Changes

Male [[circumcision]] is a surgical [[amputation]] of the [[foreskin]], which contains more than one-half of the erogenous epithelium of the [[penis]]. The [[amputation]] is most frequently carried out on infants and small boys who cannot and do not give consent for the loss of so much of their [[penis]]. There are many '''psychological issues of male circumcision''' that arise from the painful, traumatic, involuntary loss of the part of the [[penis ]] with the erogenous tissue that provides much sexual sensation.<ref name ="uberoi2022">{{REFjournal

There was little awareness of emotional and/or psychological issues when child [[circumcision]] was being promoted in the late 19th century and early 20th century. For example, [[Douglas Gairdner]] (1949) made no mention at all of [[pain]], [[trauma]] behavior changes, or psychological issues in his landmark 1949 paper.<ref name="fate1949">{{GairdnerDM 1949}}</ref> Intact America (2023) reported that [[intact]] males were shamed.<ref>{{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/foreskin-phobia-intact-penis-shamed/ |title=Foreskin Phobia: How The Intact Penis Has Been Shamed |last=Anonymous |first= |init= |publisher= |date=2023-12-21 |accessdate=2023-12-31}}</ref>

In contrast to the sometimes dramatic somatic responses of the neonate to operation without anesthesia, the psychological consequences of this trauma are conjectural. Psychoanalyst Erik Erickson has described the first of eight stages of man as the development of basic trust versus basic mistrust. For the baby to be plucked from his bed, [[Circumstraint|strapped in a spread eagle position]], and doused with chilling antiseptic is perhaps consistent with other new-found discomforts of extra-uterine existence. The application of crushing clamps and [[excision]] of penile tissue, however, probably do little to engender a trusting, congenial, relationship with the infant's new surroundings.<ref name="grimes1978">{{REFjournal

''[[Depression]]'' is the fourth stage of grief.<ref name="kr1969"/> <ref name="cc2022"/> Several cases of [[suicide]] have been reported.<ref name="lowbridge2019">{{REFnews

[[Rosemary Romberg ]] (2021) observed that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the [[United States]] occurs four times more frequently in boys than in girls.<ref name="romberg2021">{{REFbook