Why the double standard between boys and girls?

Question

I remember there was an uproar about a picture of a Target clothing model in which the photo editor had made a mistake. The female model in the picture had a square shaped cutout on the crotch which was anatomically impossible. This made a lot of people angry about how they were putting pictures out of women that were not even anatomically possible and giving girls the wrong idea.

I was just wondering, why is it then...When a boy is born everyone's like:

"ewww a boy! Tie it down and cut it's penis up with a knife or something!"

And then they proceed to do exactly that while the baby is screaming and typically not anesthetized. Sometimes they die from it. Then we release movies such as "Bad Moms" where they openly laugh and make fun of any male who hasn't had his penis cut up with a knife as a child without his consent.

Sometimes, in a Jewish tradition called Brit Milah, a person with no medical training cuts off the errogenous foreskin of a screaming baby and then proceeds to suck on his bloody penis, all without consent of course. You can find videos of this on youtube.

Then you have the babys that die from it, which was esimated to be over 100 in the US alone each year by Dan Bollinger.

Meanwhile you have feminists running around screaming "Girls are oppressed!!" I just feel like maybe sometimes both sides of the coin aren't being given equal consideration.

Dawn · Accepted Answer

The lack of bodily autonomy for boys is an important legal right that boys don't have in the west.

All circumcision is pretty horrific IMO (male and female). It comes from a bronze age tradition and why it's still performed in modern society on babies that cannot consent to it is difficult to understand.

In the US baby girls have the right not to be cut, but baby boys are routinely subject to it. It doesn't make sense to cut off functioning, healthy body parts from an entire half of the population.

But I think part of the reason for the double standard is that while male circumcision is more common among Jews/Christians, female circumcision has always been more of an Islamic tradition. So the male circumcision came to the US with the Jewish/Christian religions, while female circ has stayed in Muslim countries.

Anonymous · Answer

Why the double-standard is simple, when girls are hurt, women say NO, when boys are hurt, you ask why the double-standard.

In Europe men said NO, and circumcision is only done as a medical-procedure.

So to American men, say NO, if you don't circumcize your child, and others follow, it'll be gone within 1 generation, there needs to be an actual effort though, so Dad's need to step-up.

Hannah · Answer

I am in now way saying that circumcision is right, but I must point out that may girls and young women in Africa (mainly, but also other countries) have a much more invasive and dangerous procedure done on them, also without anaesthetic. I am of the view that both are wrong, especially if the person has not given full medical consent. However, circumcision has been shown to slightly reduce the risk of cancer of the penis.

Mick Is Back · Answer

yeah I think the circumcisionist culture is kind of what promotes the idea that men/boys are disposible. If you feel you can just help yourself to cut off their genitals while they're screaming and crying and cut half the skin off the penis and throw it away like a piece of trash while girls are treated as special snowflakes it basically reinforces the idea of male disposibility

Sara · Answer

Not to mention you then have Oprah promoting foreskin facial cream so that all these women claiming they're oppresed can then rub parts of a babies penis on their face, tortuously taken from them without consent, to try and make their skin look younger.

Trending News

Why the double standard between boys and girls?

5 Answers