Miriam Pollock on circumcision

Article here (.pdf file), p. 7 of the file. Excerpt:

'Growing up Jewish, I assumed that circumcision was not only harmless, but also essential and beneficial. Only after I had witnessed a few of these events, did these lifelong assumptions and beliefs become shaky. More than anything, it was the raw terror, shrieking pain and inconsolable cries of the babies struggling against the hands of a loving relative restraining their otherwise flailing limbs for this "sacred" event, which shattered my equanimity about the holiness and necessity of circumcision.

But it would be many years, nearly a decade, before I would dare to explore the long-term consequences of the anatomical, physiological, psychological and sexual damage that circumcision invariably affects. These revelations were unveiled at the Second International Symposium on Circumcision, which I attended in 1991 in San Francisco. From that point forward I began to write, determined to expose circumcision, both religious and medical, for the scandalous human rights violation it inflicts and fraudulent religious obligation it is purported to be.

It is more obvious than ever that circumcision has nothing to do with protecting our innocent male babies, nor of elevating their spirituality, nor securing their tribal membership. Ablating, crushing and cutting the foreskin of helpless newborns constitutes nothing less than sexual torture. The true function of circumcision is to deny and decrease the sexual sensitivity, aliveness and control that men have over their sexuality, break the maternal infant bond by traumatizing the newborn, tame a newly birthed mother’s instinctual passion to protect her baby at all costs, and mark the baby as a member of the male community. This primitive rite, be it religious or secular, has no place in a humane society, nor in a religion or culture, such as Judaism, that emphatically values the protection of the helpless, the pursuit of justice, and reverence for life.'