Aug. 31, 2011 - Issue #828: Hollerado

Let my penis go

Is male circumcision barbaric or necessary?

Glen Callender thinks it should be illegal to circumcise a male child. An uncircumcised man, Callender is also the founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (CANFAP). You might have noticed, or attended, Callendar's free workshop at the Fringe this year. It's a presentation he's taken to cities across Western Canada to spread his message.
As Callender points out it is already illegal under section 268 of the Criminal Code of Canada to cut the genitals of a female child in anyway unless absolutely medically necessary. Why then, Callender asks, is it still okay cut off a boy's foreskin? "Chopping off a large part of a boy’s penis is completely incompatible with modern values of personal and religious freedom," he says. "If we’re going to protect the genitals of girls from unnecessary surgery, then our constitution requires that boys receive equal protection under the law."
When asked point blank why he thinks there's a double standard, Callender is stark: "Because circumcising boys is in the Bible. That's the only reason there's a double standard. In the Bible, God says to Abraham to circumcise his sons and slaves. Now, I think we all know that buying somebody and circumcising them against their will, that's evil, that's wrong ... but the first half of that commandment is still considered okay by most people."

This assertion, however, doesn't sit well with Rabbi David Kunin, the spiritual leader of Edmonton's Beth Shalom Synagogue. "For reasons of religious freedom in Canada, I’m worried about people labeling circumcision and trying to enforce norms of a majority culture. But, in addition, I think there is significant medical evidence of positive values to circumcision," Rabbi Kunin points out.
Dr Peter Metcalfe, an Edmonton-based pediatric urologist adds: "I think it's hard to lump female circumcision and male circumcision together as the same thing. The type of female circumcision that gets a lot of press is basically an amputation of the clitoris which would be akin to amputating the penis. So there's a big difference between what we refer to as female circumcision and male circumcision," says Metcalfe. "Female circumcision is a hugely morbid procedure. In some places it has a mortality rate of up to five percent. So one in 20 girls are dying, if not higher. And it completely removes part of their genital sensation and significantly interferes with their ability have intercourse and to have babies, so I think it's very difficult to compare the two."
Dr Metcalfe adds that—in Canada, at least—there's no difference between a circumcised and uncircumcised boy. "The kids are going to be no happier or healthier with or without their foreskin," says Metcalfe. “It certainly might make a difference in Africa where HIV is a huge problem: [in countries like Swaziland] upwards of 50 percent of people are infected with the virus. In those situations, circumcision seems to reduce the risk of HIV in an order of magnitude of about 10 percent over two years. And so the World Health Organization has adopted a stance that circumcision should be performed in those countries."
Dr Metcalfe adds, however, that the difference in Edmonton is that we don't have HIV infection rates of 50 percent. Statistically speaking, tens of thousands of children would need to be circumcised in Edmonton to prevent a single transmission of HIV in the city. In Edmonton, he adds, we also have much better ways of preventing the transmission like condoms and abstinence. "The way I explain it to parents is that there is no medical benefit to doing it but there certainly are a lot of religions and cultures that feel it is extremely important. And I don't think you can argue against that." says, Metcalfe. "For more than 2000 years, mohels have been performing circumcisions. If they feel it is such an important part of their religious beliefs and they can do it in a safe way, then I don't think we have the right to say that it cannot be done."
Callender claims that circumcision impairs sexual function but Dr Metcalfe again counters this argument. "I don't think there is any scientific or even cultural data to back that up. Most circumcised men have normal, happy, healthy sex lives," Dr Metcalfe notes.
For Callender however, this is all deviates from the main issue: "The main issue is whose foreskin is it? Is it the parents' foreskin? Is it God’s foreskin? In this country, a girl's foreskin is hers by the law. It is protected until she is an adult and then she is allowed to modify it however she likes after she becomes an adult. Why doesn't a boy have the same rights?"
 

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