Intactivists, MGM and Happy Meal Toys in San Francisco

Crying Baby

Don’t get me wrong, I love San Francisco. I am fortunate enough to live in a picturesque city teeming with art,music, culture, and positive people. But the positive people who inhabit this city often propose- sometimes adopt- well-meaning but over-reaching social engineering measures. Last year, Supervisor Eric Mar did his part to combat childhood obesity by banning the sale of toys with Happy Meals. No other chain restaurant was targeted- so, presumably, while McDonald’s serves up French fries to little ones with no free toy, Mom can take her kids to 7-11, Walgreen’s, or any other place where sticky, sweet food can be bought with a toy, and cheap. Residents of the city can only look at legislative “accomplishments” like this and sigh. The buses are creaky, old and run late; the streets are dirty; and the cost of living is skyrocketing.  And yet, the Board of Supervisors can get together and agree on one thing: Happy Meal toys.

Well, no need to worry, this time it is not the Board of Supervisors but a group of intactivists who are against MGM that have successfully managed to put a measure on the November 2011 ballot to BAN circumcision. I’ll help decipher the lingo for you: intactivists are those who are trying to keep young boys’ foreskins from getting snipped, and MGM is not just a movie studio- those who see male circumcision as a serious offense consider it to be male genital mutilation. Yikes.

Reasonable may agree to disagree as to the health and hygiene benefits of circumcising an infant boy, but to make the act illegal is an astonishing act of overreaching. Forget nightclub scuffles in North Beach or gang activity in the Mission- no, the police will be devoting their resources to fining the performers of circumcisions up to $1,000. and yes, circumcision is not just a hygienic practice, it is kind of a respected cultural tradition in the Jewish faith. Would the supporters of this measuere really want to single out this community for a practice it has performed for centuries? If you suspected anti-semitism behind this effort, clearly you’ve seen the comic produced by its supporters, featuring a blond anti-circumcision hereo and, yikes, Monster Mohel.

I sincerely hope that San Francisco voters will defeat this proposal at the ballot box in November. And if this happens, I hope it will send the message that dictating what parents buy their children and what they decide to do to the bodies of their infant sons does not fall under the purview of City Hall. Call me naive, but perhaps we could focus on affordable housing and Muni first?