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Circumcision

An African Point of View

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Male and Female Circumcision

Abstract

Circumcision, by which I mean any surgical intervention on the genitals of a human being for cultural, religious, or purely secular and profane reasons, has recently become a highly controversial issue reminiscent of such other issues as the abortion debate. Pro-circumcisionists have marshalled as many arguments in its favour as anti-circumcisionists have marshalled against it. Quite interestingly, both sides have used science and the work of eminent scientists to support their respective positions, making it evident that science can be a double-edged sword which lends itself readily as an alibi for strongly held preferences or cultural biases.

In this paper, I discuss circumcision as a rite of passage within an African culture—that of the Nso’ of the north-westem grasslands of Cameroon. I then attempt to provide what I consider cross-cultural arguments against circumcision without prior informed consent, especially routine infant circumcision. I also argue, however, for the availability, in principle, of circumcision under the best medical conditions possible, for well-informed adults who, for any reason, freely insist on undergoing it.

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Authors
  1. Godfrey B. Tangwa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seanle, Washington

    George C. Denniston

  2. Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, England

    Frederick Mansfield Hodges

  3. National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, San Anselmo, California

    Marilyn Fayre Milos

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© 1999 Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers, New York

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Tangwa, G.B. (1999). Circumcision. In: Denniston, G.C., Hodges, F.M., Milos, M.F. (eds) Male and Female Circumcision. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-39937-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-39937-9_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-46131-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-585-39937-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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