Unkind cuts

Male circumcision is a weapon in the sperm wars - New Scientist

This article speculates on why circumcision (and more drastic forms of cuts around the genital area) developed at all.

While I had heard about subincision before, I didn't know about crushing a testicle:

In some African and Micronesian cultures, young men have one of their testicles crushed.

And you thought public circumcision would be something to fear as a 12 year old!

Anyway, the article argues that this is all to do with reducing the risk of younger men impregnating older men's wives. This is particularly the case in polygamous societies:

The older men have also gone through the ritual, and seen their own reproductive effectiveness reduced. But if a man with, say, four wives wants to ensure that any children his wives produce are his, there is pressure to make sure other men can't successfully impregnate them.

The husband's own reproductive ability is impaired, but continuous and repeated access to his wives makes up for it, while any genital mutilation is a greater handicap to an interloper trying to sneak brief occasional sex with his wives.

Sounds plausible, but caution is always advised in such matters of evolutionary biology.

(Incidentally, in the all the guff that anti-circumcision groups go on with, do they ever take into account a preference that women may have for circumcised men? As this article indicates, I would assume that circumcised young men have more of an issue with premature ejaculation, which women don't exactly welcome.)