Comment 4 by Robert Firth :

If this petition were to stop infant and child genital mutilation, I would sign it in a heartbeat. But a petition that ignores 95% of the victims of this barbaric practice is one that I will not sign. First, because it is sexist and morally wrong. Secondly, because it denies or diminishes the suffering of half of humanity. And finally, because it will be almost completely counterproductive: it will only confirm among the practitioners of FGM the disgusting hypocrisy of us Westerners, who condemn them for doing to girls what we routinely do to boys.

Hmmm, I myself only have so much confidence in the effectiveness of such partitions, but to not at the very least acknowledge your position would confirm that ineffectiveness. Acknowledging its "barbarism" in the west will open up some blind eyes and maybe turn a few east. That can't be all bad...and that's not a question. As for circumcision, everyone knows the origin to the practice, and yes, the motives were equally barbaric. But female vaginal mutilation signifies a greater kind of repression then just preventing the sin of sexual pleasure. After all, males in both the west and the east suffer no discrimination with or without a helmet.

And for the record, anyone obsessing over their foreskin, either the presence, or lack there of, has deeper issues at hand than a forgotten medical procedure performed days after birth. I myself have no problem in the pleasure department and no deep seated suppressed feelings on the issue.