- Boyle et al. (2002) stated that "the genitally intact male has thousands of fine touch receptors and other highly erogenous nerve endings—many of which are lost to circumcision."[65] They concluded, "Evidence has also started to accumulate that male circumcision may result in lifelong physical, sexual, and psychological harm as well."
Scandinavia is obviously ahead on this front.
- In 2001, Sweden allowed only persons certified by the National Board of Health to circumcise infants, requiring a medical doctor or an anesthesia nurse to accompany the circumciser and for anaesthetic to be applied beforehand. Jews and Muslims in Sweden objected to the law,[53] and in 2001, the World Jewish Congress stated that it was “the first legal restriction on Jewish religious practice in Europe since the Nazi era.”[54] In 2006, a Finnish court found that a parent's actions in having her 4-year-old son circumcised were illegal. The prosecutor claimed that, "part of healthy genitalia is removed without medical foundation, or competent consent". No punishment was assigned by the court.[56]
6 comments:
There is no Quranic text I know of that prescribes circumcision, but I think it is based on a verse that says what is to the effect of "follow Abraham's way of worship". The logic follows on from the "historical fact" that prophet Abraham (pbuh) performed circumcision on himself after his prophethood was revealed. I am more inclined to think it is a tradition rather than a religious requirement, but I am not really a specialist on the issue.
Regarding the medical view, I think the medical world is very much split on the issue. It very much depends on the way it is done. There are some hygenic benefits to it and some even claim it results in better protection against sexually transmitted diseases for the partner of the circumcised male. Also, it is apparently a routine operation on male infants right after birth in some establishments. In any case, I think that the claims that it results in severe anatomical and psychological harm is a bit too extreme.
See Circumcision and HIV Infection. Although am not sure how impartial it is as the names of the scientists involved sound Jewish and Muslim.
Of course, baby should be circumcised with care! but it should be not because it is medically useful -even if so with HIV - but because it is a tradition. Many things that Muslims do are not proscribed in the Qur'an - don't think it makes them less Muslim. Because scientists don't see value in it they want to ban it. Tradition does not need to have any immediate value in it.
I don't understand what point you are trying to put across. I don't think there is anything to discuss with regards to people's traditions. But having entitled your post "A great harm" suggests that circumcision is a great harm, which is not strictly true. In fact the scientific argument is that the way circumcision is done is a very risky business, but when done properly by qualified staff, it has been observed to have some preventive benefits. Having said that, it is true that in some communities who are unaware of the possible risks involved, it is performed in ways that can cause huge damage and destroy lives. Just here in Algeria, there has recently been a case of such damage where children boys were circumcised by a non-qualified individual. They are messed up for life now. Female circumcision on the other hand is a clear-cut case (I did not intend the silly pun, I promise), it is absolutely criminal, abusive and totally unjustifiable.
I was obviously playing this up - there is a discussion of its life-long harm that I find a little silly.
Do u think that female circumcision has to be strictly forbidden and harshly enforced by law. What if this is a tribal custom of a superstitious tribe, based on age old tradition? Just for information for those who don't know female circumcision is very much Un-islamic and has nothing to do with religion whatsoever.
Male circumcision was normal for all here and in Australia until not that long ago, though no-one has been able to explain to me why exactly. However, I fail to see how it can result in "lifelong physical, sexual, and psychological harm" when it's been performed on a sizeable proportion of the world's male population for hundreds of years. Sounds like hysteria to me.
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