Letter: Unkind cut

Sir: Angela West's claim (letter, 23 September) that male circumcision is desirable in the interests of hygiene and cancer-prevention is absurd. It is easy to clean under one's foreskin. Cervical and penile cancer do appear to be linked to hygiene, but not to circumcision.

As for her suggestion that circumcision is a good thing because the result is "far more aesthetically pleasing", I wonder how many penises she is planning to look at. Must every baby boy on earth be circumcised just in case Ms West should one day feel inclined to assess the aesthetic pleasingness of his private parts? And what about all the women and gay men whose aesthetic tastes differ from hers?

If Ms West "cannot think of a good reason" for keeping foreskins where nature intended, perhaps she should ask a few uncircumcised men whether they fancy the operation. She will quickly discover one very good reason indeed: we don't like the idea of bits of our genitalia being cut off.

DAVID BISHOP

Brussels