A UK Government Petition to ban infant male circumcision - "Make Male Genital Mutilation (Circumcision) an offence unless medically required"

There is a petition on the official UK government petition website which proposes a ban on infant male circumcision. It should prove more popular with the public than not as 91% of males in the UK are not circumcised.

This is a link to the petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/598185

Text of petition reads:

“Make Male Genital Mutilation (Circumcision) an offence unless medically required.

I’m asking the UK Government to criminalise circumcision, no exceptions for Religious circumstances, unless it has to be done for medical reasons, such as an infection. Parents or medical professionals found Circumcising children otherwise should be prosecuted accordingly. More details The fact that FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is criminalised but MGM isn’t is extremely sexist & wrong.

MGM can have a profound effect on children’s mental health and it is often done without the child’s consent. I am asking that performing or allowing MGM to be performed be made a specific criminal offence. Where a parent is involved the penalties should include losing their child.”

Why should male infant circumcision be banned?

1. It is a medically unnecessary alteration to a healthy body
2. The "health benefits" are highly contestable, and most respected health organisations have decieded they do not confer enough benefit to justify the operation.
3. Whilst religious freedom deserves to be respected, we do not allow religious freedom to allow parents to make permanent cosmetic alterations to children's bodys in other context e.g. scarification.
4. The foreskin is the most sensitive area of the penis. In circumcision 30-50% of the total penile skin is removed and 50-80% of the total innervation is removed. This greatly reduces the potential of the penis as a sensory organ.
5. Currently women and girls are protected from non-consentual non-medical genital cutting for any reason. This same protection should be extended for boys and men, improving equality of treatment under the law.
6. When a child becomes an adult they may decide that what was done to their body in childhood does not conform to their current identity. This would be true of people who grow up to not hold the same religious or cultural beliefs as their parents, or hold different values.
7. An individual would still be free to be circumcised, but an age that they can give informed consent.
8. Circumcision is easier as an adult and results in better cosmetic outcomes, and less complications.

Resources (Not at all an exhaustive list):

A bioethicist argues for body autonomy as a human right and for circumcision to be banned as a result: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276160197_Female_Genital_Mutilation_and_Male_Circumcision_Toward_an_Autonomy-based_Ethical_Framework

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341965054_Why_Was_the_US_Ban_on_Female_Genital_Mutilation_Ruled_Unconstitutional_and_What_Does_This_Have_to_Do_With_Male_Circumcision

Circumcision harms resources:

https://15square.org.uk/circumcised-men/losses-from-circumcision/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2016.1260007?journalCode=fjhr20

https://bjui-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.11761.x

https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/40/5/1367/658163 https://bjui-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06646.x

https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/for-professionals/sexual-impact/

https://www.circumstitions.com/Pleasure.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmToXLVrZ7c

https://www.mendocomplain.com/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23374102/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/moral-landscapes/201501/circumcision-s-psychological-damage

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-47292307 https://www.bmj.com/rapid-response/2011/10/28/misconceptions-about-modern-and-ancient-genital-mutilations

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1479666X16301792

https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/circumcision/complications.html

Review here: https://www.reddit.com/r/OneY/comments/qm4uq4/a_copy_pasta_essay_i_made_about_circumcision/

Refutation of health benefits:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41443-021-00484-x

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34564796/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34551593/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Intactivism/comments/hxmbpn/refutations_of_the_alleged_benefits_of_infant/

https://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/

https://www.circumstitions.com/

(nsfw) http://empathygap.uk/?p=1655

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278023840_Critique_of_African_RCTs_into_Male_Circumcision_and_HIV_Sexual_Transmission http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/vanhowe/

Even more resources can be found here: r/Intactivism

Thank you for your time!

Please share this petition with everyone you can.Also consider writing a polite email to any news, social, political, or human rights organisations you know, thank you!