http://www.iranianvoice.org/

By: Mehdi Sharifi

Never mind all the stress and sweat about democracy. Why doesn't anyone ever talk about crimes committed against children in Iran?

Thousands of young girls are being forced into marriage after their ninth birthday (the Islamic age for a girl to turn into a woman), which means that their bodies are being violated by the paedophiles who marry them. These children (yes, children) are being raped continuously and the law allows this to happen. Quite recently a move to increase the minimum age of marriage for young girls was blocked. But at least it was discussed.

Thousands of young boys in Iran are being forcefully mutilated, sexually, by their parents; the people who are supposed to love and look after them. No one ever questions this barbaric and prehistoric torture. Worst yet, no one realises that this is sexual abuse, carried out on helpless and defenceless children. No one ever questions the real reason behind this despicable act. The so called doctors who carry out this mutilation of genitals use religion (as all criminals in the country do to justify their acts) as a cover. Some may even use the excuse that a circumcised penis is cleaner and safer. However, the main reason is ignorance. It is widely known that in the past, circumcision was a form of torture, carried out at the same time as castration on slaves in prehistoric Egypt. Victorian Britain used circumcision to punish those who took pleasure in masturbation. Yet, somehow, so called medics of now in Iran carry out circumcision for its alleged medical benefits, when the actual reason is nothing but the money they make from it and their want to satisfy their sick sexual fantasies. The majority of men in the world are natural (not circumcised). They somehow manage to live quite happily, without any problems. They manage to stay healthy and successful. They also do not suffer from psychological and physical effects of circumcision. But somehow a man is not a man who will prosper in Iran unless he has been sexually mutilated.

Circumcision (genital mutilation to be correct) is never carried out perfectly, so that it may somewhat be undone in the future if required. Never mind the fact that it reduces the sexual sensitivity of the circumcised person (which may lead to sexual impotence). It almost always leaves one or more of the following side effects on the victim (yes, victim) in addition.

* Lifelong scars,

* Pain during erection and sexual intercourse (for both male and female) due to too tight a circumcision,

* Uneven and/or twisted look of the penis,

* Change in the natural shape of the penis (e.g. bent penis),

* Tearing of the skin during sexual intercourse (leaving the victim open to infections such as HIV)

* Removal of all penile shaft skin resulting in unsightly hair-bearing skin covering the penile shaft completely, up to the point of the circumcision scar (some men, due to their lack of knowledge on circumcision may think that this is natural, when in actual fact, it is not),

* Loss of self-esteem,

* Feeling of anger,

* Hate towards parents and society,

* Feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.

These are only some of the side effects resulting from circumcision, and are also those that are never mentioned by doctors who make a living out of mutilating young children. All that parents are told is that it has to be done for religious reasons and that it helps avoid disease. Even if the side effects are known, parents are forced to mutilate their children to blindly conform to tradition and to avoid losing their dignity (Uberoo) in the neighbourhood in which they live.

If we are to respect human rights, no one (including parents) has the right to abuse or mutilate children, sexually (e.g. to circumcise) or otherwise. There is no point in trying to achieve human rights for the adults of society if all the adults remember is memories of the lack of basic human rights they had as children.

Circumcision has ruined my life and 13 years on (since the age of 7), I have constant nightmares about the day I was forcefully mutilated in the name of culture and the God that never came to help me with the pain and the psychological effects I have had to live with ever since. My circumcision was badly botched (as if there is such thing as a circumcision that isn't botched). I have no self confidence and I have lost the will to live, ever since I found out why I am how I am. It infuriates me when I see that life could have been so much better if I stayed as I naturally was, before I was modified to fit the sick and ignorant society I was being brought up in. How come touching and mutilating the human body is fine to do by adults, but too much of a taboo to debate?

There's nothing I can do about what has been done to me. There is no way of turning back time. And there is no way of fixing the mindless damage done to me. My so called parents have failed to accept that what they did to me was wrong and have left me to live a miserable life; a life that is most probably going to end in suicide. But this does not have to be the case for the rest of the children in Iran. As far as I know, the law may not protect children against circumcision, but it does not dictate that this evil act has to be carried out as a matter of not breaking the law. So let's educate the parents of our society about this menace and fault in our traditions and culture. Let's not allow the criminals who carry out this act (the sick and twisted doctors and dalluks) to profit from the pain of our children. Let's not turn a blind eye to children's rights in our society. Let's stop harming our future generations. Let's not try and deny the pain circumcision has caused us just to try and overcome the pain we have been suffering since our own circumcision, just to inflict the same pain on our children in the future. Let's speak out against genital mutilation. Ultimately, let's get civilized and stop torturing the innocent members of our society.

The ten to fifteen minutes that circumcision takes to complete also takes away future happiness of your son. Foreskin is not just Skin. It is far more complex than just skin. In any case, skin is one of the vital organs of the body. Its removal is not that different from the removal of any other organ, and leads to the malfunction of the body. If it was not an integral part of the body, it would have never been supplied with the body.

Just think. In the time you have taken to read this, tens of young boys in Iran have probably been pointlessly mutilated. That is tens more of our future generation scarred physically and ruined psychologically. How can you let this continue? How can you live with yourselves? How can you call yourselves human? Can you not hear the screams of those children being pointlessly cut? Can you not imagine the anguish they suffer as they are made to lie or sit and watch their bodies get violated as they are restrained by brute force? Are you blind and cannot see that those who carry out this act may be realising a sexual satisfaction? Can you not see that circumcision is worse than rape? Can you not see that circumcision is sexual abuse? Can you not see that circumcision is a crime?