this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2026
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41 young men die in South Africa from circumcision procedures during initiation ceremonies (abcnews.go.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world
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At least 41 young men have died as a result of circumcision procedures as part of traditional initiation activities in South Africa in November and December, authorities said Tuesday.

South Africa's Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa told local broadcasters Tuesday that 41 initiates died during this year's summer initiation. He blamed negligence on the part of both the initiation schools, including registered ones, and parents for not adhering to safety standards and medical advice.

Hlabisa said some of the unproven advice often given to the young men is to avoid drinking water in order to heal faster.

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[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 52 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

Welcome to 2026! What's that? No, no....unfortunately genital mutilation for completely arbitrary cultural or superstitious reasons is still a thing. Sorry.

[–] Mihies@programming.dev 9 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Hey, how else would one be able to repel demonesses or increase attractiveness to women?

The purpose of circumcision has been variously proposed that it began:

as a religious sacrifice;
as a rite of passage marking a boy's entrance into adulthood;
as a form of sympathetic magic to ensure virility or fertility;
as an aid to hygiene where regular bathing was impractical;
as a means of marking those of higher social status;
as a means of humiliating enemies and slaves by symbolic castration;
as a means of differentiating a circumcising group from their non-circumcising neighbors;
as a means of discouraging masturbation or other socially proscribed sexual behaviors;
as a means of increasing a man's attractiveness to women;
as a demonstration of one's ability to endure pain;
as a male counterpart to menstruation or the breaking of the hymen;
to copy the rare natural occurrence of a missing foreskin of an important leader;[13][14]
as a way to repel demonesses;[15] and/or
as a display of disgust of the smegma produced by the foreskin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_circumcision

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I'm so confused!

Have I been marked out as having higher social status and virility, or have I been symbolically castrated like a slave or enemy????

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

Yes? /s

[–] Boppel@feddit.org 12 points 5 hours ago

yes, but you have to understand this, because religious or cultural feelings are more important, than protection and being unharmed for some reason

[–] AmidFuror@fedia.io -1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

This happened in 2025, though.

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

OH, did we abolish the practice immediately after by enacting laws against it?

I must have missed that.