Some Notes on The Collective Significance of Circumcision and Allied Practices

In Writing this paper I have been greatly stimulated by a recent article by Robert F. Hobson on ‘Psychological aspects of circumcision’ (1961). Hobson approached the subject as a preliminary to a more general ‘study of bi-sexual symbolism in psychological development’. What I have to say will not be directly relevant to this theme, but is essentially concerned with the bearing of circumcision and initiatory relationships on the creativeness and potency of the male; my views should therefore be regarded as complementary to Hobson's observations. They centre on three main topics: (i) circumcision and castration; (ii) the ritual function of homo-eroticism; and (iii) the Old Testament conception of circumcision.

Circumcision of the male occurs independently in a great number of widely separated cultures—it is practised by approximately one-seventh of the earth's population (Kirschner and Joseph, 1927)—and this seems to point to its archetypal character. Scholars have found it exceedingly difficult, however, to assign a single convincing cause for the custom in all its manifestations. Circumcision has been and still is performed at varying ages, and it may well be the case that its practice is due to quite a number of causes which in part differ and in part overlap between one cultural group and another. I accept, however, Gray's (1932) view that the available evidence on the whole favours its sacrificial and religious origin. Turning to its more specifically psychological significance, I would recall two of Dr Hobson's conclusions with which I find myself in agreement: where circumcision of the male forms part of initiation rites at the puberty or pre-puberty stage, it has