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Comment by thunderrabbit | Hacker News Reader

I wonder what beliefs we have about human anatomy that will seem quaint/ignorant in some hundred years.

Involuntary circumcision of nonconsenting children, for one.

It should fall under “I can’t believe people were this barbaric” along with virgin sacrifices and other practices that seem inconceivable now, but were sanctioned by pseudoscience and public approval just as this is.

> Involuntary circucumsion of nonconsenting children, for one.

Where do you live that that is considered common? Sounds utterly barbaric to me.

The US, maybe? It remains very common (over 50%). Or some country in Africa / Middle East / Southeast Asia where it’s done for religious reasons. If you go back a few decades it was also quite common in other places like Australia and Canada.

Extremely common in many parts of the world: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prevalence_of_circumcision

Killing someone is in the same inconcievable category as a procedure that on average helps as much as it harms, by any statistical measure? By that measure, feeding your child meat also fits, as does refusing to feed your child meat.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/circumcision/abo...

I wouldn't necessarily call it barbaric, but "helps as much as it harms" is downright disingenuous, considering that:

"The risks of not being circumcised, however, are not only rare, but avoidable with proper care of the penis."

I can think of several, but stating them publicly would lead to social shaming and loss of employment in the current dominant ideology of the tech world.

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