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The African Accent

• June 08, 2009
• Circumcision: Tradition or Assault?

  Posted: June 8th, 2009, 9:32pm EDT

  My nephew is less than a year old. Tradition dictated that I, being the maternal uncle, was in charge of making sure that he was circumcised. Normally he would have undergone the procedure at puberty. However, in this strange land where my family customs sometimes frighten the natives [for example, there was an incident when a police officer was tempted to draw his gun when he spotted a severed goat hoofs in the garage ... that's for another blog post], it made more sense to do it sooner rather than later.
  
  After making the appointment, I felt like I was doing something illegal. Instructions were as follows: first, I was required to take the young one to hospital before 6:00AM. Second, I had to bring a few hundred dollars in cash! The early surgery hour was a bit odd, but I could justify it in several ways. Maybe it was the only time the surgeon was available. Plus, an article in the New York Times in 2006 talked about research done by Duke University on how afternoon procedures increased surgical problems including pain management. The second requirement, the cash, was harder to understand.
  
  In Canada, there's a universal health care system. Basically, as long as you are a citizen, or a landed immigrant, you can walk into a clinic/hospital, flash your health card, and get anything from a general physical to a hip replacement on the government's tab. But for circumcision, the hospital wanted cash, not credit, not a cheque, and definitely not an IOU. It felt like a drug deal.
  
  Aside from the traditional 'you are becoming a man' thing with male circumcision, I also believed that it was hygienic. But turns out that the Canadian Children's Rights Council does not think so. It is their position that,
  
  "circumcision" of male or female children is genital mutilation of children.
  
  They go on to say,
  
  ... both male and female, should be protected by the criminal laws of Canada with regards to this aggravated assault. Currently, the protection provided by the Criminal Code of Canada includes only genital mutilation (circumcision) of female children.
  
  
  Goodness! What would my grandfather think?
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