It’s too early to tell whether Andrew Yang will make the cut — so to speak — for the 2020 Democratic presidential bid, but the New York businessman is being hailed as the first U.S. presidential candidate to oppose circumcision, having come out against foreskin removal earlier this month.
Related: Amazon is selling a circumcision training kit for $200, and the Internet is freaking
Yang made his stand on Twitter after a user replied to a tweet of his regarding the opioid epidemic. In a bit of a non sequitur, the user asked Yang if he had an opinion on routine infant circumcision.
“Negative on it,” Yang replied. “Against the practice.”
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Against the practice.
— Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) March 13, 2019
The 44-year-old then doubled down on the stance in a follow-up interview with The Daily Beast, saying he would make it public policy to “inform parents that it is entirely up to them whether their infant gets circumcised, and that there are costs and benefits either way.”
“It’s sort of pushed on parents in many situations,” he told the site, describing circumcision as a “cultural onus” imposed on parents.
Related: Gay 2020 candidate Pete Buttigieg proves he’s quite the shade thrower with sassy Mike Pence dig
Yang also said he is “highly aligned” with intactivists, i.e. anti-circumcision activists, who argue that foreskin is both easy to clean and beneficial for sexual pleasure. (The American Academy of Pediatrics, meanwhile, contends that the benefits of circumcision include the prevention of urinary tract infections, penile cancer, and the transmission of certain STIs.)
“The more choice we give parents, and the more we diminish the possible preconceptions or misinformation various parents are receiving, then the better off we’ll be as a society,” the presidential hopeful added.
And in case you’re wondering, Yang declined to specify whether he himself is circumcised.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Doubt he will make the cut in the primaries…..
Kangol
+100
Chrisk
I just don’t get circumcision and while we still do it. There’s no medical reason to mutilate the penis. Plus the foreskin plays an important part in the sexual function of it. That’s why ED is such a problem for men later on.
o.codone
Dear Dr. ChrisK. There’s a lot of things that you don’t get. Grammar and punctuation being the first. Plus you don’t understand how to boil water and why girls are born without dicks. Google everything bro, then talk. Otherwise, just STFU. Any Questions?
Chrisk
Oh I get a few things like your obnoxious trolling. Of course everybody can see that.
Black Pegasus
This is the dumbest shtt ever.
Circumcised men are less likely to contract STIs and HIV among other infections. Why would anyone take nutjobs like this seriously? He (and other uncut advocates) are in the same group as the anti vaccination lunatics.
Wicked Dickie
No, your response is the dumbest shtt ever. Just because you’re circumcised doesn’t mean you’re immune to contracting STDs. Safe sex doesn’t have to do whether you are cut or uncut. I’m not an “uncut advocate”, but if males are born with a cover on their penis, why chop it off?
Chrisk
Oh I know. That’s why i’ll never travel to Europe. What with all those uncut deseased d*cks. Yikes. Lol
PinkoOfTheGange
Studies have only been done in areas where basic hygiene facilities are limited.
JK 1984
If you look at WHO stats, the USA actually has higher STD rates than Europe (on average) and most other “developed” countries.
Circumcision has little to no effect on preventing STDs except in less developed countries where hygiene is less universal, which is why most studies that say circumcision is good come from sub-Saharan Africa or Eastern Africa.
Hygiene, safe sex practices and sex education are what help prevent STDs from spreading, not cutting a perfectly functional piece of skin off which (depending on the study you read) can help with preventing STDs.
And before anyone says “foreskins are gross/dirty/unclean/etc” as long as you are taught how to clean it there is no problems there. Out is just like been taught to clean your ears/bum/feet/etc, except with more penis involved.
Source: foreskin owner for 35 years and basic Google skills (for WHO stats).
CJones01
1) At one point in US history about 80% or more of men were circumcised at birth. Most of these men would have been in their 20s and 30s at the on set of the AIDS crisis. Circimcision didn’t help them.
2) The circumcision studies oft cited by proponents of the practice show a 60% rate of prevention… of circumcised MEN not contacting HIV from women. The studies also note that these benefits are unknown for women or men who have sex with men.
3) The studies of circumcisions affect of contracting other STIs are nebulous and contradictory.
TLCTugger
The mostly cut USA has twice the HIV prevalence seen in Europe where circumcision is rare. Hundreds of thousands of men are doing non-surgical foreskin restoration to undo some of the predictable sexual damage of childhood circumcision. Foreskin feels really good! Informed adults can decide for themselves.
Billy Budd
My dick is circumcised and I HATE IT. It reduces sensitivity. It is more difficult to reach orgasm. It is awful. I wish my parents hadn’t done it. I am totally favorable to UNCUT dicks.
ingyaom
Since Andrew Yang is running for pres., I assume he was born in America, so I’m also going to assume his d1¢k was cut. Like Andrew, I was also born in America in the 70s, and my d1¢k was cut, too, just like everybody else’s. The first time I saw an uncut d1¢k was on a foreign kid in high school. Wish it hadn’t happened, though – the circumcision, that is.
o.codone
if you cut an asian guy, usually there’s nothing left. literally nothing.
Vince
@codone. Way to be racist ya douche.
Kangol
@o.codone, your racism is disgusting. Cut the drugs and get help!
@ingyaom, nearly all of the Asian American men I’ve known have been uncut. Not sure if it was a conscious parental decision, but most were and are intact. My experience has been that Black men in the South (esp. places like Houston, New Orleans, etc.) and from certain cities are uncut, as are many Latinx immigrants and 1st gens (in NYC, Cali, etc.).
Reyos
Actually not as likely as you may think, as an asian american it’s less likely than it is for other americans, most namely european or african.
Dnooage
Totally against it.
The industrial/suburban types have gone to far and want everything to be sterile to the point of unnatural.
It’s agenda was to deter masturbation with the added benefit it’s one more surgical procedure they can charge us for ($$$).
It’s mutilation and makes no sense. Clean it like anything else.
TLCTugger
Medical ethics dictates that an intervention may be imposed without the patient’s consent if waiting for the patient’s consent would lead to net harm and when less destructive options have been exhausted. Circumcision of healthy children fails this common ethical test decidedly.
Jandrooey
There’s nothing more unattractive than an uncut man. Nothing!
Wicked Dickie
You know your asshole is in the back, right?
Jandrooey
Okay!
Vince
Nothing more hot than an uncut dick. Your opinion has been noted though.
Jandrooey
One man’s trash is another’s treasure. It makes me violently ill, and that’s the only opinion that matters to me!
Kangol
To you! Speak for yourself!
Jandrooey
I am. If you died 20 minutes from now, I still would continue to drink and party on completely unbothered. Why the hell would you think I’m speaking for you? Lol!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
I have a friend who was born with a very rare condition which left him without eyelids.
This would have eventually led to blindness. Doctors asked his Parents if they were considering circumsing Jeremy, they advised they were. The
Doctors decided to attempt an experimental procedure in which they created eyelids from his foreskin.
The procedure was a complete success, the only side effects are is that he is somewhat co€k eyed….
**Groans from readers
:-p **
JK 1984
Must be a dad to be telling a “Dad joke” that bad hahaha.
Not sure what that says about me because I chortled a bit at that.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
JK1984: Not a Dad, but can’t resist a really groan inducing joke :-p
Want another???
What did one stick of gum say to the other at Temple?
“Hey, I didn’t know you were chewish”.
:-p
jcoberkrom
Yeah with all that’s going on in the world circumcision is THE issue in 2020!
Vince
I think we can handle more than one issue in politics. You know. Walk and chew gum at the same time and crap.
CobraPowers
Circumcision is totally unnecessary. Anyway, YANG is kind of a joke candidate, and all the dumber alt-right kids are going for him, along with the dumber alt-left kids who were disappointed by Bernie, because YANG is pushing for a $1000 a month FREE universal income, LOL.
voyy
Best way to end the practice in the USA is to sue the hospital and doctor who did the mutilation…No informed consent on newborns.
djmcgamester
I’m also against the practice. If it’s part of your religion, fine. Go for it. I don’t see what it should be a general practice otherwise. I was circumcised not because my parents had an opinion about it but because that’s what was done.
My father was born in an apartment and he’s not circumcised so it had nothing to do with a decision on their part. I have a friend whose entire family – older brothers included – came her from Italy. He was the only one born in the US and the only one circumcised because “that’s what was done”.
Kangol
Yang’s support for ending circumcision of infants unless medically necessary (phimosis, etc.) or required by religion (Judaism, Islam) is a good idea. It’s unnecessary if uncut boys and men practice decent hygiene, and if a grown man wants to or needs a circumcision, he can decide for himself. Intact pen!ses are beautiful and offer more pleasure than circumcised ones.
In terms of politics Yang’s actually one of the most progressive candidates in the Democrat field, though he’s not as charismatic as Pete Buttigieg, who’s emerging as the leading progressive, so it’s looking like Yang’ll unfortunately get snipped after the first few debates unless a secret “anteater” base shows up to support him.