Demedicalization and Remedicalization of Male Circumcision in Great Britain and the United States

Demedicalization and Remedicalization of Male Circumcision in Great Britain and the United States - This study explicates the theoretically important, yet inadequately specified, processes of demedicalization and remedicalization by comparing the histories of male circumcision in Great Britain and the United States. Although circumcision was medicalized to a similar degree in both countries before World War II, by the 1960s, circumcision was almost completely demedicalized in Britain and almost universal in the U.S. Since then, circumcision has become partially demedicalized in the U.S. Medical professionals and insurance/healthcare systems drove demedicalization in both countries; in the U.S., grassroots activists also played a critical role, while medical community "holdouts" resisted demedicalization. Recent research indicating that circumcision inhibits HIV transmission is differentially likely to produce remedicalization in the two nations, given differences in circumcision prevalence, HIV epidemiology, insurance/health systems, activism opportunities, and status of religious groups. Future research should theorize the life cycle of medicalization, explore comparative cases, and attend more closely to medical "holdouts" from previous eras, prevalence and duration of medicalized practices, and barriers to non-medical interpretations.

Keywords: medicalization, demedicalization, remedicalization, health, circumcision, sociology.

Parole chiave: medicalizzazione, demedicalizzazione, rimedicalizzazione, salute, circoncisione, sociologia.

Laura M. Carpenter, Demedicalization and Remedicalization of Male Circumcision in Great Britain and the United States in "SALUTE E SOCIETÀ" EN2/2009, pp 155-171, DOI: 10.3280/SES2009-EN2011