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WHAT THE SURVEY TELLS US ABOUT MALE CIRCUMCISION
Few rational people would deny that the male child in this case is the victim of genital cutting as well as the abuse of power by adults in their roles as parents, medical professionals, religious leaders and tribal elders.
But what do we make of the lasting effects that genital cutting has on the lives of men? There is clearly a subset of men circumcised as children who suffer from various physical, sexual, psychological and other impairments to their wellbeing which has yet to be seriously studied by those in the medical, mental health or sexological communities.
I refer to these men as Circumcision Sufferers. Their impairments are real but their complaints are rarely taken seriously. They suffer from an as yet unclassified syndrome that I call: Chronic Irreparable Ramifications from Circumcision (CIRC) Syndrome.
Is this a "made-up" condition? No!
It has always existed, but has never been qualified or quantified. It now has a name.
Women have lived for centuries not equating their health or psychological problems to the assault on their genital integrity, even those subjected to the less severe forms of FGC. Only recently have feminists began exposing the Western world to the practice of FGC, a claim that had previously been ignored or discounted when it was brought up by campaigners against male circumcision. As more women stepped forward to claim their damage, many in African nations responded that circumcision was harmless, that it was a problem "made-up" by racist or colonial-minded Westerners. Some of the most vocal defenders of FGC continue to be circumcised women themselves.
Such defensiveness among circumcised women arises from the same reasons that men defend their circumcisions:- ignorance about complete genital anatomy and functioning
- lack of awareness how to identify circumcision damage
- inability to admit that they've been harmed
- belief that genital cutting defines one's gender identity or age status
("You're still a child - not a real man or woman - until you've had your genitals cut)
- emotional attachment to a cultural, tribal or religious identity that can't be fulfilled without circumcision ("You're not a true American, Egyptian, Jew, Kikuyu, Masai, Moslem, etc until your genitals are cut.")Increasing numbers of men are becoming educated and overcoming denial.
The anger grows as information flows.Copyright 2011-2012 Global Survey of Circumcision Harm. All Rights Reserved.