Quite right too, this is a barbaric custom to snip off the foreskin. And no, just because it has been shown to help avoid AIDS is not a good reason. Nor is it a good reason that its culturally or religiously mandated. In Hinduism, people argued that women need to jump into the funeral pyre of their husbands. Same old same old. Muppets. I quote:
AMSTERDAM: Dutch doctors want politicians and human rights groups to speak out and discourage the practice of male circumcision in the Netherlands because they say it is a “painful and harmful ritual,” and a violation of children’s rights.
Between 10,000 and 15,000 boys are circumcized in the Netherlands each year, mostly for religious reasons and not always with an anesthetic, according to the Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) which represents surgeons, pediatricians, general practitioners and urologists.
“We want to discourage male circumcision, because it is an unnecessary procedure with complications, which violates the integrity of the child,” Lode Wigersma, a spokesman for the association, told Reuters on Friday.
“This is not an innocent procedure, we see complications in about 5 percent of the cases, as well as some long-term and psychological implications,” he said.
Male circumcision involves the removal of all or part of the foreskin of the penis. It is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys, and is also a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide.
The Dutch medical association has urged religious leaders to find alternative rites of passage that are not irreversible and which are not painful for the child.
The practice of female genital mutation has been prohibited by law in the Netherlands since 1993 for all ages.
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