| Year |
Event |
| 300 million BCE |
Reptiles evolve internal fertilization,
using a retractable penis. |
| 100 million BCE |
A proto-mammalian species
evolves the foreskin, which becomes a genital feature in most
mammals. |
| 5 million BCE |
Australopithecus (hominid ape): penis
has foreskin |
| 400,000 BCE |
Homo sapiens: complete
with foreskin |
| 130,000 BCE |
Modern humans: complete with foreskin
|
| 10,000 (?) BCE |
Aboriginal tribes in
central and desert regions of Australia introduce circumcision
of boys as puberty rite |
| 6000 (?) BCE |
Circumcision (male and female) practised
as puberty rite by tribes in eastern African and Arabian peninsular
|
| 3100 BCE |
Egypt invaded from the
south, perhaps by African tribes bringing circumcision with
them. |
| 2300 BCE |
Egyptian bas-relief which may show some
form of genital mutilation being performed. The relief is eroded
and hard to interpret. More commonly seen as modern reconstruction.
One interpretation is that it just shows the pubic hair being
shaved. Contrary to some reports, no circumcised mummies
have been found, but some statues show what may be a superincision
(cutting a slit in the upper side of the foreskin, or dorsal
slit). |
| 600 BCE |
First five books of
Hebrew Bible (Torah) compiled, including Genesis with its reference
to Yaweh’s command to Abraham to circumcise himself, his sons
and his slaves and servants. Circumcision enforced by priests
among Jewish people as sign of the Covenant. |
| 450 BCE |
Greek historians note prevalence of
circumcision and other penile mutilations among the Arabs and
other Middle Eastern tribes. Herodotus (485-420 BCE) observes
and deplores circumcision among the Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians,
Syrians, and Macrones, as well as the Egyptian priestly caste.
He criticises the fanatical ritual cleanliness of the Egyptian
priests: "They [even] practice circumcision for the sake of
cleanliness, considering it better to be clean than handsome"
- a perverse sacrifice in Greek eyes. (The context is things
Egyptians do that are the reverse of what other, more sensible,
people do.) He reports that the salutary influence of Greek
culture led the Phoenicians to abandon circumcision. (See Frederick
Hodges, "The ideal prepuce", including excellent illustrations
from Greek art and sculpture). |
| 170 BCE |
The Seleucid king Antiochus
IV Epiphanes (175-165 BCE) consolidates Alexander’s empire,
and attempts to impose Greek civilization, including a ban on
ritual circumcision. Some Jews seek foreskin restoration. |
| ANNO DOMINI or Christian Era |
Jesus born and circumcised in accordance
with Jewish practice. |
| 43 |
St Paul convinces a
meeting in Jerusalem that circumcision
is not required for Christian converts. |
| 45 |
Philo
(c.15 BCE to c.50 CE), a Jewish philosopher in Alexandria, defends
circumcision on the ground that it is a valuable curb on sexual
indulgence:
"The legislators thought good to dock the organ which
ministers to such intercourse, thus making circumcision the
symbol of excision of excessive and superfluous pleasure."
|
| 132 |
Roman Emperor Hadrian
(98-138 CE) extends a previous ban, by Emperors Domitian (81-96)
and Nerva (96-98), on the castration of citizens or slaves throughout
the Roman Empire, to include circumcision. |
| 140 |
Mishnah (commentary on Torah)
first written down. Gives details of Periah, or radical
circumcision, involving tearing back the foreskin and ripping
it from the glans, (not just cutting off the tip, as done previously.)
Thought to be instituted then to prevent Jews who did not like
being circumcised from stretching the remnants of their foreskin
so as to cover up the glans and thus being able to pass as uncircumcised
and take part in Greek athletic contests and other Graeco-Roman
social life. Emperor Antoninus Pius lifts the legal prohibition
on circumcision, but only for Jews, not their slaves, servants
or other non-Jews (as prescribed by Genesis and Jewish law).
|
| 170 |
Galen (131-201) describes
methods of foreskin restoration. |
| 320 |
Emperor Constantine renews the ban on
Jews circumcising non-Jews (such as their slaves, as was their
practice). |
| 533 |
The Digest of
Justinian restates the ban of Constantine. |
| 550 |
Christian church begins celebrating
1 January as the Feast of the Circumcision (of Christ). |
| 570 |
Mohammed born "already
circumcised" supposedly giving rise to the rule of circumcision
among Moslems, the largest group of circumcised men in the world
today. Further
information. |
| 7th-11th century |
Islamic armies overrun much of Middle
East, central Asia, northern Africa and Spain. Indigenous cultures
swamped and rule of circumcision enforced on local populations
by Moslem conquerors. Some Christians excused because they are
"people of the Book". Islam eventually reaches India, Malayan
peninsular and Indonesian archipelago, bringing circumcision
in its wake. |
| 12th century |
Moses
ben Maimon (Maimonides, 1135-1204), Jewish physician, writes
Guide for the perplexed, in which he explains that circumcision
was test of faith, the main purpose of which was injure the
penis and discourage sexual indulgence. |
| 1350 |
Polynesian voyagers reach Aotearoa (New
Zealand) and abandon supercision. Maoris never practise circumcision
or any other form of genital mutilation and regard foreskin
as sacred. |
| 15th century |
Jacopo
Berengario da Carpi (1460-1530), Italian anatomist, identifies
the most sensitive part of the penis as the foreskin. |
| 16th century |
Gabriele Falloppio (1523-62) describes
function of the foreskin to provide lubrication and increase
pleasure during sex. |
| 17th century |
William Harvey (1578-1657),
the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, states that
circumcised men have less pleasure in sex. Giovanni Sinibaldi
identifies the clitoris as the functional equivalent of the
foreskin and as each the main source of sexual pleasure for
women and men respectively. |
| 1650s |
During English revolution some extreme
Puritan sects turn back to Old Testament and decide that Christians
are subject to Law of the Covenant. One woman is gaoled for
circumcising little boys in obedience to this belief. |
| 1685 |
Aristotle’s Master-piece,
a popular sex manual throughout the eighteenth century, states
that the main source of male sexual pleasure arises from the
friction of the foreskin moving back and forth over the glans.
|
| 1716 |
Publication of Onania, or the heinous
sin of self-pollution, and all its frightful consequences in
both sexes in London, giving rise to the irrational phobia
about masturbation which persisted throughout the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, and which still survives among members
of the US Congress. For the next 250 years doctors insist it
is a scientifically proven medical fact that masturbation is
physically and mentally harmful and must be stopped at any cost.
|
| 1740s |
Improvements in surgical
technique allow amputation of diseased tissue from the penis
in advanced cases of syphilis. Because syphilitic sores were
often found on the foreskin, some physicians got the idea that
circumcised men might be less vulnerable to infection. |
| 1758 |
Publication of Onanism, or a treatise
on the disorders produced by masturbation, by Swiss physician
Simon-Andre Tissot, further spreading the theory of masturbatory
disease throughout Europe. |
| 1786 |
English surgeon John
Hunter observes that the foreskin was necessary to provide the
slack skin to accommodate the penis in its erect and enlarged
state. |
| 1830s (France) |
French physician Claude-Francois Lallemand
introduces circumcision as treatment for masturbation in boys
and "spermatorrhoea" (involuntary loss of semen) in men. Suggests
widespread circumcision of young boys as preventive of masturbation.
Ideas not taken up in Europe, but catch on in Britain and USA.
|
| 1840s (Britain) |
English physicians invent
the idea that a tight and non-retractable foreskin in male babies
is a congenital abnormality which ought to be corrected by surgery.
|
| 1850s |
James Copland, in Dictionary of practical
medicine, popularises the idea of circumcision as a means
of discouraging masturbation among boys. |
| 1855 |
Jonathan Hutchinson,
English physician, writes influential article, based on observations
of a few Jewish and non-Jewish VD cases, that circumcised men
are less likely to contract syphilis. Urges widespread circumcision
in infancy. ("On the influence of circumcision in preventing
syphilis", Medical Times and Gazette, NS Vol. II, 1 December
1855, pp. 542-3) |
| late 1850s |
Clitoridectomy introduced as a treatment
for hysteria, epilepsy, masturbation and other nervous diseases
in women. On the relevance of this to male circumcision, see
research
by Ornella Moscucci |
| 1860 |
Athol Johnson practises
and urges circumcision to cure masturbation in boys. ("On an
injurious habit occasionally met with in infancy and early childhood",
Lancet, 7 April 1860, pp. 344-5) |
| 1860s |
Circumcision as means of curing or preventing
masturbation in boys becomes widespread medical dogma in Britain.
For the next 100 years (and in the USA 150 years) doctors insist
it is a scientifically proven medical fact that the foreskin
is harmful to the physical and moral health males and must be
surgically removed before they even become conscious that it
was ever there. |
| 1865 |
William Acton, in the
many editions of Functions and disorders of the reproductive
organs, condemns foreskin as "source of serious mischief"
because of its sensitivity and responsiveness to touch. Rejects
emerging medical dogma that glans of penis is most sensitive
part. Considers foreskin necessary to sexual performance in
old age. Condemns masturbation and treats spermatorrhoea by
cauterising urethra with silver nitrate. |
| 1867 |
British medical profession rejects and
effectively bans clitoridectomy because it is an irreversible
mutilation and often performed without informed consent. |
| 1870 (USA) |
In the USA Lewis A.
Sayre applies theories of Lallemand and announces that circumcision
cures "paralysis" (polio), epilepsy and masturbation, setting
off the medical craze for "therapeutic" circumcision. Calls
for universal circumcision of male infants. |
| 1870s (Australia) |
George Beaney, Melbourne doctor, popularises
the theories of Acton on the harmfulness of masturbation and
urges curative and preventive circumcision. |
| 1874 (Austria) |
Eugen Levit, a Jewish
doctor in Vienna, publishes pamphlet urging Jews to abolish
circumcision and replace it with non-injurious rite. |
| 1877 (USA) |
John
Harvey Kellogg MD (1852-1943) publishes the first edition
of Plain facts for old and young, in which he promotes
circumcision as a cure for masturbation. He writes that the
operation was to be performed "without administering an anaesthetic,
as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary
effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the
idea of punishment." |
| 1882 |
Norman H. Chapman, Professor
of Nervous and Mental Disease at the University of Kansas City,
writes: "It is always good surgery to correct this deformity
[a long and contracted foreskin] ... as a precautionary measure,
even though no symptoms have as yet presented themselves", thus
ushering in routine or "preventive" circumcision. (Medical
News (Philadelphia) Vol. 41, p. 317) |
| 1885 |
Dr Samuel Newman of New York advocates
the circumcision of newborn boys. One of the advantages he claimed
was that it could be done without anaesthetic, and he borrowed
the idea of strapping the baby to a board from the Indians.
This became the modern circumstraint, still used in many hospitals
to immobilise the baby while the doctor cuts off part of his
penis. |
| late 1880s |
The newly formed American
Academy of Pediatrics supports Lewis Sayre’s call for routine
neonatal circumcision. Determined to lower the nation’s infant
mortality rate by reducing often-lethal diarrhoea, the AAP argues
that the foreskin irritates the penis, which irritates the nervous
system, which hampers digestion, which causes diarrhoea. Simultaneously,
the AAP also condemns breast
milk, claiming it is a leading cause of infant diarrhoea.
This is the nineteenth century version of the urinary tract
infection scare (UTI), the only surviving justification for
infant circumcision. |
| 1890 (Britain) |
Herbert Snow, a London doctor, publishes
The barbarity of circumcision, in which he deplores the
rapid spread of the practice. Jonathan Hutchinson publishes
article "Circumcision as a preventive of masturbation", in which
he regrets that public opinion would not allow the introduction
of castration as well in severe cases. |
| 1893 |
Publication of P.C Remondino,
History of circumcision from the earliest times to the present:
Moral and physical reasons for its performance. Dr Remondino
was one of the most ardent crusaders for universal infant circumcision
before Terry Russell and Brian Morris, and just as scientific.
His lengthy book on the subject, stressing moral as well as
physical reasons, was a diatribe against the foreskin as a "moral
outlaw", as well as a pathogenic feature of the male body which
nature ought to have abolished. He claimed that the foreskin
caused and circumcision could cure just about everything from
syphilis and tuberculosis to night terrors and bed wetting.
|
| 1900 (Britain) |
Jonathan Hutchinson delivers widely
reported lecture in which he urges universal male circumcision
as a preventive of syphilis. ("The advantages of circumcision",
Medical Review, Vol. 3, p. 641) E. Harding Freeland publishes
article in which he claimed that universal male circumcision
would reduce the incidence of syphilis by 49 per cent. (Lancet,
29 December, pp. 1869-71) |
| 1900 (Australia) |
Richard Arthur, purity
campaigner and later Minister for Health in New South Wales,
urges parents to adopt circumcision as cure for and preventive
of masturbation in boys. Australian newborn circumcision rate
estimated at 25 per cent. |
| 1901 (Australia) |
H.G.H . Naylor publishes "A plea for
early circumcision" in Australasian Medical Gazette |
| 1903 (Australia) |
Popular medical writer
Philip Muskett urges circumcision in his widely read Illustrated
Australian Medical Guide |
| 1914 (USA) |
Abraham Wolbarst, Jewish doctor in New
York, urges universal male circumcision as a preventive of syphilis,
cancer and masturbation. (Journal of the American Medical
Association, Vol. 62, 1914, pp. 92-7) |
| 1916 (Australia) |
Conference organised
by Workers Educational Association of New South Wales recommends
circumcision as preventive of syphilis and masturbation. |
| 1920s-50s |
Most Australian baby and child care
guides recommend routine circumcision. Some suggest circumcision
of girls in cases of persistent masturbation, though this is
rarely done. Photos
of procedures. |
| 1920 |
Australian routine circumcision
rate reaches 50 per cent |
| 1928 (USA) |
In the USA Dr Thomas Bolling Gay recommends
routine infant circumcision to prevent phimosis and hence masturbation.
(Journal of the American Medical Association, 21 July
1928) |
| 1932 |
Abraham Wolbarst claims
that smegma causes and circumcision prevents cancer of the penis.
|
| 1934 |
Hiram S. ("Inch") Yellen, MD (1894-1969)
and Aaron A. Goldstein (1899-1945) invent the Gomco
clamp,a particularly cruel device for separating boys from
their foreskins. |
| 1935 |
Dr R.W. Cockshutt states
that all boys should be circumcised as an incentive to chastity.
(British Medical Journal, 1935 (2), p. 764) |
| 1941 |
Alan Guttmacher writes (approvingly)
that some US doctors circumcise routinely without even consulting
parents, and that 75 per cent of boys born in urban hospitals
are circumcised. ("Should the baby be circumcised?", Parents
Magazine, Vol. 16, pp. 26, 76-8) |
| 1942 |
Battle of Guadalcanal.
Mass circumcision of US soldiers in the Pacific in response
to "an outbreak of phimosis and paraphimosis"! Military circumcisers
Eugene A. Hand and Abraham Ravich promote circumcision to the
masses through medical and popular journals after the war. |
| 1942 |
Battle of El Alamein: allied offensive
begins in Egypt. Some British, Australian and New Zealand soldiers
are forcibly circumcised concurrently with widespread skin infections,
giving rise to "sand under the foreskin" myth. Italian and German
soldiers (all uncut) mysteriously unaffected by this problem.
|
| 1946-7 |
British National Health
Service set up, putting hospital doctors on salary and paying
family doctors a flat rate per patient on their books. Circumcision
not included in schedule of free procedures. Incidence of circumcision
in Britain falls from about 35 per cent to less than 10 per
cent. |
| 1949 |
Joseph Lewis publishes In the name
of humanity, an eloquent condemnation of infant circumcision
on rational and humanitarian grounds. You may be able to get
a second hand copy from abebooks. |
| 1949 |
Douglas Gairdner publishes
article "The fate of the foreskin", finally correcting the medical
profession’s misunderstanding of infantile phimosis and showing
that a phimotic condition is normal and healthy in infants and
boys. (British Medical Journal, 24 December 1949, pp.
1433-7). Full
text here. |
| 1950 |
US troops land in South Korea. Under
subsequent US occupation and influence, South
Korea adopts universal boyhood circumcision. |
| 1955 (Australia) |
Australian routine circumcision
rate peaks at 90 per cent. |
| 1962 |
National Women’s Hospital opens in Auckland,
New Zealand,
as a publicly-funded, foreskin-friendly zone. This leads to
a dramatic fall in the rate of circumcision in NZ. |
| 1965 |
W.K.C. Morgan publishes
"The rape of the phallus", the first criticism of circumcision’s
murky psychology to appear in a US medical journal. Full
text here. |
| 1965 (Australia) |
Australian circumcision rate declines
to 70 per cent. Total number of circumcised males reaches all-time
peak of 60 per cent; proportion falls from now on. |
| 1966 (USA) |
Excessively severe circumcision
(involving amputation of entire penis) of "John Thiessen" (Bruce,
now David, Reimer) in Winnipeg leading to sex-reassignment surgery
and failed attempt to bring him up as a girl. |
| 1970 |
In the USA Van Lewis and his brother
Ben carry signs saying "Infant Circumcision is a Sex Crime.
Abolish it." "Sex Criminals for Hire? Inquire Within" "Abolish
Infant Circumcision" and "Men’s Liberation" outside the Tallahassee
Memorial Hospital, Tallahassee, Florida, and are arrested. They
are charged with disturbing the peace and spend a night in the
cells. |
| 1971 |
American Academy of
Pediatrics finds "no valid medical indications for routine infant
circumcision." |
| 1971 (April) |
The Australian Pediatric Association
recommends that "newborn male infants should not, as a routine,
be circumcised". (Medical Journal of Australia, 22 May
1971, p. 1148) |
| 1975 (Australia) |
Australian circumcision
rate declines to 50 per cent. |
| 1983 |
Australian College of Paediatrics issues
statement on
circumcision which states: "1. The ACP should continue to
discourage the practice of circumcision in the newborn male
infant." |
| 1985 (Australia) |
Commonwealth Minister
for Health (Neal Blewett) announces that Medicare will no longer
pay for medically unnecessary circumcisions from taxpayers’
healthcare funds. Decision reversed after intervention by Prime
Minister Hawke, bowing to pressure from Jewish and Moslem community
groups. |
| 1985 (USA) |
In the USA nurse Marilyn Milos is fired
for advising parents against circumcision and founds NOCIRC
(the National Organisation of Circumcision Information Resource
Centers). |
| Late 1980s |
Demands from circumcision
advocates for mass circumcision as a means of controlling AIDS.
At this time USA has highest proportion of circumcised men and
highest incidence of AIDS cases in developed world. Further
information. |
| 1988 |
California Medical Association declares
circumcision "an effective public health measure" on a voice
vote, at the instigation of long-time militant circumcision
advocate, Aaron Fink. |
| 1988 |
Canadian Paediatric
Society reaffirms its stand against routine circumcision. |
| 1989 (World) |
United Nations adopts Convention on
the Rights of the Child. Section 14 guarantees children their
own freedom of belief and religion, and Section 24.3 requires
signatories to "take all effective and appropriate measures
with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial
to the health of children", meaning circumcision among other
cruel or harmful customs. Ratified by Australia, December 1990.
|
| 1989 |
First
International Symposium on Circumcision, at Anaheim, California
adopts a declaration
of bodily integrity. |
| 1989 |
American Academy of Pediatrics proposal
that its 1971 position against routine circumcision be re-examined
is widely misreported as a reversal of its position. |
| 1990 (Australia) |
Australian circumcision
rate declines to 20 per cent |
| 1991 |
Second
International Symposium on Circumcision, San Francisco,
California. John Taylor describes the ridged band of the foreskin.
|
| 1992 (Australia) |
In the case of "Marion",
an intellectually handicapped girl whom her guardian wished
to sterilise, the High Court held that where a significant medical
intervention was not needed for the immediate health of a minor,
the permission of the Family Court was required. |
| 1992 |
More than 20 nurses at St Vincent Hospital,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, refuse to assist with circumcisions. |
| 1993 |
Claim that uncircumcised
men had significantly higher rate of cancer of the penis exposed
as a myth, yet again. |
| 1993 (Australia) |
Queensland Law Reform Commission suggests
that circumcision of minors without consent is probably unlawful
under the Queensland criminal code. |
| 1993 |
Important paper by Williams
and Kapila on risks and complications of circumcision published
in British Journal of Surgery. Full
text here. Photos of typical but not so aesthetically
pleasing circumcision outcomes are available
here. |
| 1994 |
David Gollaher publishes landmark article
on history of medically rationalised circumcision in Journal
of Social History. Full
text here. |
| 1995 |
Two of the nurses of
St Vincent (see 1992), Mary Conant and Betty Katz Sperlich,
found Nurses for the Rights of the Child. |
| 1996 (USA) |
Female circumcision (female genital
mutilation, or FGM) banned by US federal government |
| 1996 (Britain) |
R. Taylor’s paper on
the prepuce as specialised mucosa of the penis published in
the British Journal of Urology. It describes the uniquely
dense innervation of the ridged bands of the foreskin. Full
text here. |
| 1996 (Canada) |
Canadian Paediatric Society Foetus and
Newborn Committee state that it "does not support recommending
circumcision as a routine procedure for newborns." |
| 1996 (Australia) |
The Australasian Association
of Paediatric Surgeons states that it "does not support the
routine circumcision of male neonates, infants or children in
Australia. It is considered to be inappropriate and unnecessary
as a routine to remove the prepuce". Australian College of Paediatrics
waters down statement against circumcision in response to AIDS
scare and religious pressure. |
| 1996 |
Fourth International Symposium on Sexual
Mutilations, Lausanne, Switzerland, adopts the Ashley
Montagu declaration and submits it to the World Court. |
| 1997 |
Paper by A. Taddio on
circumcision pain shows that pain of circumcision heightens
fear and pain of subsequent vaccination and other procedures.
Further information
on pain. |
| 1997 |
Paper by Edward O. Laumann et al on
circumcision, sexual practice and STDs shows circumcision does
not prevent STDs, and that higher STD rate correlates with more
varied (stimulation-hungry?) sexual practices. Full
text here. |
| 1997 |
Paper by J. Lander et
al proves the pain of circumcision to be excruciating. Circumcision
without anaesthetic was discontinued in the study for ethical
reasons. Full
text here. |
| 1997 |
Rolling Stone blows the whistle
on Dr John Money’s attempt at surgical sex reassignment in the
"John/Joan/John" case. |
| 1997 (Egypt) |
Egyptian High Court
overturns a government attempt to ban female circumcision. The
Islamic cleric who led traditional opposition to the ban not
only thanked God for preserving a religious custom and requirement
handed down by mothers and grandmothers for fourteen centuries,
but stated that the operation protected the nation from AIDS
by reducing promiscuity. (Los Angeles Times, 25 June)
|
| 1998 (USA) |
Highly publicised death of baby Dustin
Evans Jnr in Cleveland, Ohio, under anaesthetic during attempt
to repair damage arising from circumcision complications. Doctors
were at pains to distance his death from his circumcision. |
| 1998 |
Study of UTIs by To
et al shows that it would take 195 circumcisions to prevent
one UTI. You can see
a graphic illustration of this figure. |
| 1999 |
In a standard textbook, leading paediatrician
refers to circumcision as a mutilation: "it is fundamentally
illogical that mutilating someone might be beneficial." (N.R.C.
Roberton, "Care of the normal term newborn baby", in Janet M.
Rennie, N.R.C. Roberton (eds) Textbook of neonatology
(3rd edn, Edinburgh 1999), pp. 378-379. |
| 1999 (USA) |
The American Academy
of Pediatrics issues new
policy on routine male circumcision which states that the
potential medical benefits of circumcision do not warrant performing
it routinely, but that paediatricians may perform it at
the parents’ behest for "cultural, religious, and ethnic" reasons,
but that analgesia is essential. You can compare that policy
with their policy
on female genital mutilation. |
| 1999 |
Medina General Hospital, Ohio, settles
with parents who had sued for $10,000,000. Their son had the
tip of his penis amputated during a "routine" circumcision.
|
| 1999 (Britain) |
An English judge rules
that a Muslim father may not have his son circumcised contrary
to the mother’s wishes, even though they had originally agreed
to raise the child as Muslim. The ruling is upheld in the Court
of Appeal, which stated: "a newborn child does not share
the conceptions of the parents" and "it [is] not in the
best interests of the child to be circumcised, with its risk
of pain and psychological damage which the boy would find
hard to understand." Further information. Further
information. |
| 1999 |
The Lancet publishes editorial
by Halperin and Bailey calling for mass circumcision in Africa
to prevent spread of HIV-AIDS. Media in USA interpret this as
a call for mass circumcision everywhere. Halperin tells the
Bay Area Reporter in San Francisco: "If I were a top
[insertive partner in anal sex], and didn’t like to use condoms,
I would consider getting circumcised" - contradicting his own
advice in the editorial, leaving the false impression that circumcision
conferred immunity against infection, and seeming ignorant that
most American males are already circumcised. AIDS continues
to spread in Africa even though more than half the adult male
population there is also already foreskin-free. |
| 1999 (Australia) |
In Perth, WA, Shane
Peterson sues the doctor who circumcised him as an infant for
disability, pain and suffering arising from the operation. In
an out of court settlement the physician admitted liability
and agreed to a payment of $A360,000. Further
details |
| 2000 |
Australian circumcision rate stabilises
at 12 per cent nationally – but higher in New South Wales and
much higher in Queensland. Total number of circumcised males
falls to 48 per cent. |
| 2000 |
Article by G. Boyle,
J.S. Svoboda and C. Price, "Circumcision of healthy boys: Criminal
assault?" published. Full
text here. |
| 2000 |
Parents of Jacob Sweet, brain damaged
after infection arising from circumcision in Anchorage, Alaska,
settle medical
malpractice suit against doctors after 13 years. |
| 2000 |
The American Medical
Association issues a policy
statement on circumcision, calling it "non-therapeutic"
and recommending anaesthesia, but still endorsing the 1999 statement
of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Further
discussion. |
| 2000 |
Publication of The ethical canary
by Margaret Somerville, including a chapter disputing the ethics
of circumcising male babies. Summary. |
| 2000 (Australia) |
Sixth International
Symposium on Genital Integrity in Sydney, Australia. Ken McGrath
(from NZ) first describes the frenular
delta. |
| 2000 (USA) |
William Stowell, aged 18, feeling pissed
off, injured and ashamed of being cut, sues the doctor who circumcised
him and the hospital where it was done. Further
information. |
| 2001 (Canada) |
Ontario Human Rights
Commission reviews its policy on male circumcision, recognises
the reality of harm, and moves its position closer to its policy
on female genital mutilation. |
| 2001 |
The Association for Genital Integrity
in Toronto applies for public funding under the government’s
Court Challenges Program to file a court challenge to extend
the Canadian Charter to include males in protection against
genital mutilation. Application is refused. Further
information. |
| 2001 (USA) |
Marilyn Milos wins Nurseweek
award for patient advocacy. Nocirc issues statement
on Circumcision and AIDS. |
| 2001 |
Important article by K. Bonner argues
that circumcision is not a "natural condom". Full
text here. |
| 2001 (Sweden) |
Sweden
passes a law setting rules for infant male circumcision, including
mandatory use of anaesthetic. Jewish and Moslem organisations
protest and threaten to take Swedish Government to the European
Court of Human Rights. |
| 2001 (Africa) |
Approximately 100 southern African boys
reported to have died as a result of tribal circumcision. Further
information. You can search
for news articles here. |
| 2001 |
Medicaid North Carolina
ends public funding of routine circumcision. |
| 2002 (April) |
Revival of old claim that male foreskin
increases risk of cervical cancer in women makes headlines round
the world. One of the researchers demands universal male circumcision.
The shonky statistical manipulations and ethical bankruptcy
of the researchers pass unnoticed by the media. Further
information. |
| 2002 (July) |
At Barcelona conference,
World Health Organisation rejects circumcision as element of
strategy in control of AIDS in Africa. Endorses continued reliance
on proven methods of control, including sex education, promotion
of human rights and gender quality, and provision of condoms.
(See Stover J, Walker N, Garnet GP, et al, "Can we reverse the
HIV/AIDS pandemic with an expanded response?" Lancet
Vol. 360, 2002, pp. 73-77.) |
| 2002 (USA) |
Medicaid Arizona stops public funding
of routine circumcision. |
| 2002 |
Medicaid Missouri stops
public funding of routine circumcision. |
| 2002 (September) |
Royal Australasian College of Physicians
issues new statement on circumcision which states that there
is "no medical indication for routine male circumcision"
and "no evidence of benefit outweighing harm for circumcision
as a routine procedure". The full statement is available
on the RACP website.
Further information on this site |
|
2002 (Denmark) |
Articles in Danish
magazine Politiken compare male circumcision to female genital
mutilation and call for a ban on circumcision of boys. They
should have the same protection from unnecessary genital alterations
as girls.
Article
by Uffe Hastrup, 20 November 2002
Article
by Lau Sander Esbensen |
|
2002 (December) |
Chairman of Danish Council of Medical
Ethics calls for ban on circumcision of boys before the age
of consent; he states that "no adult is entitled to carry
out irreversible surgery on a child, unless it is for health
reasons"; and that "prior to eighteen years of age,
Danish children have a right to be protected from ritual interventions
which can cause pain or permanent damage". Full
text of article translated here. |
2003 (February) |
Medical Journal of Australia publishes three important
articles showing that too many circumcisions are being performed
in Australia and that the foreskin plays an important role in
sexual function. Full
text of the articles |
