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Male [[circumcision]] is a surgical amputation of the [[foreskin]],which contains more than one-half of the erogenous epithelium of the [[penis]]. The amputation 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 involuntary loss of the part of the penis with the erogenous tissue that provides much sexual sensation.
==History==
Moses Maimonides wrote in the 12th century:
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So we see that circumcision has long been used to effect behavior change.
There was little awareness of emotional and psychological issues when child circumcision was being promoted in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
==Increasing awareness==
David Levy (1945) reported on abnormal behavior in children who had undergone surgical operations, including circumcision, among other operations. Levy reported such emotional sequelae as:
* Conditioned fear
* Dependency fears and regressions.
* Latent fear.
* Phobias.
* Anxiety states.
* Hostility reactions.
* Obsessions.
* Hysteria.
Levy saw a relationships to what was then called combat neurosis and now known as postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).<ref name="levy1945">{{REFjournal
|last=Levy
|first=David
|author-link=
|etal=no
|title=Psychic trauma of operations in children: and a note on combat neurosis
|trans-title=
|language=
|journal=Am J Dis Child
|location=
|date=1945
|volume=69
|issue=
|pages=7-25
|url=http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/levy1/
|quote=
|pubmedID=
|pubmedCID=
|DOI=
|accessdate=2019-12-04
}}</ref>
Anna Freud, daughter and Sigmund Freud, and a pioneer child psychologist read Levy's paper. She wrote (1952):
<blockquote>
Ever since the discovery of the castration complex analysts have had ample opportunity in their therapeutic work to study the impact of surgical operations. on normal and abnormal development. By now it is common knowledge that surgical interference with the child's body may serve as the focal point for the activation, reactivation, grouping and rationalization of ideas of being attacked, overwhelmed and (or) castrated. … Ever since the discovery of the castration complex analysts have had ample opportunity in their therapeutic work to study the impact of surgical operations. on normal and abnormal development. By now it is common knowledge that surgical interference with the child's body may serve as the focal point for the activation, reactivation, grouping and rationalization of ideas of being attacked, overwhelmed and (or) castrated.<ref name="freud1952">{{REFjournal
|last=Freud
|first=Anna
|author-link=
|title=The role of bodily illness in the mental life of children
|journal=Psychoanalytic Study of the Child
|date=1952
|volume=7
|issue=
|pages=69-81
|url=http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/freud/
|accessdate=2019-12-04
}}</ref>
</blockquote>
{{REF}}