The Jew's penis: circumcision and sexual pathology in eighteenth-century England.

This essay explores the contradictory, prejudicial attitudes towards circumcision and Jewish male sexuality circulating in eighteenth-century English print culture. I argue that while Jewish men had long been accused of lustfulness, effeminacy and sexual deviance, eighteenth-century culture added to these concerns a unique interest in sexual pathology, borne in part from the growing medical anxiety around venereal disease. Consequently, while Jewish men were still widely condemned for their lechery, they were also increasingly ridiculed for a range of penile and sexual disorders that were believed to make sex unsatisfying, difficult or even impossible-most notably impotence, a condition often associated with venereal disease. I link these paradoxical eighteenth-century characterisations of Jewish male sexuality with a similarly paradoxical understanding of circumcision as a procedure that could prevent, but also cause, various penile or sexual disorders. I conclude that these prejudices not only constitute an example of what Sander Gilman has identified as the 'bipolar' nature of anti-Semitism; they also indicate a darker trend towards the pathologising of the Jewish body.

FIVE DEPICTIONS OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE CROATIAN SACRAL HERITAGE

Male circumcision has been perceived differently in different cultures. In modern times, if it is a non-medical indication, circumcision becomes the starting point of many ethical and other discussions. Its rootedness in Christianity is fixed, among other things, in sacral art and iconography. This article presents five sacral images of the Circumcision of Christ from the holdings of the Croatian sacral heritage with the aim of noticing their iconographic and sacral-medical values. In this article, it is presented the results of field research related to the identification and medical-iconographic presentation of the motive for the circumcision of Jesus Christ in the area of the northern and central Adriatic coast. Five such paintings have been recorded and will be described and compared with similar works by European masters. These are the works of Venetian and Central European provenance and were created between the 16th and 18th centuries. The basic traditional Jewish iconography is visible in all the paintings but modified according to current religious standards. These depictions from the area of Croatia contextualizing and filling in the gaps in verbal records on this topic in our region fit Croatia into an undoubted component of the European Judeo-Christian heritage and when it comes to rare iconographic depictions.

Male circumcision: ritual, science and responsibility.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: In Italy, four minors have died in the last year as a result of male circumcision (MC) procedures performed for cultural and religious reasons by unqualified persons in unhygienic conditions. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: After illustrating the historical and ethical outlines of the moral admissibility of MC within a comparative perspective, we examine the features of the Italian healthcare system with particular regard both to the heterogeneity of services available in the various Regions and to the risks engendered by excluding MC from the public health setting. CONCLUSION: In order to adequately safeguard public health, particularly that of minors, there is a pressing need for thorough discussion of whether the National Health Service should perform MC on minors free of charge or, at least, for a reduced fee. The implementation of targeted campaigns may raise awareness of the importance of proper safety measures in MC.

Circumcision in the paediatric patient: A review of indications, technique and complications.

Circumcision is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the world. Despite this, the practice of paediatric circumcision remains highly controversial, and continues to generate ongoing debate. This debate has become more relevant recently with the provisional guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending a change of practice. In this review article, we provide an overview of the history and incidence of circumcision, normal preputial development, types of phimosis, the absolute and relative indications for circumcision as well as the evidence base for its use as a preventative measure. Our aim is to provide paediatricians with a greater understanding of this common surgical procedure and the conditions it treats, to guide their clinical practice and parent counselling.

The evolutionary saga of circumcision from a religious perspective.

Circumcision is the oldest surgical operation known to mankind. It probably originated as a less radical form of genital mutilation inflicted on prisoners of war. Over time it was adopted by the Egyptian priesthood and nobility, perhaps inspired by the mythology of Osiris. In turn, circumcision became part of the Jewish and Muslim religious cultures. In contrast, ancient Greeks valued an intact prepuce, as evident from the nude figures of Renaissance art. In the 19th century, circumcision was touted as a treatment for excessive masturbation, seizures, epilepsy, and paraplegia. Adoption of the procedure by medical science was almost akin to a religious belief. By the mid-20th century, it was widely performed on male infants on the pretext of phimosis when the prepuce was not retractable. In 1949, Gairdner documented that the tight prepuce of infants gradually becomes retractile as childhood progresses. Thus, childhood circumcision solely for non-retractile prepuce is unnecessary, which is the foundation for modern anti-circumcision movements.

Foreskin and the molecular politics of risk.

In this paper, I examine disputes over recent claims that male circumcision reduces HIV risk to suggest a complicated relationship between risk individualization and categorization. Whereas randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted in sub-Saharan Africa appear to have provided key evidence for the World Health Organization's endorsement of male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy, RCTs alone did not provide evidence for the underlying causal mechanism. For that, medical authorities have turned to histo-immunological studies of the foreskin's biomolecular vulnerability to HIV, thus molecularizing risk. Some actors used these studies both as a way of shoring up results of RCTs conducted in sub-Saharan Africa and as an important rationale in arguments for making neonatal circumcision more widely available. Others, however, resisted this move to generalize the RCT results to other parts of the world, citing both contextual differences in HIV transmission patterns and conflicting scientific details regarding the biomolecular basis of the foreskin's susceptibility. Nevertheless, by locating an abstract notion of relative risk in the body itself, I argue that histological studies of foreskin have played a key role in stabilizing male circumcision status as a new risk category, largely independent of a given individual's risk profile.

Male circumcision to prevent syphilis in 1855 and HIV in 1986 is supported by the accumulated scientific evidence to 2015: Response to Darby.

An article by Darby disparaging male circumcision (MC) for syphilis prevention in Victorian times (1837-1901) and voluntary medical MC programs for HIV prevention in recent times ignores contemporary scientific evidence. It is one-sided and cites outlier studies as well as claims by MC opponents that support the author's thesis, but ignores high quality randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses. While we agree with Darby that risky behaviours contribute to syphilis and HIV epidemics, there is now compelling evidence that MC helps reduce both syphilis and HIV infections. Although some motivations for MC in Victorian times were misguided, others, such as protection against syphilis, penile cancer, phimosis, balanitis and poor hygiene have stood the test of time. In the absence of a cure or effective prophylactic vaccine for HIV, MC should help lower heterosexually acquired HIV, especially when coupled with other interventions such as condoms and behaviour. This should save lives, as well as reducing costs and suffering. In contrast to Darby, our evaluation of the evidence leads us to conclude that MC would likely have helped reduce syphilis in Victorian times and, in the current era, will help lower both syphilis and HIV, so improving global public health.

Risks, benefits, complications and harms: neglected factors in the current debate on non-therapeutic circumcision.

UNLABELLED: Much of the contemporary debate about the propriety of non-therapeutic circumcision of male infants and boys revolves around the question of risks vs. BENEFITS: With its headline conclusion that the benefits outweigh the risks, the current circumcision policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] (released 2012) is a typical instance of this line of thought. Since the AAP states that it cannot assess the true incidence of complications, however, critics have pointed out that this conclusion is unwarranted. In this paper it is argued that the AAP's conclusion is untenable not only for empirical reasons related to lack of data, but also for logical and conceptual reasons: the concept of risk employed-risk of surgical complications-is too narrow to be useful in the circumcision debate. Complications are not the only harms of circumcision: the AAP and other parties debating the pros and cons of circumcision should conceptualize their analysis more broadly as risk of harm vs. prospect of benefit, thereby factoring in the value of the foreskin to the individual and the physical and ethical harms of removing it from a non-consenting child.

Syphilis 1855 and HIV-AIDS 2007: Historical reflections on the tendency to blame human anatomy for the action of micro-organisms.

In this paper, I discuss the parallels between responses to syphilis in nineteenth century Britain and HIV/AIDS in contemporary Africa. In each case, an incurable disease connected with sexual behaviour aroused fear, stigmatisation and moralistic responses, as well as a desperate scramble to find an effective means of control. In both cases, circumcision of adult males, and then of children or infants, was proposed as the key tactic. In the ensuing debates over the effectiveness and propriety of this approach, three questions occupied health authorities in both Victorian Britain and the contemporary world: (1) Were circumcised men at significantly lower risk of these diseases? (2) If there was evidence pointing to an affirmative answer, was it altered anatomy or different behaviour that explained the difference? (3) Given that circumcision was a surgical procedure with attendant risks of infection, was it possible that circumcision spread syphilis or HIV? I show that in both situations the answers to these questions were inconclusive, argue that circumcision played little or no role in the eventual control of syphilis and suggest that attention to nineteenth century debates may assist contemporary policy-makers to avoid the treatment dead-ends and ethical transgressions that marked the war on syphilis.

The universal condition: medical constructions of 'congenital phimosis' in twentieth century New Zealand and their implications for child rearing.

'Congenital phimosis' was one of a number of pseudo-pathologies that entered mainstream medicine in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century Truby King, Henry Jellett, and Eric Corkill advocated premature foreskin retraction as the first intervention to manage 'congenital phimosis'. If that failed they recommended circumcision, although eventually it became more expedient to use circumcision exclusively. The nineteenth-century justification for such interventions was to prevent masturbation, but by the middle of the twentieth century this was replaced by prevention of infections. Gairdner's landmark paper of 1949 turned New Zealand doctors away from 'congenital phimosis' and non-therapeutic circumcision, although some doctors and persisting family traditions maintained both interventions until the end of the century.

A circumcision method in an old surgical textbook (Cerrahiyyetul Haniyye): reminding of a forgotten procedure.

PURPOSE: Circumcision is one of the historical surgical procedures. Some sources throughout the history contain various definitions about different circumcision methods. we described the details of the method, and aimed to remind the possibility of contemporary usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared circumcision chapters of Sabuncuoglu and Zahrawi to explain the historical origin of Sabuncuoglu's favorite circumcision method. RESULTS: We found a method which might be summarized as "knotting with rope technique" in one of historical textbooks named as Cerrahiyyetul Haniyye (Imperial Surgery) written by Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu (1385-1468?) in 1465. CONCLUSION: This circumcision method is not used currently. In addition this method has not been defined in the history of medical literature yet.

The male circumcision: the oldest ancient procedure, its past, present and future roles.

Circumcision, a surgical removal of male prepuce has existed throughout human history, and it appears it shall exist until humanity ends. During its entire existence, there have been changing reasons or indications from cultural, traditional, religious and currently medical, and it has vehemently been criticized by some individuals for different reasons and in different countries. Emergency of new diseases particularly Human Immunodeficient virus (HIV) has brought the ancient procedure back on spot light, this has come as a result of recent studies which have demonstrated that it does not only reduces significantly the rate of HIV infection, as well as penile cancer and cervical cancer. This has lead to massive male circumcision campaigns in areas with low prevalence of circumcision. On the other hand the socio-cultural and sexual aspects of male circumcision have been studied but often ignored. This article will therefore increase awareness of male circumcision and the increasing roles with time, recommend up scaling of medical male circumcision and possible safe circumcision training to tradition circumcisers.

[The effect of circumcision on the mental health of children: a review]. / Sünnetin Çocuk Ruh Sagligi Üzerine Etkisi: Gözden Geçirme Çalismasi.

Circumcision is one of the oldest and most frequently performed surgical procedures in the world. It is thought that the beginning of the male circumcision dates back to the earliest times of history. Approximately 13.3 million boys and 2 million girls undergo circumcision each year. In western societies, circumcision is usually performed in infancy while in other parts of the world, it is performed at different developmental stages. Each year in Turkey, especially during the summer months, thousands of children undergo circumcision. The motivations for circumcision include medical-therapeutic, preventive-hygienic and cultural reasons. Numerous publications have suggested that circumcision has serious traumatic effects on children's mental health. Studies conducted in Turkey draw attention to the positive meanings attributed to the circumcision in the community and emphasize that social effects limit the negative effects of circumcision. Although there are many publications in foreign literature about the mental effects of the circumcision on children's mental health, there are only a few studies in Turkey about the mental effects of the one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in our country. The aim of this study is to review this issue. The articles related to circumcision were searched by keywords in Pubmed, Medline, EBSCHOHost, PsycINFO, Turkish Medline, Cukurova Index Database and in Google Scholar and those appropriate for this review were used by authors.

[Sexual mutilations through ages]. / Les mutilations sexuelles à travers les âges.

Among the ethnic mutilations (volunteer mutilations performed for religious, aesthetic, moral or hygienic purposes), genital mutilation (circumcision, castration, total emasculation, infibulation, excision, etc.) have always fascinated the human mind and are the subject of our historical overview.

History of circumcision: a religious obligation or a medical necessity.

Circumcision is the oldest documented surgical procedure. Practiced for ritual religious and likely medical purposes, it seems to have emerged in Egypt and was adopted by the western Semitic tribes. In biblical times, circumcision became a religious doctrine described in the Covenant between God and Abraham in the book of Genesis. Although some claim that there are medical advantages to being circumcised, available data do not support a medical benefit for circumcision.