DAILY BRUIN
Monday, April 04, 2005
Cut circumcision
out of the American culture
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DAILY BRUIN COLUMNIST
lloewenstein@media.ucla.edu
The United States has one of the highest rates of male circumcision in the world, and is the only country that practices infant circumcision for non-religious purposes even though the medical benefits are considered controversial.
Since there is no medical benefit to male circumcision it is, blatantly, a form of genital mutilation (just as female circumcision or cutting is) and should be outlawed.
Currently, female genital cutting is against federal law. The government has also taken the initiative to educate immigrants from countries where this practice occurs; administer outreach programs to affected communities in the United States, and requires that all directors of international financial institutions oppose loans to countries that practice female genital cutting. It is estimated that 130 million women have undergone female circumcision, and it affects another 2 million annually.
There is no reason for the United States to take such a strong stance on female circumcision and the opposite stance on an analogous technique practiced on men.
However, the situation is changing. A bill was proposed to the California legislature on February 28 of this year and if passed will make male circumcision illegal within the state of California.
People downplay the similarities between male and female circumcision. Just as male circumcision is a part of both Muslim and Jewish religious beliefs, female (as well as male) circumcision is an integral part of the religious and cultural beliefs of certain tribes in Africa.
And while many claim that female circumcision is more physiologically damaging, this depends on the type of circumcision. Some forms of male circumcision are actually more detrimental than certain methods of female circumcision (one involves slitting the urinary tube from the tip to the scrotum, which creates an opening that looks like a vagina).
It would be hypocritical of the United States to take a stance on these atrocities until it rectifies its own practices of genital mutilation.
Some people, notably many doctors, have taken a stance against male circumcision.
The American Academy of Pediatrics released a statement in 1971 declaring "there are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period." They released a similar statement in 1999, and the rate of U.S. male circumcision has been in decline since.
In fact, there is not a single national or international medical association that recommends routine male circumcision.
There is even an organization, Doctors Opposing Circumcision, consisting of physicians from around the world, which alleges that routine neonatal male circumcision is painful, unnecessary and a violation of human rights.
They claim it violates the first tenet of medical practice (do no harm) and all seven principles of the American Medical Association's code of ethics. They plan to stop secular circumcision by refusing to perform it (non-secular circumcision is not usually performed by doctors). I think, this time, I will trust my doctor.
Other countries have high rates of male circumcision. For example, in South Korea over 90 percent of high-school aged boys are circumcised. However, there is an important difference between South Korea and the United States – a survey of South Korean doctors showed that many still believed it was a medically beneficial procedure.
In the past, medical experts in the United States have claimed many medical justifications for male circumcision, including a lower risk of urinary tract infections; infections under the foreskin, sexually transmitted infections, persistent tight foreskin, and penile, prostate and cervical cancers.
However, there is no evidence that circumcision reduces the rate of cervical cancer in women or prostate cancer in men. And while circumcision can reduce the risk of penile cancer, so can a regular shower (my detailed questioning of uncircumcised males makes me confident that keeping the intact penis clean isn't that difficult of a task).
Cancer of the penis is also extremely rare, as are infections under the foreskin and persistent tight foreskin, which have all been given as medical bases for preventative circumcision.
Besides, secular circumcision was never intended for hygienic purposes in the first place. During the latter part of the 19th century, when male circumcision began in England, it was performed to cure various diseases of the nervous system (not related to the penis) and to prevent chronic masturbation, which was thought to lead to diseases such as insanity, blindness and epilepsy.
Only after the turn of the century, when it was discovered that masturbation caused none of these things, did the foreskin take the blame for the various diseases listed above.
The only valid reason left for performing male circumcision, if it's not required by your religion, is for cosmetic purposes. If we began performing routine breast implants on teenage girls, there would be an absolute uproar. And you could use the same argument – aside from a few mess-ups, it doesn't cause any harm.
So it's all about physical appearance.
And while I'll be the first to admit that body image plays a large role in our society, when it comes to sex, as one girl put it, "I've never really noticed." Many did not even know how to tell the difference. I delightedly enlightened quite a few with the aid of a Google image search.
Those who had taken a notice to the physical aspects of their snake-like friends didn't express any strong preference for one or the other. The most helpful response I got from the ladies was one girl that enthusiastically told me that, "uncircumcised penises are much more fun to play with."
But the point remains that the United States has no right to accuse some African tribes of violating human rights, when we ourselves are guilty of these charges.
We cannot begin to fight genital mutilation in other parts of the world until we stop the practice on our own soil. Routine male circumcision is a violation of human rights and should, without a doubt, be made strictly illegal.
If you want to get your penis reconstructed (yes, this is possible), e-mail Lara at lloewenstein@media.ucla.edu.
http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=32586