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Paper short abstract:

This paper is based on an ethnographic study on male circumcision ritual in Muranga of Kenya. The culture of pain and violence were used in asserting masculinities on the initiates. However,traumatised masculinities and demasculinisation of masculinities were eminent in this study

Paper long abstract:

The paper is based on a study that explored the male circumcision ritual and practices in Muranga, Kenya and their implications on public health. Promotion of male circumcision in settings with low circumcision rates is based on research evidence that male circumcision provides heterosexual men with 50 to 60 per cent protective benefit against HIV infection. For the Kikuyu people in Kenya, male circumcision is a cultural ritual and a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. Provision of male circumcision for HIV prevention may open opportunities for counselling and provision of sexual and reproductive health education to young men. However, male circumcision for HIV prevention only targets the non circumcising communities, excluding circumcising communities such as the Kikuyu people.

A Focused ethnographic study underpinned by an Interpretivist paradigm was employed. Participants were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 13 circumcision mentors, participant observations in three churches and written narratives with 43 male students from six schools. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

The findings suggest a changing male circumcision where pain and violence were used in making men from boys as a way of asserting masculinities. Male circumcision and initiation rites were used as a tool of violence by circumcision mentors against initiates through the practices of road license and wiping of the soot. These practices were enacted violence and sexual harassments.

In shaping the masculinities of the initiates, traumatised masculinities, feminisation of men and demasculinisation of masculinities were eminent in study.