As always your comments are very insightful! I am sorry for not replying in couple of days, but i have this training that is keeping me really busy. Yes the circumcision is something that is very widely spread here. However not female circumcision thank God. The feamle circumcision is a habit in the African part of the Arab world, however there are several Hadiths that indicates that this habit is not welcomed.

I am glad I get you to be interested in my posts, it is always a pleasure to have another perspective about how people around the world think and feel

Some of my relatives are Jewish, and so the practice is more formal in their families. For religious Jews, the event of a circumcision is called a Briss. There is a specially trained person called a Moiel who actually earns a living by traveling around and performing ritual circumcisions according to old Jewish custom. I have never attended a Briss, but one of my cousins had one for her son a few years ago.

It is true that many cultures have independently adopted the practice of circumcision. However, they don’t all do it the same way. For example, the aborigines of Australia perform a much more extensive mutilation of their young adolescent males. In their religious beliefs, the kangaroo is greatly revered. In order to capture some of the magic of the kangaroo, a boys penis is extensively altered to resemble a kangaroo’s penis. I don’t know the details, and frankly, just thinking about it is quite uncomfortable! However, I do know that the wounds take a long time to heal and that some of the boys die of infection! Hopefully, this practice in Australia is being changed to a simple removal of the foreskin! I am all for allowing a culture to maintain its traditions, as long as those traditions don’t result in the death of children, or tremendous pain and suffering, either.

I would like to say something about female circumcision. As I understand the practice that is still being done in some African countries, it involves physically cutting off the clitoris. This can leave the woman with a greatly reduced capacity to experience sexual pleasure. It may even eliminate the capacity for pleasure. I personally think this is a terrible and barbaric practice. I have heard of some African women who have fled their countries to avoid this mutilation. I can’t blame them! I hope that this practice will be completely done away with. Women around the world should be treated with far greater respect!

Well, you really got me going once again!