To the Western eye, there is something jarringly incongruous, even shocking, about the image of a six-year-old girl being held down by loving relatives so that her genitals can be cut. Yet two million girls experience this each year. Most Westerners, upon learning of the practice of female circumcision, have responded with outrage; those committed to improving the status of women have gone beyond outrage to action by creating various programs for "eradicating" the practice. But few understand the real life complexities families face in deciding whether to follow the traditional practices or to take the risk of change.
In The Female Circumcision Controversy, Ellen Gruenbaum points out that Western outrage and Western efforts to stop genital mutilation often provoke a strong backlash from people in the countries where the practice is common. She looks at the validity of Western arguments against the practice. In doing so, she explores both outsider and insider perspectives on female circumcision, concentrating particularly on the complex attitudes of the individuals and groups who practice it and on indigenous efforts to end it. Gruenbaum finds that the criticisms of outsiders are frequently simplistic and fail to appreciate the diversity of cultural contexts, the complex meanings, and the conflicting responses to change.
Drawing on over five years of fieldwork in Sudan, where the most severe forms of genital surgery are common, Gruenbaum shows that the practices of female circumcision are deeply embedded in Sudanese cultural traditions--in religious, moral, and aesthetic values, and in ideas about class, ethnicity, and gender. Her research illuminates both the resistance to and the acceptance of change. She shows that change is occurring as the result of economic and social developments, the influences of Islamic activists, the work of Sudanese health educators, and the efforts of educated African women. That does not mean that there is no role for outsiders, Gruenbaum asserts, and she offers suggestions for those who wish to help facilitate change.
By presenting specific cultural contexts and human experiences with a deep knowledge of the tremendous variation of the practice and meaning of female circumcision, Gruenbaum provides an insightful analysis of the process of changing this complex, highly debated practice.
About this product: More than a million infant boys are circumcised every year in America, the highest occurrence of this procedure in the world. Why? Out of sheer cultural habit, concludes David Gollaher in his groundbreaking study, Circumcision. The tremendous momentum behind Gollaher's account is generated by one simple question: what is known about this most common of procedures? Alarmingly, precious little. Gollaher remedies that problem by tracing the historical roots of circumcision as a rite of passage into manhood in various ancient cultures before bringing the reader to 19th-century America, when circumcision rates skyrocketed through endorsements by the nascent American medical profession, which credited circumcision with exaggerated health benefits. Circumcision would eventually turn into a mark of class distinction, and the surgery would become entrenched in modern medical practices, despite scant study of its benefits, dangers, or side effects. Gollaher is to be commended for maintaining an even perspective on a practice that is sure to become increasingly controversial; he allows the research itself to fascinate and illuminate. As expected, there are many unsettling graphic descriptions in this book, but its most horrifying revelation is its most casual: the incontrovertible fact that circumcision remains the least understood--yet most widely practiced--surgery in the United States. --Sumi Hahn Almquist
About this product: Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma is the first intensive exploration of the unrecognized psychological and social effects of this American cultural practice. The book has been endorsed by dozens of professionals in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, child development, pediatrics, obstetrics, childbirth education, sociology, and anthropology.
Plain facts and recent research results revealed in the book conflict with popular beliefs and raise serious questions. Goldman's application of psychological and social research coherently explains both the tenacity of circumcision and the contradictory information and beliefs about it. He discusses the potential adverse effects of circumcision not only on infants, men, and sexuality, but also on mother-child relationships, male-female relationships, and societal traits and problems.
The social analysis is provocative, but it is the exploration of the deeply personal effects of circumcision on individuals that is most compelling. We learn how some men discover their feelings about circumcision, why men do not generally talk about them, and why this is changing. The book illustrates how specific male behaviors can be connected to circumcision, even though a man may be unaware of the connection. The text is supported with clinical reports, interviews, surveys, illustrations, and thorough documentation.
Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma identifies an overlooked source of early pain and simultaneously points us in the direction of both healing and preventing this pain. It is of particular interest to parents and children's advocates; men who seek to explore their sexuality and deepen self-awareness; women who want to understand men better; childbirth educators and allied workers; and mental health, medical, and academic professionals.
The book has wide appeal because it is not just about circumcision and the critical importance of proper infant care. More generally, it is about trusting our instincts, questioning some of our cultural values and assumptions, and reflecting on who we are and who we can be as individuals and as a society.
About this product: This book should be required reading for all expecting parents and their doctors. This book makes it clear that routine circumcision has NO medical benefit. Because it has no medical benefit, NO medical organization in the world recommends it. For example, circumcision does not prevent urinary track infection (urinary track infections are lower in Europe where circumcision is virtually unheard of) and many studies have shown circumcision to increase the rate of HIV infection and the rate of transmitting HIV/AIDS to the female partner (UNAIDS calls using circumcision to prevent AIDS playing Russian Roulette).
Circumcision was started as a "cure" for masturbation. Since then it has been a procedure in search of a disease. To little attention is paid to the life long harm done to the child. For example, circumcision is now believed to be a contributing factor in male sexual dysfunction since the procedure removes highly sensitive sexual tissue and the unprotected glans becomes desensitized through a hardening of the skin in a process called keritinization. Also, the foreskin protects the infant from infections since it keeps feces away from the urethra. In addition, the foreskin has major immunological functions including secreting a chemical called lysozyme (an ingredient in mother's milk) that has been show to kill HIV, the virus that causes aids. This fact alone may explain why the AIDS rate in the USA is three to twelve times higher than any western European country.
Routine infant circumcision not only is medically unnecessary, it is harmful. It is only a matter of time before the procedure will be outlawed. Until that happens this book will give parents the information they need to protect their sons from this destructive practice.
About this product: All children -- boys and girls alike -- deserve to keep their genitalia the way nature intended. I have the utmost respect and praise for Dr. Fleiss and this book. He clearly outlines the history and hysteria behind this unnecessary, painful surgery, and details the numerous reasons to leave your sons whole, intact, and uncircumcised. We've all heard the "myths" of why circumcision should be performed; now it is time to hear the truth of why it shouldn't. If you only read one book while pregnant, this should be it.
About this product: This interdisciplinary volume examines the issue of female genital cutting, or "circumcision" and explores the role that scholars can and should play in approaching this issue.
About this product: Bolokoli,khifad,tahara,tahoor,qudiin,irua,bondo,kuruna,negekorsigin, andkene-kene are a few of the terms used in local African languages to denote a set of cultural practices collectively known as female circumcision. Practiced in many countries across Africa and Asia, this ritual is hotly debated. Supporters regard it as a central coming-of-age ritual that ensures chastity and promotes fertility. Human rights groups denounce the procedure as barbaric. It is estimated that between 100 million and 130 million girls and women today have undergone forms of this genital surgery.
Female Circumcision gathers together African activists to examine the issue within its various cultural and historical contexts, the debates on circumcision regarding African refugee and immigrant populations in the United States, and the human rights efforts to eradicate the practice. This work brings African women's voices into the discussion, foregrounds indigenous processes of social and cultural change, and demonstrates the manifold linkages between respect for women's bodily integrity, the empowerment of women, and democratic modes of economic development.
This volume does not focus narrowly on female circumcision as a set of ritualized surgeries sanctioned by society. Instead, the contributors explore a chain of connecting issues and processes through which the practice is being transformed in local and transnational contexts. The authors document shifts in local views to highlight processes of change and chronicle the efforts of diverse communities as agents in the process of cultural and social transformation.
About this product: An emotionally literate, culturally sensitive, yet fearless exploration of why the United States is the only country in the world to circumcise a majority of its baby boys for supposedly medical reasons. Includes various aspects of the practice, including its impact on sexuality.
About this product: Every year, in the United States and the third world combined, 13.3 million boys and 2 million girls are circumcised. Whether because of perceived medical, cultural, or religious necessity, most of these parents feel they have no alternative but to allow their children to undergo this surgery. Sparking intense debate, the circumcision of children is a highly controversial and complex phenomenon that touches a variety of sociological areas, such as religious beliefs, identity issues, medical conceptualizations, fear, and superstition. The contributors to this volume comprise an international panel of experts in the fields of medicine, psychology, law, ethics, sociology, anthropology, history, theology, and politics. In 18 chapters they discuss the history of circumcision; document the physical and psychological consequences of circumcision; present the latest anatomical discoveries about the male prepuce; analyze the role of circumcision in various traditions; reveal the medical industry's investment in the practice; describe current legislative efforts to protect children from circumcision; and outline effective, culturally sensitive methods that are being implemented today to safeguard the human rights of at-risk children. For its insights into this troubling aspect of culture, UnderstandingCircumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-DimensionalProblem is a critically important contribution to the growing body of literature on this subject.
About this product: Some Christians keep the seventh-day Sabbath, but not other Old Testament laws. Some Christians teach tithing, but not other Old Testament laws. Some Christians keep more, some less. Why one and not another? Anyone who wants to make sense out of the Old Testament needs to learn how to discern the difference between obsolete and current. In this book, the guidelines given by the Bible itself are examined and applied. Written at a level any lay Christian can understand, because the author is convinced that all Christians can and should understand this part of the Christian Bible.
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