It was with great disappointment I read Kevin Myers article ‘Why I would like to say what I think about Africa’ (Belfast Telegraph, July 25).

Circumcision is a brutal act performed on male and female children on pseudo medical and cultural grounds in both Western and other cultures.

The circumcision of female children is seen as barbaric in Western cultures because it has not been part of our cultural practices.

Male circumcision is often seen as reasonable in Western societies because it is usually predominantly performed by doctors for ‘medical reasons’. This is nonsense as both have no medical indication and both harm the physical, sexual and psychological development of the child.

As a result, Kevin's argument concerning racism and sexism can be equally applied to the situation in Northern Ireland and elsewhere which allows a man to walk free from the Waterford courts after a baby boy bled to death following his religious circumcision on a kitchen table.

Mr Myers has joined the feminists who only talk about the female child and has forgotten about the boys. They are children too and they do not wish to be damaged by circumcision any more than the girls do.

Nearly 70% of male children in Ethiopia are subjected to this barbaric procedure. They also die from blood loss, total amputations and septicemia, but they are forgotten because they are male and male circumcision is a Western cultural practice.

Linda Massie

Glengormley