The Well-Being of Children

Alexander Bagattini

7 Male Circumcision and Children’s Interests

7.1 Introduction

Male circumcision has, contrary to female circumcision, long been seen as a rather unproblematic procedure. However, nowadays male circumcision has increasingly become the focus of law and morals. In 2013 in particular, a huge number of philosophical papers, special issues and volumes were published on the topic. What had happened? Two events in 2012 are of major importance: the first one is the debate about the verdict of the Cologne county court in Germany, which claimed that the circumcision of a four-year-old boy had been illegal (according to German law) because the procedure had not been medically necessary. Meanwhile, the German Government discharged the ...