The Case Against Circumcision

It's almost one year since Jonathon Conte committed suicide.

At the time of his death, Conte was 34. He lived in San Francisco. He suffered from depression. His depression was reportedly linked to his circumcision — the removal of the foreskin from the penis, a procedure usually performed as an infant for religious or cultural reasons.

Conte was an activist campaigning for the end of routine male circumcision. He was an intactivist.

An estimated one-third of males worldwide are circumcised. The procedure is most common in the Muslim world and Israel (where it's near-universal for religious reasons), the United States (where it's estimated that four out of five men are circumcised), and parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. Circumcision is relatively rare in Europe, Latin America, parts of Southern Africa, and most of Asia.

The origin of circumcision is not known with certainty — the oldest documented evidence for it comes from ancient Egypt. Various theories have been proposed as to its origin – the consensus is generally that it began as some form of religious sacrifice or as a rite of passage marking a boy’s entrance into adulthood. The circumcision of infant males is part of religious law in Judaism, and it's also an established practice in Islam, Coptic Christianity, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

Research indicates that circumcision became a common medical procedure in the UK and the US in the late 19th century — doctors began recommending it as a deterrent to masturbation.

Today the positions of the world’s major medical organisations range from considering elective circumcision of babies and children as having no health benefit and involving significant risks to the child, to having a modest health benefit that outweighs the small risks involved.

I am not circumcised. I was born in Australia in the early 1970s. Some of my cousins were circumcised, but (according to my mother) the doctors in the hospital where I was born were discouraging the practice.

I always feel a bit sad when confronted by a circumcised penis. I like to have sex with a guy with a foreskin – it somehow just feels right, everything moves more smoothly, there's less friction, everything is a bit more relaxed. I don’t think parents should even contemplate mutilating the genitals of their infant children. I guess I’m an intact intactivist.

Putting to one side the complexity of religious requirements, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to circumcise their child. Sure, I've met plenty of circumcised guys who don't think twice about a circumcised penis – it's all that they've known. But they haven't consented to have that part of their body removed, it's a decision made by well-meaning but misinformed parents. I can’t help but feel sympathy, if not empathy, for Jonathon Conte and all the men around the world who've had their penis mutilated at the request of well-meaning but misinformed parents.

Studies (and conversations with friends who are circumcised) suggest that circumcision doesn’t negatively impact sexual function in any material way. Although it must make it a bit more awkward to masturbate, and it must desensitise the head of the penis – what does an uncircumcised guy feel different to what a circumcised guy feels? How could that possibly be measured? Beyond the physical impact of the procedure, the emotional impact of circumcision seems to be completely unknown – although the depression suffered by Jonathan Conte is probably at the extreme end of the spectrum.

There are obvious parallels between female genital mutilation (FGM) and the circumcision of infant males. While it could be argued that FGM has more obvious impacts on sexual function, it seems fairly obvious that it's a medical modification of otherwise healthy genitals – purely for the purpose of religious or cultural tradition. At last count, around 52 countries around the world have explicitly banned FGM. While there are restrictions that have been enacted in various jurisdictions, there are currently no countries that have banned the circumcision of infant males.

On the anniversary of the death of Jonathon Conte, let's pause and reflect on the practice of circumcision. Let's put a stop to the mutilation of the genitals of the world's men. Let's all be intactivists.