this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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At least 41 young men have died as a result of circumcision procedures as part of traditional initiation activities in South Africa in November and December, authorities said Tuesday.

South Africa's Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa told local broadcasters Tuesday that 41 initiates died during this year's summer initiation. He blamed negligence on the part of both the initiation schools, including registered ones, and parents for not adhering to safety standards and medical advice.

Hlabisa said some of the unproven advice often given to the young men is to avoid drinking water in order to heal faster.

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[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago

Hm, the last thread on this article went off the rails because of one person supporting genital mutilation. Let's see how this one does

[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 17 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

There is little to no medical advantages to genital mutilation for men nor women, that isn't solved with good hygiene practices.

Its an archaic practice that needs to be eradicated globally when it isn't strictly medically necessary or done to consenting adults.

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

100%

I have no problem with circumcision being a facet of a fundamentalist faith practice, but making the decision for an infant is just admitting that, if you didn't force people into it, it would be much less popular.

If you want people to cut the tips of their dicks off, it had damn well better be voluntary.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)
[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Mel is probably the only mohel who could convince adult me to "snip da tip!"

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 70 points 15 hours ago (3 children)

Welcome to 2026! What's that? No, no....unfortunately genital mutilation for completely arbitrary cultural or superstitious reasons is still a thing. Sorry.

[–] Mihies@programming.dev 13 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Hey, how else would one be able to repel demonesses or increase attractiveness to women?

The purpose of circumcision has been variously proposed that it began:

as a religious sacrifice;
as a rite of passage marking a boy's entrance into adulthood;
as a form of sympathetic magic to ensure virility or fertility;
as an aid to hygiene where regular bathing was impractical;
as a means of marking those of higher social status;
as a means of humiliating enemies and slaves by symbolic castration;
as a means of differentiating a circumcising group from their non-circumcising neighbors;
as a means of discouraging masturbation or other socially proscribed sexual behaviors;
as a means of increasing a man's attractiveness to women;
as a demonstration of one's ability to endure pain;
as a male counterpart to menstruation or the breaking of the hymen;
to copy the rare natural occurrence of a missing foreskin of an important leader;[13][14]
as a way to repel demonesses;[15] and/or
as a display of disgust of the smegma produced by the foreskin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_circumcision

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so confused!

Have I been marked out as having higher social status and virility, or have I been symbolically castrated like a slave or enemy????

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 6 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)
[–] Boppel@feddit.org 18 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

yes, but you have to understand this, because religious or cultural feelings are more important, than protection and being unharmed for some reason

[–] lepinkainen@lemmy.world 7 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

This is the one thing where “the jews” is the correct answer.

Cutting of baby boy dicks is so deeply ingrained in Jewish culture that they just can’t stop, and if someone tries to they can throw the antisemitism card down and conversation over.

Even in countries with no notable Jewish or Muslim population (Nordics) it’s impossible to ban for some fucking reason. Finland can even prevent girls from being taken abroad if there’s suspicion they will get mutilated. Boys tho? Go ahead, cut/bite away, it’s fine - baby boys can’t feel pain!

You don’t even have to stop it, just do it to adults. 18yo men can decide for themselves if they want to cut off a piece of their genitalia.

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io 0 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

This happened in 2025, though.

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

OH, did we abolish the practice immediately after by enacting laws against it?

I must have missed that.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 6 points 14 hours ago (2 children)
[–] CannonFodder@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

Probably massive infection brought about by improper wound care. It's an open hole in the skin that literally gets pissed on, and it's right around the corner from the fudge factory in a part of the world where sanitation and hygiene are not exactly up to snuff.

[–] Jumbie@lemmy.zip 1 points 11 hours ago

It wasn’t snu-snu.

[–] PorradaVFR@lemmy.world 0 points 9 hours ago

That'll teach 'em to stop using chainsaws.