The reason for the difference in attitudes to male and female genital mutilation is that one has the support of wealthy and well-established groups across much of the West, and the other doesn't. Morally, both are indefensible: there's not a hair's breadth between them.

one needs to understand the difference between clitoridectomy and circumcision.

for thousands of years circumcision is and has been used .over 50%of Egyptian mummys are so .why? if it is not a beneficial it would have fallen out of favor .

while clitoridectomy has no benefits, only harm .

they are not comparable. anyone that dose compare them misses the argument

ben

I totally agree with the author.
All genital mutilation should be outlawed... Male or female.

The only real difference is that sometimes males suffer from a tight foreskin, leading to problems with urination, and thus a circumcision is necessary.
There is never any reason for female circumcision .

Anyone who wants their son mutilated so he will 'look like Daddy' , should be made to hold down their newborn while the foreskin is being cut off.
Once a few parents are forced to do this, the barbaric practice may cease.

Female circumcision is already illegal in Australia.
I would like to see male circumcision outlawed too...

@ben: "for thousands of years circumcision is and has been used .over 50%of Egyptian mummys are so .why? if it is not a beneficial it would have fallen out of favor ."

Then exactly the same can be said for clitoridectomy, which has also been used for thousands of years, and hasn't 'fallen out of favor' with a large part of the world yet. The fact that a practice has a long history and a wide use doesn't make it healthy or rational.

Male circumcision has some effects not addressed in this article or previous comments. See this and related World Health Organization papers: http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/strategic_action2012_2016/en/index.html

Once again religious superstition dictates its fear, by this macabre ritual of brutalising a male child.
Surely if their "god" did not want males to have a foreskin, he or she would not have included it in the male body planning.