Pictured: Despite religious opposition, courts in various countries around the world have found circumcision to be an infringement upon an individual's right to self determination.
A key issue relating to men's rights currently being discussed is the genital mutilation young boys undergo without their consent. Before a child is able to give consent, their foreskin is removed. Many men's rights activists question the need to follow such an archaic tradition, especially when it infringes upon an individual's right to self-determination and choice.
In the United States, circumcision wasn't popularized until Victorian times, when a few doctors began to recommend it to prevent children from masturbating. Besides the obvious religious advocates of circumcision, Dr Kellogg, known for creating the famous Kellogg's Cereal brand was the primary influential advocate.
According to Dr Kellogg; circumcision prevents masturbation. He also advocated using acid on the female clitoris to prevent masturbation.
He goes on to say;A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision...(.)... The operation should be performed by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice (Masturbation), and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed.
In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid (phenol) to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the excitement.
However, despite the sad and abhorrent history of circumcision, some progress is being made. Recently the practice of child circumcision has been ruled ILLEGAL in Germany, even with parental consent. This has outraged Jewish and Muslim religious groups.
The court mentioned how this practice infringes upon the child's human right to choose their own religion;The regional court in Cologne ruled on Tuesday that child circumcision constituted 'illegal bodily harm,' even with parental consent. In the verdict, the court said that the 'fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents.'
The case came about after a four-year-old Muslim boy's circumcision led to complications, and he checked back into hospital days later with severe bleeding.
A large number of independent studies have found that circumcised men are 4.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with erectile dysfunction, use drugs like Viagra, and to suffer from premature ejaculation. Furthermore 85% of US women who had experienced both circumcised and intact men preferred sex with intact men. Sex with a circumcised man was associated with pain, dryness and difficulty reaching orgasm. Women were twice as likely to reach orgasm with an intact man.'A child's body is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision,' the court said. 'This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later about his own religious affiliation.'
Studies: (O'Hara 1999), (Bensley 2003), (Kim 2007, Solinis 2007), (Bollinger 2010, Tang 2011)
World-wide, only 30% of men are circumcised, and most of these men are Muslim (WHO 2007). Most modern, Westernized countries have rates well below 20%. In the United States about 25 years ago, around 85% of babies were circumcised. The rates have dropped substantially to 32% in 2009, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control (El Becheraoui 2010).
So to the primarily male demographic of MMO-Champion, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, I pose the following question. Should men have the right to choose whether or not they want to be circumcised? Is it not the prerogative of the individual themself to decide whether they want to have their foreskin removed? This is an issue constantly pushed to the sidelines despite it's very significant influence on the lives of young men around the world. It seems only right as a male, to at least openly discuss the issue, whether religious fundamental groups approve or not.
-Should circumcision be the individual's own choice?
Sources:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...dily-harm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harvey_Kellogg
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/...ical-realities
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...cumcision.html