Question Should circumcising your child be illegal? I certainly think that female circumcision like that practiced in Islam should be, but what about a male child? The operation doesn’t seem too invasive but shouldn’t a young boy be given the right to choose? I mean, it –is- hygienic but it also mitigates sexual pleasure. Maybe I’d prefer to be delighted than clean? It's my body! Do I have to get pregnant before I actually have rights over it? I mean, if a girl who’s under age can’t be forced to have an abortion, why can people slice off the foreskin of my reproductive organs without consulting me? It seems to me that this tradition is only allowed because it's religious-which is absurd. It's also religious for a Muslim to strike his wife with an open palm to the head when she leaves the house without his permission. Some cults practice human sacrifice-we don’t allow these just because they’re religious culture/tradition, why circumcision? Just because a baby can’t speak out?

Accepted:
March 28, 2009

Comments

You have some rather inaccurate views on Islam. Islam has nothing to say about female circumcision, although it is true that the practice is not uncommon in some Muslim societies. It is also not an Islamic practice to assault wives for leaving the house without permission, although again it does go on. Just because such practices exist in Muslim societies does not mean that they are Islamic.

But you raise an interesting issue, how far can the mutilation of an infant or child be justified if carried out for religious reasons? It is accepted now I think largely because it is held to be good for the child, not as you suggest for religious reasons. This is the difference between male and female circumcision, the former is generally supposed to be a benign and helpful procedure, the latter the reverse. I suppose the question is how confident we are that the procedure is helpful, and how important is it that it be carried out at such an early age, as against interfering in the rights of the individual to hold onto his various bits and pieces. I do not know what science suggests on this issue, but it had better be a pretty strong argument. Otherwise assault on the individual in this radical sort of way would be very difficult to justify.