Circumcision + HIV + Africa = Wear a condom, seriously (unlocked)

[trevorperry]

People are starting to hear about the African HIV study that recently came out.  The study claims that circumcision protects against HIV, a virus that is quickly (and absolutely) destroying Africa. I just got an e-mail from Students for Genital Integrity about it, and I thought that I would put some things down here for my own sake and others'.

Comments

[i_am_ang]

A few years ago when this was first "reported"- or whatever it was- my main concern was and remains: Telling these guys that circumcision prevents HIV is insanely ludicrous. If they use condoms, I personally doubt there's much difference at all in the rates of circumcised men (using condoms) and contracting HIV, vs. intact men (using condoms) contracting HIV. I don't see how circumcision could possibly prevent the spread of HIV- or anything else.

Further, if circumcision prevented anything at all, then American men would be disease free (they're not) and men from non-circumcising European countries would surely have died off, at least somewhat, by now. It's a tired, old, nonsensical argument. The one where the "cure" is looking for the disease. There wasn't one when the practice was first started, and there isn't one now.