LETTERS: Circumcision may be unwise for men: for women it is mutilation

IN HIS campaign to discourage male circumcision, Dr John Warren tells only half the story. My story, tells the other half.

At 12, with puberty coming on nicely, a shock caused by a traumatic family split caused my puberty to go into reverse. During the next year or so, my foreskin tightened and one testicle shrunk to the size of a pea - which is how it is today. In later adolescence, attempts to form heterosexual relationships were dashed by pain and humiliation.

At the age of 25, a tropical virus caused inflammation under my impossible- to-clean foreskin. A quickly arranged circumcision removed the offending skin and cured the inflammation. But no psychiatric surgery could cure the psychological damage. I take that affliction to my grave.

I know I am not unique. At the age of say, 13 or 14, an appropriate medical examination of all boys would tell if all is well. Any who suffer as I did should undergo immediate circumcision.

Name and address supplied