Steve Wsaid:
Everyone got comfortable in a matter of minutes. I guess that was my first exposure to nudism. I was probably 18 or 19 years old.
Great story , Steve . I wonder how the suggestion would be recieved now in a similar situation ? Seeems we have gone backwards in a lot of ways !
The Doctors said that our oldest son may suffer from his foreskin being too tight and that if it didn't loosen it may be that circumcision was needed at puberty. He recommended a hydrocortisone cream and we applied this every night for some weeks when he was around 5ish, and it did the job. They certainly don't encourage circumcision in the UK now and I think actively discourage it.
I have read that due to it being carried out as a part of religion it is the only surgical procedure currently allowed to be carried out by unqualified people in the UK. Here is a little research for the UK government site submitted by the National Secular Society (IMH0111)....
The National Secular Society (NSS) is a non-profit organisation campaigning for the separation of religion and state, and equal respect for everyone's human rights so that no one is either advantaged or disadvantaged on account of their beliefs.
Non-therapeutic male circumcision refers to the removal of the foreskin of male babies and young
children for religious or cultural reasons, rather than medical reasons.
In the UK, this practice is most commonly associated with Jewish, Muslim and some Christian communities.
In Jewish communities, the circumcision is usually performed on a baby boy when he is eight days old. There is no consensus in Muslim communities regarding the age of circumcision. It may be done from soon after birth up to mid-teens.
All forms of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), including forms that remove far less tissue than
male circumcision, are
prohibited under UK law, regardless of whether they are “required as a matter of custom or ritual”.
Circumcision is excruciatingly painful. Even in clinical environments, infant circumcision is usually performed under a local rather than a general anaesthetic. The level of anaesthesia used is rarely sufficient to remove all sensation.
Circumcisions performed in non-clinical environments may involve no pain relief at all. Following the procedure, infants continue to experience considerable pain and discomfort while the damage to their genitals heals.
The foreskin is a normal body part with physical, sexual and immunological functions. It is the most sensitive part of the penis to warmth and light touch. Surgically removing it from non-consenting children is associated with physical and psychological harms.
Surgical complications resulting from circumcision can include: Scarring, urinary difficulties, meatal stenosis, sinus formation, erection problems, denuding of the skin of the penis, infection, bleeding,
psychological problems, amputation of the penis, and even death.
In 2011, eleven boys were admitted to just one hospital with life-threatening complications following circumcision.
Three baby boys (Celian Noumbiwe, Angelo Ofori-Mintah, and Goodluck Caubergs) have bled to death post- circumcision in recent years. In 2014, an NHS paediatric surgeon said religious circumcisions were leaving babies and children “maimed for life”. The NHS lists “permanent reduction in sensation in the head of the penis, particularly during sex” as a risk of circumcision.
Aside from the physical harm caused by circumcision, there is an implicit harm in depriving a
person of the chance to retain an intact body, particularly when there is no medical reason to operate.
We do not know how many circumcisions are performed annually nor the degree of harm as there is no requirement for any follow up or audit and the boys themselves are too young to complain.
Additionally, health issues in circumcised adults are likely to be greatly under-reported because
people who have experienced sexual harm are often reluctant to reveal it as societal dismissal or stigmatisation may
compound the harm.
There is very limited regulation of non-therapeutic male circumcision in the UK. Doctors registered with the General Medical Council must perform the procedure in suitable medical settings with appropriate attention to hygiene, sterility and aftercare. However, there is no requirement for the non-consenting child to have a medical problem in order for their foreskin to be removed.
Non-doctors performing infant circumcision in the UK have no such regulation and are free to cut boys' penises with unsterilised scissors or knives on kitchen tables or ironing boards.
The High Court ruled in Re B & G (2015) that non-therapeutic male circumcision (including competently performed circumcision) constitutes “significant harm” to a child for the purposes of the Children Act in the context of care proceedings. The High Court further concluded that to claim male circumcision is less invasive or
harmful than some forms of FGM would contradict the evidence and indeed be “irrational”.
Circumcision occupies an anomalous exemption from the law of wounding. Under UK law it is illegal to tattoo a child’s foreskin but legal to cut it off.
Throughout history, male circumcision has been advocated as a pseudo-medical cure for a variety of ailments ranging from epilepsy to excessive masturbation. However, any marginal health claims are extremely contested. The NSS is unaware of any national medical, paediatric, surgical or urological society in the world that recommends routine circumcision of all boys as a health intervention. If the benefits of the operation outweighed the risks, NHS doctors would recommend it for every child – regardless of the parents' religion – and they do not.
Supposed medical benefits of circumcision are increasingly under question in the UK. The proportion of boys in England circumcised for medical reasons had fallen from 35% in the early 1930s to 6.5% by the mid-1980s. An estimated 3.8% of male children in the UK in 2000 were being circumcised by the age of 15. The researchers stated that too many boys, especially under the age of 5, were still being circumcised because of a misdiagnosis of phimosis (overly tight foreskin).
The NSS believes that the right to bodily autonomy is fundamental, and that no-one, regardless of age, sex or religious/cultural background, should undergo non-therapeutic surgery without their express consent.
For this reason, we campaign for an age of consent for non-therapeutic male circumcision, in line with other non- therapeutic body modification such as tattooing.
Don't religious groups have the right to freedom of religion and the right to manifest religion or belief?
Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights does provide for a right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion which includes the freedom to manifest a religion or belief in practice and observance.
However, this aspect of Article 9 is a qualified right, which means that limitations on this right can be justified in certain circumstances. We maintain that the right of the individual to bodily autonomy provides such a justification.
Arguments similar to those made to justify the imposition of circumcision are also made to justify other non- therapeutic surgery of children. But UK courts have not accepted that religious/cultural reasons justify any form of assault on children in other contexts, including FGM, facial scarification, religious flagellation, religious deprivation of medicine, or religious starvation.
The act of non-consensual circumcision violates the child’s right to religious freedom. The imposition of circumcision irrevocably deprives the child of the right in future to associate or dissociate from certain practices and customs of his birth community.
