BIO 218X

Noah Delaney-Manuel

6/7/18

Artifact 5: Circumcision

In the world and all its countries and different people from different regions, circumcision has a hold on many of these societies “coming of age ceremonies”. In the U.S, it is less of a religious deal than it was in the past. Although many Jewish and Islamic people do this tradition when it comes to their children, the U.S. encourages circumcision for its health benefits. Many countries from around the world also encourage circumcision for its health benefits as well. In Africa, they even made a song called “lets circumcise” to encourage males to circumcise because it is safe as well as the cool thing to do. Although we do not have a song for our men to become circumcised, we show our youth that uncircumcised penis’ have a higher chance of contracting the HIV virus because it houses the virus better. We also have ways around the painful process which some men go through with the cutting of the foreskin. Now, we have devices called “PrePex” which cut off the blood flow to the skin on the penis and after about a week the skin falls off of the penis. This helps men get around the fear of the surgery to circumcise the penis.

Many people in our country do not know about the horrible tradition of female circumcision. With females, female circumcision is also called genital mutilation. With females, it is a much more painful process than with the males. Many societies cut the clitoris off of the vagina to discourage the “promiscuity” of females. This is believed in many cultures to make them better wives and less likely to be disloyal to a husband. Along with these reasons, it is also many times a coming of age ceremony. When a girl is old enough, there is a designated person who will come and circumcise the girl. Most of the procedures are done by untrained and uneducated people. This raises many health concerns because if the person performing the circumcision does not know what they are doing, they could permanently hurt the girl being circumcised. Since it is so dangerous, it is outlawed in most of the countries around the world, but that unfortunately does not stop these horrible for procedures from happening.

For males, there is a much different view for the circumcision process than with the females. For males in other countries, there is religious reasons to circumcise as well as health reasons for circumcision. When males are circumcised, the foreskin which is around the penis is cut so that the head of the penis is exposed. This makes the penis a less hospitable place for STD’s and viruses which could harm the host. In Africa, cultures circumcise their boys so that they can become a man. Some of these processes can be dangerous because of the risk of infection. In one tribe, boys are circumcised and then sent away from their village to heal and become a man. If the boy leaves that area before he has completed the process, he will never be acknowledged as a man. So many times, these boys deal with deadly infections so that they can be called men. Male circumcision in society is viewed as a much more positive thing than female circumcision because it actually has benefits towards the male, where the female circumcision has more risks and no benefits. Although some will argue the religious customs are a benefit, I personally think that female circumcision will never be a justifiable deed.

Help Received: PowerPoint slides and circumcision videos

Noah Delaney-Manuel