July 5, 2005, - 6:28 pm

Another Reason to Get a Bris: Circumcision Reduces AIDS Risk 70%!

By Debbie Schlussel
I think I’ve found the perfect place to spend the tax money President Bush is lavishing on Africa and money raised by “Live Eight”: Mass Brises.
For those of you unfamiliar with a “bris,” it is the Jewish ritual ceremony of circumcision, traditionally done eight days after birth of Jewish male babies.
Now comes another reason to get a bris, from the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal: It reduces the AIDS risk by a whopping 70%! I can’t link to the article because it requires a WSJ subscription. But the front-pager, by Mark Schoofs, Sarah Lueck, and Michael M. Phillips, says the findings of a study by French and South African researchers have “found that male circumcision reduces by about 70% the risk that men will contract HIV through intercourse with infected women. Vaccine makers said they’d be happy with just 30% efficacy against AIDS, the article says, but this is 70%–incredible. Note that the study does NOT apply to gay intercourse and those who got the disease from sharing drug needles. Yet another development that makes it their disease, not OUR disease.
So, it’s time for Bono, Bob Geldof, and other rock-star-come-policy-wonks to put their money where their mouths are: Send the mohels (men skilled in performing the bris circumcision ritual) to Africa.
One wonders what those bizarro anti-circumcision groups, like NOCIRC and the International Coalition of Genital Integrity–both of which target the poor–will say in response to this dramatic study. Probably too busy trying to get in touch with their inner foreskin to notice.




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13 Responses

Debbie Schlussel: Dumb Blonde Chick

phonkee's WebLog on July 6, 2005 at 9:42 am

Debbie Schlussel: Dumb Blonde Chick

phonkee's WebLog on July 6, 2005 at 9:42 am

Debbie Schlussel: Dumb Blonde Chick

phonkee's WebLog on July 6, 2005 at 9:42 am

Debbie Schlussel: Dumb Blonde Chick

phonkee's WebLog on July 6, 2005 at 9:42 am

I definately don’t miss my foreskin. This is important to remember, since it isn’t difficult to find college educated morons-and Africans-who believe their is no distinction between a bris and a clitorectomy.

jaywilton on July 6, 2005 at 10:46 am

    I agree. The fuss is about nothing. If men don’t mind the loss of their foreskins, and women do like the circumcisions of their men, everyone is better off.

    Robin-Frans Winkel on July 24, 2015 at 5:06 am

Quote: Yet another development that makes it their disease, not OUR disease.
Hmmm…interesting…using that line of reasoning I guess I could say that since I’m not one of the only 51% of people that voted for Presidunce Bush, that makes him their president not my president. It works!!!

Clompo on July 6, 2005 at 1:53 pm

Quote:That’s proof you have meshugena disease;in your case it’s unique.

jaywilton on July 6, 2005 at 2:38 pm

I remember my bris. I still have nightmares. I couldn’t walk for a year!

Yiddish Steel on July 6, 2005 at 11:42 pm

These supposed studies are simply a fraud designed to spread circumcision around the world and stop the decline in The US. The author is a rabid circumcision advocate with a 25 year history.
We can evaluate the accuracy of the study quite simply and easily. We only have to compare the results with another disease and another intervention and see if the results are similar. If not, the study is fraudulent. There is no other conclusion.
Polio makes a convienient comparison disease as it was once epidemic in The US and was stopped with a similar intervention. Polio is highly contagious compared to HIV and can be spread by simple casual contact while HIV requires intimate contact. The polio vaccine is 70% effective, the same efficacy as claimed of circumcision by this study. The polio vaccine eliminated the disease in a single generation. With 80% to 85% of the sexually active US population “vaccinated” by circumcision, if the study was true and accurate, HIV should be conspiciously absent from The US. Instead, The US has the highest HIV infection rate of the industrialized nations. In addition, the ethnic group with the highest circumcision rate in The US also has the highest HIV infection rate. If circumcision had the protective effect claimed, this just would not be possible without constant and massive re-introduction from the African continent and that is not happening.
This fraudulent campaign to spread circumcision is having devastating effects. The incidence of botched circumcisions is escalating rapidly in Africa with more than 300 men losing their entire penises and more than 100 losing their lives every year. Additionally, African men are contracting HIV at an alarming rate because they are eschewing condoms and engaging in risky sexual practices because they believe they are protected by their circumcisions. Robert Bailey is the prime motivator of this deception. Bailey is a professor of epidemology at The University of Chicago and knows full well that circumcision does not have the protective effect he claims. Bailey should be arrested and charged with contributing to the harm and death of others and sentenced to the appropriate prison term for spreading this false information.
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Frankly Speaking on April 6, 2009 at 9:03 pm

Anti-Semites can quote all the studies they want til they’re blue in the face.

Its not the science that motivates the no circumcision crowd to seek to ban a primarily Jewish ritual. Its hatred of the Jews pure and simple.

Keep telling yourself you’re modern, progressive and enlightened. You’re nothing of the kind and will never be.

NormanF on June 10, 2011 at 3:34 pm

I didn’t know that getting a bris could reduce the transmission of AIDS by almost 70%! This seems like it would be a safe thing to do for any child who is a boy. Taking the precaution to help them stay safe in their life would be a good way to prevent those kinds of harmful diseases.

Kylie Dotts on November 17, 2017 at 10:36 am

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