i will not assume

By Michael Dulin © 2017

i will not assume

what man can assume he is intact 

when his existence 

is marred 

by a cruelty so profound 

that even he 

he 

who bears the scars

is too ashamed to 

face the awful truth

look,

look at what they did to me

-Michael Dulin 

Every day more and more men realize that what was done to their bodies was, in fact, Genital Mutilation. Remember, denial ain't just a river in Africa. I understand the need for denial; it's a natural mechanism that protects us for the harshness of reality, but who are we really protecting?

It's easy for people to make excuses when we use a Latin word for what they did to our bodies. The time for excuses is over. Men, it isn't easy to admit the bitter truth to ourselves, but for those of us that do, the freedom we experience is well worth the pain of discovery.

Awareness raising on topics of genital autonomy in Washington D.C. 

Also by Dulin:

Stop using the Latin word for Genital Mutilation

Genital Mutilation Doesn't Only Happen to Women

Bearing Silent Witness in Boston: Male Genital Mutilation

Speak Truth

Circumcised? Get over it!

Men Speak

*******

Genital Mutilation Doesn't Only Happen to Women

By Michael Dulin

This is how William and I spent the day in Washington D.C. yesterday. The public's reaction was consistent with what I experienced in Detroit with my friend, Glen - ZERO resistance to our message.

Our signs and T-shirts only state a fact, and because we aren't using the "C" word, our message doesn't challenge anyone's beliefs in religion or medicine. No one made any excuses. The quotes by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. helped us in reminding people that equal justice and human rights are everyone's business.

At one point we had to duck into the National Gallery to get out of the rain. In the museum, we had to check our banners and signs, but because of our t-shirts, people approached us with words of support and encouragement. A security guard even put his job on the line to speak with us about our shirts and what they represent.

Education does not have to be painful.

Genital Mutilation isn't only done to females. William and I know because it was DONE to US.

Yesterday, William and I let other men know they are not alone.

Also by Dulin:

Stop using the Latin word for Genital Mutilation

i will not assume

Speak Truth

Circumcised? Get over it!

Men Speak

Join Dulin and others in Washington D.C. at Genital Integrity Awareness Week.

*******

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Stop using the Latin word for Genital Mutilation

By Michael Dulin

Michael Dulin writes with his artistic rendition of this message:

When I stopped using the Latin word for what adults do to the bodies of children, and started calling it Genital Mutilation people stopped making excuses. Don't give people the chance to make excuses for this anymore. This is Genital Mutilation!

Dulin continues:

Genital Mutilation is what a man is forced to live with for his entire life. Genital Mutilation is what I call it because it is my experience. Like the female victims of Genital Mutilation, men are expected to let it go and to not think about it. Men daily have a visible and ever present reminder of what an adult did to their infant bodies.

Most men consider their mutilated condition normal, and they make excuses that reinforce it as "normal." When a man has the audacity to complain, he’s a cry baby; he should get over it, let it go.

How can we, the victims of Genital Mutilation, ever "let it go?" Would you ask the victim of a pedophile to "let it go," or a woman who was raped to "let it go." Can anyone whose human rights are violated, "let it go?" By not calling what they did to us - what it is - Genital Mutilation - we allow people to continue to make excuses for doing it to children.

I refuse to let the mutilator's word serve as a pretext. That word normalizes the atrocity. It sanctifies the crime, and it makes the mutilator a hero instead of a perpetrator because these adults are seen as doing it FOR the child, not TO the child.

How can any one of the victims, ever, "let it go," especially knowing that there is an adult, at this very moment, Genitally Mutilating a child?

I am a man, and Genital Mutilation was DONE TO ME. By not using their word I’m telling my culture that I refuse to accept what they did me, what they did to millions of us.

I refuse to allow them to continue to make excuses for Child Genital Mutilation.

Michael Dulin participates in awareness raising during Genital Integrity Awareness Week in Washington, D.C.

Also by Dulin:

Genital Mutilation Doesn't Only Happen to Women

Bearing Silent Witness in Boston: Male Genital Mutilation

Speak Truth

Circumcised? Get over it!

i will not assume

Men Speak

Join Dulin and others at Genital Integrity Awareness Week, annually in Washington D.C.

*******

My Baby, My Choice: Why I pierced my baby's dimple

By Enedina Vance © 2017

So I got our baby girl's dimple pierced!! 😲😍💗

It looks so cute, right?!

I just know she's gonna love it!!

She'll thank me when she's older! lol

If she decides she doesn't like it, she can just take it out -- no big deal. 😂

I'm the parent, she is MY CHILD, and I will do whatever I want!!

I make all of her decisions until she's 18.

I made her, I own her!!

I don't need anyone's permission. 

I think it's better, cuter, and I prefer her to have her dimple pierced.

It is NOT abuse!! If it was, it would be illegal, but it's not.

People pierce their babies everyday, this is no different.

MY BABY, MY CHOICE!!

PARENT'S CHOICE, PARENT'S RIGHTS!!

Don't judge my parenting; we all raise our kids differently, and it's none of your business anyway!!

*******

End Note: The above is a spoof ("a mocking imitation of someone or something, usually light and good-humored; lampoon or parody"). The author intends this as a satire of 'parental rights' and routine infant circumcision (male genital mutilation).

Related Reading:

• Routine infant toe removal has health benefits

• We're piercing my baby's tongue. Here's why.

• African study finds male circumcision lowers ebola risk

• Should I circumcise my baby? A decision making resource list

CNN Newsbrief on Vance's cheek piercing spoof