In Manchester, England, a four-week-old boy bled to death after a circumcision performed without anesthetic, in which the nurse used only scissors, forceps, and olive oil and did not perform appropriate postoperative care.
This is obviously an extreme case. Most circumcisions are performed in hospitals with postoperative care and modern surgical techniques. Nevertheless, circumcisions can be dangerous. Children can face infections, bleeding, and removal of an insufficient amount of tissue. In rare cases, the child’s penis can be lost or, as in this tragic case, the child can die.
Circumcisions don’t really do anything. They have some mild health benefits (but the science is mixed and most of the health benefits can be gotten by washing regularly and using condoms anyway) and they may reduce sexual pleasure (but again the science is mixed). Their primary benefit is aesthetic– which is fucked itself. Why shouldn’t people with penises be allowed to decide for themselves, when they’re adults, whether or not they would prefer for their penis to be circumcised? Why on earth would we risk complications ranging from infections to death for absolutely no reason at all?
Oh, right, I forgot, it’s tradition. They just won’t feel right if they don’t look like their daddy. And children’s bodily autonomy doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not like they’re people.
Photo credit– miss pupik/Flickr. A newborn baby tearing up.
Nurse Grace Adeleye guilty of killing baby in botched circumcision.
How far does freedom of religion and preserving tradition go? There have to be some limits, like with every kind of freedom. If it’s anything goes in the name of tradition or religion, then people with indigeous Mexican ancestry ought to be allowed to perform human sacrifice. It makes the rains come and water the crops, you know.
I’d like to offer some background information regarding infant circumcision. Very few people realize that a century ago, doctors struggled to make a living, and were constantly seeking additional procedures they could perform that would bring in extra money. Infant circumcision was promoted to physicians as an extra service which could be sold to parents of newborns. That’s really the ONLY reason why infant circumcision became customary in the United States. My dad was circumcised in 1911 when he was born in a hospital, which was very atypical for rural America at the time since most children were born at… Read more »
@Aaron Burr However, I do object to such inflammatory terms such as “genital mutilation,” as it tends to suggest that infantile circumcision is equivalent in human rights terms to so-called “female circumcision,” which is actually clitoral (and, in some cases, labial) excision. It simply isn’t. It may be misguided, but it’s certainly not torture or multination. I’m sorry, but that simply doers not agree with your own comments and views concerning excruciating pain and Islamic circumcision at age 13. To quote: Also, in an analogue to the Jewish Bar Mitzvah, islamic boys are ritually circumcised at age 13. If I… Read more »
You say: However, I do object to such inflammatory terms such as “genital mutilation,” as it tends to suggest that infantile circumcision is equivalent in human rights terms to so-called “female circumcision,” which is actually clitoral (and, in some cases, labial) excision. It simply isn’t. It may be misguided, but it’s certainly not torture or multination. 1) Not torture?: if it’s excruciatingly painful, then what semantic game are you playing to say it’s not torturous? 2) Female genital mutilation covers a spectrum from “mild” to severe. Even when only the clitoral hood is cut away the results are called mutilation… Read more »
Hate to break it to you, but no, intact men don’t have a greater rate of infections. It’s still a small percentage even for intact boys. Secondly, circumcised men can VERY MUCH get penile cancer. It isn’t only intact men that get it. Women having less rates of cervical cancer with circumcised men is completely false. That has not even been proven at all. Just look at the rates of cervical cancer of US women to women from countries where circumcision is not normal. Oh, and don’t you dare tell me circumcision is not mutilation. It IS mutilation! People have… Read more »
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673695902783
Baby boys who were circumcised neonatally cried more than uncircumcised boys on average during routine vaccinations several months later. This suggests that circumcision can make boys more sensitive to pain.
Er…you forgot religion as a reason. Or are you including that under “tradition?”
As a victim of circumcision, I often have a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that my parents not only allowed it, but paid a guy to do it. This is an especially touchy subject for me because I remember parts of it. My dad has always defended me and looked out for me my whole life, but this is one instance where he really dropped the ball. My mom, I kinda expect her to make bad decisions. I’ve thought about confronting my parents about it, but I don’t see anything to be gained by doing so. It’s… Read more »
wat.
I have very vague memories of places I lived as a toddler, and I find it extremely unlikely you remember something that happened when you were, at most, a few days old.
Now if you were 5 or something when you were circumcised, I could see you remembering that, but specific events tend not to be remembered until one has learned how to read.
What makes you think that Abubaca was an infant when he was circumcised? My assumption was that, exactly because memories of infanthood are so rare, he was a toddler when it happened.
Fwiw, I have a friend who was circumcised as a toddler for medical reasons and he does indeed remember the pain and describes it as excruciating.
There are cases in which circumcision is medically indicated to cure or relieve a particular condition such as a birth defect. But, this represents a tiny fraction of the operations in the US.
@The_L – no age is given to judge from, and your personal memories are not the issue. Circumcision can be performed at many ages, and not just on an infant of a few days of age. Also, there are well documented examples of age recall from a few week and months of age. These can be linked to pain, and similar to the encoding of memory linked to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Hyper Amygdala activation occurs with many bodily insults, both physical and psychological – and of course the Amygdala is directly linked to both memory encoding and recall. I… Read more »
I’m not sure about my age because seriously, nobody can put early childhood memories in chronological order, but I can estimate. I’m pretty sure I was more than “a few days old” because I remember the color the doctor was wearing and infants can’t see color until at least a few months. I don’t think I could walk at the time (but I’m not sure). I remember it vaguely, I have clear memories past age 3, and I probably would have remembered my circumcision clearly if I was more than 3 years old, so that places me between ~4 months… Read more »
Just because you can’t remember something, doesn’t make it okay.
Yes! I am horribly upset over the genital mutilation I had to endure as an infant! It’s an outrage! [Looks down at his penis circumcised by a doctor who knew what he was doing, that has pleasured literally hundreds of men over 2 decades ,and has been the source of unending pleasure for over 3 decades.] I’m sorry if you don’t like what happened to you. I really am. However, I am quite happy as are many millions of other men who have had circumcision. This is not “our” issue – as “all men”. It is “your” issue – as… Read more »
Nice reply David. Now, replace the word “circumcision” with “rape’ and see how long you can take yourself seriously. I understand that you, and many other men are perfectly happy about being circumcised. Hell, after seeing video footage of a man go through a DIY castration (complete with commentary) on the BME boards, I’m convinced there isn’t a single body modification, however extreme, that doesn’t please at least some people. So you’re okay with, even glad about, being circumcised. You don’t mind that such a profoundly personal discussion was made for you and a very private part of you was… Read more »
It would seem that David in SF is just a pseudo concern troll – and likes to get a rise. The played character is not Pro or Anti – they just don’t care and all others are whiners … Pure Troll. Also it’s a known bully technique to make inflammatory comment, which requires a great deal of time to debunk, so it’s all about yanking peoples strings and wasting their time and energy. The hectoring tone also carries the same emotionally abusive tone associated with low grade bully. I do think the claims of being gay was an interesting touch,… Read more »
“You don’t care about the daily discomfort caused by it, and aren’t about to waste a second of your life wondering what it would be like having intact, fully functioning genitals.”
I absolutely hate it when anti-circ people put it this way. I’m circumcised, but I hear all the time that this means I’m not fully functional. That’s a really shaming thing to say. I understand your opposition to infant circumcision, but it isn’t necessary to shame circumcised people to make your point.
It must just be me with Eurocentric existence and steeped in Eurocentric Psychology – but why is the word Shame and Shaming being used here ( If fact Why does it get used so much in the USA)? Shame and Shaming are specific and quite distinct references to a profound Psychological State. The usage here indicates that the person who has an uncircumcised penis is dealing with this profoundly negative mental state because someone has made comment about people with uncircumcised penises. It would appear to be not only poor choice of language, but bizarrely inverted and even nonsensical. I… Read more »
Allow me to clarify. My intention was not, and has never been to “shame” anybody when talking about the differences between cut and intact male genitals. I’m not going to sit here and say that circumcised penises are worthless, or useless, because they’re not. When I say “fully functioning” I mean just that: an intact body part that hasn’t had a part of it amputated for no reason. A body part that hasn’t had a useful protective covering and/or thousands of nerve endings destroyed. Many circumcised men can urinate, get an erection and ejaculate just as well as the next,… Read more »
Yes, it is “our” issue. Millions of baby’s every year undergo completely unnecessary surgery. Just because you are happy dose not make it right. There are millions of women who undergo FGM every year and many of them are happy, yet that dose not make it right. How dose a support group or some other nonsense stop unnecessary surgery happening to millions of other boys?
Circumcision is nothing more than cosmetic surgery undertaken for no good reason. Just because you are happy dose not mean everyone is happy, and once it is done it cannot be undone.
My follow-up question would be to ask if you would have been just as happy being circumcised if you had it done when you were an adult. If yes, then there’s nothing wrong with letting adults make that decision for themselves instead of performing it on people who can’t consent. If you’re happy with the procedure, then you shouldn’t mind leaving the decision until the boy grows up.
Between this misleading drivel and the wacko Karl Rove conspiracy, I’m starting to suspect the GMP has either lost all sense of sanity or its editors have simply been caught starting their weekend a couple days early.
One can make very good arguments against circumcision. This isn’t even close to one of them.
This is akin to demanding that cosmetic surgery be outlawed because someone got a fatal silicone injection in her rear on the black market. (Yes, that really happened).
If silicone injections we’re forced on non-consenting infants, you might have a point
Nicely put, menkes.
There is an excellent video (Child Circumcision: The Elephant in the Hospital) circulating which everyone should watch. A qualified surgeon performs genital mutilation on a baby boy. MGM was widely practiced in the U.K. and approximately 14 boys a year died from the surgery; MGM is now not a common practice. However, it still is in the U.S. and a number of babies die from it every year.
Check out the Intactivist website, please!
I do wonder at what is the driver for the USA to be continuing with Routine Circumcision?
Even the medical claims have been debunked. Is there a Financial Driver meaning circumcision gets you lower health care insurance?
The cultural and social dissonance has to have a reason.
I honestly don’t get it either.
I could understand it if Jewish boys were getting circumcised, but there aren’t anywhere near that many Jewish people in the United States. Circumcision certainly isn’t all that widespread in Europe, or in other countries in the Americas.
I don’t think it’s a huge financial incentive, but it is one more cost. If you look at states where medicaid does not pay for the procedure, the rates of circumcision is much lower.
$300 in 15 minutes for the doctor. It’s candy for an ob/gyn.
Ozzy a few facts you failed to mention. The child died in April 2010 – over 2 and a half years ago.
The circumcision was carried out by an unlicensed and unqualified person – who is facing Murder Charges in Court! They are being prosecuted for Manslaughter (Involuntary Murder) – not bad choices in aesthetics or some form of fashion faux par!
The way you describe it does not show that it is extreme, even if you throw the word in for effect!