Circumcision

Study says circumcision is a good thing.

So, a study was recently done that claims circumcision to be a good thing, saying that it cuts down on the risks for various diseases and the like. It suggests that the decline in circumcision will raise healthcare costs - something like four billion dollars in the coming years.

I used to be kind of neutral on the subject until fairly recently when I did more research on it. Having done that, I have to call bullshit on the study.

First of all, the medical justification behind circumcision is that nature screwed up by giving us a foreskin - a belief I find very arrogant. It took millions of years for us to evolve as we are, foreskin and all.

Secondly, what do y'all think of the female circumcisions done by some African tribes to reduce or eliminate sexual pleasure felt by women? Horrible? Yeah... well, reducing sexual pleasure is the same reason it was done to men. The foreskin has a lot of nerve endings and glands for lubrication in it. Also, supposedly it discouraged or prevented masturbation. Let's not bullshit: the reason male circumcision became so widespread is because it is condoned/demanded by a couple popular and widely accepted religions. If said religions had demanded female circumcisions (I imagine the reason they don't is because the Hebrews had less understanding of the mechanics of a vagina), there would be similar studies talking about the health benefits in preventing diseases in female circumcision. Sure, having less to get diseased may prevent a disease, but that's not really a good reason to start cutting stuff off, is it? I mean, by removing a kidney, maybe you could cut your chances of kidney disease in half, but that doesn't mean you should do it.

Unfortunately, some do take kind of an arrogant approach to medicine with the mentality that nature screwed up, or that we've advanced beyond evolution. Until very recently, the appendix was thought to be a useless organ that would be removed in a heartbeat. While it's still routinely done, they have found that it does serve a purpose (a safe haven for the good intestinal flora when you have diarrhea and such like), and aren't quite as quick to remove it. Similarly, I don't believe the foreskin should be removed without legitimate medical reason. It serves a purpose, even if that purpose be taboo by the standards of some. It amounts simply to institutionalized genital mutilation.

Outsmarting Nature?

In a word, nope.

Humanity has a mentality that nature is something to be outsmarted, overpowered, or is quaint and perhaps obsolete. Well, nature begs to differ. Big surprise.

No, I'm not going to be one of those gleeful, raving nutcases saying that we deserve it and that this is nature bitch-slapping us back into our place. But I am going to say that we have been more than a little arrogant, figuring that nature has several flaws, and forgetting the way we evolved into what we are now.

Some examples for you: circumcision, overuse of antibiotics, overuse of C-sections, many mothers' refusals to breast-feed. The list goes on.

Circumcision has its origins in religious dogma. Society more readily accepts it when done to boys, but not when it's done to girls. The reasoning is much the same, however - to reduce sexual pleasure. Some modern physicians also believe it's cleaner to do so. However, there can be a lot of unnecessary procedures that can make one "cleaner." Hey, armpits are smelly... if we remove the arms though, no worries, right? It comes down to a body part being removed unnecessarily.

C-sections... clinics and hospitals like them for the extra money. Some patients like them for the fact that they can have the baby on their schedule. One lesser known thing however is that in a natural birth, the mother's beneficial bacteria colonizes the child as they pass through. This can mean the difference between a sickly and robust adult. There are times when a C-section can be necessary, but they are being overused.

Breast feeding... the antibodies in "yummy mummy" (thank you, Dr. House) keep the baby relatively safe for at least the first six months... and evidence is pointing toward there also being more long-term benefits.

Now, on to the big one: overuse of antibiotics. A lot of patients are in the habit of going to the doctor every time they have the sniffles.  Because the patients see fit to pay the doctor, the doctor then writes a prescription. Maybe for a cough suppressant, but often antibiotics are involved - amoxicillin, azithromycin, etc. For decades, doctors have figured this was a fairly harmless way of getting a patient out of their office.

Then more recently, we started becoming familiar with bacteria that weren't behaving the way bacteria should when they get hit with a dose of antibiotics. Enter the superbugs.

Antibiotics are basically mild poisons. If you've ever had a roach problem, you probably know that later generations tend to not be as vulnerable to a poison as earlier generations were. This is because life adapts. Before humanity came along and erected huge cities, the pests we now contend with had natural predators. We drove out the predators, and the pest populations skyrocketed.

Much the same is true of many of our immune systems. In the years to come, the ones who are going to be best off are the ones who said "fuck it, I'm not going to the doctor," and sleep off their colds with Nyquil. The ones who were born more or less naturally and had the dirty hippie of a mother who breast-fed them. That's not to say that you shouldn't go to the doctor when it's serious - you sure the hell should. But don't overuse the doctor, don't overuse the antibiotics, don't overuse drugs in general. Usually, our bodies know what we need and either produces it or guides us to it. Of course, it could be your body continually guides you to the allergy medicine as does mine.

Unfortunately however, employers are also making that more difficult by insisting that we bring a doctor's note. But perhaps express some reluctance to take antibiotics and leave it to the doctor's judgement from there. They are produced because they are necessary. Just not to the point of it being a doctor's way to get you out of the office.