When talking about health issues with some American friends a few weeks ago, I was semi-surprised, semi-shocked to learn that the circumcision of boys is a rather common thing in the US – not just within religious communities, but nationwide. It was another one of those small culture shocks that are not that obvious in the beginning, when encountering someone from another culture for the first time, but only later, in deeper discussions – though the matters concerned by them can be more deep and interesting than the ones brought about by basic differences. Till that point in my life, circumcision had been a distant, vague matter which I only heard about when mentioning the Jewish religion, and living in the Hungarian countryside with a really insignificant percentage of people who practiced it, it was easy just not to bother with it when discussing the huge variety of topics that can come up in connection with it. However, ignorance here is much harder for me than it had been anywhere else, and soon I learned how to see circumcision through many lenses. In this article I will argue that when evaluating circumcision, aspects of individual health and rights must come first before any cultural consideration, though the latter is not to be dismissed even when being paralleled with the views on health concerns.

Matter of Tradition, Matter of Health I was surprised to learn in how many cultures and religions male circumcision is present. Moving from the most obvious examples of Jewish and Islamic communities, we find that it is practiced worldwide and has a tradition in Africa and Australia too. The most basic question, naturally, is why? Why has this specific act of mutilation become a part of cultures that existed separately throughout most of human history?

In most African communities that practice it, circumcision is not a religious regulation, but simply something that is done because it is a tradition, on a basis of authority: “My father is circumcised, my grandfather is circumcised, and I am circumcised, so why not circumcise my son, too?” In Australian aboriginal tribes, it is an important part of becoming an adult and founding a family for young boys. On the other hand, in Islam and Judaism (religions in which their cultures do not exist separately), it is a very strict religious regulation. The Torah gives specific explanations regarding when, how, and why to do it (“[…] every male among you shall be circumcised. […] who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken My covenant” – Genesis 17:10/14), while in Islam, it is part of the prophet’s tradition (sunnah), established by Prophet Muhammad. Though these seem to be very different explanations of the action, I believe they are all based on the perception that circumcision can prevent some infections and diseases associated with the penis, and simply needed this to be backed up by some sort of cultural or religious explanation in order to integrate it into everyday life and establish it as a tradition. Although its medical effect regarding HIV and genital herpes is questionable, it has been proven to help in preventing several other medical conditions, such as syphilis and chancroid. Nowadays, most people who choose to get a circumcision do not need this kind of persuasion, as referring to health issues has become extremely convincing, and is enough by itself to make people consider circumcision for themselves or for their children. To Circumcise or to Give the Choice to Circumcise This consideration brings us to another, somewhat more controversial point: Is childhood circumcision ethical? Giving a straight answer to this question with no explanation would be really very inconsiderate, since we would either disrespect some extremely old cultural traditions, or oppose the advocates of free will. If we accept that each and every human being should be given free will over her/his body, the circumcision of babies may start to seem unethical, and one of the most essential rituals of Judaism and Islam would become immoral. However, is it, really? The answer is, of course, that we cannot condemn the circumcision of babies because the people who do practice it find it moral. For instance, it is clearly not a tendency for Jewish people to grow up and start to blame their parents for circumcising them. It is a custom practiced according to the community’s will, and while we must agree that communities shouldn’t be given the absolute rights over the individuals who form it, it is permissible for them to abide by some rules that they don’t oppose, or are happy to adopt (except if we are talking about intentional manipulation by authorities, which is, at least in this case, clearly not the issue). Even after clarifying this, it is still possible to argue a point in favor of circumcision, or rather to take away one of the opposers’ points by observing whether the word ‘mutilation’ can be applied to circumcision. On a basic level, it can surely be, since we are basically talking about removing a body part, but it is also easy to see that it doesn’t have such long-term negative effects as, for example, cutting off an arm or a leg does. In fact, minding the health factor, it is rather beneficial. A resemblance can be perceived between circumcision in this context and the practice of some Bedouin tribes. In the areas these communities live in, there is a sandfly with a bite that causes damage to the skin and leaves a permanent scar, while making the person who has been bit immune to later attacks of the sandfly. What the Bedouin tribes do is catch these sandflies and make them bite few-week old newborns on their bottoms. This, of course, leaves an everlasting scar, but eliminates the risk of getting this scar later, on more important parts of their skin, like their faces or limbs. We can see from this that a small bit of mutilation at an early age can prevent more serious issues in the future, and due to this, it can be justified. What We Don’t Talk About When talking about circumcision we must not forget the not-so-widely discussed issue of female circumcision. This practice bears some resemblances to its counterpart carried out on males, but some distinctions must be made. While female circumcision should sound familiar to freshmen, as one of its examples was discussed in Steven Pinker’s article we read for our Global Perspectives on Society class, I will give a description about it here as well. The main difference between male and female circumcision is the fact that while that performed on men removes just some skin from the surface of the genitalia, female circumcision affects the genitalia itself, by removing the clitorial hood or part/whole of the clitoris (and in extreme cases, the inner and outer labia). The health effects opposed to female circumcision are extremely negative: Instead of preventing, it can lead to several infections, and can even make pregnancy impossible. It also comes with the loss of sexual desire, which, sadly, in most cases is the very purpose of applying the procedure. In communities in parts of Africa and Asia, it plays a huge part for girls reaching adulthood, mainly due to the latter effect, since it is believed that circumcised women make better and more obedient wives and would not cheat on their husbands. Needless to say, there is a lot to argue with this point of view. I won’t go into the area discussing cultural relativism, but I do think that gender equality should be universally accepted and respected, and this is an idea offended by female circumcision. Although chauvinism is clearly bad in and of itself, believing that women’s roles should be restricted in society is still not as drastic as mutilating young girls in order to force them into these roles. The argument of tradition, which is valid when talking about male circumcision, here loses its relevance, since this act of genital mutilation clearly oppresses a huge part of any community and conflicts with human rights so basic that no community or authority should have the right to go against them. When taking a closer look it is clear that the similarity in female circumcision to male circumcision barely transpires in their names and both being related to genitalia - but, as I have noted, it does matter where exactly the flesh is being cut from. Let’s Sum Things Up I am aware that circumcision hasn’t been at the peak of global controversy, but I do think it was worth this article, at least, to mention some of its main points of contention. In a global community such as ours, it is hugely important to be informed about matters that may concern even a minority of people and which are on some level constantly present on a global scale, and to be respectful towards the practices of other cultures, while remaining the advocates of important universal values, like personal rights. I didn’t try to cover all of the aspects and issues brought about by circumcision, but I hope I was able to shed some light on these matters, and provide some food for thought. This article was written by Máté Mohos. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Marjorie Wang