I can't help but laugh when this scene greeted my eyes when I got home last week.  My nephew and his friends just got circumcised at the Operation Tuli sponsored by the local government. Tuli is the filipino word for circumcision. It is the process or removing the foreskin from the penis. For filipinos, Circumcision is not only for health reasons but it is also part of the Catholic ritual...not sure or perhaps just plain 'ol pinoy tradition. It is a painful process according to my nephew that he even screamed during the operation and some of his friends even backed out.Lucky us girls because we only have to get our ears pierced to be considered circumcised...errr right? Circumcision in the Philippines usually happens during the summer for boys ages between 7 t0 10. For the boys it signals the start of their journey towards becoming a man. When you see boys wearing oversized shirts or sometimes skirts and walking like they have a heavy load between their legs then they are on their way to becoming Men ;) |
May 19, 2008
Operation Tuli
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13 retrospection:
Having your genitals cut doesn't make someone a man, and the sooner this outdated custom dies out, the better. Fortunately, that does seem to be happening.
drops in male circumcision:
USA: from 90% to 56%
Canada: from 47% to 14%
UK: from 35% to about 3%
Australia: 90% to 12.6%
New Zealand: 95% to below 3% (mostly Samoans and Tongans)
South America and Europe: never above 5%
Circumcision is NOT a Catholic ritual. Most Catholics worldwide do NOT circumcise their children. In fact, the New Testament speaks out quite strongly against circumcision, and circumcision also violates the Catholic Catechism.
No. 2297 of the Catechism, "Respect for bodily integrity," states in part: "Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law."
To learn more about Catholic teaching on circumcision, see:
http:www.catholicsagainstcircumcision.org/
@mark lyndon: Yes I agree with you that it takes more that circumcision for one to become a man...you must've missed the hint of sarcasm in my post :)
@anonymous: I see.I'm not really knowledgeable about Catholic rituals though I am one and in our country the line that separates catholic rituals and Filipino traditions is pretty hard to define. I believe that one's faith and relationship with God is more important that those rituals anyways
Those were the days!
@marco: so you can relate huh? :)
The Philippines and the US are the only countries that pretend the Catholic church never said: The Holy Roman Church "strictly orders all who glory in the name of Christian, not to practise circumcision either before or after baptism, since whether or not they place their hope in it, it cannot possibly be observed without loss of eternal salvation." (affirmed by popes as early as 1442 and as recently as 1952).
Note that half the time the traditional Filipino supercision (non-amputating slit method) is used, not actual circumcision.
It must be hard to live supot, but I say only a real man could have the guts to say: "Mutilating my body would painful and would rob me of a lot of pleasure receptivity, so I'm not doing it and I don't care what you think."
Either way, only an informed adult should be allowed to choose to have his own healthy normal body parts amputated.
It is entirely incorrect to believe that the circumcision of male children is healthy.
There are many complications to the procedure, including infection, hemorrhage, and mutilation.
The adverse effects on sexuality are lifelong.
The Catholic Church prohibits non-therapeutic mutilations and amputations in its moral law.
The Philippine people need to reform their practice of "tuli".
Circumcision removes healthy sexual tissue from a nonconsenting minor. Consent obtained from a proxy (parent or legal guardian) for a non-therapeutic operation, one that does not involve medical need and one in which full disclosure of what is being removed is not given, violates the rights of the child to bodily integrity and is a form of mutilation.
Genitally mutilating a young boy is sexual child abuse.
Both the parents who consent to this barbaric procedure, and the men and women who do it for profit should be arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.
I see nothing wrong with it. Filipinos have a right to do what they want to do.
No.
Yes, I see nothing wrong with it- they have a right to do as they please. It is good for their health anyway!
Good for their health?? Most doctors don't think so.
Three national medical organizations (Iceland, Sweden and Germany) have called for elective infant male circumcision to be *banned*, and two others (Denmark and the Netherlands) have said they'd support a ban if they didn't think it would drive the practice underground.
"Routine" circumcision *is* banned in public hospitals in Australia (almost all the men responsible for this policy will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%).
If it weren't a religious thing, elective circumcision of boys would have been banned in lots of countries decades ago, same as it was for girls.
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