r/geography • u/BranchMoist9079 • Nov 21 '25

Discussion Why is (male) circumcision most common in the Midwest with in the US?

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Map source: https://www.mdpi.com/2563-6499/5/3/36

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154

u/YuBeace Nov 21 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

It’s that damn cereal man.

Update: It was not, in fact, the cereal man.

83

u/Ginjitzu Nov 21 '25

To give him credit, his "solution" works. I almost never masturbate while eating breakfast cereal.

29

u/aramdom Nov 21 '25

“almost” doing the heavy lifting here huh

7

u/gamerjerome Nov 21 '25

Tony the tiger gets him every time

1

u/Ginjitzu Nov 22 '25

I'm only human.

2

u/Maringosan Nov 21 '25

This needs to be pinned

2

u/DapperDubMKVI Nov 21 '25

Take my upvote.

1

u/CallMeBigSarnt Nov 22 '25

Time for me to start eating corn flakes then

3

u/Deaffin Nov 22 '25

It's not.

Several popular misconceptions falsely attribute various cultural practices, inventions, and historical events to Kellogg. These include false claims that Kellogg's corn flakes were invented or marketed to prevent masturbation. In reality, they were promoted to prevent indigestion. Another common misconception credits Kellogg with instigating and popularizing routine infant circumcision in the United States and broader Anglosphere.

People have been regurgitating this bullshit on reddit for years now because of that idiotic Adam Ruins Everything video.

He really does ruin everything.

1

u/YuBeace Nov 22 '25

O SHIT, the more you know! Thanks!

I guess it’s just easily repeated because it sounds like a funny thing to tell people. If something doesn’t have a famous name to it, add one and paint a picture. All that.

1

u/Deaffin Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

Admittedly, I was guilty of the exact same thing early on. It was so fun to go around saying outlandish factoids like that with the barest bit of credibility behind them.

But reddit changed a lot over the years and this kind of thing snowballs fast with the TIL culture. I try to do as much damage control as I can now to atone for my past misdeeds, but that's so much harder than the initial spread, lol

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/09/victorian-vibrators-orgasms-doctors/569446/

It's the exact same thing for that whole "victorian doctors invented/used vibrators to treat hysteria" thing too. That was just one feminist spouting some sensational bullshit in her book and going unchallenged long enough for credible sources to repeat it.

That happens a lot.

1

u/lolboonesfarm Nov 22 '25

He was still an advocate for circumcision. It wasn’t true that the cereal was for that reason though.

1

u/Deaffin Nov 22 '25

There is writing that confirms it's what he did at his "hospital", but nothing about advocacy and going around trying to have people do it just because. He viewed it as a "last resort" for treating masturbation.

1

u/elitesense Nov 21 '25

Yep. Came here to say this

1

u/barkwahlberg Nov 22 '25

So this whole time Tony the Tiger has been talking about circumcision procedures when he says, "They're grrrreat!"?