Because male circumcision is so common in the states, few Americans realize how rare it is most everywhere else. The practice has fallen by the wayside in Australia, Canada, Britain and New Zealand, and fewer than one-fifth of all male Europeans are circumcised. In December, the Danish Medical Association recommended ending the practice for boys, arguing that because it permanently alters the body it should be “an informed, personal choice” that young men make for themselves.
In Germany, a district judge ruled in 2012 that ritual circumcision of juveniles is a crime that violates “the fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity.” South Korea is the only Asian country to embrace the procedure, as a kind of physiological souvenir of America’s occupation following World War II. But there, too, circumcision rates are declining fast, as the adolescent boys who would otherwise go under the knife (as per local custom) gain access to research about its purported benefits online. [...]
And while it is true that three randomized trials in Africa found that circumcision more than halved the risk of men getting HIV, it is harder to justify a prophylactic procedure in a place with considerably less HIV risk. In South Africa, for example, almost a quarter of the adult population is already infected, whereas in America, a little over one third of 1% (.37%) have HIV. In addition, the trials found that circumcision helped men who have sex with infected women. In America, however, HIV is transmitted primarily via nonsterile syringes or sex between men, and there is no evidence that a foreskin affects either mode.
