Doctors Opposing Circumcision -
Genital Integrity Policy Statement.
Doctors Opposing Circumcision (DOC) is a non-governmental, non-profit, educational organization, organized by medical doctors who support genital integrity and who oppose non-therapeutic genital cutting of infants and children.
Female circumcision already is recognized generally as a harmful operation and a violation of human rights. Laws have been passed to protect girls, but boys have not been protected.
This statement, therefore, will concentrate on the protection of the genital integrity of male infants and children.
Several medical societies in English-speaking nations have issued position statements regarding the circumcision of male children.
These societies are composed of members, many of whom perform circumcision. The first duty of medical societies appears to be to protect and advance the financial and legal interests of their members.
(The practice of non-therapeutic child circumcision generates about $1.2 billion annually for the American medical community.)
(The practice of non-therapeutic child circumcision generates about $1.2 billion annually for the American medical community.)
Under these circumstances, there is a conflict of interest that hampers honest discussion of the issues. Goldman argues that medical society circumcision policy statements are biased in favor of circumcision for a variety of emotional and social-political factors.
Emotional factors include the avoidance of the emotional discomfort of questioning one's own circumcision by circumcised doctors, and the protection of self-esteem by those who have performed hundreds or thousands of circumcisions.
Social-political factors include a division of opinion and a desire to avoid an appearance of religious intolerance.
Goldman observes that discussions of sexual, psychological, human rights, ethical, and legal issues frequently are excluded from medical society circumcision policy statements.
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