When the topic of genital mutilation comes up, most people’s minds jump to female genital mutilation in developing countries. It seems like more and more people are failing to realize that genital mutilation isn’t as foreign as we’d like to think; it is happening close to home, every day.
Discussing infant male circumcision might make people uncomfortable (and it should, it’s medieval) because it is seen as a “personal choice”… yet it’s not. The individual doesn’t make the decision, the parents do. The failure to recognize the circumcision of infant males as genital mutilation has been ingrained into today’s society, it has been normalized to the point of not thinking twice about it.
Usually done the first or second day after birth (on the eighth day in Jewish tradition), the foreskin of the penis, without the consent of the child, is surgically removed. Parents make the decision to circumcise their children for many reasons, including religious beliefs, health concerns, or other cultural or social factors including aesthetic. That’s right folks, some parents have the right to sign off on an irreversible, figure-altering surgery on the basis of aesthetic.
Male circumcision itself in my mind is not a negative practice and isn’t considered mutilation to me. As an educated adult, anyone should have the choice to alter their body if they wish. But male infant circumcision is a completely different story. Circumcising male infants down right interferes with the child’s bodily integrity, with little to no benefit.
The American Pregnancy Association states that there are not enough benefits from circumcision to recommend it as a routine practice and that it is not medically necessary. The risk of complications of circumcision can be up to 35%, including but not limited to infection, bleeding, failure to remove enough foreskin, removing too much foreskin, mastitis, partial amputation, penis necrosis, and urethral fistulas.
“Circumcision causes pain, trauma, and a permanent loss of protective and erogenous tissue … Removing normal, healthy, functioning tissue for no medical reason has ethical implications: circumcision violates the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 5) and the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 13).” Leo Sorger, To ACOG [American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology]: Stop Circumcisions, Ob-Gyn News, 1 Nov. 1994, p. 8.
Male circumcision has a troubling and heinous history, it became popular in the US in the 19th century as a tool to stop boys from masturbating. Female circumcision was ultimately introduced to oppress women’s sexuality, and male circumcision was intended to do the same. Somewhere along the line, health benefits of male circumcision were proposed.
It is said that health benefits of circumcision among newborns includes, a reduction of UTIs, prevention of penile cancer in adult men, and a reduction of STDs. Note how two of these three benefits only benefit teen/adult men. So why can’t teens make the decision to get circumcised themselves? The risk of UTIs among men are increased with sexual activity or HIV, so with proper hygiene, UTIs can be almost completely avoided. UTIs are more common in females than in males, yet we don’t participate in the practice of disfiguring our female children for potentially beneficial reasons.
I propose giving teen and adult men the choice of circumcision. The benefits are not substantial enough to a newborn to make the irreversible choice for them. For a sexually active adult, there can be potential benefits, but it is unnecessary to make this decision for the child. People often say that the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, and that is true, true among sexually active, adult males.
If you are pro-choice about abortion, be pro-choice about circumcision. Bodily autonomy and integrity play huge roles in both practices. Denying males the option to chose the state of their body goes against everything I believe in, and if you are consciously aware of the reality of circumcision, you should disagree with the practice as well. Allow educated and informed males the opportunity to make their own choice.
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