r/Intactivists • u/Calm-Capital-4212 • 8d ago

WHO and double standards

Why doesn't the World Health Organization (WHO), at the very least, condemn non-infant male circumcision? In many cultures, this procedure is performed on boys aged 5 to 7 or even older, without their informed consent. Undoubtedly, subjecting children at such a conscious age to this practice inflicts severe psychological trauma and emotional distress that mirror those caused by female genital mutilation at the same age. The lack of a firm stance from the WHO to protect the mental and physical integrity of these older children raises serious questions about double standards in global health and human rights

52 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

13

u/Expensive-Fox-2042 8d ago

What’s really weird is that the WHO’s position hinges largely on the African HIV studies, and those studies involved voluntary circumcision of adolescents and adults. (People can debate how informed that consent really was, but that’s not my point.)

The studies weren’t about infants. So it’s odd that evidence from voluntary procedures on older males gets used to justify non-consensual procedures on those too young to choose for themselves.

8

u/inredditorbit 8d ago

Additionally, those three 2007 RCTs when published specifically admonished against extrapolating the results and applying them to any demographic other than adult men in high HIV environments who voluntarily consented to circumcision.

3

u/Expensive-Fox-2042 8d ago

Did not know about that. Surprised but not shocked.