Circumcision and violence
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The relationship of Circumcision and violence has not been well explored. Violence is defined as "behavior or treatment in which physical force is exerted for the purpose of causing damage or injury".[1] We do hoewever have some information.
The human prepuce is highly innervated tissue[2] and has long been known for its erogenous quality.[3] Falliers (1970) commented on the "sensory pleasure induced by tactile stimulation of the foreskin."[4] Excision of the foreskin by circumcision necessarily reduces the pleasurable sensations emanating from the foreskin.
James W. Prescott, Ph.D.[a 1], a developmental neuropsychologist, (1975) related loss of sensory body pleasure to increases in violent behavior.
As a developmental neuropsychologist I have devoted a great deal of study to the peculiar relationship between violence and pleasure. I am now convinced that the deprivation of physical sensory pleasure is the principal root cause of violence. Laboratory experiments with animals show that pleasure and violence have a reciprocal relationship, that is, the presence of one inhibits the other. A raging, violent animal will abruptly calm down when electrodes stimulate the pleasure centers of its brain. Likewise, stimulating the violence centers in the brain can terminate the animal's sensual pleasure and peaceful behavior. When the brain's pleasure circuits are 'on,' the violence circuits are 'off,' and vice versa. Among human beings, a pleasure-prone personality rarely displays violence or aggressive behaviors, and a violent personality has little ability to tolerate, experience, or enjoy sensuously pleasing activities. As either violence or pleasure goes up, the other goes down.[5]
Is circumcision itself violence?
The performance of a circumcision operation actually takes minimal force, but it makes up for the lack of force by the great damage to the penis and its many protective, immunological, sensory, and sexual functions,[6] and also by the extreme pain and trauma that it inflicts. Ramos & Boyle (2001) studied the psychological effects of circumcision on Filipino boys. They reported that sixty-nine percent of traditionally circumcised boys and fifty-one percent of medically circumcised boys met the criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).[7]
Famed trauma expert Bessell van der Kolk, M. D. (1989) reported that traumatized persons tend to repeat the trauma on themselves or others, resulting in harm to others, harm to self, or being re-victimized. He writes:
Some traumatized people remain preoccupied with the trauma at the expense of other life experiences and continue to re-create it in some form for themselves or for others.[8]
Lloyd De Mause (1996) argued that early trauma results in aggressive adult behavior.[9]
Abbreviations
- ↑
Doctor of Philosophy
, Wikipedia. Retrieved 16 June 2021. (Also abbreviated as D.Phil.)
References
- ↑ (2016).
Violence
, The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Retrieved 5 November 2022. - ↑
Cold CJ, Taylor JR. The prepuce. BJU Int. January 1999; 83, Suppl. 1: 34-44. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
- ↑ Winkelmann RK. The erogenous zones: their nerve supply and significance. Mayo Clin Proc. 21 January 1959; 34(3): 39-47. PMID. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
- ↑ Falliers CJ. Circumcision. JAMA. December 1970; 214(12): 2194. PMID. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ↑ Prescott JW. Body Pleasure and the Origins of Violence. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. November 1975; : 10-20. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ↑ Helard, Lou (1 August 2014).
Functions of the Foreskin
, Intact Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2022. - ↑
Ramos S, Boyle GJ (2001): Ritual and medical circumcision among Filipino boys: evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Work: Understanding circumcision: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to a Multi-Dimensional Problem. Denniston GC, Hodges FM, Milos M (ed.). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers. Pp. 253-70. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
- ↑ van der Kolk B. The compulsion to repeat the trauma: re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism. Psychiatr Clin North Am. June 1989; 12(2): 389-411. PMID. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
- ↑ deMause, Lloyd. Restaging Fetal Traumas in War and Social Violence. Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal. 1996; 23(4): 344-92. PMID. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
