Jungenbeschneidung in Deutschland - eine Bestandsaufnahme

Jungenbeschneidung in Deutschland - eine Bestandsaufnahme translates into English as Circumcision of boys in Germany - an inventory.

Circumcision of boys in Germany - an inventory was the title of a symposium on 8 May 2017 at Heinrich Heine University.

The event was organized on the occasion of the fifth WWDOGA by the Clinical Institute for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital Düsseldorf, the association MOGiS e.V. and the section Child and Adolescent Psychosomatics in the German Society for Psychosomatic Medicine and Medical Psychotherapy (DGPM).

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The foreskin is the most sexually sensitive part of the penis. The removal, especially in infancy and childhood, always represents a serious violation of genital integrity, which can lead to persistent physical, sexual or psychological complications and states of suffering. In Germany alone, about 400 young boys are admitted to hospitals every year, even after circumcisions that have not been carried out for medical reasons, with sometimes severe complications. With our conference, we would like to provide information on this and open up a platform for a factually sound and respectful dialogue with all interested parties on this controversial topic. – Prof. Dr. Matthias Franz, Co-initiator of the conference (University of Düsseldorf)

Faculty

• Mikael Aktor: Jewish Voices in the Danish Debate on MGM and the Danish legal situation.
• Renate Bernhard: The "Circumcision Permit Act" and its resonance in organizations and media.
• Dr. med. Wolfgang Bühmann: Circumcision from a urological point of view: when, why and why not?
• Prof. Dr. med. Matthias Franz: Greeting + Psychoanalytic and Psychohistorical Aspects of Ritual Circumcision
• Dr. Necla Kelek: The Importance of Boy Circumcision in the Islamic World Today: Duty, Faith or Tradition
• Önder Özgeday: Perspectives of painfully affected people - Children's rights as an opportunity
• Prof. Jörg Scheinfeld: Boys' circumcision – legal reasons for a rethinking of the legislator
• Victor Schiering: Perspectives of painfully affected people - Children's rights as an opportunity
• Prof. Dr. med. Maximilian Stehr: The anatomy, physiology and pathophysiology of the foreskin and the resulting consequences of circumcision

The presentations of the individual speakers are listed in their respective IntactiWiki articles, if publicly available. (Note: The list is not yet complete.)

Final receivables

The symposium ended with the adoption of final demands, which are divided into two areas, the medical and the legal field. In the scientific press spectrum, the final demands were promptly disseminated and received.

The text of the closing claims is reproduced below for documentation purposes:

Medical Area

Doctors should not treat without indication and always regardless of origin, religion and sexual orientation and for this reason should not perform medically indicated circumcision, especially not on patients unable to give consent.

More sensitivity and more knowledge about the psychological consequences of circumcision of male children are needed so that we can better diagnose them. This requires extensive research.

The establishment of therapy and counselling services for those directly and indirectly affected should be promoted.

Educational initiatives on anatomical and medical facts, risks and long-term consequences by health institutions such as the BZgA are necessary, sexological institutes and medical associations.

What is needed is the financing of a well-founded, comprehensive expert advice for parents wishing to circumcise their son, which have the well-being of the child, his sexual self-determination and his later psycho-sexual development in the center of the consideration.

In accordance with the applicable legal situation, comprehensive and documented information on all possible risks as well as objective documentation of findings must be carried out before each circumcision is carried out.

Evidence-based research on acute and long-term physical and long-term psychological consequences of foreskin removal, also with regard to the transfer of conventional masculinity.

Legal area

The following initiative by the Ministry of Family Affairs to include children's rights in the Basic Law deserves approval:

"The state community respects, protects and promotes the rights and well-being of the child and ensures child-friendly living conditions. In all state action concerning children, the best interests of the child must be taken into account. Before a State decision concerning his or her rights, every child shall have the right to be heard by the competent authority and to have his or her opinion taken into account in accordance with his or her age and maturity."

If this amendment to the Basic Law is not to remain symbolic, but to be effective, the comprehensive permission for foreskin amputations in parental rights must be revoked.

Politics and legislation must fully support the sentence: Genital integrity is a human right of all children.

The possibility of legal action of those affected – also against their own parents as well as against the circumcisers – must be restored immediately. It cannot be the case that those affected cannot claim compensation even in the event of the most serious consequences.

Already at present the following regulation must be made:

The child, even as an adult – based on the rules of the StORMG – should have the right to revoke the consent of the parents. If the circumcised person exercises this right, this constitutes a liability for damages on the part of the custodians. The circumcisor is liable for negligence, also in the clarification of the custodians and the child.

This also applies if no comprehensive and child-oriented education is documented.

See also

• Official website. Retrieved 16 November 2021