Circumcision and Human Rights

About this book

"There is hardly a reason to circumcise a little boy for medical reasons because those medical reasons don’t exist," said Dr. Michael Wilks, Head of Ethics at the British Medical Association, who admitted that doctors have circumcised boys for "no good reason."

In the United States, parts of Africa, the Middle East, and in the Muslim world, 13.3 million infant boys and 2 million girls have part or all of their external sex organs cut off for reasons that defy logic and violate basic human rights. Doctors, parents, and politicians have been misled into thinking that circumcision is beneficial, necessary, and harmless.

In Circumcision and human rights, internationally respected experts in the fields of medicine, science, politics, law, ethics, sociology, anthropology, history, and religion present the latest research on this tragedy, as a part of the worldwide campaign to end sexual mutilation. They outline steps for eradicating this abusive practice to enable males and females the dignity of living out their lives with all the body parts with which they were born.

Written for: Every male and female person in the world, college, university, and hospital libraries, female and male genital mutilation researchers, physicians, medical historians, lawyers, bioethicists

Table of contents

Preface. Acknowledgments. Contributors. 1 Delusional Psychologies of Circumcision and Civilization; David Chamberlain. 2 Reconsidering "Best Interests": Male Circumcision and the Rights of the Child; Marie Fox and Michael Thomson 3: Cultural Relativism at Home and Abroad: An American Anthropologist Confronts the Genital Mutilation of Children; Zachary Androus. 4 Medical Interventions on Women’s Genitals: Historical Texts and Contemporary Discourse; Noel Gazzano. 5 1996-2005 – Ten Years of Merka’s Alternative Ritual in Somalia: From "Sunna Gudnin" to"Gudnin Usub" (The New Rite") Mana Sultan Abdurahman Ali Issah and Pia Grassivaro Gallo. 6 The Ritual Use of Herbs for Female Genital Modifications (FGMo) in Africa; Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Miriam Manganoni, Franco Viviani. 7 Female Genital Modifications in Malawi: Culture, Health, and Sexuality; Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Debra Moro, Miriam Manganoni. 8 Variations in Penile Anatomy and Their Contribution to Medical Mischief; Ken McGrath. 9 The Perils of Circumcision; James L. Snyder. 10: Conservative Management of Foreskin Conditions; John Dalton. 11 Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: An Emerging Risk for Circumcised Boys; George Hill. 12 Fitting in and Getting Off: Adult Male Circumcision in the United States; Zachary Androus. 13 NORM-UK; David Smith. 14 Real Men: Foreskin Cutting and Male Identity in the Philippines; Leonard Glick. 15 Filipino Male Experience of Ritual Circumcision; Romeo Le. 16 Traditional Male Circumcision in West Timor, Indonesia: Practices, Myths, and Their Impact on the Spread of HIV and Gender Relations; Primus Lake. 17 Circumcision: If It Isn’t Ethical, Can it Be Spiritual? Miriam Pollack. 18 Garbage In, Garbage Out: Coding, Reporting and Analyzing Circumcision Data in the United States; Georganne Chapin. 19 A Treastise From the Trenches: Why Are Circumcision Lawsuits So Hard to Win? J. Steven Svoboda. 20 Winning and Losing on the Circuit; David Llewellyn. 21 The MGM Bill: A Legislative Strategy for Protecting US Boys from Circumcision; Matthew Hess. 22 Circumcision in European Countries: A Review of Possible Annual Number of Laws and Regulations and of Economic Aspects; Yngve Hofvander. 23 That Thing": Portrayal of the Foreskin and Circumcision in Popular Media; Hugh Young. 24 Limbic Imprint; Elena Tonetti-Vladirmirova. 25 Two Poems; Suzanne Arms. Resources. Index.