Capitalism and Circumcision

A current pro-Finkelstein diary at Daily Kos offers a long excerpt of a piece from a site called the Dissident Voice. Whoa! Where has this site been all my blog-life? It's the bomb, the mother-lode, or maybe it's the mother-ship. Anyway, here's an article called "How Capitalism Turns Intimate Relationships into a Battleground":

Relationship conflicts are a universal source of pain and confusion. I frequently counsel couples in distress where the woman is angry and the man is depressed. The woman cannot understand why the man won’t fix the problems in the relationship. The man feels inadequate. Nothing he does is good enough. The woman cannot understand how any man could feel inadequate, because men are supposed to be superior beings. In her mind, he has simply stopped caring about her.

The vulnerability of men is one of society’s best-kept secrets. Men are expected to provide and protect and solve all problems. They aren’t supposed to feel needy, vulnerable or inadequate like women. Yet, in some ways, men are more vulnerable than women.

As early as five years of age, males are more likely than females to kill themselves. This difference increases through life. By age 22, men are six times more likely and by age 85 fifteen times more likely to kill themselves. When a relationship breaks up, the man is 11 times more likely than the woman to commit suicide.

Capitalism demands that men be tough to compete and endure hardship, while denying them the emotional support necessary for genuine inner strength.

To “toughen” males, society directs an astonishing level of violence against them. The most sensitive parts of their bodies are singled out for attack. Parents are pressured to circumcise infant sons in the first week of life, a traumatic procedure that is commonly performed without anesthetic . . .

And that's Capitalism, is it?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Tags: capitalism, circumcision, relationships, mother-lode, mother-ship