Male-female comparison misleading, inaccurate
I have been wondering why Lisa Wade wrote an editorial on 'male genital mutilation' ('Male genital mutilation inexcusable,' Oct. 19-21). That may have been the most unnecessary piece of writing I have ever read. As a human sexuality TA, Ms. Wade should know that there are physiological differences between a penis and a vagina. I am baffled as to why she equates male circumcision, the removal of the prepuce, with female genital mutilation, the partial or complete removal of the clitoris and labia minora. Because FGM permanently robs women of the pleasures of sexual intercourse, it has become a human rights issue taken up by Amnesty International, the World Health Organization and the United Nations. But woman-parts and man-parts are not the same.
Evidence I have personally gathered has shown that women derive sexual pleasure from stimulation of the clitoris and labia minora because of all the nerve endings contained within them. I also know that, as a circumcised male, I am still able to derive great pleasure from sexual intercourse. The American Pediatric Academy may have said male circumcision is unnecessary, but they did not equate it with the barbaric act that FGM is and which some women were able to avoid by seeking asylum in the United States. Ms. Wade wrote an article equating two procedures that just are not the same. Regardless of the fact that my sadistic parents ordered a physician to rip my penis to shreds so that I defecated and urinated in my open wound, as Ms. Wade claims happens most of the time, I have turned out quite normal with no mental damage. (I don't really remember getting my prepuce ripped from my glans at 8 days old.) But more importantly, I have been told that my man-parts look extremely average'but maybe they were just being nice.
Addition to Peace Park task force biased
I regret that the Madison Common Council has added Ald. Paul Skidmore, District 9, to the task force to decide how best to improve Peace Park. My concern is not with Skidmore himself, who is a knowledgeable individual, but with the fact that his addition throws off what was a balanced task force. It must stay neutral so its participants are not just spending time and energy legitimizing a pre-arranged conclusion.
The city of Madison supports 'strong neighborhood involvement.' Although people forget it, we are a neighborhood here in the downtown and we deserve to have a say in what happens to us. The proposed arrangement agreed to by the neighborhood, Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8, Ald. Dorothy Borchardt, District 12, and local business people was as balanced as possible. It should have stayed that way.
Skidmore is allied with alders like Ald. Borchardt, who support putting in a large, business-run carousel operation regardless of what residents and students think would be best. Even if this was not well known, Skidmore has already voted in favor of advancing the carousel plan as a parks commissioner. If that doesn't make him un-neutral, I don't know what does.
The only way now to rebalance the task force would be to reconsider the vote or make sure the business representatives include at least one of the many State Street businesses that want improvements but not a carousel.
Better would be to have also added a carousel opponent so this could be a truly thoughtful, fair and balanced process. This would have respected the sentiment, which I have to agree with, expressed by Ald. Ken Golden, District 10, 'Whatever comes out of this process, there can't be any losers.' If there are, it was not worth doing.
