Circumcision: The Unkindest Cut? | Asian American Poll

CIRCUMCISION: THE UNKINDEST CUT?
(Updated Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 05:22:58 PM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Do you believe circumcision is beneficial for Asian American male infants?
Yes | 34%
No | 64%
I'm not sure | 2%

Assuming you are an Asian American man, are you circumcised?
Yes | 47%
No | 53%

Assuming you are an Asian American woman, would you prefer the males of your family and/or sexual partners to be circumcised?
Yes | 33%
No | 59%
I don't care either way | 8%

This poll is closed to new input.
Comments posted during the past year remain available for browsing.

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WHAT YOU SAY

[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]

Taiwanese Guy:

"This is my last response to you"

Great! I certainly know this is my last response to you.

I never said that race caused STD or HIV infection. As human beings, we are part of particular ethnic groups. Persons in these ethnic groups are not necessarily predisposed to diseases due to their race.

What I'm pointing out is that there are physiological, cultural, religious and personal reasons that cause people to engage in certain types of sexual behavior. Do you understand that? Huh?

I won't get into STD or HIV rates amongst blacks and Hispanics, because I don't want to piss you off any more than your uptight ass is already.

As far as your comment:

"...my anecdotal evidence tells me that Asian Americans are the most selective with their sex partners"

Cool! Go carefully select a female (not male) partner and engage in some safe sex but don't say anything, because you'll piss her off before you get it in.
Geoff DB GeoffDB02@aol.com Saturday, September 21, 2002 at 00:08:09 (PDT) [172.194.83.250]

Geoff DB:

I went and still go to a UC school, so yes, we are on the same planet. I feel like you either didn't read my previous post or you don't undestand it. I didn't dispute that the rate of HIV infection among men of color (particularly blacks and Hispanics) is alarming. Reread my post and tell where I dispute that statement. Moreover, I am pretty sure that Asian Americans have lower rates of STDs and HIV infection than WHITE people. So lets not make overstatements shall we, particularly on an AsianAm board.

What I was asking you to tell me was the REASON or CAUSE for the high infection-rate. I proposed two possible explanations for that difference:

(1) Blacks and Mexicans are genetically predisposed to STDs and HIV.

(2) Blacks and Mexicans have more sex partners than whites.

Both would result in increased infection-rates, and I'm sure there could be other explanations. But I think the first one, which is apparently the one you subscribe to, is racist. The latter may or may not be racist depending on your emperical data.

My post did not accuse you of being racist, I simply asked you to clarify yourself. You haven't, which makes me think this is just going over your head.

Let me sum it up: just because there are correlations on the rate of HIV infection when compared to race, does not mean that race is a factor in causing those increased-rates of infection. Do you understand that statement? In other words, Black people may have higher rates of HIV-infection, but that does not mean that they have a higher rate of HIV-infection BECAUSE THEY ARE BLACK.
This is my last response to you, as this has nothing to do with circumcision. If you can't understand my arguments, then I suggest you go back to school before participating in any more of these sex studies.
Taiwanese Guy Thursday, September 19, 2002 at 17:10:51 (PDT) [169.232.224.196]

Taiwanese Guy,

I think what you are alluding to when you state that industrialized countries that do not routinely practice circumcision yet have equal or lower rates of penile cancer, cervical cancer, and other diseases that circumcision supposedly prevents are the comparative studies done between the U.S., Japan, and Denmark. Indeed, circumcision is virtually unheard of in Japan and Denmark yet their rates of these diseases are even lower than in the U.S.

I think many people cannot differentiate between causation and correlation and are quick to jump to conclusions based on their own personal preferences. You made an excellent point in that no medical association has come out in support of routine infant circumcision. This is entirely true, yet many parents in the U.S. will continue to practice this barbaric ritual on their helpless infant sons, for no reason other than out of personal preference.
TC Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 23:17:01 (PDT) [65.138.132.239]

Taiwanese Guy:

I have talked to county and UC professional health counselors and researchers. I participated in a UC sex study and the results are very frightening.

What planet have you been on these past several years?

Go look up the the tranmission rate of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV and compare them by race: white, black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American. The rate of HIV infection amongst men of color (especially gay black and Hispanice men) is alarming. No, it's scary.

I'm not a racist. I'm telling you that race does play a role in STD and HIV infection rate.
Geoff DB GeoffDB02@aol.com Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 22:33:24 (PDT) [172.195.97.11]

If you are circumsized then I feel sorry for what you had to go through. I mean I guess if you want the scar on your penis and less pleasure in sex then go ahead with the procedure. I'm not circumisized because my parents though it was best to be natural. At a young age I thought I wanted to get the procedure done to look like everyone else, but now that I have sex I find that I have different view about the subject. SO unless you are jewish I say screw this stupid procedure.
Asian guy Wednesday, September 18, 2002 at 20:30:24 (PDT) [152.163.188.199]

Geoff DB:

"Young white men and women tend to be the most selective with their sex partners. They get HIV, too, but not at as high a rate as men and women of color. They ask questions and engage people before taking as many risks as people of color. "

This is a racist claim that is unsupported by any facts or statistics at all. Like I tried to tell you earlier, my anecdotal evidence tells me that Asian Americans are the most selective with their sex partners.

I'm not sure what your point is. If you want to say people with multiple sex partners should use a condom, well, that's a very obvious and uninteresting statement, and it's probably irrelevant on a circumcision forum. I am not sure what race has to do with it, certainly if you are white and promiscuous, oh my god, you should use a condom also.

"We're not just talking about who are the biggest whores, or for that matter who has more sex than whom. What we're talking about is the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV."

Now here, it looks like you're talking about something else besides promiscuity as an explanation for high AIDS transmission rates, but for the life of me, I can't tell what that could be. Are you saying that there is something inherent in people of color that makes them more succecptible to AIDS transmission? That sounds pretty racist to me, particurly since you have no facts to back that up. If what you are saying is that people of color are more promiscuous, that may or may not be true, but again, that takes us back to number one, meaning promiscuity leads to higher rates of AIDS transimission, like I said, a very uninteresting and obvious statement.

So what IS your point???
Taiwanese Guy Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 15:00:01 (PDT) [169.232.228.200]

Medical Researcher:

"You sound a little insecure, something you should discuss with your therapist."

I don't see a therapist, and look who's talking when it comes to ad hominem attacks. If you bothered to read my previous posts, you'd see that my arguments stand by themselves. Anything else you read into them has to do with your own personal and perhaps professional insecurities.

Michael:

"It's hard to change people's mind, but you can trust to me, someday in the future most of men in the world will be circumcised."

This statement is simply inconsistent with present statistics. There is no upward trend in circumcision in Europe, and in fact, there is a sharp downward trend in routine infant circumcision in the United States. Moreoever, no medical association in any industrialized society recommends infant circumcision as having any significant health benefit. Do you want to offer any support for your proposition besides your own adult circumcision and your own insecurities about having had a foreskin for 25 years?

Geoff DB:

You never answered my initial question. If circumcision really does reduce the spread of certain diseases, then how come Europeans, who do not circumcise, don't have higher rates of AIDS, cervical cancer, or all these other problems than Americans??? I think that concludes hands down that circumcision has no significant medical benefit. This is in line with the American Medical Association. Please explain your position in light of these facts.
Taiwanese Guy Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 14:50:25 (PDT) [169.232.228.200]

Taiwanese Guy:

We're not just talking about who are the biggest whores, or for that matter who has more sex than whom.

What we're talking about is the rate of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV. Gay white men contract HIV more often than individual races of minority men (I'm fairly sure about that). However, the men of color (particulary African-American men) are infected at a higher rate. There are more white people, so their numbers will, naturally, be higher.

Asian, African-American and Hispanic men and women need to be particularly careful to engage in safe sex. More so, black men (with an even greater emphasis on gay black men).

I'm not sure what the STD and HIV infection rates are for Asian Americans, but just look at what's going on in China with it's prostitution ring and in Africa. Oh my God, it is very, very important for men of color to use condoms and for women to demand their use, too.
Geoff DB GeoffDB02@aol.com Monday, September 16, 2002 at 21:51:11 (PDT) [172.194.125.211]

It's hard to change people's mind, but you can trust to me, someday in the future most of men in the world will be circumcised.
Michael Monday, September 16, 2002 at 20:21:51 (PDT) [202.155.107.163]

Anybody else interested in discussing female circumcision??
just a question Monday, September 16, 2002 at 17:23:48 (PDT) [62.158.90.67]

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