Asinine Remarks About Foot-Binding, Declawing and Circumcision

In order to do my job as a writer, I have to research, and the same goes for being a responsible pet parent.  Well, to that end I decided to do some research on cat declawing.  My cats are not declawed.  I don't believe in it personally, unless there's a medical reason for it to be done (which does happen), but I thought I'd check out the information on the new laser declawing.  I have yet to find satisfactory information on it.  All I've found is my anger, yet again, at the idiocy of the general public.

Let me enlighten everyone here what the process of declawing entails.  It is the removal of the distal phalanges of a cat's toes.  In order to declaw a cat, the vet has to remove a portion of the toe.  There's no getting around the facts.  It's what is done in the surgery.  Sometimes the vet saws through the distal phalanges, leaving a portion of it behind.  However, in order to get rid of the claw that portion of the distal phalanges must be removed.  There's no dispute about what the surgery entails.  The dispute lies in the level of cruelty to the animal.

My attitude toward my pets is this:  If I have living creatures in my home, then I must make allowances for their nature.  If I think my furniture is more important than my pets, then I should not have pets.  Not everyone agrees with this.  A lot of people think their pets should adapt to their homes, and their lives, and no allowance should be made for the animals.  That's an attitude as old as the bible, quite frankly, where God supposedly told people they would be the masters of the beasts.

Well, if you've read previous blog posts of mine, you probably already know where I stand on biblical issues, but I'll reiterate lightly for those who haven't.  The bible was written by people, not by God.  It even says so.  It also says the bible was never supposed to be translated.  Go figure.  So, basically I don't hold much store in the bible as being the word of any supreme being.

My attitude toward animals is that we, who have domesticated them, have become responsible for them.  Their natures should be preserved.  They're living creatures who were brought into our homes through no request of their own, so we have chosen to take on the responsibility for their care.  In other words, if you want a pet make sure you're willing to take them as they are.  If not, get a teddy bear.

My cats do not need to defend themselves outside, so their claws are not necessary for that.  They don't go out.  Not only is there danger from traffic and nasty people who like to hurt animals, but there is an issue of disease.  There are a great number of things they can catch from other animals who are let out by their owners, or from strays, including fleas.  Then there are the situations where you have to go out and your cat is still outside, but you can't wait for them to come back, so now you have to leave them out when it might be cold and raining.

The only reasons for declawing cats are to protect your furniture and protect your own skin if you've got one that's feisty.  All cats are feisty to some extent, until they get to a certain age, and playing with them can be a bit hazardous, but for the most part it's within reason and tolerable.  Some are really bad, including one entry from a gentleman on a site I was on, stating that his cat literally climbed his back.  That is really painful.  I get why he would consider declawing.  I don't understand it for the purposes of furniture protection.  If you want a really nice-looking house, you shouldn't really have pets at all.  They're messy, they shed, they break things, and in the case of cats they claw things.

Anyway, on this site I was on, a guy was accusing one woman saying she must be some crazy activist, and was she a nut about the Chinese binding feet too?  I'm sorry, but I couldn't stop myself from commenting on that.  Foot-binding has been banned for about a hundred years now.  I just read the Wikipedia entry on it a few months ago, actually, cringing as I read.  It's a nasty, nasty practice, from which women have died.  So, I told him about the fact that it had been banned because women died from it.  Then I asked, is there something wrong with being an activist and protecting people and animals that are weaker or more vulnerable?  Then I said, "I bet you were a bully."  I'd say that's where I crossed a line and became insulting, but I was disgusted by his whole argument and the fact that everyone had labelled the woman's entry as "nuts" and his entry had gotten approval from everyone.

Approval, for a foot-binding crack?  Is everyone really that stupid, or am I insane?  Another person compared declawing to circumcision, which I don't believe in either.  I understand in Judaism it's done for religious ritualistic purposes, but I'm never going to approve of the enforced mutilation of anyone.  I think most parents do it "because it's cleaner".  Seriously?  You're too lazy to properly wash your son's penis, so you take the easy route and lop off his foreskin.  Nice.  I've spoken to a lot of men about this issue.  Some feel cheated, quite frankly.  I've talked to men who have said it was painful when they had a full erection, where it pulled on the scar tissue.  It seems to me there would have been a larger erection if the penis had any room left to stretch, and most guys I know wish they had a bigger penis.

Doing some research I've discovered it can reduce penis size, depending on how much skin is removed, and it's a condition called webbing.  It does reduce sensitivity, although it's debatable whether that's a good or bad thing.  After all, a lot of men have difficulty holding off their ejaculation as it is.  Increased sensitivity would make the issue worse.  There are men who very much resent having a circumcision forced on them, usually as a newborn when there is no chance for them to utter a complaint.

I don't even think parents should have their two-year-old's ears pierced either.  It's done in a lot of cultures, and I think it should be up to the kid later on whether or not they want it done.  It isn't done to just girls either, as you might think.  Parents do it to their sons, too.  When the fashion for pierced ears on a male peaks and wanes, they're going to be stuck with holes in their heads.  Some grow over, but I know from personal experience that they don't always.  I still have four holes in my ears, and it's been a very long time since I bothered to put in earrings.

All in all, I just wish people would stop performing unnecessary procedures and surgeries.  The reasons are mostly cosmetic, which is a ridiculous reason to alter something on a person or animal.  We as a society should be accepting things as they are, not altering them for their aesthetic appeal.  Look at all the plastic surgery addicts out there now, whose self-worth just keeps getting lower and lower.  We have to fix what's inside, whether that's idiotic priorities, being too lazy to properly look after our children, or being so superficial that nothing is good enough the way it is.

There was a time when I cared what others thought of my appearance, but I reached a point in my life where I realized one very important fact:  If someone doesn't think I'm good enough as I am, then they are certainly not good enough for me.