A BBC documentary broadcast this week provides further evidence that the tide is beginning to turn on the historic carte blanche afforded to infant circumcision.
The former is illegal in the UK and typically regarded as barbaric; the latter, benign or even “beneficial”.
Just last week reports emerged of a one-month-old baby having to have his penis amputated in Egypt after it turned gangrenous following a circumcision.
Earlier this year, two baby boys died in Italy after their genitals were cut for religious reasons.
But even when carried out “successfully”, circumcisions involve the cutting away of erogenous tissue leading to a loss of penile sensitivity, inhibiting sexual pleasure.
But too often, debates around religious freedom are framed solely by those who only really care about their own.
But as a society we have a duty to balance competing freedoms and consider the rights of the child. »
