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- Title
Male Circumcision: Sharpening the Phallus, Constructing Masculinities, Some Implications for Men & Women.
- Authors
Sev'er, Aysan
- Abstract
Historically, justifications for male circumcision (MC) has widely varied. Some of the purported justifications for MC include religious obligation, spiritual enlightenment, mastery over sciences, avoidance of masturbation and fornification, cleanliness and avoidance of STDs. In the current paper, I go beyond the discussion of the historical reasons given for MC. Instead, I emphasize the gendered aspects of MC rituals as they contribute to masculinity and hypermasculinity. The theoretical lens I use in my analysis is informed by Bourdieu (1992; 2001), and other feminist thought. I emphasize the rank ordering, male power and supremacy aspects embedded in most ritualized practices of MC, regardless of the historical or the geographical location they may have been practiced at. I also emphasize the near universal practice of women's symbolical or physical segregation from the rituals. In terms of the hypermasculinization aspects of some MC practices, the differentiating component is the cyclical presence of violence, often before, during and following MC. Violence aspects are discussed in relation to examples from premonotheistic as well as some early monotheistic cultural practices. I also provide recent examples from the Xhosa practices, and explore the negative consequences of hypermasculinization aspects of MC rituals for men and for women.
- Subjects
LEGAL justification; CIRCUMCISION; RESPONSIBILITY; MASTURBATION; SPOUSES' legal relationship
- Publication
Women's Health & Urban Life, 2012, Vol 11, Issue 2, p64
- ISSN
1499-0369
- Publication type
Article