The Goose and the Gander: The Genital Wars

Abstract

Should there be gender equity in genital cutting? In Germany (and much of Europe), the native inhabitants tend to argue there is moral equivalence between customary male circumcision and customary female circumcision and both should be proscribed. In Sierra Leone (and several other countries in Africa), the native inhabitants tend to argue there is moral equivalence between customary male circumcision and customary female circumcision and both should be permitted. In the United States, the native inhabitants tend to argue against moral equivalence, permitting customary circumci- sions for boys while proscribing them for girls. Who has the better of the argument? And what are the implications of the argument for Jews and other circumcising ethnic groups living in Europe, Africa, and North America? It is rumored that when God issued the command, Abraham looked up at the heavens and said 'Youwantustodowhat?'According to legend Sarah was not party to the conversation and was notincluded inthe deal. Suchstoriesdon't surprise me.I hesitated toowhen myson was born,at least until the absentee ballots came flooding infrom generations of ancestors; for the dead had a vote, including Abraham. And when my daughter was born the thought 'why aren' tJ ewish women circumcised?' never occurred to my wife. Not once did she look up at the heavens and say 'What kind of justice is this? Shouldn't there be gender equity in genital cutting?' That however is the question fully considered by Shaye Cohen in WhyAren't Jewish Women Circumcised? 1 His book is an exegesis of medieval rabbinic understandings of the genital cutting required of Jewish males in Genesis 17. It is also an eye-opening account of Jewish attempts to respond to early anti-Semitic Christian accusations that neonatal male circumcision is not only gender biased, patriarchal, and exclusionary (of the female half of the Jewish population) but also morally inferior to the ecumenical and gender inclusive practice of Christian baptism. The author, who is a Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University, then brings us up to date by observing that contemporary opponents of Jewish male circumcision 'assume (moral) parity between male circumcision, which is toler- ated, and female circumcision, which is proscribed,' with the aim of expanding existing legal prohibitions of female genital mutilation (FGM) to include the male circumcision of minors. 2 What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Or so argue today's opponents of childhood male circumcision.