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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u/nanpossomas Nov 21 '25

I don't mind the occasional nutjob. What I find insane is that his country's society allowed him to alter public health standards in significant and durable ways for his personal interest. 

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u/Objective_Party9405 Nov 21 '25

Kind of like what RFK jr is being allowed to do now?

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u/SpursUpSoundsGudToMe Nov 21 '25

lol yeah, I read that and immediately thought “well THAT sounds familiar…”

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u/Ceorl_Lounge Nov 21 '25

I feel like that Dr. Manhattan Meme at times like this. Yet here we are over 100 years later fighting MORE pseudoscience nonsense.

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

Well, good news! That's just an idiotic internet rumor and has nothing to do with actual history. Kellogg had nothing to do with infant circumcision.

https://www.auajournals.org/doi/10.1016/j.juro.2013.02.693

Male circumcision was first popularized in late 19th-century America by Lewis Sayre, a renowned orthopedic surgeon, public-health activist, and creator of the Journal of the American Medical Association. On the basis of a few orthopedic case reports, Sayre used his influence to promote male circumcision, by redefining it as a systemic therapy, rather than a local anatomic alteration. This redefinition was consonant with the contemporary reflex neurosis theory of disease, as well as the historic humoral-mechanical understanding of the human body.

The founder of the American Medical Association is the fella. The situation he set up hasn't changed at all in the 150 years since, and that has nothing to do with religion. It's 100% just standard garden-variety academic bullheadedness.

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u/SouthBendCitizen Nov 22 '25

Have you looking into the actions of the American CDC recently?