Activists Call Circumcision Mutilation

N E W   Y O R K, Dec. 7 -- No matter how you cut it, circumcision has become a controversial practice.

Circumcision — surgical removal of the foreskin that covers the head of the penis — is widely performed in the United States for health and religious reasons. Today, about 65 percent of newborn American boys have their foreskins snipped in hospitals and religious ceremonies, down from nearly 90 percent a quarter century ago.

With mounting evidence that the practice may not be medically beneficial, more doctors are speaking out against a practice they call “barbaric.” This week, anti-circumcision activists are meeting at the Sixth International Symposium on Genital Integrity in Sydney, Australia, to discuss the ethical, social and psychological ramifications of this and other forms of “sexual mutilation.”

The gathering of politicians, lawyers, sociologists, anthropologists, ethicists, psychologists and physicians will consider topics such as the history of sexual mutilation in religion and medicine, foreskin restoration and counseling approaches for acute post-circumcision stress. NOCIRC — the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, a San-Anselmo, Calif.-based nonprofit circumcision education group sponsoring the symposium — will also be handing out awards to people who have campaigned to end genital mutilation worldwide.

An Ancient PracticeTraditionally, Jews and Muslims have circumcised their sons as prescribed in the Book of Genesis by God in his covenant with Abraham: “Every male among you shall be circumcised.” The practice gained popularity in America in the 19th century among doctors who believed it stopped males from masturbating. It became culturally entrenched during both World Wars as a way to help maintain soldiers’ hygiene, as material collects under the foreskin and can cause infection.

Today, widespread circumcision is still performed for health concerns. Circumcised boys have a lower risk of urinary tract infections and of getting cancer of the penis — a very rare disease — as well as a slightly lower risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases later in life.