Circumcision controversies

Male circumcision has been a subject of controversy for a number of reasons including religious, ethical, sexual, and medical. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in a rapidly changing medical and surgical world, circumcision rose in popularity as a means of prophylaxis in the Anglosphere. Its primary justification was to promote cleanliness, as well as reducing and preventing the incidence of disease. Many medical professionals and advocates of the procedure also believed that it would reduce pleasure and the urge to masturbate, which was a social ill of the era. Modern proponents say that circumcision reduces the risks of a range of infections and diseases and confers sexual benefits. By contrast, some opponents, particularly of routine neonatal circumcision, question its preventive efficacy and object to subjecting non-consenting newborn males to a procedure that is potentially harmful, in their view, with little to no benefit, as well as violating their human rights and possibly negatively impacting their sex life. In Classical and Hellenistic civilization, Ancient Greeks and Romans posed great value on the beauty of nature, physical integrity, aesthetics, harmonious bodies and nudity, including the foreskin (see also Ancient Greek art), and were opposed to circumcision, an opposition inherited by the canon and secular legal systems of the Christian West and East that lasted at least through to the Middle Ages, according to Frederick Hodges. Traditional branches of Judaism, Islam, Coptic Christianity, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and the Eritrean Orthodox Church still advocate male circumcision as a religious obligation. History of circumcision The Book of Genesis explains circumcision as a covenant with God given to Abraham, In Judaism it "symbolizes the promise of lineage and fruitfulness of a great nation," the "seal of ownership and the guarantee of relationship between peoples and their god." Some scholars look elsewhere for the origin of Jewish circumcision.

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Related concepts (27)

Early Christianity

Early Christianity, or Paleochristianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish diaspora. The first followers of Christianity were Jews who had converted to the faith, i.e. Jewish Christians. Early Christianity contains the Apostolic age and is followed by, and substantially overlaps with, the Patristic era.

Religion and circumcision

Religious circumcision generally occurs shortly after birth, during childhood, or around puberty as part of a rite of passage. Circumcision is most prevalent in the religions of Judaism and Islam. Circumcision for religious reasons is most prominently practiced by members of the Jewish and Islamic faiths. Brit milah According to the Torah and Halakha (Jewish religious law), ritual circumcision of all male Jews and their slaves (Genesis ) is a Commandment from God that Jews are obligated to perform on the eighth day of birth, and is only postponed or abrogated in the case of threat to the life or health of the child.

Genital modification and mutilation

Genital modifications are forms of body modifications applied to the human sexual organs, such as piercings, circumcision, or labiaplasty. Body modification Many types of genital modification are performed at the behest of the individual, for personal, sexual, aesthetic or cultural reasons. Penile subincision, or splitting of the underside of the penis, is widespread in the traditional cultures of Indigenous Australians. This procedure has taken root in Western body modification culture, the modern primitives.