MALE CIRCUMCISION BAN GATHERS PUBLIC SUPPORT BUT WHY WILL NO POLITICIAN SPEAK UP FOR EQUALITY?

When news emerged this week through the Jewish Chronicle that the majority of the public believe that banning circumcision is supported by the majority of Britons, it is clear there is now momentum on this issue - but a voice in Parliament is now needed. The poll showed:

• 38 per cent supported a ban,
• 35 per cent were against a ban, and,
• 25 per cent were undecided

I would expect that the 27 per cent was largely made up of people who had not thought about the issue or were unaware that it was an issue. According to the Jewish Chronicle Dayan Yisroel Lichtenstein, head of the Federation Beth Din, said: “It’s worrying and it shows we need to do a lot more public relations to put our case." A public relations campaign would be fantastic because the figure in favour of a ban would increase greatly so we look forward to Dayan Yisroel's campaign.

An issue (covered here, here and here) led by the excellent Norm UK and sister campaign.

As a further post by Glen Poole's Helping men website revealed that this issue is more popular than any political party.

One of the key themes now, is whether any politician will speak out against it. We know Ed Miliband will not as he agrees with it.

We know no leader of a party will, but considering there are 650 MP's, we can hope one will. Looking at the political landscape it is an issue that the secular Liberal Democrats are more likely to speak out as they are not beholden to the religious or politically correct lobby that Labour are (Female Genital Mutilation is awful but for men it is OK) plus Labour has always had support from the Muslim and Jewish communities and they will not want to lose that.

It is also interesting that the Conservatives dare not speak about it. While not getting into the debate about gay marriage, but the Conservatives are happy to take on Church of England/Catholic Christianity on the issue of gay marriage but are scared of the Muslim/Jewish communities when it comes to butchering young boys in the name of religion. Why are the Conservatives so scared or are they as politically correct as Labour?

The National Secular Socity is clear on the hypocrisy of British politicians and the General Medical Council on this issue

"In an article released last week by Frisch et al in the American journal Pediatrics stated that 'circumcision fails to meet the commonly accepted criteria for the justification of preventive medical procedures in children', that it 'constitutes a violation of the UN convention on the rights of the child' and can have 'serious long-term consequences'. The 38 authors from 18 countries included senior representatives of the German Pediatric Association, the Royal Dutch Medical Association and the British Association of Paediatric surgeons amongst others.

"It is unlawful under the Equalities Act 2010 to discriminate unfairly on the grounds of gender. The SMF calls on the GMC to amend this new policy on forced infant and child genital cutting which adversely discriminates against male children. The main body of GMC guidance places the healthcare needs, dignity and integrity of the patient as of primary concern. The tenets of a religious belief held by somebody other than the patient can never be sufficient reason to justify the forced removal of intimate parts of a patient's body."

It is untenable on the basis of equality that there is rightly an act against female genital mutilation and pressure groups and the Guardian campaign against it but there is no problem with male genital mutilation in the eyes of the politicians, government and media. Their tacit acceptance (doing nothing) and explicit acceptance (Ed Miliband) is a real sign of the anti-male and anti-equality culture we live in when it comes to men and boys.

So, when will a politicians in the UK - a Member of Parliament- speak up for equality - and call for a ban on male circumcision. As the polls show the public wold support them or are they too scared of the religious lobby (Jews and Muslims) and are not interested in equality if it means equality for men and boys.

Posted by Skimmington

Comments

[Patrick Smyth]

Thanks for posting this article which serves to keep this issue in the spotlight. I and other men I know personally have suffered the abuse of circumcision that was forced upon as as infants in the UK and are very much aware of the harm that has resulted. I wonder how many men it will take to speak out against this practice to stir our politicians into taking action to end the inconsistency that persists in the UK in respect of the forced genital mutilation of infants/minors?