A rite to drop

There are no medical reasons for excising a normal foreskin. Paediatricians and paediatric surgeons have been preaching this message for decades, and the population of boys being circumcised in the United Kingdom has now fallen to less than 10%. The practice of so called female circumcision has recently received considerable adverse publicity, but ritual male circumcision has been relatively unchallenged. The Jewish journalist Victor Schonfeld's programme for Channel 4's War Cries series went a long way to redress the balance. It seemed inconceivable to the supporters of the practice interviewed that any Jewish, Moslem, or African male should not have his foreskin removed. …