Tyranny of the Victims

Abstract

It is a sad reflection on the human condition that some childhood victims of traumatic and violent acts are so deeply affected, psychologically, by them, that they grow up to become victimisers themselves. This is often true of victims of child abuse who grow up to abuse their own children. Similarly, some children who experience the trauma of circumcision grow up to become the very adults who are responsible for its persistence. Under investigation here is neither the neonatally circumcised male who merely seeks justifications for his own circumcised state, nor the anxiety-ridden circumcised father who is so disturbed by his newborn son’s intact penis that he insists that it be surgically altered to “match” his penis. Under discussion here are those neonatally circumcised males who are driven to the extreme position of advocating that all males should be circumcised. This form of compulsion should be of concern to all. As John A. Erickson has asked: What percentage of obstetricians, pediatricians, and urologists, etc., are driven to those professions by a compulsion to circumcise?