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| This boy is Ali. This picture was taken as he was being circumcised in the operating room of the Kemal Özkan Circumcision Palace. The two-story building includes a playground with a go-kart track, a dancing hall, and a restaurant. | | OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH! - PART 1A Day at the Circumcision Palace
PHOTOS BY MAURO D’AGATI
In Islamic Turkey, circumcision is much more than a surgical procedure. Traditionally occurring between the ages of five and 12, and known as the “first joy,” it’s seen as the first landmark in the boy’s religious life, proof that he is strong, brave, and ready to be called a man. To this end, the procedure is generally performed with local anesthetic or none at all, as the pain is an integral part of the ritual. In the festivities surrounding the circumcision, the boy is made to wear a king’s costume, and the assembled family and friends shower him with gifts and tie gold coins to his belt. Almost 30 percent of Turkish parents, including medical staff, choose the traditional method over the postnatal procedure in hospitals, and in rural Turkey up to 85 percent of circumcisions are performed without any doctor at all.
The “circumcision experts” who are called to perform the ritual instead of medical personnel often inherit their position from their fathers. As a result, the official literature is filled with reports of vomit-inducing botched procedures, some of which end with severed urethras, infections, gangrene, amputation of the penis, and even death.
Kemal Özkan, a 58-year-old qualified paramedic, is a Turkish celebrity. He is known as the Sultan of Circumcision. He has allegedly operated on more than 100,000 children in his 37-year career and his famously outlandish publicity stunts have included performing circumcisions on horseback, on a camel, and in flight.
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| Before the procedure, the boy is distracted with music and a clown, all to help him forget the mind-shattering pain that will soon wash over his entire body. |
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| Mustapha kisses the great Kemal özkan’s hand before his circumcision. Kemal is well-known as the greatest circumciser in Turkey, partially thanks to his PR stunts, such as performing 2,000 procedures in one 24-hour penis-snipping marathon. |
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TO BE CONTINUED:
OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH! | 1 | 2 | 3 |
See all articles by this contributor Anonymous, on Oct 27, 2009 wrote:
You cannot compare foreskin to a hymen and circumcision is not the same as body mutilation. If your child has 6 toes or 6 fingers, it is very common for parents and doctors to remove "perfectly good" limbs... we’re just talking about skin. There are so many other elective procedures that I think are worse than circumcision, that this is just sensationalism. Maybe because it involves babies it makes you more sensitive, but it’s just a fold skin. It’s a procedure that has been performed for thousands of years and it continues today. I think people should be more concerned about the high rates of elective cesarians, premature embilical cord clamping, the chemical vaccinations we pump our newborns with right ofter birth - I think these things have a more detrimental effect than circumcision. | | Anonymous, on Jul 22, 2009 wrote:
I have always hated being circumcised. Do you know what its like when every time you shower, change clothes, use the bathroom, or have sex, you are reminded that part of you is gone and you’ll never be whole? all without your permission?
No one had the right to do this to me, and theyll burn in hell for it. | | Anonymous, on Dec 30, 2008 wrote:
When I was a child, I DID have an infection under my foreskin. I barely remember it, but I remember it being unpleasant.
Q-tips and neosporin and it went away. I wish everyone else went this route instead of amputating. | | Anonymous, on Nov 26, 2008 wrote:
Anonymous, on Oct 18, 2008 wrote:
Why do people who AREN’T circumcised get so up in arms about people who are completely happy about being circumcised? It’s like, why do you even care? Especially if that guy’s happy, thinks he’s cleaner, and has a happy sex life etc? You may disagree but why are you so concerned about his sex life any way?
ANSWER: because we believe its a human rights violation, and we don’t want them doing it to their children. go ahead and cut off whatever body parts of your own that you want.
but when you start doing it to babies, even your own babies, thats when i draw the fucking line. | | Anonymous, on Nov 26, 2008 wrote:
i was 7 and my uncles got me reasonably drunk
both my parents laughed at me | | Anonymous, on Oct 23, 2008 wrote:
heard that foreskins were used to make face creams. never will I buy any after reading this and looking at the pictures of agony and pain. | | Anonymous, on Oct 18, 2008 wrote:
Why do people who AREN’T circumcised get so up in arms about people who are completely happy about being circumcised? It’s like, why do you even care? Especially if that guy’s happy, thinks he’s cleaner, and has a happy sex life etc? You may disagree but why are you so concerned about his sex life any way? | | Anonymous, on Sep 28, 2008 wrote:
To the anonymous poster below me: There wasn’t a good reason to circumcise YOU either. What happened to your penis is something that they now know can be treated with topical antibiotics and steroids. You wouldn’t have had any infections in the first place if your parents or whoever retracted your foreskin for you had known NOT to! That’s part of the common misconception about intact boys. Parents aren’t educated about it, and doctors don’t BOTHER to educate about it.. so the boy’s foreskin ends up being retracted WAAAAYYYY before it’s supposed to. There’s only one person who should retract; the boy himself! Anything else would be similar to someone breaking your infant daughter’s hyman because you think it won’t go away on it’s own. | | Anonymous, on Aug 29, 2008 wrote:
Not everyone gets the chop because of religion. Some people actually have a genuine reason for it! When i was a little boy i had an infection under my foreskin which prevented me from going to the toilet without a great deal of pain, so it ended up, they had to remove my foreskin. But not having a foreskin hasnt help me back in any way, it still does the same thing as any other penis, plus my girl friend think its more hygenic! But i dont agree with the fact that these young boys are getting the chop so young and for no reason, they should be able to choose for themselves later on in life! | | |
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