A South Asian viewpoint....
I am Imasha from Sri Lanka living in Uhana, Ampara. As a female, I would like to share the story of my brother’s circumcision; he was circumcised at the age of 22 in April 1979. We follow the Buddhist religion where circumcision is not a common thing. I can surely say that very few Buddhist in Sri Lanka would even have heard about circumcision. As a family in a Buddhist village we lived in a rural area of Sri Lanka where farming is the main occupation for most. My father worked as a postmaster in the nearby post office.
Our village is located near a Muslim village, where circumcision was common, yet most of our villagers have never ever heard about it. As a lucky person I had some Muslim friends where they related stories of circumcision in their village. I was eager to go there on a day to see a circumcision. One of my friends promised me that I can come there to see her brother’s circumcision. I have heard that the most boys are circumcised between the ages of 6 and 18. I have heard that how they celebrate and many other stories. But before I got the chance to visit my friend’s place to view a circumcision, unexpectedly there was a circumcision party at our place.
My brother had some problems with his genitals, so the doctor in the local peripheral hospital has said that the foreskin is too tight and should be immediately circumcised to avoid any further problems. Later on I got to know that his foreskin had been so tight that even when erect the glans wouldn’t come out and it caused severe pain. In addition to this, he also seems to have had problems when passing the urine.
My father had the option of taking my brother to the General hospital or the base hospital which are located at a distance of 250km and 175km respectively, where he could be given an anesthetic, However my father had decided it was too far to travel (taking at least four days for the whole procedure) and pointless when the circumcision can be done at home.
It was on April 1979, my brother was 22 years of age and I was 19 years. I can’t remember the date exactly, it was on a Sunday where everybody was off and at home. My father invited some of his Muslim friends to assist with the circumcision procedure, which was common for them. The circumcision was scheduled for 10am. At around 9am dad’s friends arrived to help with the procedure.
The friends of my dad had already started to have a chat with my brother and they were guiding him to shave off his pubic area when, at around 9:30am and to my brother’s embarrassment the doctor of the peripheral hospital arrived. My brother was so embarrassed because the doctor is a female. My mother had an argument with my father, asking why he had invited a female to do the procedure, but later on my father explained that she was the only person who had prior experience in circumcision.
As per the doctor’s guidelines a bed had been arranged in a place with enough of light to carry out the procedure. After having a cup of coffee and sweets it was around 10:15am when they decided its the time to perform the circumcision.
My brother was wearing a t-shirt and a sarong (a traditional Sri Lankan and an Indian dress which all the men usually wear) when he was escorted by my mother to the bed, and I can see my mother was really tensed. My brother laid down in the bed with his t-shirt removed to avoid any interference. I have never seen an adult penis directly except in films.
When the doctor indicated that she was ready to perform the surgery, my dad’s friend went forward to help her. My brothers sarong was removed exposing his genitals. Four of my father’s friend took charge of his limbs. The doctor started to perform the surgery; when she began to cut the foreskin my brother shouted with pain and tried to move his hands and legs, but he was held down until the surgery finished. Afterwards he said that at first he felt the pain but later on he felt as it was buring in the pubic area.
The surgery did not take long, within five minutes everything was over. The doctor told my brother to allow six weeks to heal, and prescribed him some medicines, I think some antibiotics and anti erection pills maybe. He was in the bed completely for four days before he started to resume his normal schedule. However it took two days for the medicine to reach our place.
During night I was beside his bed to help him, and then only I noticed that he got erected during night, where he woke up with pain. Since he was wearing a sarong everything is clearly visible and during this time only I estimated his girth and length.
As time went by our family shifted to Colombo for future prospects and I recently learnt that the circumcision traditions and the ritual way of circumcision is no more there in Ampara; now all the people go to the nearby hospital for circumcision which can be done with anesthesia. I am really glad that I at least got a chance to see how the circumcision used to be performed.
My brother was really excited about his circumcision and he was really happy about it. Once I overheard him talking to his friends that the masturbation is better after his circumcision.
Imasha (Sri Lanka)