Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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![[Read Rapid Response]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
English.
- Joseph McEvoy (29 June 2007)
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Men are changing their genitals too
- William E. Osmun (30 June 2007)
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A dis-service to the war on female genital mutilation
- peter j mahaffey (1 July 2007)
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'Cosmetic' penile surgery
- David G Bogod (2 July 2007)
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Joseph McEvoy, Retired N/A
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The "latter" can only refer to the second of two items. In this case there are three and it should therefore be the "last." It is bad enough to have to put up with this sort of thing here in the U.S., but I expect better of the B.M.J. Competing interests: None declared |
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William E. Osmun, family physician Mount Brydges, ON, CANADA
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I don't know where Ms. Berer has been living, but there are plenty of people offering to lengthen, shorten and otherwise 'enhance' penises. In fact any man with an e-mail address is regularly inundated with advertisements offering these services. While I too am uncomfortable with people's need to alter their appearance (not just their genitals), I am also uncomfortable with the strident tone of Ms. Berer's editorial and the certainty she exhibits in knowing just how other people should behave and live their lives. Competing interests: None declared |
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peter j mahaffey, consultant plastic & reconstructive surgeon bedford hospital mk42 9dj
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The BMJ's web entry states that its published material will be "rigourous" in the interests of medical science. The sloppy and misleading material in Ms Berer's letter (BMJ 30 Jun p1335)does a dis-service to this position and to the campaign against FGM. The comparison between the horrors of infundibulation and excision of the clitoris on the one hand and the request from an educated Western woman to have protruding labia trimmed on the other is a nonsense. As a plastic surgeon I have had numerous perfectly reasonable requests from the latter group, all of which, properly selected, have provided exactly the satisfaction the patients wanted.They have included professional sportswomen representing their country. Now Ms Berer suggests I should be punished under an Act of Parliament designed to prevent the former. Let us set aside her inability to comprehend the difference between the two groups, and her apparent oblivion to the plague of penile lengthening procedures offered at every turn on the internet and elsewhere. What is most disturbing is her obvious attempt to control and dictate to her fellow females. It reminds me very much of the prolonged campaign by a small group of women against breast augmentation in the 1980's and 90's which caused untold anxiety to those who had already had the procedure and in the end was found to have no substance whatever. Why doesn't Ms Berer's magazine, which she appears to represent, devote itself to the appalling ongoing problem of genital mutilation in Africa and show us some results. The ban in the UK addresses but the tip of a huge iceberg. Competing interests: None declared |
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David G Bogod, Consultant Anaesthetist Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, City Campus, NG5 0PB
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While I share many of Dr Berer's concerns, I must take issue with her statement that "No one is offering to shorten or lengthen men's penises or change the shape or size of their testicles for 'cosmetic' reasons". If she really believes that, then her spam filter must be much more efficient than mine. Competing interests: None declared |
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