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CIRCUMCISION: A BARBARIC PRACTICE, A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
By J. Steven Svoboda ©1998
RELATED ARTICLE Infant Male Circumcision: |
Circumcision is an issue which has greatly concerned me for eight years, weighing more and more heavily on me the more I think and feel about it. I believe male circumcision (also known as male genital mutilation, or "MGM") is closely connected with other forms of male oppression and has much to teach us about our condition. The simple fact that circumcision can happen in this country is astounding. When we are days old, doctors cut off the most sensitive part of our body without anesthesia. The operation is very violent, done without anesthesia, and unspeakably painful to the infant, as anyone who witnesses the event with an open mind has to admit. The screams, shaking, and frantic attempt by the newborn to escape this unexpected and unbearable pain can be truly horrible to watch, let alone experience. While societies tend to be blind to the horrors they create themselves, anyone must concede that this is brutal and an act of mutilation. It is worth remembering that the two countries in which circumcision is most widely practiced, Israel and the United States, have what many consider to be two of the most violent governments in the world. On a criminal level, we are probably the most violent developed country. It seems possible that these facts are connected and not simple coincidence. Psychobiological studies support this theory. Concrete medical evidence demonstrates that relative to an adult, the circumcision experience is significantly more traumatizing to an infant, who has not yet developed methods to cope with pain and whose neurological pathways are not yet fully developed. The brutality of the early circumcision could be one of many factors affecting men who grow up and eventually give this violence back to society. As is clear from statements by doctors from that period, circumcision of non-Jews started in this country around 100 years ago as a technique to stop young boys from masturbating by reducing our ability to feel. The pain of the operation was explicitly cited by doctors and other authorities as one "positive" byproduct of the operation. John Harvey Kellogg, creator of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, originally developed as another measure to stop masturbation (!), said of circumcision, "The operation should be performed without anesthetic, as the pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment." A team of medical researchers recently documented that the average circumcision removes over half the genital tissue and many specialized nerve endings, thereby substantially curtails sexual sensitivity. The British Medical Society, Canadian Pediatric Society, and even the American Academies of Pediatrics have stated that there is no justification for routine circumcision. But it is a money-making operation here and continues despite many doctors' personal disapproval of the procedure. As medical student Franc Garcia has discussed (and to whom I am indebted for the following analysis), doctors and medical students have documented the "triple whammy" of lost sexual sensitivity resulting from circumcision. 1. Loss of the foreskin nerves. The inner foreskin possesses a greater density of nerve endings and is probably more erogenous than even the glans. This tremendous amount of sensitivity is lost completely when the foreskin is amputated. Also, the most sensitive part of the penis, the frenulum of the foreskin, is removed in most infant circumcisions. The frenulum is the continuation of the inner foreskin which attaches to the underside of the glans. Thus, circumcision robs us of a large percentage, if not the majority, of erogenous nerve endings to the penis. 2. Damage to the glans. The erogenous sensitivity that remains after circumcision is primarily in the glans. This is further reduced by the removal of the protective foreskin which leaves the glans permanently exposed. The penis head developed over millions of years of evolution as an internal organ, meant to be safely enclosed by the prepuce. The skin covering of the glans IS the foreskin. The glans becomes artificially keratinized (dry, hardened, discolored, and wrinkled) as a result of permanent exposure, and thus significantly less sensitive. 3. Loss of skin mobility. The nerve endings in the glans are best stimulated by a rolling massage action. Direct friction tends to fire off pain receptors causing irritation and also causes further keratinization of the glans. With the skin system of the penis significantly reduced by circumcision, the mobility is essentially gone and now the penis is a static mass with no dynamic self stimulation mechanism. Direct friction is now the primary form of stimulation. So circumcision further reduces erogenous sensitivity in the penis by reducing skin mobility and thus the ability to use the foreskin to massage the glans. We should not forget that circumcision, like any medical procedure, has complications. These occur at a rate of 2-10% depending on the definition of "complication," and include a number of deaths each year. This number cannot be precisely determined due to the medical community's practice of attributing circumcision-caused deaths to other reasons such as "hemorrhage," but it is certain that at least dozens of baby boys needlessly die in the United States every year due to this procedure. Men circumcised in adulthood have summed up the overall difference in sensation as similar to the contrast between seeing in color and seeing in black and white. There is reason to think the loss may be even greater for men circumcised as infants, as most of us were. Sexual pleasure continues to be reduced as circumcised men age until, in many cases, we are left with relatively little sensation. Like many men in their late thirties or early forties, every day I rediscover firsthand the horror of this procedure. I have noticed a dramatic and heartbreaking loss of sensitivity over the last couple of years. This is due to the continual buildup of layers of keratin over the mucous membrane which tissue which remains on our penises after the foreskin is removed. Circumcision can also contribute greatly to sexual problems such as impotence, soreness and rawness, and partner discomfort. Many men also feel unhappy about their penis' appearance after the circumcision. This is, after all, not its natural form. Circumcision is one more form of institutionalized violence against men. It is, of course, a myth that violence against women is tolerated while violence against men is opposed by society. If anything, the opposite is true; our legislature has passed the astoundingly sexist Violence Against Women Act. When is the last time you heard a politician proposing legislation to stop violence against men? When did you last hear anyone in power even acknowledge that most violence happens to men? Domestic violence occurs roughly equally between the sexes, and yet the disparities in available support is shocking. When you raise these issues, as I have done in my performance pieces, many people rush to "justify" them since men supposedly commit most of the violence. Does this constitute blaming the victim? Astoundingly, talk show hosts like Oprah Winfrey can decry female circumcision while somehow believing that male circumcision is all right. I recently lunched with a well-known human rights attorney and law professor in her fifties who had never considered the fact that male circumcision might also be a human rights violation. The denial of male pain and male feelings cuts that deep. The operation is equivalent to removing the labia in a woman, which is recognized as unconscionable violence. How can it possibly be defended as any less reprehensible when carried out against a man? While feminists rightly ask for our support and cooperation in their struggles to stop female circumcision and other abuses, they should correspondingly make common cause with us here to stop mutilation of our bodies. We should demand this minimal support. Many laws against FGM exist around the world, while no law anywhere forbids MGM. Recently this country passed national legislation criminalizing FGM, and soon Canada is expected to follow suit. The many laws against female genital mutilation, and the discriminatory failure to outlaw and vilify male genital mutilation, violate equal protection under both international human rights law and the American Constitution. The double-think at play here is breathtaking. Human rights treaties forbid female genital mutilation (FGM) and MGM alike based on such important principles as the rights of the child, the right to freedom of religion, the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and the right to protection against torture. Activists who oppose the horrors of FGM are correct when they introduce absolutist, human rights principles that any violation of genital integrity is a crime and morally indefensible. And yet somehow it is still permissible when we do it to boys. The real reason for this double standard lies deep in our different socializations and genetic heritages from thousands of years ago. Men and women are hard-wired to serve different functions. Men have greater upper-body strength and endurance to enable us to serve as hunters and protectors of our people, while women have more connections between the spheres of the brain to link their emotional and thinking sides and facilitate their caring for the young, protecting the hearth and gathering food. Evolution is not destiny, but we are still influenced by this genetic legacy even though in modern society, it no longer serves us well. In addition, certain forms of violence against men are tolerated and even structurally incorporated into our society. Men around the world are systematically compelled to give our bodies and our lives in armed conflict. We are also economically compelled to give our bodies and our lives in the workplace; 94% of all American workplace deaths occur to men. The numbness in our penises resulting from circumcision here in the US parallels the emotional numbness which those in power need for us to have so we will continue to fulfill our roles as producers. If we all get in touch with our feelings and discover our own strength and desires, we may not want to keep working at our often unsatisfying, low-paying and hazardous jobs to produce more profits for those at the top. Circumcision is one of many societal factors helping to keep us disempowered and out of touch with our sexuality and our own great potential. I believe a complementarity of men's and women's oppressions exists, both sides of the same coin impeding us from becoming full beings. As men, we are encouraged to be emotionally and physically numb. We must make war, must not cry or express feelings at work, and are not supposed to be househusbands or even custodial fathers. We are so accustomed to men being the disposable sex that it has become an invisible cultural assumption. "Women and children first." Women's pain is simply viewed as more important than men's pain, and so we can tolerate a cultural practice of cutting baby boy's genitals. Or of drafting men and not women for war. It is no accident that the same gender which must fight the wars is the one which suffers a childhood slash to the genitals. Historians have documented that in primitive societies circumcision served the explicit goal of preparing young boys to grow up and sacrifice their bodies in battle. In some cultures, boys are forced to cut their penis themselves and must not even grimace as the knife slices through the flesh. Cross-cultural studies demonstrate that the earlier and more violently the circumcision ritual occurs, the more violent is the society. Cultural blindness frequently colors perceptions of human rights issues. Throughout history a broad range of body mutilation practices have been accepted, including footbinding, placing growing children in vases so their bones would be bent to the shape of the vase, and many other forms of genital mutilation of both sexes. As with infant male circumcision, all these practices were carried out without the victim's consent. Some of us are working to stop this act of violence against our male children. Three organizations in the Bay Area are concerned with circumcision. NOHARMM is a men's awareness and activism organization (PO Box 460795, San Francisco, CA 94146). NORM works to support men who are seeking to restore their foreskin nonsurgically (3205 Northwood Drive #109, Concord, CA 94520, ). A nurse who was fired years ago for refusing to perform the operation has started a very successful informational and organizing organization, NOCIRC (PO Box 2512, San Anselmo, CA 94979, ). Other organizations exist around the country. Others of us are using slow skin stretching techniques to "restore" our foreskins. Actually this process only partially heals one of the three harmful effects of circumcision discussed above, namely the loss of covering of the glans. Nevertheless, successful restoring men report significantly improved sensitivity of their glans. Jim Bigelow's excellent book "The Joy of Uncircumcising" (available at bookstores) discusses foreskin restoration techniques and also documents the problems caused by this barbaric practice, as do other books such as Ronald Goldman's ("Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma, $21.95 postpaid from Vanguard Publications, ), Billy Ray Boyd's ("Circumcision: What it Does," $6.95 plus postage to C. Olson, Box 5100-CB, Santa Cruz, CA 95063-5100) and a poll conducted by the activist organization NOHARMM (Awakenings: A Preliminary Poll of Circumcised Men"; $25 to NOHARMM, PO Box 460795, San Francisco, CA 94146).
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