Letters to the Editor
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circumcision and AIDS
Umm, er, I don't know when Mr. Pollack's son was born, so perhaps it makes sense that the following did not enter into the family calculus, BUT:
Studies in Africa and, more recently, India, have shown that uncircumcised men are something like six times more likely to contract HIV from sexual activity. This, it would seem, changes the situation that confronted us when our son was born -- we were told that no evidence supports a conclusion that circumcision has any health benefits. Arguably, the HIV findings tip the scales in favor of circumcision, as a purely scientific matter.
What was really interesting about Pollock's article, of course, was not so much the dilemma he and his wife confronted -- this hits every family that has a baby boy -- but the way in which he allowed himself to be manipulated and controlled by his parents. One really needs to declare his independence from such perniciously controlling behavior well before starting one's own family. Otherwise, the day your kid is born is too late to assert yourself.