Circumcision is an extreme form of child abuse

I WISH to respond to Terry Prone's pious, politically correct opinion piece on male circumcision (Irish Examiner, August 25).

David Richards, writing for the Journal of Law and Medicine, reports that, religious reasons aside, "circumcision (in Western societies) was primarily grounded in the anti-masturbation hysteria of the late 1800s when it was feared that a boy with a foreskin which had to be pulled back while cleaning would learn to masturbate. Masturbation at this time was believed to lead to insanity and numerous other illnesses". This continues to provide the unspoken rationale for non-medical circumcision in Canada and the US, where over 90% of males are circumcised.

Indeed the risk associated with non-medical circumcision is unacceptable as, in the words of Davd Richards, the "complication rate may be as high as 55 percent for hospital-performed, routine male circumcision... ".