Are masks a religious matter, or is religion being used to suit people’s political agendas? A scholar of Christian conservatism and culture argues both can be true.
Circumcision is a rite of passage in various African communities. However, for initiates with haemophilia, extra caution needs to be taken to ensure their safety.
Martin Mbonye, MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS; Janet Seeley, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine e Monica Kuteesa, MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit on AIDS
Medical circumcision in settings where there are high rates of HIV will only be successful if these interventions take into account local beliefs about circumcision.
Pokot girls in Kenya wait for an ceremony that marks their passage into womanhood – and means they’re ready for marriage.
Reuters/Siegfried Modola
Despite high levels of knowledge and information, communities still adhere to cultural practices which endanger their children.
Initiates undergoing the traditional passage to manhood in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Many either die or get maimed during the winter practice.
Reuters/Siegfried Modola
The practices around the traditional passage to manhood in South Africa are changing and beginning to encompass women as family patterns change. But, there are mixed feelings about the changes.
Women in the Netherlands protest against ISIS.
Robin van Lonkhuijsen/EPA
The July 24 report by UN official Jacqueline Badcock that ISIS, the militant Jihadist group now controlling areas of Syria and Iraq, had ordered all women between the ages of 11 and 46 to undergo female…
Should we favour physical integrity over respect for cultural difference?
Image from shutterstock.com
The Council of Europe’s resolution earlier this month to prohibit the circumcision of infant boys for religious reasons has ignited another round to the “foreskin wars”. This time it’s about the rights…
Female genital mutilation is happening in the UK.
London Safeguarding Children Board
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is happening across the UK but despite being illegal for nearly 30 years, there have been no convictions. Fortunately, politicians are beginning to pick up on the issue…
A protest against circumcision in the United States, where the debate about circumcision is still raging.
sigmaration/Flickr
Non-therapeutic circumcision of male infants and boys has always been a controversial issue – and never has opinion been more polarised. In the United States, medical authorities have just overturned 40…
A traditional circumcision set from the Jewish Museum of New York.
istolethetv/Flickr
Circumcision lies at the crossroads of religion, custom, human rights, health, commerce, harm, and ethics. From high-profile court battles overseas to its recent inclusion on Channel Ten’s provocative…
Infant male circumcision violates aspects of international human rights law, which Australia is bound to uphold.
Chris Woods
In an article published recently on this site, “Male circumcision policy ignores research showing benefits”, the authors stated some alleged benefits of infant male circumcision and argued the Royal Australasian…
Circumcising boys in the neonatal period using local anaesthesia maximises benefits and safety.
TheGiantVermin/Flickr
For some time now, all the departments of health in Australia have based their policy on male circumcision on reviews of the scientific literature carried out periodically by the Royal Australasian College…
For many, infant circumcision is contentious purely because it involves infants rather than because it involves pain.
Lars Plougmann
Bioethicists, human rights advocates and criminal lawyers are watching another outbreak of the “circumcision wars”, after yesterday’s decision by a provincial court in Cologne, Germany, that circumcision…
Men who are circumcised before they have sex for the first time may be less likely to develop prostate cancer, a study has found. Researchers who analysed medical information from 3,399 men (1,754 with…
The foreskin is the most sensitive part of the penis.
Flickr/NoVa Hokie
For centuries, children have been subjected to cultural and medicalised practices that were ultimately proven harmful and a violation of basic bodily integrity. Such practices have included foot binding…
The benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks by 100 to one.
Jeff Dickerson
Medical circumcision of baby boys has plummeted in Australia, with only 20% of male infants now undergoing the procedure, down from 90% in the 1970s. Meanwhile, HIV infections continue to rise in the broader…