Male circumcision

Library of Congress, Library of Congress, Public domain"Illus. in: Turkestanskīi al'bom, chast' ėtnograficheskaia..., 1871-1872, part 2, vol. 1, pl. 71." Via Wikimedia Commons

Cases: minors, aged between 8 days and puberty, whose foreskin is partially or totally removed.

Cultural test

Legal Insights

Anthropological insights

Proposed balancing act: As male circumcision causes a permanent change in the sexual organ, and is performed without the child’s consent, the child’s rights to physical integrity, sexual freedom and consent to medical acts ideally should prevail in the balancing act against the freedom of religion and education vested in the child’s parents. Nevertheless, the criminalization of parents that perform male circumcision is not a solution, as the child would then be saddled with yet another violation to his/her rights (e.g. right to a family) should the parents be jailed. The judicial status quo that generally acquits parents who perform male circumcision (in safe conditions) can be preserved, even while making clear through judicial opinions that the practice infringes on children’s rights.

Bibliographic references

Legal Bibliography

Berkmann, B. J. (2022). "Religious Law as Challenge for the Legal System of Germany". In Quaderni di diritto e di politica ecclesiastica, Fascicolo 2, agosto 2022.
Ball, P.J. (2006), ‘A Survey of Subjective Foreskin Sensation in 600 Intact Men’. In G.C. Denniston, P. Grassivaro Gallo, F.M. Hodges, M. Fayre Milos, F.Viviani (ed.), Bodily Integrity and the Politics of Circumcision. Culture, Controversy, and Change, Springer, New York, pp. 177-188.
Foblets, M.-C. (2016) ‘The Body as Identity Marker. Circumcision of Boys Caught between Contrasting Views on the Best Interests of the Child’, in M. Jänterä-Jareborg (ed.) The Child’s Interests in Conflict: The Intersections between Society, Family, Faith and Culture. Intersentia, Cambridge, pp. 125–162
Fronzoni, V. (2020). "La circoncisione maschile in Occidente. Discriminazioni e pronunce giurisprudenziali". In Diritto e religioni, Quaderno monografico 2, Suppl. Riv. anno XV n. 1.
Gaboardi, A. (2014). "Il rigorismo salvato dall’indulgenza: la circoncisione 'culturalmente motivata' tra lesione personale ed esercizio abusivo della professione medica". In L’INDICE PENALE, 2/2014, pp. 623-649.
Garetti, S. (2017). "Quando il diritto all’identità culturale dei genitori si scontra con il diritto all’integrità psico-fisica del figlio minore: il caso della circoncisione rituale infantile". In Diritto di Famiglia e delle Persone, fasc. 4, p. 1421 ss.
Motilla, A. (2021). "Ritual Circumcisions of Minors: Civil and Criminal Perspectives". In Stato, Chiese e pluralismo confessionale, fascicolo n. 11, pp. 19-37.
Pusateri, V. (2012). "Escluso il reato di esercizio abusivo della professione medica se la circoncisione maschile cd. Rituale è stata eseguita per motivi culturali". In Diritto immigrazione e cittadinanza, 1-2012, p. 94-103.

Anthropological bibliography (recommended reading):

Coene, G. (2018). "Male circumcision: the emergence of a harmful cultural practice in the West?". In M. Fusaschi, & G. Cavatorta (Eds.), FGM/C: From Medicine to Critical Anthropology, Meti Edizioni.
Fusaschi, M. (2022). "Gendered Genital Modifications in Critical Anthropology: From Discourses on FGM/C to New Technologies in the Sex/Gender System". IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2007). "Male Circumcision. Global Trends and Determinants of Prevalence, Safety, and Acceptability".Useful report by the WHO aimed at providing an overview of the widespread practice of male circumcision, the religious/cultural motivations behind the practice, and the different techniques used.

Anthropological bibliography (for more details):

Bell, K. (2015). "HIV prevention: Making male circumcision the ‘right’ tool for the job". Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy, and Practice, 10, 552-572.
Bronselaer, G., Schober, J. M., Meyer-Bahlburg, H., T’Sjoen, G., Vlietinck, R., & Hoebeke, P. (2013). "Male circumcision decreases penile sensitivity as measured in a large cohort". Sexual Medicine, 111(5), 820-827.
Carpenter, L. (2010). "On remedicalisation: Male circumcision in the United States and Great Britain". Sociology of Health & Illness, 32(4), 613-630.
Coene, G., & Longman, C. (Eds.) (2005). Féminisme et multiculturalisme. Les paradoxes du débat. Bern: Peter Lang.
Cohen, S. D. (1997). "Why aren’t Jewish women circumcised?". Gender & History, 9(3), 560-578.
Friedman, D. M. (2001). A Mind of Its Own: A Cultural History of the Penis. London: Penguin.
Frisch, M., Aigrain, Y., Barauskas, V., et al. (2013). "Cultural bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on male circumcision". Pediatrics, 131(4), 796-800.
Morris, B. J., Wamai, R. G., Henebeng, E. B., Tobian, A., Klausner, J. D., Banerjee, J., & Hankins, C. A. (2016). "Estimation of country-specific and global prevalence of male circumcision". Population Health Metrics, 14(4). doi: 10.1186/s12963-016-0073-5.
Johnsdotter, S. (2018). "Girls and boys as Victims: asymmetries and dynamics in European public discourses on genital modifications in children". In M. Fusaschi, & G. Cavatorta (Eds.), FGM/C: From Medicine to Critical Anthropology. Meti Edizioni.
Lee, R. B. (2006). "Filipino experience of ritual male circumcision: Knowledge and insights for anti‐circumcision advocacy". Culture, Health & Sexuality, 8(3).
Pang, M. G., & Kim, D. S. (2008). "Extraordinarily high rates of male circumcision in South Korea: history and underlying causes". BJU International, 89(1), 48-54