CULTURAL PATHOLOGY OF MALE CIRCUMCISION IN IRAN: FOCUSING ON CHILDREN’S RIGHTS AND THE RIGHT TO THE BODY

Abstract

Circumcision is one of the most significant events in a boy’s early life. Even though this ancient ritual violates the rights of children, it is still practised in some societies, such as Iran. Despite this, adequate scientific understanding of this practice, its challenging dimensions and its obvious and hidden consequences have not been developed. In traditional societies, this operation on the private part of a child’s body is performed alongside a special ritual to reduce the child’s anxiety as he enters adulthood. However, in modern societies, every person under the age of 18 is considered a child; thus, any change to his body is without valid consent. Additionally, the public performance of circumcision ceremonies has negative educational impacts. In this article, two main goals have been pursued: firstly, to analyse the cultural and religious dimensions of male circumcision in Iranian society, and, secondly, to objectively analyse this issue in terms of the rights of the child and the right to bodily integrity, to help formulate effective programmes and policies to reduce or eliminate its negative consequences. To do this, in addition to analysing field research using a qualitative methodology and a literature review, targeted interviews were conducted with a number of circumcised Iranians living both inside and outside of the country, as well as interviews with some experts. The role of religion has been crucial to the endurance of circumcision, as shown by the empirical data and the available historical documents. The practice has been performed throughout history by individuals who have no other justification than that they are obeying religious orders. Some people and social groups are persuaded to the point where, while accepting the potential risks of circumcision, they carry it out on medical advice because of an institutionalised belief about the benefits of circumcision that originated in religion and culture. Even though the majority of medical defences are disseminated by experts in the field and through specific channels like scientific and research articles in the media, these arguments are primarily the product of misinformation campaigns meant to conceal the financial motivations of institutions like heavily commercialised circumcision clinics. This shows how the relationship of medicine with the economic mafia’s advertising dominates the cultural/religious industries and confirms that the medical discourse is influenced by ideological structures of power to such an extent that it adjusts its functions in collaboration and interaction with them. This discourse uses health to legitimise its business, propagating social attitudes to accept circumcision as a natural and necessary practice, rather than a social construct.