@chanelkokoro said in Party of family values part 1 
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...There are plenty of things that we used to do that had no medical merit or had a different purpose that we later discovered was actually beneficial.
When ancient middle eastern communities were putting together their social rules, cloaked in religious imperatives, there was some practical wisdom to some of them: Consuming pork and/or shellfish in a hot desert climate without refrigeration was clearly unwise, and thus prohibition of such found its way into kosher "laws." Similarly, making a garment out of different fibres (wool and cotton, for example), was a bad idea because the fabric would eventually shred...and thus that was prohibited. Was circumcision a "sign of being part of the community" or a practical measure to keep penises clean when there was no running water? Scholars have debated that for ages.
Circumcision only reappeared in non-Jewish or Islamic communities in the late 19th century in the United States when the medical community thought it would prevent masturbation, which was considered by many to be a sin (again rooted in the Old Testament "reproductive imperative," but that's another topic.) There does not appear to be a medical "need" for the practice today.
I think it's important to advocate for eliminating circumcision except when medically necessary (e.g., severe phimosis that impedes sexual function), but at the same time I avoid phrases like "male genital mutilation." It's not helpful to have circumcised men (or boys) feel that they are somehow inadequate or deformed because of something that happened to them as infants. This is especially true with younger men/youth who already have enough body image issues going on that they don't need to add another one.
PS: Slightly off-topic fun fact on circumcision: Note that Michelangelo's famous statue of David, Jewish shepherd boy and future king of Israel, shows an uncircumcised youth. Not historically accurate...but that wasn't the point. (On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo also gave Adam a belly button, even though he was not "born of woman.")
