Psychological literature about male circumcision

This page collects and indexes psychological literature about male circumcision.

Work in progress: The following information does not claim to be complete. More content will be added gradually.

Introduction

The circumcision industry would like parents and the public to believe that circumcision is psychologically benign and has no effect on the patient, therefore the information provided to satisfy the requirements of informed consent typically excludes any discussion of the psychological trauma, injury, and emotional effects of circumcision.

Some of the literature cited here will include certain articles of a psychological nature that appeared in medical journals.

Articles

Twentieth century articles

• Freud, Sigmund (1913): Totem and Taboo, Standard Edition. Volume 13 Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Cole EM. Circumcision and the abreaction of fear . J Neurol Psychopathol. January 1927; 7(27): 237-8. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Glover E. The ‘screening’ function of traumatic memories. Int J Psychoanal. 1 January 1929; 10: 90-3. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Levy DM. Psychic trauma of operations in children: and a note on combat neurosis. Am J Dis Child. 1945; 69(1): 7-25. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Nunberg H. Circumcision and problems of bisexuality. The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis. 1 January 1947; 28: 145-79. PMID. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
• Schmideberg M. A Note on Homosexuality and Circumcision. Psychoanalytic Review. 1948; 35(2): 183-4. PMID. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Freud A. The role of bodily illness in the mental life of children.. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. 1952; 7(1): 69-81. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Fervel J. [Reflections on circumcision]. Psyche Rev Int Sci Homme Psychanal. February 1952; 7(64): 98-102. PMID. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Cansever G. Psychological effects of circumcision. Br J Med Psychol. December 1965; 38(4): 321-31. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Emde RN, Harmon RJ, Metcalf D, Koenig AL, Wagonfeld S. Stress and neonatal sleep. Psychosom Med. 1971; 33(6): 491-7. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: Routine circumcision, done without anesthesia in the newborn nursery was usually followed by prolonged nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
• Anders TF, Chalemian RJ. The effects of circumcision on sleep-wake states in human neonates. Psychosom Med. March 1974; 36(2): 174-9. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: Thus the effect of circumcision in our infant population was an immediate and significant increase in wakefulness, particularly in fussy crying, during the hour following the procedure, and a decreased sleep onset latency time in a recovery period 1.5-7 hr later.
• Prescott JW. Body pleasure and the origins of violence.. The Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists. November 1975; : 10-20. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Richards MPM, Bernal JF, Brackbill Y. Early behavioral differences: gender or circumcision?. Dev Psychobiol. January 1976; 9(1): 89-95. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  Quote: We have reported here some direct and indirect evidence indicating that circumcision has an influence of unknown duration on the behavior and psychophysiology of male infants and we suggest that so-called neonatal "gender" differences may instead be circumcision differences.
• Marshall RE, Stratton WC, Moore, JA, et al. Circumcision I: effects upon newborn behavior. Infant Behavior and Development. 1980; 3: 1-14. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
• Marshall RE, Porter FL, Rogers AG, Moore J, Anderson B, Boxerman SB, et al. Circumcision: II effects upon mother-infant interaction December 1982; 7(4): 367-74. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
• Kennedy H. Trauma in childhood: Signs and sequelae as seen in the analysis of an adolescent. Psychoanal Study Child. 1986; 41: 209-19. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: What was so striking in Peter's analysis was the way in which all the avenues pursued led to the experiences surrounding the circumcision.
• Yorke C. Reflections on the problem of psychic trauma. Psychoanal Study Child. 1986; 41: 221-36. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: It is this pervasive anxiety which floods the ego when a traumatic anxiety situation is encountered and overwhelms the ego. The sequence of these basic danger situations is familiar. When the very young child is threatened by a degree of pervasive anxiety with which he is unable to deal, and which can only be assuaged by the ministrations of a mother who detects the source of that anxiety, we have the prototype for later fears of annihilation.
• Anonymous (1986): Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition - Revised). Work: 309.89 Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. Washington: American Psychiatric Association. Pp. 247-51. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: The essential feature of this disorder is the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically distressing event that is outside the range of unusual human experience (i. e., outside the range of such common experience as simple bereavement, chronic illness, business losses, and marital conflict). The stressor producing this syndrome would be markedly stressing to almost anyone, and is usually experienced with intense fear, terror and helplessness.
• Gunnar MR, Malone S, Vance S, Frisch RO. Coping with aversive stimulation in the neonatal period: quiet sleep and plasma cortisol levels during recovery from circumcision. Child Dev. August 1986; 56(4): 824-34. PMID. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• Karraker KD. Adult attention to infants in a newborn nursery. Nurs Res. November 1986; 35(6): 358-63. PMID. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
• van der Kolk BA. The compulsion to repeat the trauma: re-enactment, revictimization, and masochism. Psychiatr Clin North Am. June 1989; 12(2): 389-411. PMID. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
• Prescott JW. Genital pain vs. genital pleasure: why the one and not the other?. The Truthseeker. July 1989; 1(3): 14-21. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: It is this developmental neuropsychologist's conviction that these early experiences of genital pain contribute to the encoding of the brain for sado-masochistic behaviors.
• Chamberlain DB. Babies Remember Pain. Pre- and Peri-natal Psychology. 1989 (Summer); 3(4): 297-310. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: It was only in the last three years that American parents discovered the longstanding practice of surgeons to operate on infants without the use of painkillers (Birth, June 1986, Letters, 124-125). Adding horror to this discovery, parents uncovered the fact that major surgery on premature infants and children up to 15 months of age was typically done with the aid of curare (Pavulon) which paralyzes them but does not relieve pain. Thus, while experiencing the surgery fully, it was not possible for them to move or to utter a cry of alarm!
• van der Kolk BA, Saporta J. The biological mechanisms and treatment of intrusion and numbing. Anxiety Research. 1991; 4: 199-212. DOI. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: This article relates these findings to the studies which have demonstrated clear linkages between childhood trauma, and a variety of psychiatric disorders, including borderline personality disorder, and a range of self-destructive behaviors.
• Gaensbauer TJ. Trauma in the preverbal period. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. 1995; 50(01): 122-49. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
  Quote: At every age, traumatic memories and their associated affects can become powerful organizing elements within the psyche, coloring every aspect of a person’s psychological functioning.
• deMause, Lloyd. Restaging Fetal Traumas in War and Social Violence. Pre- and Perinatal Psychology Journal. March 1996; 23(4): 344-92. PMID. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  Quote: The same principle may hold for the rise of violent crimes during the 1970s and 80s, which could be connected with the rise of the extremely painful rite of circumcision in newborn boys during the 1950s and 60s. 93 Violence done to children always returns on the social level.
• Hepper PG. Fetal memory: Does it exist? What does it do?. Acta Pædiatrica Supplement (Stockholm). October 1996; 416: 16-20. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
• Taddio A, Katz J, Ilersich AL, Koren G. Effect of neonatal circumcision on pain response during subsequent routine vaccination. Lancet. 1 March 1997; 349: 599-603. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
• McFadyen A. Children have feelings too. BMJ. 23 May 1998; 316: 1616. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: At times, he literally roared with rage. This was interspersed with more quiet reflective periods when I would catch him staring down at his penis with tears in his eyes.
• Maguire P, Parkes CM. Surgery and loss of body parts. BMJ. 1998; 316(7137): 1068-8. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: The loss of body parts can give rise to grief for loss of body image or function, or both.
• Parkes CM. Facing loss. BMJ. 16 May 1998; 316: 1521-4. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: Although the death of a spouse or child is a public event that seldom goes unrecognised, many other types of loss do not attract attention or support to those who suffer them. This has been called disenfranchised grief.
• Goldman R. The Psychological Impact of Circumcision. BJU Int. January 1999; 83, Suppl. 1: 93-102. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
• Rhinehart J. Neonatal circumcision reconsidered. Tranactional Analysis Journal. July 1999; 29(3): 215-21. Retrieved 11 November 2020.

Twenty-first century articles

• Boyle GJ, Bensley GA. Adverse sexual and psychological effects of male infant circumcision. Psychol Rep (Missoula). June 2001; 88(3 Pt 2): 1105-6. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  Quote: A survey of the 35 female and 42 gay sexual partners of circumcised and genitally intact men, and a separate survey of 53 circumcised and genitally intact men, and a separate survey of 30 genitally intact men themselves indicated that circumcised men experienced significantly reduced sexual sensation along with associated long-lasting negative emotional consequences.
• 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 23 June 2024.
• Boyle GJ, Goldman R, Svoboda JS, Fernandez E. Male Circumcision: Pain, Trauma and Psychosexual Sequelae. Journal of Health Psychology. 2002; 7(3): 329-43. DOI. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
• Frisch M, Simonsen J. Ritual circumcision and risk of autism spectrum disorder in 0- to 9-year-old boys: national cohort study in Denmark. J R Soc Med. July 2015; 108(7): 266-79. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
• Aydogmus Y, Semiz M, Er O, Bas O, Atay I, Kilinc MF. Psychological and sexual effects of circumcision in adult males. Can Urol Assoc J. May 2016; 10(5-6): E156-E160. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  Quote: Our aim was to investigate the psychological and sexual effects of circumcision in adult men, and analyze these changes following circumcision.
• Goldman R. Circumcision policy: a psychosocial perspective . Paedatrics & Child Health (Ottawa). November 2005; 9(9): 630-3.. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  Quote: Perhaps future candidates for membership in circumcision policy committees should disclose their circumcision status (previously suggested), number of circumcisions performed, circumcision status of any male children, and religious or ethnic background. Disclosure of this information would help in the assessment of the credibility of the committee and its work.
• Hill G. Circumcision and human behavior: The emotional and behavioral effects of circumcision. Genital Wholeness. 27 May 2012; Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: Medical doctors adopted male circumcision from religious practice into medical practice in England in the 1860s and in the United States in the 1870s. No thought was given to the possible behavioral effects of painful operations that excise important protective erogenous tissue from the male phallus.
• Narvaez DF. Circumcision’s Psychological Damage. Psychology Today. 11 January 2015; Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: The control group babies were in so much pain—some began choking and one even had a seizure—they decided it was unethical to continue. It is important to also consider the effects of post-operative pain in circumcised infants (regardless of whether anesthesia is used), which is described as “severe” and “persistent”.
• Narvaez DF. Practical Tips for Men Distressed by Their Circumcision. Psychology Today. 21 June 2015; Retrieved 28 June 2024.
  Quote: One of the (many) problems with circumcision is that circumcised men often suffer in silence, for fear of being thought weak or weird if they complain.
• Coates SW. Can Babies Remember Trauma? Symbolic Forms of Representation in Traumatized Infants. J Am Psychoanal Assoc. August 2016; 64(4): 751-76. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
• Hirota T, King BH, et al. Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review. JAMA. 10 January 2023; 329(2): 147-68. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
• Bollinger D. Adverse Childhood Experiences, Dysfunctional Households, And Circumcision.. Kindred. 28 February 2023; Retrieved 1 March 2023.
• Tye MC, Sardi LM. Psychological, psychosocial, and psychosexual aspects of penile circumcision. Int J Impot Res. May 2023; 35(3): 242-8. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 22 June 2024.
  Quote: Policy statements on penile circumcision have focused primarily on disease, dysfunction, or sensation, with relatively little consideration of psychological and psychosocial implications of the procedure. There has also been minimal consideration of potential qualitative changes in the subjective experience of sexual activity following changes in penile anatomy (foreskin removal) or associated sexual biomechanics.

See also

• Pain
• Medical literature about child circumcision
• Trauma