ABSTRACT
Traditional male circumcision practices have been strongly discouraged by HIV prevention campaigns in Lesotho. Traditional circumcision rituals are perceived as a possible transmission route for HIV because of the reuse of unsterilized cutting instruments. While individuals living in urban areas and the lowlands have increasingly considered traditional circumcision a practice of the past, foregoing the procedure all together, those dwelling in rural areas continue to consider the practice vital in the construction of male national identity. Initially, the national government voiced strong concern over the publicizing of medical male circumcision (MMC) – conducted by surgeons in sterile clinics. There have been claims that male circumcision (either traditional or MMC) does not have the same level of protective benefit against HIV in Lesotho that research suggests it has in other countries in the region. This article critically examines the development of government responses to international expectations on MMC scale-up. It also explores the impact of government responses on the attitudes of youth who serve to benefit most from such biomedical HIV prevention measures. Given the existing distinction between traditional practices and MMC, recent international calls for male circumcision in the region are positioned at the divides of modern/traditional, urban/rural, educated/ignorant, uninfected/infected.
