Genital Autonomy: Protecting Personal Choice

About this book

Circumcision affects 15.3 million children and young adults annually. In terms of gender, 13.3 million boys and 2 million girls are subjected to the involuntary removal of part or all of their external sexual organs every year. The problem of female circumcision has been addressed on an international level, but male circumcision remains a controversial subject that many academics have been reluctant to examine. Circumcision is tolerated today because it has been practiced for millennia by a small but vocal minority of religious and ethnic groups, however, when the practice is examined through the lens of modern legal, ethical, and human rights advancements, no place remains in civilized society for this body-altering ritual. In Genital Autonomy: Protecting Personal Choice, international experts address various types of genital modifications, the impact of these harmful traditional practices on the child, on human rights, and on the development of the concept of bodily integrity. The papers presented in this volume address these topics from a variety of angles. They question and dissects the true motivations of the doctors, witch doctors, and “holy men” who promote and profit from circumcision.

Content Level » Research
Keywords » Circumcision, complications - Circumcision, ethics - Circumcision, harm - Female gential modification - Male and female genital mutilation, human rights
Related subjects » Biomedical Sciences - Law - Medicine - Personality & Social Psychology - Public Health

Table of contents

Acknowledgments.- Preface.- 1. “Three-Fourths Were Abnormal”.- 2. Older Minors and Circumcision: Questioning the Limits of Religious Actions.- 3. These Goalposts Don’t Move – Non-Medical Circumcision of Boys in the Tasmanian and Australian Context.- 4. Mass Campaigns of Male Circumcision for HIV Control in Africa: Clinical Efficacy, Population Effectiveness, Political Issues.- 5. AIDS XVII, Mexico City: Reason for Hope or Panic?- 6. Circumcision Psychopathology.- 7. Physical Effects of Circumcision.- 8. Complications of Circumcision: A Urologist’s Viewpoint.- 9. NOCIRC of Italy: Scientific Activities 2006-2009.- 10. A Project about Male Circumcision in the Veneto.- 11. The First Survey on Genital Stretching in Italy.- 12. Knowledge and Opinions of North Italian Health Operators about Female Genital Mutilation.- 13. Stretching of the Labia Minora and Other Expansive Interventions of Female Genitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).- 14. Preventing Infibulation: Mana Sultan Abdurahman Isse at Merka, Somalia.- 15. Writing Rites Gone Wrong: Autobiography, Testimonials, and their Relevance to the Debate Around Genital Alterations.- 16. The Impact of Neonatal Circumcision: Implications for Doctors of Men’s Experiences in Regressive Therapy.- 17. Circumcision Memory.- 18. Foreskin Restoration 1980-2008.- 19. Restoration: The Foreskin and the American Dream.- 20. Genital Autonomy: The Way Forward.- 21. Circumcision.