Circumcision Information Take 3




This video was put together by an outspoken, fun-loving, male stripper who is in fact, intact. As a young intact boy growing up amidst an ocean of cut peers, Stroud was compelled early on to investigate why he was (happily!) intact while so many of the boys around him had the "best" part of their penis cut off. While still in high school, Stroud researched all that he could surrounding the prepuce organ, and the amputation of it, and became a respected and well-read intactivist at his school. After learning what had been done to them, and taken from them, most of his cut peers wished they had been granted their genital integrity at birth to remain whole and intact as teens and adults.

Stroud covers many of the issues surrounding the myths of circumcision and tells his own story and that of others who have shared with him. His videos include a style of humor that may rub some people the wrong way - yet he uses his personal style to drive home some very good points.

There is 'adult language' used approximately 3-4 times throughout the video, and Stroud's presentation of religion may also upset some viewers. We'd encourage him to dig a little deeper into the topic of 'cutting the blessing' among Hebrews and Jews in antiquity (something that was not done in the same way as today's U.S. prepuce amputation, or done with such severity as we do today, but was genital mutilation nonetheless). It may add to the videos if Stroud were to also dive into historical research regarding the complete lack of circumcision among Christians for most of human history, and the outright opposition of this infant mutilation by the Christian church and the majority of Christian leaders throughout history.

We'd encourage you to take a listen to what this passionate, unique, young man has to say. Amid his humor, he makes a lot of powerful and important points.


What is done to children,
They will do to society.
~ Karl Menninger




By Jamie Brendon Stroud


The Circumcision Secret

By Stan Emerson




I am a 51-year-old, circumcised man.

By age 43 I had lost all glans sensitivity. It became difficult, at times even when I was alone, to reach orgasm and ejaculation. This is the big secret here. But of course most cut men don't even know why they have difficulty with, or lose interest in, intercourse or masturbation with age.

Due to the awful damage to my penis, there is just no more physical sensory input to achieve or produce much or any pleasure, and the neurological triggers that lead to orgasm and ejaculation are severely damaged or not even present.

I was cut way too tightly to "restore" my foreskin with stretching, so I gave up some years ago. There was no gain at all in the time I did spend in restoration. I was born to Catholics, sexually mutilated at birth by an elderly Jew (a medical doctor) born in Russia in 1888. I was born in Beth Israel Hospital, Newark, New Jersey. The doctor sliced off an excessive amount of my prepuce organ and the skin system of my penis so I was never able to have a normal sex life, not even during masturbation.

My goal is to make sexually mutilated men, fathers, and women too, furious (in a non-violent way) at the sexual mutilators at large today.

Circumcision was mentioned to me by my late mother when I was in 9th grade.

No details, no explanation.

Just a mention of circumcision since it had been severely inflicted on me at birth. I did not wonder about it for decades. I heard Dr. Dean Edell, MD, on the radio about the craziness of and damage from infant circumcision. Reading more caused me anguish, alarm, and finally disgust. I'm concerned about the darker, troubling aspects of this tragedy: the sexually mutilated male MD's, the Semites, and the young fathers and their fear, envy, anxiety and hatred of the normal, natural, intact penis. I became a Natioanl Organization of Circumcision Information and Resource Centers (NOCIRC) activist, keen on confronting others with this atrocity and fraud.


If your husband was circumcised, he will remain sexually mutilated until he dies. He has a partial, man-made, desexualized, and emasculated penis. If he was forced in infancy to undergo this senseless, violent, shameful, degrading practice (posing as medicine) then he has never known the joys and sexual sensations that only the intact man knows. His primary sex organ, his prepuce & penis, not his brain, was surgically reduced and permanently damaged anatomically, neurologically, and physiologically. What pleasure he experiences now will fade soon. In his 40s, when the glans of his penis is fully deadened and desensitized, he may lose interest in sex. Then too, he might die in denial, especially if he demands his own newborn son be circumcised to match his own partial, wrecked penis.

-Stan Emerson

NOCIRC
and NOHARMM of Wisconsin/Madison


More men tell their stories about how circumcision has impacted them on the links/videos on this page. Our hope is that men are empowered to speak up about this very important topic. Change can only happen when we are not longer silent.



Intact Music Videos & Free Bumper Stickers


We love Ron's bold, honest, intactivist spirit that never dies.

















For more on restoration, see this article and links.

More from Ron at TLC Tugger.com

TLC Tugger offers 2 FREE bumper stickers of your choice upon request! Those pictured here are among the selection.



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Jack Black and Circumcision in Antiquity


Circumcision 'humor' if you will: a movie scene from Year One:


While the above video clip is merely Hollywood humor, we would encourage anyone who believes they are circumcising their baby boy for religious reasons to dive into the subject further.

"Cutting the Blessing" among the Hebrews in antiquity was done in a MUCH different fashion than in modern U.S. culture where we amputate the entire prepuce organ. Hebrews and early Jews made a very tiny slit in the tip of the prepuce to allow for mere drops of blood to be shed as the blood sacrifice of the covenant.

The Hebrew words used for this practice in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) are "namal" and "muwl." Namal means 'to clip' - like one would clip the tips of your fingernails. Muwl means 'to curtail, to blunt.' Neither of these words mean "to cut," "to amputate," "to remove," "to cut off," etc. There were very different Hebrew words with clearly understood meanings representing 'the cutting off' or 'the removal of' something. The difference was plainly obviously to those practicing and writing about the practice at the time.

At this time in antiquity, we could not possibly amputate the prepuce organ (as circumcision is done today) and expect the child to live! Even in the 21st century we suffer from a 1-in-3 rate of complications due to prepuce amputation. At this early time in human history, babies would have hemorrhaged from the complete cutting off of the prepuce, and in rare cases when they lived through the blood loss, they would have died of surgical site infection and disease (something we commonly find today despite our sterile environments and understanding of wound infection).


Side Note: I have been working recently on a compilation of paintings from antiquity representing Jesus as a baby. Jesus (born to Jewish parents) would likely have been 'circumcised' on his 8th day of life. Again, this means a tiny slit would have been made in the end of his prepuce to allow for the shedding drops of blood as a part of the covenant his parents had with YHVH (Yahweh). When we (with our modern, Western eyes and presumptions about circumcision) pour over these paintings of a naked baby Jesus, it would appear that he was always painted as INTACT. Why? Because the prepuce was NOT removed. It was not amputated. It was never 'cut off'.


Ancient peoples never dreamed of doing away with a God-created organ that was so useful, so important. The prepuce was regarded with such honor that it was thee organ seen as being most GOD-LIKE. Hence the reason it was the organ 'slit' for the blood letting as a sign that "YHVH is the one I follow"...not my own 'god-like' member.

When Jews in antiquity wanted to exercise in the gymnasium (often done in the nude) they had to appear intact. Greeks only allowed intact men to participate in activities there and the rules were strictly adhered to. To do so, Jewish men regularly pulled the prepuce down over the glans (head) of the penis, before going in. There were even little devices made to cover the scar from the slit in the prepuce end so that no one would be the wiser as to their 'circumcision'. None of this would have been possible if the entire prepuce were removed.

There is a lot more to be said on this topic. Completing graduate studies in Human Sexuality, I found it necessary to also complete a corresponding degree in Religion because (as shocking as it may sound) the two subjects go together SO much of the time... We frequently must understand one in order to fully understand the other. When it comes to issues of circumcision in antiquity this is most certainly the case.

Much more recently in American history, we started the prepuce amputation practice in an effort to curtail masturbation among boys and cut down on men's sexual exploits (especially among soldiers overseas during war times). It was in our post-WWII drive to circumcise all boys and men that we first introduced 'circumcision' to the mass society as we now know it today. Even Americans at that time KNEW that removing the prepuce would take away a man's most sensitive and sexual organ.

It is empowering to find that many of the most outspoken intactivists today are Jewish men and women. At the same time, many Jews today are opting instead for a Brit Shalom in place of cutting their perfectly born sons.

Links to articles and information at the Intact Jewish Network and The Intact Jewish Resource Page.

Books on the subject from a Jewish perspective include:

Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective

Covenant of Blood: Circumcision and Gender in Rabbinic Judaism


Celebrating Brit Shalom

Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America

Circumcision: A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery



On a related note - if you are Christian, you will find that circumcision is fully against what early Christians taught. Jesus followers, the New Testament, and the early Christian Church were unquestionably opposed to genital cutting in any form. It is Jesus who is the 'New Covenant' between God and his people, and participation in the Old Covenant (by shedding the blood of your newborn, for example) is to deny Christ's existence, authority, and power by grace in salvation.

More links to articles and information on Christianity and Circumcision can be found here.

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon is the Jewish filmmaker (with an Orthodox Rabbi father) of the highly informative documentary, "CUT: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision". (Watch/Buy Here). After researching this topic and studying with some of the ‘experts’ in the fields of human sexuality, health, religion, and history, Ungar-Sargon concluded, “Circumcision was always a cure in search of a disease. When you look through history, you see that whatever the scary disease of the generation was, that was the one that circumcision would help prevent. So in the early 20th century it was syphilis, a scary disease that there was no cure for then. Later, it was cancer. Then UTIs, and now HIV.” As a Jewish man, strong in his faith, Ungar-Sargon chose not to cut his son.

Male circumcision as we know it, and female circumcision in the United States actually share a very similar history. All the myths we now toss around concerning MGM (male genital mutilation), we once held about FGM (female genital mutilation).

I wholeheartedly agree with what others (including Ungar-Sargon) have stated — genital cutting and the amputation of a healthy, functioning body organ from a non-consenting human being is a severe violation of human rights. If we did such a thing to a dog, we would be charged with animal abuse. And what we do to babies due to our own ignorance is certainly more criminal than that. This is not a subject that can be taken lightly or ignored any longer.

As far as having the religious freedom and choice to genitally cut our sons - we (in the United States) have outlawed, through the 1996 FGM Bill, any mutilation of baby girls for religious or non-religious reasons. It would therefor follow that the MGM Bill would be a logical and ethical item to pass in order to grant boys equal protection under law as girls. No human being is less valuable, or less deserving of basic human rights, simply because they were born with a larger prepuce organ... (oh, did I mention that girls have one too?!)


Dr. Sears Statement on Circumcision

By William Sears, M.D.


Dr. Sears Thoughts on Circumcision

Circumcision is a decision that many parents face, and there is a lot of misconception and out-of-date information that parents read today. Here is a summary of the pertinent issues that you should consider when making this decision.

1. Medical benefits - THERE ARE NONE! Do not circumcise your baby because you think there are some medical benefits. A recent review by the American Academy of Pediatrics looked at all the data from the past decades to see if there truly were any medical benefits. Their conclusion - NO. There are no significant medical benefits that make circumcision worth doing.

Here are a few benefits that we used to think were true, and now know are not.

* Cleanliness - although a circumcised penis does not produce any of its own antibodies or natural lubrication like an intact ('uncircumcised') penis does, THIS IS NOT A MEDICAL BENEFIT. As an infant the foreskin is tightly adhered to the glans (head) of the penis and does NOT produce anything anyway. As an adult, the intact penis can be rinsed in the shower just like a woman rinses her genitals. In addition, there are many health benefits for the antibodies and natural lubrication produced by the intact penis.

* Decreased risk of STD's - this was a myth that we now know is not true.

* Decreased risk of penile cancer - it used to be thought that circumcised men had a much lower chance of cancer of the penis. We now know that this benefit is much smaller than previously thought. The AAP determined that this benefit is so tiny, it is not worth circumcising for this reason.

* Avoiding infections in the foreskin - occasionally intact foreskins get irritated. This is easily treated with warms water and washing. Rarely, the irritated foreskin becomes infected. This requires antibiotics, but is easily treatable. Even if this does happen in a person's lifetime, it is not a reason to circumcise at birth.

* Avoiding the need to do it later on - VERY RARELY, someone has a problem with recurrent infections in the foreskin that need antibiotic treatment. Some of these men then need to be circumcised in an operating room under general anesthesia. This is extremely rare, however, and is not a reason to circumcise everyone at birth.

* Avoiding bladder infections (or UTIs) - it used to thought that circumcised boys and men had a much lower chance of bladder infections. The AAP now knows that this benefit is very small, and is only true for the first year of life. After that, there is no difference in the number of bladder infections. Again, not a reason to circumcise.

THEREFORE, IF YOU DECIDE TO CIRCUMCISE YOUR CHILD, DO NOT DO SO BECAUSE YOU THINK THERE IS ANY MEDICAL BENEFIT.

2. Religious reasons - some people choose to circumcise for religious or cultural reasons. This is a personal decision.

3. Don't want to be teased - while this may have been true in the U.S. decades ago, the truth is that your intact kids will be in good company in the locker room when they are teenagers. Less and less people in the U.S. are now circumcising their boys and we currently see the majority of baby boys leaving the hospital intact (uncircumcised). In addition, almost 90% of the rest of the world's men are intact.

4. Too much trouble to take care of - some people think that an intact penis is too much trouble to pull back and clean, especially during childhood. Well, the truth is, you are not even supposed to pull back the foreskin until it naturally comes back on its own sometime between the ages of 3-years to the teenage years (depending on the boy). So there really isn't anything to even take care of until then. Intact = Don't Retract! Only Clean What is Seen.

5. Want your boy to look like dad - the main difference that your child will notice between him and dad is the hair. He won't even notice any difference in the penis until he is old enough that you can then explain to him the difference. At that point, what man and his son compare genitals?

Intact Baby Boy
vs.
Circumcised Baby Boy


So, what are the reasons TO circumcise that have not been scientifically dispelled as myths?

Here is the list:

Religious reasons - as discussed above. That is all. There really is no good reason to circumcise other that personal preference and religious reasons.

What are the reasons NOT to circumcise?

Consider these:

1. Leave nature alone - whether you believe God created all men and women with a prepuce organ (nicknamed 'foreskin' in men), or nature simply evolved all men and women this way, there must be some reason that all mammals have foreskins. Why change something that God/nature has created?

2. Sensation and sexual pleasure - the foreskin is filled with nerves (70,000+ which is more than any other body organ), and is therefore extremely sensitive to touch. This enhances sexual pleasure. The foreskin is also the only part of the penis that has muscle - 'smooth muscle tissue' - which is not found anywhere else on the genitals.

3. Protects the glans (head) of the penis - the glans is another highly sensitive area and meant to be an internal organ. The foreskin protects the glans from constant rubbing and chaffing against clothing that desensitizes and calluses it over the years. This preserves sexual pleasure.

4. Ethical issues - there are groups of people worldwide, including highly esteemed medical societies, that oppose routine circumcision because they feel it is unethical for anyone to decide to alter the penis of a child without the child's consent. Parents who are deciding whether or not to circumcise their son may wish to consider the impact this may have in the future if the child decides they wish they were not circumcised.

So, when making this decision, the first thing to ask yourself is this - "Do I have any good reason to circumcise my baby?" If your answer is for religious reasons, then follow your faith. If not, and you can't think of any other significant reason other than just "because", then consider the above information as you make your decision.


For more answers to common parenting questions, see Ask Dr. Sears or check out a copy of his hugely popular book, The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby From Birth to Age 2.


Hear from another physician, Dr. Dean Edell, on infant circumcision: 


Dr. Bob Sears on circumcision: 


[END NOTE]

While we appreciate Dr. Sears' direct and simplified version of an answer to this often pondered question, we are not in agreement in terms of genital cutting for religious reasons. Baby girls are currently protected (by law) against any form of circumcision because of the religious views of their parents. Baby boys deserve the same legal protection. If it is not okay to cut one child, it is not okay to cut another - no matter the personal religious views of those advocating for the genital mutilation. When a girl or boy reaches an age when s/he can decide upon the religion of his/her choosing, s/he can at that point also decide what to do with her/his own genitals.

For more resources written by Jews on the topic of Judaism and Circumcision, see these links.

For more resources written by Christians on the topic of Christianity and Circumcision, see these links.

For more resources written by Muslims on the topic of Islam and Circumcision see:
http://www.quranicpath.com/misconceptions/circumcision.html
http://www.quran.org/khatne.htm

Going into more detail on proper intact care and the many reasons to keep boys intact would be a good idea in Sears' statement -- for their own health/immunological benefits, to avoid the impact that circumcision has on breastfeeding, development, stress hormones, pain response, colic, sleep, attachment, fussiness, post-traumatic stress, brain function, sexual experience later in life, etc. There are so many reasons to protect babies' wholeness and they are not covered in enough detail in this brief response.

"There is not one single medical reason to circumcise a baby." -Dr. Christiane Northrup

Further information on the prepuce, intact care and circumcision linked at:
Are You Fully Informed? The Pros and Cons of Infant Circumcision

Foreskin Restoration



Prepuce (Foreskin) Restoration: It's good for men, good for women.

If you were cut at birth against your will, it may be something that is difficult to come to grips with. Maybe it is something that is even easier ignored. Circumcision: it is one of those areas that the more you know, the worse it is. The amputation of the prepuce robs a man of so much -- and it also robs his partner of a normal, natural, fully functioning sexual experience.

Thanks to the initial endeavors of a few, restoration is becoming more popular now in the United States (the only nation in the world where the majority of the adult male population is without a normal, intact penis). While a circumcised man will never be able to regrow the 70,000 nerve endings, core vessels, ridged band, complete frenulum, glands and mucus membranes, smooth muscle, and various aspects of the prepuce organ that were amputated, he CAN restore some aspects of normalcy to his glans (head) of the penis and his/his partner's experience of sexuality.

A small number of men who have restored refer to themselves as being uncircumcised. This is not the same as being intact (having never endured the amputation of circumcision). Restoring men report many aspects of *life* are improved. And their sexual partners report the same.

The National Organization of Restoring Men lists the following as reasons that men today are choosing to restore:

Pleasure. The new foreskin adds pleasure to the penis during sexual activity. For most men seeking restoration, this alone is reason enough to restore.

Protection. The foreskin protects the glans from the abrasiveness of clothing. When protected, the glans will regain much of its original sensitivity.

Privacy. Like the female clitoris, the glans (head) of the penis is intended to be an internal organ, visible only when aroused.

Aesthetics. 87% of the world's men feel an intact penis is normal, natural and attractive.

Wholeness. When seeing their circumcision scar, many men sense that part of their body is missing, which is very similar to women who have had a breast removed. Seeking physical and emotional wholeness is quite natural.

Emotional pain. When feeling hopeless over their unchosen circumcised state, men can be helped to manage anger by doing something about a condition which they had always believed was irreversible.

Resentment. A 1991 survey of 301 males seeking restoration information showed that 70% of those circumcised as infants or children resent their parents for their circumcision. Regaining power over their bodies reduces resentment.

Empowerment. Victims of rape, crime and child or spousal abuse typically report a deep sense of helplessness and vulnerability. Who is more helpless and vulnerable than a restrained newborn having part of his penis amputated? Men restore to take back control of their bodies from the damage done by parents, their physicians and our culture.

Restoration isn't sought only by those circumcised at birth. Some children are unwillingly circumcised. Others were pressured "for their own good" by friends, sex partners, or military. Some immigrants circumcised themselves or their sons "to be American." Afterward, most males note a significant decrease of sensitivity, among other side-effects, which lead some to restore.

Discover more about restoration and hear from men who have or are restoring:

Restoring Foreskin: http://www.RestoringForeskin.org

National Organization of Restoring Men: http://www.NORM.org

Restoring Tally: http://www.RestoringTally.com

Foreskin Restoration.net: http://Foreskin-Restoration.net/forum

SOS Men Group: FB.com/groups/SOSMen

My Foreskin Restoration Network: http://myfrn.org

Restoring Foreskin Beginner's Guide (by Tally): http://www.restoringforeskin.org/beginners-guide-foreskin-restoration

"Extra Features" on the DVD "CUT: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision"

Book: The Joy of Uncircumcising by Jim Bigelow (download an e-book copy here).

Tugging and Restoration Related Devices:

DTR Foreskin Restore: www.foreskinrestore.com/main.html

CAT II Q Stretcher: www.CatStretcher.com

TLC-X and TLC Tugger: www.TLCTugger.com

H.A.R.T.: www.happyaardvarkrestorationtools.com/

Manual Tugging: http://pages.suddenlink.net/manual_methods/

T-Tape: http://www.t-tapes.net

Foreballs (no longer in production): http://foreskinrestoration.info/foreballs.htm

PUD: http://foreskinrestoration.info/pud.htm

Foreskin Natural Restorer: http://www.4restore.com

Second Skin: http://www.art.net/Studios/Hackers/Hopkins/Don/text/second-skin.html

Foreskin Restoration Ring: http://hub.webring.org/hub/4skin

Related Items: 

Tug n Wear:  http://www.tugnwear.com/Products.php

Manhood:  http://manhood.mb.ca

SenSlip: http://www.viafin-atlas.com


Related research on female sexuality for women who partner with men:

* Article: How Circumcision Hurts Women by Jocel Them
* Article: Improve Marital Sex: Keep the Foreskins by Dr. Dean Edell
* Article: How Male Circumcision Impacts Your Love Life by Dr. Christine Northrup
* Study: Effects of Male Circumcision on Female Arousal and Orgasm
* Article: A Change in How Intercourse Works by the National Org of Circ Info & Res, CO
* Video: Penis 101 (How Circumcision Changes Intercourse for Men & Women) by Marilyn Milos
* Crystallized Pathology: The Clitoris, the Penis, and Women's Sexual Health by Danelle Frisbie (email for pdf excerpt)
* Website: Sex As Nature Intended [graphic site]
* News Brief: Male Circumcision Increases HIV rates among Women in Africa
* Review above listed book excerpt on the Functions of the Foreskin by Dr. Fleiss & Dr. Hodges
* Facebook page: Women Affected By Circumcision
* Facebook group (women only): Partners of Restoring Men & Women Impacted by Male Genital Cutting

Lost/Found and Restoration information cards available to share at:


History of Female Circumcision in the United States


The prepuce organ ("foreskin" or "clitoral hood") is a natural, normal, vital, protective, healing and sexual organ on all mammals. It is an analogous and homologous organ in all girls and boys, women and men. The prepuce contains more nerve endings (currently thought to be 70,000+) than any other part of the human body. There is no body part that is as sensitive and discriminatory as the prepuce organ. It produces its own antibodies, and has its own sphincters to protect the glans (head) of the clitoris/penis. The prepuce has its own gliding mechanisms, produces its own natural lubrication, and has its own mucosal tissue and ridged band. It performs functions similar to those that the eyelid does in protecting the eye, the fingernail in protecting the finger, and yet has unique sexual responsibilities that no other body part can take the place of.

The prepuce is present in both baby girls and baby boys at birth and is securely and tightly fastened to the glans of the clitoris/penis. It stays closely adhered throughout childhood and sometimes into the teenage years. The prepuce serves important health and sexual functions and purposes in both men and women as they grow into adulthood.

The amputation of the prepuce by those attempting to control men's and women's sexuality has a similar history in the United States and around the world. The loss of the prepuce has a similar impact on men and women. Surgical amputation of the prepuce has always been a 'solution' in search of a problem that does not exist. Hopefully soon the Male Genital Mutilation (MGM) of minor children and infants will reach the same legal termination as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the United States.

ALL human beings, male and female alike, have the same basic human right to genital autonomy.




As late as the early 1980s in the United States, some avenues of popular media were promoting female circumcision as a good thing - cosmetic genital surgery that would enhance a woman's desirability and sexuality. Many of the same myths we hear in the beginning of the 21st century about male circumcision were commonly assumed to be true for female circumcision in the 20th century.

Two such articles appeared in Playgirl in 1973 and 1975:

Kellison, Cathrine. "Circumcision for Women." Playgirl 1.5 (October, 1973). 76, 124-125.

"$100 Surgery for a Million-Dollar Sex Life." Playgirl 2.12 (May, 1975). 52-55.

The Federal law went into effect in March, 1997, in the United States making any non-medically necessary cutting upon the genitals of a minor girl, for any reason, religious or otherwise, and to any degree, a federal crime. Read the U.S. FGM Law here.


Additional resources (books, websites, articles) at:
Should I Circumcise? The pros and cons of infant circumcision

Join in the conversation at Saving Our Sons


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INTACT: Let's use correct terminology

By Danelle Frisbie © 2008
Intact onesie from Made By Momma

I would like to challenge everyone to start using correct terminology when it comes to the intact boy, intact man, and intact penis.

If you must qualify boys and men based on their genitalia, they are INTACT.

Not uncircumcised.

It is troubling to hear (read) people use the un-word.

We do not call women 'unclitoridectomised' or 'unlabiaplastectomised.' Girls who have not been subject to the hand of a mutilation knife are intact. And so are boys. They come from within fully formed and perfect - all in one piece and made just the way they are meant to be made - intact.

In their most excellent book, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision, Drs. Fleiss and Hodges encourage us to call our babies brought home whole exactly what they are - INTACT. "Uncircumcised," they write, "is an unscientific, unhelpful, useless, and confusing term because it uses terminology normally reserved for abnormality to name a natural, normal body part. Let us avoid confusion and stick to science." Yes, let's!

Embarrassingly, I, too, was once guilty of throwing around the term 'uncircumcised.' In fact, while writing my dissertation I used the word before being as informed as I (thankfully) am today on issues of genital autonomy. I cringe when reading over early publications and know that libraries house a document I wrote, but made such a grave mistake within. I suppose it is reflective of the slightly ignorant time in which I began to write and study... And thankfully times are now changing!

So when you are talking about your intact son, or your intact husband, or how you plan to keep your baby boys intact - do just that! You don't need to say, "I am against circumcision" but rather, "I believe in keeping all babies intact at birth." If you work in obstetrics, midwifery, or Labor and Delivery, you can ask, "Do you plan to keep your baby intact?" rather than [oh, how I hate this question] "Would you like your baby circumcised?"

Words have meaning. They hold power. They influence our thinking about the concepts they surround. Just as the intact clitoris is the normal, natural clitoris--the intact penis is the normal, natural penis. We must normalize and naturalize the word 'intact' in the United States.

So, let me hear (and read) you using it!


Additional information on the prepuce, intact care, and circumcision:
DrMomma.org/2014/12/should-i-circumcise-my-son-pros-and.html


~~~~~~~

Plastibell Infant Circumcision


It is terribly troubling that a lot of parents are told that the Plastibell form of circumcision is "less painful" or "less traumatic" for a newborn. For this surgery, a Plastibell is used rather than a Gomco Clamp or Mogen Clamp. "Plastibell" may sound like a more inviting tool to use on a highly sensitive penis than "Clamp." The reality, however, is that all forms of genital cutting are equally excruciating for a newborn. All forms amputate the purposeful prepuce organ which serves many important functions in infancy, childhood, and adulthood. If you are considering having your baby circumcised using the Plastibell method, here is one video to witness this particular surgical procedure.

Note that this video was made by a pro-cutting doctor and his assistant, so the baby's screaming is muted and words are instead placed on the screen describing what is being done. Not all of the information they post is entirely accurate -- NO health or medical organization in the entire world recommends circumcision on infants. No health or medical organization in the entire world recommends that anyone other than the young boy himself 'mess with' his foreskin. While the average age of retraction is 10.6 years of age, sometimes this natural retraction does not occur until the hormones of puberty naturally loosen the prepuce. The problems that have arisen for a minority of intact babies, boys, or men, in the U.S. occur because someone forcibly retracted or attempted to 'clean' between their foreskin and penis glans (head) before it was retracting fully on its own. This is the same as if we pulled back the fingernails of a newborn baby to 'clean' between their fingernails and fingers, or if we scrubbed out the area between the eyelids and eyeballs. The prepuce is tightly adhered to the glans (head) of the penis. There is zero care needed for an intact baby boy. The prepuce is a self-cleaning, self-sustaining, remarkable and necessary organ.



Additional video examples of Plastibell circumcision surgery:



For promotion of his practice, this Australian physician (who profits on the sale of circumcision surgery) uses a large amount of anesthesia - both topically before injection, and local anesthesia in three locations, pressing deep into the penile tissues to reach the dorsal nerve running to the base of the frenulum. He also waits adequate amount of time for the anesthesia to kick in. Rarely is this practice (either the heavy amount of anesthesia, placement, or time in waiting for it to take effect) carried through as such in the United States or Canada. This video is a rare one in which the baby has adequate local anesthesia to dull the pain of the surgery, and the process - the amputation of the prepuce by Plastibell - can be seen clearly. Unfortunately, the physician fails to discuss the monumental pain that will ensue when this local anesthesia wears off, or all the many purposes of the prepuce organ that have now been forever removed from this baby. Anesthesia is counter-indicated for newborns by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is one reason the majority of hospitals conducting genital cutting do not utilize it in their newborn circumcision surgeries. Another reason, as one U.S. physician recently stated is because, "I can get the job done much faster without having to wait 10 minutes for anesthesia to kick in."



Aside from the Plastibell, the Gomco is the other most commonly performed method of prepuce amputation in the United States. When a parent decides against keeping their child intact, one of these two methods of circumcision surgery will almost always take place in the U.S. As a result, we include one example of the Gomco here as well:




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For additional information on the prepuce (foreskin), circumcision, and intact care, see: Are You Fully Informed?



Circumcision is Anti...


Circumcision is anti-Semitic: It kills Jews.

Circumcision is anti-Islam: It kills Muslims.

Circumcision is anti-American: It kills Americans.

Circumcision is anti-Human: 
It has killed untold numbers of human beings 
since its insidious inception.

~Benjamin Lewis

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Death from Circumcision Related Reading

Circumcision Deaths: http://www.cirp.org/library/death/


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