Genital Autonomy:

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

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2. “Three-Fourths Were Abnormal”—Misha’s Case, Sick Societies, and the Law

   • J. Steven Svoboda

   Pages 1-13

3. Older Minors and Circumcision: Questioning the Limits of Religious Actions

   • Marie Fox, Michael Thomson

   Pages 15-38

4. These Goalposts Don’t Move: Non-Medical Circumcision of Boys in the Tasmanian and Australian Context

   • Paul Mason

   Pages 39-47

5. Mass Campaigns of Male Circumcision for HIV Control in Africa: Clinical Efficacy, Population Effectiveness, Political Issues

   • Michel Garenne

   Pages 49-59

6. AIDS XVII, Mexico City: Reason for Hope or Panic?

   • John Geisheker

   Pages 61-66

7. Circumcision Psychopathology

   • George C. Denniston

   Pages 67-73

8. Physical Effects of Circumcision

   • John Warren

   Pages 75-79

9. Complications of Circumcision: A Urologist’s Viewpoint

   • James L. Snyder

   Pages 81-84

10. NOCIRC of Italy: Scientific Activities 2006–2009

    • Franco Viviani, S. Bobbo, S. Malaguti, D. Paolini

    Pages 85-94

11. A Project About Male Circumcision in the Veneto

    • M. Gloria de Bernardo

    Pages 95-96

12. The First Survey on Genital Stretching in Italy

    • Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Annalisa Bertoletti, Ilenia Zanotti, Lucrezia Catania

    Pages 97-101

13. Knowledge and Opinions of North Italian Health Operators About Female Genital Mutilation

    • Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Ilenia Zanotti, Annalisa Bertoletti, Lucrezia Catania, Miriam Manganoni

    Pages 103-110

14. Stretching of the Labia Minora and Other Expansive Interventions of Female Genitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

    • Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Nancy Tshiala Mbuyi, Annalisa Bertoletti

    Pages 111-124

15. Preventing Infibulation: Mana Sultan Abdurahman Isse at Merka, Somalia

    • Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Sandra Busatta

    Pages 125-135

16. Writing Rites Gone Wrong: Autobiography, Testimonials, and Their Relevance to the Debate Around Genital Alterations

    • Chantal Zabus

    Pages 137-148

17. The Impact of Neonatal Circumcision: Implications for Doctors of Men’s Experiences in Regressive Therapy

    • Robert Clover Johnson

    Pages 149-165

18. Circumcision Memory

    • Thomas W. Hennen

    Pages 167-187

19. Foreskin Restoration 1980–2008

    • R. Wayne Griffiths, J. David Bigelow, James Loewen

    Pages 189-198

20. Restoration: The Foreskin and the American Dream

    • Ron Low

    Pages 199-210

Circumcision affects 15.3 million children and young adults annually. In terms of gender, 13.3 million boys and 2 million girls are subjected to the involuntary removal of part or all of their external sexual organs every year. The problem of female circumcision has been addressed on an international level, but male circumcision remains a controversial subject that many academics have been reluctant to examine. Circumcision is tolerated today because it has been practiced for millennia by a small but vocal minority of religious and ethnic groups, however, when the practice is examined through the lens of modern legal, ethical, and human rights advancements, no place remains in civilized society for this body-altering ritual. In Genital Autonomy: Protecting Personal Choice, international experts address various types of genital modifications, the impact of these harmful traditional practices on the child, on human rights, and on the development of the concept of bodily integrity. The papers presented in this volume address these topics from a variety of angles. They question and dissects the true motivations of the doctors, witch doctors, and “holy men” who promote and profit from circumcision.

• Circumcision, complications
• Circumcision, ethics
• Circumcision, harm
• Female gential modification
• Gender
• Male and female genital mutilation, human rights
• human rights

• Norland, USA

  George C. Denniston

• University of Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

  Frederick M. Hodges

• San Anselmo, USA

  Marilyn Fayre Milos

Policies and ethics