It's strange enough that it's commonplace now that western men routinely undergo that thing (maybe there is some hygienic benefit -- dunno)...



Depends where in the west;-).

And I do agree that the thing in Silicon Valley is not at all the same as what's brutally (understatement of the year) done to young girls in some countries. It was just the whole subject that led me to think about what I watched on TV not that long ago.

 I still find it grotesque what some surgeons will do. The documentary I watched (from LA) was about a 16 year old girl who was told she was "abnormal".  Hardly an adult (of course it was the girls mother - believing the surgeon's words - who accepted the girl had the surgery (and paid a small fortune for it)).