“Wounded Religious Masculinities”: Muslim Men's Opposition Against Male Circumcision in Turkey (original) (raw)
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International Journal of Fashion Studies, 2020
Male circumcision is a widely practised Islamic ritual in Turkey regardless of families' level of devotion. It is traditionally celebrated with a party where boys wear special 'circumcision' costumes. Concentrating on these costumes, this study examines the construction, interaction and intersection between religion, masculinity , nationalism, militarism and neo-Ottomanism, by investigating costumes available between 2014 and 2019 and exploring previous studies and archival resources on circumcision celebrations in the Ottoman and Turkish contexts, such as photographs and memoirs. By doing so, it identifies three main styles: classic , modern military and neo-Ottoman. Classic circumcision costumes emerged in the early twentieth century, while modern military style spread in the 1970s under the influence of the Turkish political sphere. The variety and availability of circumcision costumes has enormously increased since the 1990s due to the country's economic upsurge. Under AKP rule, particularly in the 2010s, there KEYWORDS costume military uniform religion masculinities semiotics neo-Ottomanism
The Complexity of Conversion
The 2012 verdict of the court in Cologne, Germany, maintains that circumcision limits religious freedom, since it 'runs contrary to the interests of the child in deciding his religious affiliation independently later in life'. This article analyses the assumptions about religion and gender that underlie this claim, which was restated in various ways in subsequent discussions by legal scholars. By using inclusive terms that are not gender specific, the authors examined present circumcision as relating not specifically to men, but to human beings in general. A comparison with the gendered discourse on contested practices concerning women shows that this is a strategy that relies on men being presented as the norm and male bodies as less physically vulnerable and culturally contentious than women. By limiting religion to the convictions and beliefs of the individual, the sources privilege an understanding of religion that, while purporting to be 'secular' and neutral, is in fact a Western, Protestant Christian construction. Moreover, this concept of religion has its roots in a rejection of circumcision and projects this rejection back onto contemporary circumcision practices.
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Masculinity and Muslims: Contemporary Debates
Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives , 2020
Muslim men have long been viewed in the Western public imagination as either threat (as terrorist), patriarchal oppressor, or as “at risk” (of radicalization and subsequent participation in terrorism). Men in Muslim-majority nations have been construed in similar terms and beyond this have remained largely invisible in scholarship. However, the past two decades have seen an exponential growth in studies of Muslim masculinities that reveal deep insights into the social and historical forces shaping Muslim men and their subordination in broader power structures. The study of Muslim masculinities has emancipatory potential, casting a light on both structural discrimination and the daily lives of Muslim men as loving husbands, fathers, and contributing members of the community. This chapter commences by examining the growth of the new subfield of Muslim masculinities and the key theoretical frames that have shaped it, before engaging with the very broad literature on Muslim masculinities that has emerged in relation to Muslim men in both majority and minority contexts. The chapter concludes by considering future directions for research.
russian law journal, 2023
Circumcision is one of the most significant events in a boy's early life. Even though this ancient ritual violates the rights of children, it is still practised in some societies, such as Iran. Despite this, adequate scientific understanding of this practice, its challenging dimensions and its obvious and hidden consequences have not been developed. In traditional societies, this operation on the private part of a child's body is performed alongside a special ritual to reduce the child's anxiety as he enters adulthood. However, in modern societies, every person under the age of 18 is considered a child; thus, any change to his body is without valid consent. Additionally, the public performance of circumcision ceremonies has negative educational impacts. In this article, two main goals have been pursued: firstly, to analyse the cultural and religious dimensions of male circumcision in Iranian society, and, secondly, to objectively analyse this issue in terms of the rights of the child and the right to bodily integrity, to help formulate effective programmes and policies to reduce or eliminate its negative consequences. To do this, in addition to analysing field research using a qualitative methodology and a literature review, targeted interviews were conducted with a number of circumcised Iranians living both inside and outside of the country, as well as interviews with some experts. The role of religion has been crucial to the endurance of circumcision, as shown by the empirical data and the available historical documents. The practice has been performed throughout history by individuals who have no other justification than that they are obeying religious orders. Some people and social groups are persuaded to the point where, while accepting the potential risks of circumcision, they carry it out on medical advice because of an institutionalised belief about the benefits of circumcision that originated in religion and culture. Even though the majority of medical defences are disseminated by experts in the field and through specific channels like scientific and research articles in the media, these arguments are primarily the product of misinformation campaigns meant to conceal the financial motivations of institutions like heavily commercialised circumcision clinics. This shows how the relationship of medicine with the economic mafia's advertising dominates the cultural/religious industries and confirms that the medical discourse is influenced by ideological structures of power to such an extent that it adjusts its functions in collaboration and interaction with them. This discourse uses health to legitimise its business, propagating social attitudes to accept circumcision as a natural and necessary practice, rather than a social construct.