Male Circumcision
Male circumcision (MC) is widely practiced around the world. MC is comparable to FC type I in which the prepuce (foreskin) is removed. It is much more common than female circumcision. Islamic and Jewish men are circumcised according to their religion. Because it is such a common practice, male circumcision was very rarely questioned until the last few years. Recently there have been many studies about the health risks and sexual consequences of male circumcision.
In recent years a debate has arisen about the ethical issues of MC. As with FC there is the issue of informed consent. Boys are usually circumcised in the first month of life, much younger than the age at which girls are circumcised. It was believed that this was less traumatizing because the baby would forget and his nerve ending would not be fully developed. New studies are proving these assumptions to be untrue. The young boys seem to not forget the pain and it is correlated with anesthesia and vaccinations until much later in life. With male circumcision happening so young it is the parents that consent to the procedure. More and more people believe that a boy should be old enough to understand the procedure so he can decide himself whether or not to have it.
There are many health risks associated with MC that are not well known. Short term:
- Staph infection
- Herpes transmission
- Hemorrhage
- Surgical mishap
- Anesthetic risk
Even though most MC takes place in a hospital, staph infection is a very real risk. Since babies are so small anesthesia is especially hard to administer to them. As with any surgery there may be mistakes made. When circumcision is done outside of a hospital setting it is done by a Jewish Mohel during a bris. There is a tradition of metzizah b’peh, oral suction, when there is bleeding. There have been 8 reported cases of herpes transmission in this way in the past few years.
Long term:
- Urethral meatal stenosis – narrowing of urethral opening
- Urinary retention
- Slowing of venous blood flow
- Concealed penis
- Adhesions – happens to 1.5 million boys a year
- Skin bridges
- Painful Erections
Many of these problems are related to an inability to urinate or painful urination. Others cause deformities such as concealed penis, in which the penis seems to retract into the scrotum, and skin bridges, bridges of scar tissue attaching the glans penis (head) to the shaft. The slowing of blood flow and painful erection are sexual consequences of MC.
There are some positive health benefits of circumcision. MC can protect against:
- Prostate cancer
- Penile cancer
- Phimosis – inability to retract foreskin over the glans penis
- HPV
- Urinary Tract Infection
There are many negative sexual consequences to MC just as there are to Female circumcision.
Protection – The foreskin protects the head of the penis, without this protection it becomes dry and the tissue hardens. There is a correlation between the moisture level of the glans penis and its sensitivity. It has been prove that the glans penis is softer after foreskin restoration surgery.
Mechanical Function – The prepuce reduces penetrative friction. Without the prepuce penetration is made more difficult, resulting in vaginal dryness.
Elasticity – Foreskin is made up of smooth muscle fibers that stretch. This stretching is an important erogenous sensation. This stretching also has an important role to play in the control or erection and ejaculation.
Erogenous tissue – the prepuce in noted for its erogenous pleasure, clearly circumcision eliminates the pleasure from the foreskin streching.
Impotence – There are nerves in the foreskin that trigger erection. Without this nerve it may to more difficult to achieve an erection. It may also cause painful erections which go down quickly because of the pain. There was a study done in China with recently circumcised adult men. 28.4% of these men experience erectile dysfunction after surgery and 34.7% experienced weaker or softer erections.
Premature ejaculation – 26% of circumcised men compared to 22% of uncircumcised men report premature ejaculation. This is because the corona glandis, part of the glans penis, the most sensitive part of the penis is in direct contact with the vagina. The prepuce prevents this direct contact.
Inability to ejaculate – The stretching of the nerves of the foreskin is very erogenous. Without this it may take prolonged aggressive thrusting for a man to ejaculate.
Loss of sexual pleasure – There is an overall loss in sexual pleasure in circumcised men.
Sexual Behavior – Men who are circumcised are more likely to masturbate and less likely to wear a condom during intercourse.
There are many correlations between male circumcision and female circumcision. The main difference being the violent ways in which female circumcision is carried out.
Similitaries in Attitudes and Misconceptions toward Infant Male Circumcision in North America and Ritual Female Genital Mutilation in Africa
| Clitoridectomy and Infibulation in Africa | Infant Male Circumcision in North America |
| "She loses only a little piece of the clitoris, just the part that protrudes. The girl does not miss it. She can still feel, after all. There is hardly any pain. Women's pain thresholds are so much higher than men's." | "It's only a little piece of skin. The baby does not feel any pain because his nervous system is not developed yet." |
| "The parts that are cut away are disgusting and hideous to look at. It is done for the beauty of the suture." | "An uncircumcised penis is a real turn-off. Its disgusting. It looks like the penis of an animal." |
| "Female circumcision protects the health of a woman. Infibulation prevents the uterus from falling out [uterine prolapse]. It keeps her smelling so sweet that her husband will be pleased. If it is not done, she will stink and get worms in her vagina." | "An uncircumcised penis causes urinary infections and penile cancer. It generates smegma and smegma stinks. A circumcised penis is more hygienic and oral sex with an uncircumcised penis is disgusting to women." |
| "An uncircumcised vulva is unclean and only the lowest prostitute would leave her daughter uncircumcised. No man would dream of marrying an unclean woman. He would be laughed at by everyone." | "An uncircumcised penis is dirty and only the lowest class of people with no concept of hygiene leave their boys uncircumcised." |
| "Leaving a girl uncircumcised endangers both her husband and her baby. If the baby's head touches the uncut clitoris during birth, the baby will be born hydrocephalic [excess cranial fluid]. The milk of the mother will become poisonous. If a man's penis touches a woman's clitoris he will become impotent." | "Men have an obligation to their wives to give up their foreskin. An uncircumcised penis will cause cervical cancer in women. It also spreads disease." |
| "A circumcised woman is sexually more pleasing to her husband. The tighter she is sewn, the more pleasure he has." | "Circumcised men make better lovers because they have more staying power than uncircumcised men." |
| "All the women in the world are circumcised. It is something that must be done. If there is pain, then that is part of a woman's lot in life." | "Men in all the 'civilized' world are circumcised." |
| "Doctors do it, so it must be a good thing." | "Doctors do it, so it must be a good thing." |
| Sudanese grandmother: "In some countries they only cut out the clitoris, but here we do it properly. We scrape our girls clean. If it is properly done, nothing is left, other than a scar. Everything has to be cut away." | My own father, a physician, speaking of ritual circumcision inflicted upon my son: "It is a good thing that I was here to preside. He had quite a long foreskin. I made sure that we gave him a good tight circumcision." |
| 35 year old Sudanese woman: "Yes, I have suffered from chronic pelvic infections and terrible pain for years now. You say that all if this is the result of my circumcision? But I was circumcised over 30 years ago! How can something that was done for me when I was four years old have anything to do with my health now?" | 35 years old American male: "I have lost nearly all interest in sex. You might say that I'm becoming impotent. I don't seem to have much sensation in my penis anymore, and it is becoming more and more difficult for me to reach orgasm. You say that this is the result of my circumcision? That doesn't make any sense. I was circumcised 35 years ago, when I was a little boy. How can that affect me in any way now?" |