Whilst female circumcision is prohibited
by law in all civilized countries, routine male infant circumcision (RIC)
is - ironically - still widely practised and condoned in some developed
countries, specifically the United States. Although circumcision has been
practised as a rite since ancient times, it only became popular in the
English world after a national masturbation hysteria swept across the United
States in the late 19th century, promoting circumcision as a "cure" for
preventing masturbation, which in turn was regarded as the cause of a variety
of maladies until the second half of the 20th century. |
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