Male Genital Mutilation

We often hear of atrocities committed against women in African tribes that entail surgery on the female genitalia in order to meet a religious mandate and/or to ensure the virginity of the woman. This action is normally done early in life and is only undone when the husband, on the wedding night, rips the stitches of the nether region. This is known as FGM or Female Genital Mutilation and when we in America hear of this, it sickens us and makes us want to write letters to have this archaic practice ended. However, it is not restricted to Africa or to women. It happens thousands of times a day in the U.S.

Circumcision is a common practice in the medical profession. A doctor cuts the foreskin from a newborn baby-boy’s penis. It’s not given much thought because it doesn’t appear to limit anyone, but most people don’t know what it can really do. This, first of all, is done without anesthetics; it is considered surgery but why is it performed in such a delicate place on a fully conscious child? It is sick. Many people argue that the baby doesn’t feel it or won’t remember it, but what about the teens that are forced to go through this? Many minors will be circumcised at the age of 12-13 in many third world cultures and it has even been documented in the U.S. Clearly this can be an extremely traumatizing experience.

If there are no real medical risks with having a foreskin, why do only Jews and Americans partake in this mutilation? Of course it is a deeply rooted practice in the Jewish faith. It was so dictated by the bible when Abraham made a covenant with God. I personally wonder why a god would want a person to cut skin from a penis, but that is beside the point. Many deeply catholic European countries scorn the act, it just seems wrong. A foreskin does not cause AIDS, nor does it increase your susceptibility to disease, which are scare tactics used by practitioners. It has no negative affect, which is why humans were born with this part of their body. It is as useful as anything else, but if you believe its not, why don’t people cut off their earlobes. After all, we don’t need those.

If anything, it is a bad thing to do. Studies have shown that it decreases the pleasure of sex. While this may have been the reason it was done long ago, its no longer necessary to control sexual urges by mutilation. Nerve endings on the foreskin are some of the most sensitive parts on the whole body.

This is a travesty in the U.S., and many people refuse to address it because of its personal nature. This was a once required practice and in hospitals it was performed automatically, unless the mother specifically requests that it isn’t performed. Many women can be ignorant to the full impact of this on a child’s life. This mutilation sounds like the butchering of a man’s appendage without any reason, not even a religious one.

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