Why do people get so weird when talk of penises comes up? As American circumcision rates have mercifully dropped to 65%, the CDC is seriously considering promoting the routine circumcision — translation: the routine mutilation – of all male babies to help prevent the the spread of HIV:
“We have a significant H.I.V. epidemic in this country, and we really need to look carefully at any potential intervention that could be another tool in the toolbox we use to address the epidemic,” [Dr. Peter Kilmarx, chief of epidemiology for the division of H.I.V./AIDS prevention at the C.D.C.] said. “What we’ve heard from our consultants is that there would be a benefit for infants from infant circumcision, and that the benefits outweigh the risks.”
. . . He and other experts acknowledged that although the clinical trials of circumcision in Africa had dramatic results, the effects of circumcision in the United States were likely to be more muted because the disease is less prevalent here, because it spreads through different routes and because the health systems are so disparate as to be incomparable.
. . . But they acknowledge that a circumcision drive in the United States would be unlikely to have a drastic impact: the procedure does not seem to protect those at greatest risk here, men who have sex with men. [NYT]
Right. Mutilate a body as a form of preventive care. Imagine if the same argument were made for breast cancer. “I know,” says Dr. Crazy, “let’s remove the breasts of all female teenagers in order to prevent breast cancer deaths!”
People + penis talk = weird.
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