Medical male circumcision has been adopted by the WHO, and other professional
public health and medical bodies, as a vital weapon in the fight against HIV.
This has prompted a large body of research into the acceptability of the procedure, attitudes to it, and barriers to it. A
systematic review of these studies found that satisfaction with
circumcision is strongly associated with having accurate knowledge about it. A
survey-based paper by Earp, Sardi and Jellison entitled “False beliefs predict increased circumcision satisfaction in a sample
of US American men” is the only one to find the opposite. It therefore
merits scrutiny. The present article presents
the results of a critical examination of the study. Serious flaws were
discovered. Half of the small number of
10 “true/false” statements used in its survey are questionable. All
the large body of literature that contradicts the findings of Earp and
co-workers is ignored. Importantly, the
crucial question about whether dissatisfied circumcised males hold false
beliefs about circumcision is not considered. Unlike most of the research
on the acceptability of circumcision, the study is not motivated by a desire to evaluate the likely effectiveness
of a public health measure, or how best to implement it. Rather it appears to be an attempt by a prominent
anti-circumcision activist and his
associates to generate a body of literature that they can then cite to further their cause. Considering this, and the serious flaws it contains, the
study should be dismissed as misleading, biased and undermining public health.
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