You're right, McGrath. I have spoken to a young Cameroonian who had been 'circumcised' at the age of ten. Not only the foreskin but the whole of the outer skin of the penis had been removed, rather like peeling a carrot. The raw flesh was then smeared with some traditional 'paste' and the lad had been unable to walk or pee for days. One or two of his 'circumcision brothers' from the same village had contracted urinary tract infections and been very ill indeed. All this with no pain relief at all. If he had refused to go through with it, the whole village would have despised him and his family disowned him for a coward. He'd have been forced to leave, young as he was, and try to live elsewhere. All my husband's many sisters and half-sisters have been mutilated radically and 'sewn up'. They were all done together shut in a shed. He can still hear their screams. This is mutilation, and torture, and certainly not consensual. I think it's dangerous to allow Africans to place great faith in circumcision as protection from disease. It self-evidently doesn't afford much prevention, given the huge numbers of HIV carriers who have nonetheless been circumcised. But that's another issue. The great concern is that girls in UK are spirited away to their parents' land of origin for a 'holiday' and mutilated while there. It goes on still, and schools need to be vigilant on their behalf. I have no issue with circumcision of males if anaesthesia is used. It has been proven that male circumcision has a part to play in preventing cervical cancer in female partners. Jewish women do not on the whole suffer from this.