutilation, but many states do not have a law addressing it. Georgia lawmakers, with the support of the girl's mother, passed an anti-mutilation law last year. But Adem was not tried under that law since it did not exist when his daughter was cut.

During the trial, Adem testified he never circumcised his daughter or asked anyone else to do so. He said he grew up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and considers the practice more prevalent in rural areas.

Adem's attorney acknowledged that the girl had been cut, but implied that the family of the girl's mother, who immigrated from South Africa, may have been responsible. The Adems divorced three years ago, and attorney Mark Hill suggested that the couple's daughter was coached to testify against her father by her mother, who has full custody of the child.

Adem, who cried throughout the trial and during his testimony, was asked what he thought of someone who believes in the practice. He replied: "The word I can say is 'mind in the gutter.' He is a moron."

The practice crosses ethnic and cultural lines and is not tied to a particular religion. Activists say it is intended to deny women sexual pleasure. In its most extreme form, the clitoris and parts of the labia are removed and the labia that remain are stitched together.

Knives, razors or even sharp stones are usually used, according to a 2001 department report. The tools often are not sterilized, and often, many girls are circumcised at the same ceremony, leading to infection.

It is unknown how many girls have died from the procedure, either during the cutting or from infections, or years later in childbirth. Nightmares, depression, shock and feelings of betrayal are common psychological side effects, according to a 2001 federal report.

Since 2001, the State Department estimates that up to 130 million women worldwide have undergone circumcision.

 

[Soybomb]

Anyone who think foreskin is useless needs a biology less. Male circumcision doesn't hold a candle to the barberism of female genital mutiliation in regards to impact on the person, but that doesn't make it a sound practice either.

 

[TitanDiddly]

I swore off of ATOT several months ago, but I've been asked to contribute to this thread.

Let me say this. I was circumcised Christmas of last year, at 18 years. It was a hasty decision I made to fix a problem(phimosis) that I'd had since childhood. I hadn't realized that it was a problem until about a year earlier, as I was sorely misinformed on the subject. I was home for the Christmas break and wanted to get it taken care of right then instead of waiting to see if a less aggressive treatment would work.

I can say with no question in my mind that getting circumcised is the absolute worst decision of my life, and there is nothing that I regret more.

Anyone who says that the foreskin is not needed, not functional, or useless has never had one. I miss it, and I wish I could have it back. I am going to attempt foreskin restoration. There is a vast difference in sensation with and without foreskin. I encourage anyone who begs to differ to have the head of their penis removed and feel the difference. It is that severe. There are many nerve endings and anatomical structures that are found only in the foreskin and contribute a vital component to sexual activity. Without them, it is entirely different. I will never have these back.

I consider circumcison of children to be cruel and wrong. It's not any parent's decision to make- you can raise your son how you want, but leave his body alone. You woudn't beat him, would you? Why would you assault him in a more subtle way that he may never even know about? It's just as wrong.