Articles, news clippings and research on Men

Hygiene, looks, STIs, trauma and sexual pleasure. Luke Malone looks at the pros and cons of circumcision.

A new study in the International Journal of Men’s Health shows that circumcised men have a 4.5 times greater chance of suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED) than intact men, revealing what appears to be a significant acquisition vector.

Deputy Prime Minister, Thokozani Khupe recently suggested that government ministers should lead by example and go for male circumcision as a way of encouraging other men to follow suit.

Using a population-based survey we examined the behaviors, beliefs, and HIV/HSV-2 serostatus of men and women in the traditionally non-circumcising community of Kisumu, Kenya prior to establishment of voluntary medical male circumcision services. A total of 749 men and 906 women participated. Circumcision status was not associated with HIV/HSV-2 infection nor increased high risk sexual behaviors. In males, preference for being or becoming circumcised was associated with inconsistent condom use and increased lifetime number of sexual partners. Preference for circumcision was increased with understanding that circumcised men are less likely to become infected with HIV.

PARENTS should be encouraged to get their boys circumcised to reduce their risk of contracting HIV from a female partner later in life, experts say.

Discussion about the advisability of circumcision in English-speaking countries that practise circumcision typically has focused on long-held beliefs about the health benefits of circumcision. The conflicting conclusions, beliefs and opinions surrounding circumcision, together with the tenacity with which advocates and opponents of circumcision maintain their viewpoints, suggest that deep psychological factors are involved.

Zimbabwe has joined the growing list of countries in southern Africa that is pushing, and sometimes paying, for adult men to get circumcised, in the wake of studies that found men without a foreskin are 60 percent less likely to catch HIV.