This is so messed up.

I was reading an article today discussing circumcision. The gist of the story was that there aren't a lot of reasons for doing this. One doctor called it a procedure in search of a reason, which I really liked. Still, the arguments that the procedure is unnecessarily cruel are silly. Ask any adult male how awful it was, he'll tell you he doesn't remember. Let's set aside the cruelty argument, shall we?

What was most interesting to me was a link in the story (I can't find the original story now). It was a link to a posting about female circumcision. It's unusual to read about this side of the story: that we in the West are imposing our cultural biases on those in other societies when we oppose female circumcision (call it "genital mutilation" if you like). The follow-up post was also fascinating. Maybe we need to listen to these people.

Could it be racism to impose our views on them? Yes, it's not medically necessary, but neither is male circumcision and nobody's demanding that Jews stop that--and only a few call it "male genital mutilation".

CDs listened to today:

• Lemonheads: It's A Shame About Ray
• Kevin Puts: Dark Vigil
• György Ligeti: Sonata For Solo Viola
• Oliver Nelson: The Blues And The Abstract Truth
• Konono No. 1: Congotronics