A Very Informative Video on Circumcision

So, I've just recently discovered Ryan McAllister, PhD and his videos on birth and circumcision, and I highly recommend you view his video on Child Circumcision (aka genital cutting). It is a lecture to a room of anthropology students, and he comes at the topic from an accessible academic perspective.

If you're ever wanted to know more about why you should think about or question circumcision or no, this is a great overview video (with a brief hard-to-watch clip of male genital cutting near the beginning).

He makes a number of excellent points. He covers culture, medicalization, the biology of the penis and the procedure, informed consent issues, ethics, the science behind common reasons for removing the foreskin, and more.

I love the comedic clip's quote... "so you can have this chopped off or you could wash it?"

The whole video really makes you question, do the supposed pros outweigh the known cons?




Note that this presentation includes graphic material to convey more complete information about the topic.

One thing he doesn't really touch on is the fact that the obstetricians who perform this procedure are also keen to have parents circumcise because it is a relatively quick and easy surgery that they make money from.

Ryan is the director of NotJustSkin.org.

One of NotJustSkin's primary missions is to educate the public about violations of informed consent or bodily integrity. In the U.S., male genital cutting, more often called circumcision, is commonly practiced even though parents rarely receive the information that would be required to give informed consent to any other procedure. Circumcision is the only procedure where a doctor can legally amputate part of a non-consenting child without any medical reason.


I was not an intactivist before viewing this video, but I may be one now...


To add, being a feminist from a Jewish background, I also encourage a perusal of an article called "Circumcision: a Jewish Feminist Perspective."

This is the first of Ryan's videos that I came across, but I plan to post on his other content, as well.