British researcher: circumcised men feel silenced
Andrew Gross
February 28, 2025
Leeanne Morris, a psychotherapist based in London, conducted a study of men who report that circumcision has caused negative effects on their mental health. Morris sought to "offer guidance to mental health professionals supporting clients who feel traumatized by penile circumcision..." She said her study "amplifies the voices of men who feel that ... [their] mental health has been impacted by circumcision." The study consisted of interviews with five men who were circumcised during childhood and "reported mental health impacts during adulthood." The study was published online in January 2025 in the journal Culture, Health & Sexuality. [1] Morris provided details about her study in a 20-minute presentation to a British anti-circumcision organization. [2]
Morris wrote that there is a "lack of research into the lived experiences of people whose mental health has been adversely impacted by circumcision." An article on the Medium platform called it "a landmark study [that] challenges society's silence on the mental harms of circumcision" with "findings [that] reveal experiences of grief, trauma, and struggles with identity, which many circumcised men find difficult to articulate." [3] However articles on this website have analyzed similar papers, including one - Male Circumcision Grief by Sydney Watson and Tom Golden - that the author cited twice and which bears a striking similarity to her study. [4][5]
She recruited five subjects, whom she called Adam, Albert, Fred, John, and Paul. All the participants were from the United Kingdom and were recruited from two online advocacy groups: 15 Square - a British anti-circumcision organization, and "Circumcision Grief" - a Reddit forum. Three of the participants were circumcised for non-therapeutic reasons. The author implied that the other two received the procedure for medical reasons. [6] At least one man was circumcised as a teenager. Morris did not respond to my emails seeking clarification on the ages of the other four.
Limitations
Morris admitted that recruiting from online anti-circumcision groups "may have introduced a selection bias by attracting individuals with stong negative feelings about their circumcision." She didn't consider that the limited pool reduced the likelihood that her study might include - not only men who had positive or neutral feelings about their circumcision - but also men who were better able to manage their negative feelings, or who might have received and benefited from mental health therapy.
The author conceded that findings from a limited population of participants "cannot be generalized beyond the sample, particularly to those from different cultural or social contexts." She immediately violated her own caveat by making a generalization in a disclosure statement appended to the paper. She admitted that she started supporting 15 Square "upon learning of the psychological impacts of non-therapeutic childhood circumcision."
Themes
Based on the participant interviews, Morris identified one primary theme, three secondary themes, and ten tertiary themes that she grouped within the secondary themes. The primary theme was "grief," which matches the conclusions of Watson and Golden. "Circumcision grief is the psychological and physiological reaction of a man ... to the physical and functional loss of part of their genitalia, along with the consequential loss of full sexual experience and confidence in intimate situations." [4]
The author labeled the secondary themes "grief disenfranchised," "spiritual divorce and other relationships impacted," and "navigating the change in world view." By "grief disenfranchisement," she meant that the subjects felt that they could not discuss their feelings about circumcision with family members or peer groups because those groups consider the matter trivial. I find this theme to be bizarre. The subjects seem to believe that they are silenced because their family and peers have not affirmed their negative feelings. This is an unreasonable demand. Each man in a democratic society is free to express however he feels about circumcision. He is not entitled, however, to demand that anyone - much less society - affirm the truth of his beliefs or the validity of his emotions.
Two tertiary themes refer to "relationships impacted" as "the mother" and "the father and religion." Interestingly just three of her participants expressed a feeling of betrayal by their mothers, while none blamed his father for the procedure. While Morris provided two examples of negative paternal relationships in the article, she did not cite them as evidence in "the father and religion" sub-ordinate. Puzzlyingly she included Albert's story as one of the examples in "the mother" theme.
Another tertiary theme was a deep distrust of doctors. "Albert described how he had risked death rather than allow a doctor to attend to a surgical wound that had opened up..." This example parallels evidence in our Cult article showing that some intactivist mothers may avoid professional medical care when their children suffer from serious - even life-threatening - conditions. [7]
A fourth tertiary theme is a lack of intimacy with a romantic partner, "the lover." Fred was reluctant to be intimate because he worried that a partner might have a negative reaction to his circumcised penis. By contrast, John felt worse because romantic partners had a positive view of his circumcised penis. This contradiction exemplifies how partners of intactivists face a no-win dilemma, also known as a Morton's fork. No matter how they react, an intactivist may view the reaction as the wrong response.
In discussing the navigating change tertiary theme, Morris stated that circumcision "left all the participants ... with a sense of inferiority or of belonging to an out-group." In school the participants had felt ashamed, isolated, and worthless, especially while in the changing room and shower. This feeling was compounded by bullying from uncircumcised peers. In the United States uncircumcised boys are often the targets of bullying. Intactivists have argued that boys shouldn't be circumcised in order to avoid the possibility of bullying. By the same token, circumcision shouldn't be criminalized in order to prevent bullying. Rather, children should be taught that diversity is normal and bullying is always wrong.
Morris determined that the participants were preoccupied with grief, which she characterized as "prolonged grief disorder." Watson and Golden, who studied 22 American men, similarly wrote that their subjects suffered from "profound grief." They concluded that "circumcised men may become obsessive about their missing foreskin." [4]
Ways forward
Morris wrote that participants in her study considered circumcision "a violation of bodily autonomy," which she said aligns with the definition of trauma in the DSM-5 "arising from personally experienced intentional trauma." She cited a study of Filipino boys circumcised during adolescence, a majority of whom "exhibited PTSD symptoms.” [8] She said that this result was consistent with a PTSD diagnosis as defined in the DSM-5.
There are several problems with these comparisons. The DSM-5 defines a traumatic episode as "a direct personal experience of an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one's physical integrity..." Whether a one-day old boy who has received pain relief is aware that his foreskin is being removed is hotly contested. Moreover "the debate over what constitutes a traumatic event ... has persisted." [9] Studies show that memories of events before age 2 are not retained. [10] It might be the case that anxiety felt by men who were circumcised in early infancy is not caused by the neonatal event, but rather is developed decades later from exposure to hystrionic intactivist messages and materials. Morris did not consider or examine this possibility.
The Filipino study had no control group with which to compare the circumcised boys. Any psychological effects of adolescent circumcision would reveal nothing about the impact of infant circumcision. The authors made several dubious assertions about reductions to sexual function and sensation. Their repeated references to circumcision as "destructive" and "traumatic" and their claim that the procedure violates the Hippocratic Oath reflect a pronounced anti-circumcision bias. Readers should be particularly skeptical when considering a paper in which data, analysis, and conclusions support a researcher‘s partisan agenda. The authors falsely implied that a higher suicide rate of Filipino men versus women is caused by circumcision; in fact male suicide rates are higher than female rates even in countries where the procedure is rare. [11] They falsely claimed that the Catholic Church has denounced circumcision. [12]
Morris wrote that her subjects felt distress that was compounded by a lack of societal empathy, reinforcing the conviction that their grief was inappropriate or unreasonable. In fact the feelings of grief are appropriate and reasonable - based on the false, distorted, and hysterical claims that the anti-circumcision movement has relentlessly advanced over the past few decades. If those claims were actually valid, then an exponentially greater number of circumcised men would be distressed. It is precisely because the claims have no basis in reality that society sees such intense negative feelings about circumcision as illegitimate. My response to the Watson-Golden study includes statements by recovering intactivists, male and female, who reported that their mental health improved significantly once they reassessed their beliefs about circumcision and left the movement. [5]
I have no education or experience in psychology, so I cannot address the author's advice for therapists. That said, I find it odd that she didn't include any examples in which therapists - using her suggestions - successfully treated unhappy circumcised men.
Unconditional positive regard
I was curious about a theory Morris cited that was developed by humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers in 1957. He proposed that therapists should experience "unconditional positive regard" for their patients. [13] Therefore, Morris wrote, "therapists should use unconditional positive regard to accept [patients'] emotions without judgement," and a therapist must explicitly validate a patient's experiences.
David Didau, an education consultant and specialist in cognitive psychology, is not impressed with Rogers's theory. Didau wrote that "Roger's ideas have never been empirically evaluated." He added that "even within client centered therapy, ‘unconditional positive regard’ is one of the most questioned and criticised aspects." [14] University of Virginia Professor Joseph E. David agrees: "Validating a person’s perception of their experience ... is not a step toward a genuine encounter. Rather than opening up the possibility of a 'probing and ultimately challenging dialogue' that could confront 'issues of values and of (objective) truth,' the unconditional stance would foreclose it." [15]
British psychotherapist Seerut Chawla also rejects the theory that feelings should be validated. "No, your feelings are not 'valid.' Your feelings are 'real' in that they exist [and] you feel them - but they are not objective reality nor necessarily giving you accurate information about objective reality. Emotions are meant to be felt, means explored, or just coexisted with. Not given a rubber stamp of 'validity' that instantaneously stems the flow of any possible introspection... We seek reassurance from people we have reciprocol relationships with, we don't demand 'validation' at knife point." [16]
Chawla explained that "a skilled clinician does not need to 'validate.' They should have developed sophisticated enough therapeutic skills to convey neutrality, non judgment, and acceptance without literally uttering '[You are valid.]' A truly skilled clinician would explore the meaning of the monster under the bed. The first option offers momentary soothing. The second offers the possibility of living without fear." [17]
Conclusion
Leeanne Morris concluded her paper with a couple of strange assertions. First, she wrote that her study provides a deeper understanding of "diverse views" within a relatively homogenous group. But the viewpoints of her five subjects were remarkably similar. At least four participants agreed on most themes, with unanimity on several matters.
Second, she concluded that unhappy circumcised men "do not deserve to be silenced when they have just started to be heard." In addition to 15 Square, the National Secular Society in the United Kingdom has argued that circumcision should be criminalized. [18] Another organization, J4MB, has held protests in London and petitioned the government for a ban. [19] Across the Atlantic, the Blood Stained Men group has held more than 650 protests in the U.S. and Canada. Demonstrating outside medical conferences and major media events, they have received coverage in the British press. [20][21] Far from being silenced, unhappy circumcised men in western societies are quite vocal in expressing their anger. On the contrary, anti-circumcision activists have sought to bully and humiliate happily circumcised men into silence. [22-29]
This paper is the latest example of biased researchers using a small group of unhappy men to make broad, dubious claims about the effect of circumcision on an adult's mental health. Perhaps if Morris were to study why the vast majority of circumcised men are happy or unconcerned, she might figure out how to guide the unhappy men into a more comfortable mental outlook.
RELATED: studies about grief and trauma of circumcised men
[1] Leeanne Morris; "Exploring the relationship between medically unnecessary childhood penile circumcision and adult mental health"; Culture, Health & Sexuality; January 6, 2025
[2] Leeanne Morris; "They made the cut - The Physical and Psychological Impacts of Non-Theraputic Penile Circumcision"; 15 Square YouTube channel; February 6, 2024
[3] Jonathan Meddings; "Landmark new study reveals the mental harms of circumcision"; Medium; January 31, 2025
[4] Lindsay Watson and Tom Golden; "Male Circumcision Grief: Effective and Ineffective Therapeutic Approaches"; New Male Studies; 2017
[5] Andrew Gross; "The Circumcision Grief paradox"; Circumcision Choice; June 4, 2022
[6] Morris; "Exploring the relationship" "Three men were of the belief that their foreskin removal was strictly non-therapeutic, while the other two questioned whether there was a less invasive way of dealing with what was wrong."
[7] "Is intactivism a cult?" Circumcision Choice; June 8, 2019
[8] Gregory J. Boyle and Samuel Ramos; "Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Filipino boys subjected to non-therapeutic ritual or medical surgical procedures: A retrospective cohort study"; Annals of Medicine and Surgery; June 2019
[9] Laura K. Jones, Jenny L. Cureton; "Trauma Redefined in the DSM-5: Rationale and Implications for Counseling Practice"; The Professional Counselor; July 2014
[10] Jeanne Shinskey; "This is why we can't remember our early childhood memories"; CNN; August 13, 2021
[11] John Elflein; "Suicide rates in selected countries as of 2021 by gender"; Statistica; August 22, 2024. Australia: men 19.1, women 6.2; Belgium: men 22, women 7.8; France: men 20.2, women 5.9; Japan: men 21.2, women 10.2. Note: all rates are per 100,000 population.
[12] Catholic Answers Staff; "The Catechism forbids deliberate mutilation, so why is non-therapeutic circumcision allowed?"; Catholic Answers. "Mutilation involves altering the body for non-therapeutic reasons in ways that interfere with the body’s ability to function. Circumcision was established by God as a sign of the Old Covenant (Gen. 17:10–14) and practiced by God’s people in obedience to him for thousands of years until it was superseded by baptism (Col. 2:11–14). Therefore, we must assume that God would not establish a ritual for his people that can be considered deliberate mutilation and thus intrinsically immoral."
[13] Carl R. Rogers; "The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change"; Journal of Consulting Psychology", pp 95-103; 1957. "For constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these conditions exist and continue over a period of time: ... 4. The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client."
[14] David Didau; "The problem with 'unconditional positive regard'"; David Didau blog; February 27, 2018
[15] Joseph E. David, PhD; "The Problem With Unconditional Positive Regard"; Psychology Today; May 16, 2024
[16] Seerut K. Chawla; tweet; January 30, 2025 (10:43 PM GMT)
[17] Chawla; (11:09 PM GMT)
[18] Alejandro Sanchez; "Our health system is failing to protect children from ritual circumcision"; National Secular Society; November 2, 2022
[19] "Anti-circumcision protests are a bizarre stunt, say Jewish campaigners"; Jewish Chronicle; April 7, 2016
[20] Jennifer Smith; "Group of men with red stained crotches travel the country to protest infant circumcision"; Daily Mail; March 23, 2018
[21] Bryan Armen Graham; "Super Bowl 2025: Kansas City Chiefs 22-40 Philadelphia Eagles - as it happened"; The Guardian; February 9, 2025. "There's also an outsized presence of 'Bloodstained Men & Their Friends', an 'intactivist' advocacy group that opposes male circumcision."
[22] Andrew Gross; "It's time for anti-circumcision activists to stop the bullying"; J weekly; April 17, 2015; reprinted with permission at Circumcision Choice; April 16, 2021
[23] "Smile for the irate man behind the camera - Part 4"; Circumcision Choice; April 5, 2017
[24] "Intactivists are desperate to silence Circumcision Choice"; Circumcision Choice; February 18, 2018
[25] "The intactivist who drove 800 miles to stalk a nurse"; Circumcision Choice; February 26, 2018
[26] "Cruel intactivists taunt grieving families"; Circumcision Choice; April 2, 2018
[27] "Intact America Part 5: A wild goose chase backfires"; Circumcision Choice; October 11, 2018
[28] "Blood Stained Men invade a medical office building, assault female doctor"; Circumcision Choice; July 16, 2019
[29] Andrew Gross; "The danger of extremists"; Circumcision Choice; June 22, 2021
#UK #GreatBritain #Britain #Study #Psychological #Grief #CircumcisionGrief #UnconditionalPositiveRegard
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