Circumcision: Gender and Power

Abstract

When people hear the term “circumcision”, many associations pop up, depending upon cultural, religious and educational backgrounds. For many Americans, Jews, and Muslims, circumcision is an unquestioned rite of passage, be it secular or religious. For secular Americans, it is an assumed medical “improvement.” For religious Jews and Muslims, it is a sacred mark of belonging, and for secular Jews, the tribal connection is often paramount. For non-circumcising cultures, circumcision is a confounding, primitive rite with no imaginable redemptive value. When viewed without the heavily laden trappings of tradition and pseudo-science, circumcision is most basically about the removal of functional sexual tissue from an unconsenting, forcibly restrained human being. Both in origin as well as in its effects, circumcision is neither about medical benefits, nor that which is holy. Indeed, circumcision, most fundamentally is a cruel distortion and reconfiguring of the most primary attributes of gender and power. This is its true purpose, and this is what we must understand if we are to make the world safe for our baby boys.