
Male circumcision is an unwarranted breach of a child’s integrity – just like FGM
Article here. Excerpt:
'Why MGM and FGM are not considered equally reprehensible defies compassionate reason.
FGM is carried out – for cultural/religious reasons – by restraining a young girl and removing her clitoris with a sharp implement. It is done without her consent ostensibly in order to control the sexual urges of women.
MGM was not uncommon practice in western Europe until recently. It even had mainstream medical sanction. But more recently the justification for MGM has been undermined. If it is not medically necessary then there are no good reasons to mutilate a child's body.
Freedom of religion should not grant licence to holy men to mutilate infant boys' genitalia. It is barbaric and its tacit acceptance in Europe demonstrates a misplaced deference to religious sensibilities. That only one regional German court stood up unambiguously against it is shameful. That it has been castigated by political leaders for doing so demonstrates the erosion of secular liberal values and ideas of individual freedom.
MGM amounts to a gross breach of the bodily integrity of baby boys. There is a fundamental inequality at work here. In direct contravention of gender equality, boys are treated differently to girls. Anyone who takes a knife to a baby's penis in 2012 is committing a breach of human rights. They should be prosecuted, not pandered to.'
- Log in to post comments