Beschneidungskritiker nach Veröffentlichung drastischer Fotos wegen "Einmischens in andere Kultur" angeprangert

A Dutch doctor in South Africa has published graphic images of penises mutilated during botched circumcision ceremonies, angering community leaders who accuse him of meddling in their culture.

Dr Dingeman Rijken said he had set up a website to reveal the "dark secrets of the ritual" because traditional leaders had shown "shocking" indifference and incompetence to the annual toll of death and injury.

The leaders have condemned Rijken for breaking a cultural taboo and reported his site to South Africa's Film and Publication Board, demanding it be shut down.

(...) While many initiation schools are officially sanctioned, others are unregulated and allow bogus surgeons to operate with unsterilised blades. According to Rijken, who works in the region, 825 boys have died from complications since 1995 and many more have suffered from what he calls male genital mutilation.

(...) He adds that, following another "catastrophic" winter season in 2013, and with traditional leaders unlikely to make a positive change, he chose to go to the media and set up the site "to inform prospective initiates and the broader community about the dark secrets of the ritual".

Graphic images show severely disfigured, infected or amputated genitals on the website, ulwaluko.co.za, named after the Xhosa language word for initiation into manhood. Visitors are told: "Please be warned that this website contains graphic medical images of penile disfigurement under 'complications' and 'photos'. You may only enter this website if you are 13 years of age or older."

But critics argue that Rijken has betrayed their culture and should have handled the matter differently. Nkululeko Nxesi, from the Community Development Foundation of South Africa, told the AFP news agency: "That website must be shut down with immediate effect. He should respect the cultural principles and processes of this nation."

Patekile Holomisa, a former leader of the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa, took a similar view. He told AFP: "We condemn the exposure of this ritual to people who do not practise it. Women should not see what happens at initiations."

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Es sind also tausende toter Jungen zu verzeichnen, und die "community leader" wollen Berichterstattung darüber unterbinden, weil diese nicht politisch korrekt und kulturell sensibel genug wäre. Und ich habe den starken Eindruck, nicht wenige aus der sogenannten Critical-Whiteness-Bewegung würden ihnen zustimmen.

"Die Bilder auf der in dem Artikel erwähnten Website sind echt grauenhaft und dürften sich gut zu Diskussionen darüber eignen, ob weibliche und männliche Beschneidung vergleichbar sind", schreibt mir der Leser, der mich auf diesen Beitrag aufmerksam machte.