A cross-cultural test of the Freudian theory of circumcision

Freud's thesis that circumcision is a symbolic substitute for castration as a result of the Oedipus conflict was tested by examining 111 societies (see the note to Table 1). The results show that circumcision is likely to be found in societies in which (1) the son sleeps in the mother's bed during the nursing period in bodily contact with her, and/or (2) the father sleeps in a different hut, reducing his influence on the son as a superior and competing male. Since these two factors seems to intensify the son's oedipal attachment to the mother, the data are compatible with Freud's theory. Bettelheim's theory of circumcision is less fully formulated, and only when we assume that males significantly reduce their vagina envy after puberty rites is his theory compatible with the data.