La circoncision : une mutilation ?

The author of this article presents some arguments by which the systematic removal of the foreskin of the penis of male children is considered sexual mutilation founded on metaphysical sacrifice. It is a painful and bloody, though partial, removal of an organ designed to provide pleasure, with the purpose of gaining the right to enjoy what is left. This means that all other forms of justification, ranging from the respect of some vague rule of hygiene through to the promise of increased virility, are spurious and have no scientific foundations. First appearing in sub-Saharan Africa before biblical times, this form of mutilation reached the valley of the Nile, Nubia, Egypt and the whole of the Middle-East. Although prescribed by the Old Testament as “pleasing to God”, Paul of Tarsus cast doubt on the moral merit of circumcision. This was how Christians, and therefore Europeans, came to be protected from this practice. African customs and two monotheistic religions still demand circumcision to be performed. It continues in non-religious countries, despite legislation against it, confirmed in the EU by the Council of Europe resolution 1952 (2013), which deals with issues of children's rights to physical integrity. Traditional circumcision is an anachronistic custom similar to the Chinese custom of binding the feet of young girls. Other ways of ritually marking the penis could easily be found.