I learned yesterday that my pre-teen nephew is undergoing an additional surgery to correct problems directly related to the circumcision he was subjected to as an infant.

As my sister explained, part of the skin of his penis is fused unevenly one side. In addition, he suffers from meatal stenosis, meaning his urethral opening is uncomfortably narrow.

The personal

Of course, this disclosure saddens me. The infant circumcision was unnecessary. My nephew was subjected to physical pain that no newborn deserves. Now, as a preteen, he must undergo more cutting, not just on one part of his penis but on two.

Teenagers are often wracked with body angst, especially surrounding their intimate parts. Having been cut and then re-cut, my nephew may be left with even more doubts than usual about whether his penis is normal and acceptable. And he will never know what it might have looked and felt like had it not been surgically altered without his consent.

He is also growing up in a society where circumcised boys are at last the minority. What kind of effect does that have on an individual? This is not to mention the global perspective: only 10% of the world’s non-Muslim males are circumcised.

My sister is a regret mom. Like so many others, she did not think much about circumcision. Now she is left to wonder about these avoidable harms.

The objective

“Though uncommon, complications of circumcision do represent a significant percentage of cases seen by pediatric urologists.”

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253617/)

Meatal stenosis is exceedingly rare in intact boys:

“After circumcision, a child who is not toilet-trained persistently exposes the meatus to urine, which results in inflammation (ammoniac dermatitis) and mechanical trauma as the meatus rubs against a wet diaper. Loss of the delicate epithelial lining of the distal urethra may then result in fusion of the epithelial lining in the ventral meatus, leaving a narrow orifice at the tip of the glans. Because this condition is exceedingly rare in uncircumcised children, circumcision is believed to be the most important causative factor for meatal stenosis.”

(Emphasis is mine.)

(http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1016016-overview#a5)

What next?

I have nothing to offer but the following plea: because current US law allows forced circumcision of male minors by anyone, whatever their training or qualifications, for whatever reason, under whatever conditions, with whatever outrageous customs the family wants (including oral suction), it is up to individuals to take a stand.

Mothers should say no to forced circumcision. Fathers should say no. Insurers should say no. Nurses should say no. Doctors should say no.

The only person who should get a circumcision is an adult who consented after being fully informed, or an infant or minor (or incompetent adult) who has an internationally recognized disease or disorder that cannot be treated with less invasive means.