Why can’t you just mind your own business (on circumcision)?

By Scott Janoschak © 2019

Genital Autonomy Advocates at the White House in Washington D.C. during Genital Integrity Awareness Week.

“Why can’t you just mind your own business?”

Are you kidding? That’s the main reason I’m an intactivist in the first place. Males are generally much happier and healthier when they’re empowered, encouraged and informed on how to make their own personal healthcare choices. The exact same thing can be said about females, and it applies to all age groups, across all genders.

If you’re asking me, “Why can’t you stop bashing circumcision?” The answer is simple, because circumcision advocates have forced my hand in numerous ways:

1. I’m sick and tired of misinformation peddled by news and entertainment media that depicts or describes intact penises as dangerous, ugly, and uncivilized in such a way that it actively shames boys and men who aren’t cut. It has led to all manner of bullying, sexual harassment and humiliation when the guilty party has no idea what the foreskin even is in the first place.

Difference between the intact and circumcised glans (head) of the male genitals.

2. I’m sick and tired of healthcare workers bullying parents to circumcise after they already said no, or even the parents who only want more time to think carefully and make a decision. Forget about the circumcision controversy for a second... It is absolutely unethical and completely unprofessional for doctors and nurses to put pressure on the parents to make a choice. It’s even worse for the mom after she just gave birth, is still in pain and is not thinking clearly like normal.

Medical Professionals for Genital Autonomy present reasons for fellow physicians in practice to not participate in infant circumcision. Informational cards for sharing available at Etsy.

3. I’m sick and tired of these same healthcare workers who will prematurely attempt to retract the foreskin after being explicitly instructed by informed parents not to do so and the results can be devastating in some cases. The forced retraction epidemic is so bad that even the American Academy of Pediatrics had to issue intact care instructions, but clearly not all doctors got the memo. Both circumcision and forced retraction are iatrogenic injuries; the “experts” responsible need to be held to account for improper care.

Circumcision and retraction are iatrogenic injuries to non-consenting human beings.

4. I’m sick and tired of sex education curriculums around this country failing to accurately inform our young people about many things regarding sex, even the most basic facts about sexual anatomy and physiology. Children and teens are going to make mistakes as they grow up, but most of them aren’t stupid. More and more, they’re starting to realize that circumcision really is a completely obsolete hygiene measure and they’re gradually rejecting the practice altogether.

Functions of the Foreskin.
5. I’m sick and tired of the pseudoscience being put out by circumcision advocates. The foreskin is not a disease or a defect. There is no guarantee that circumcision will protect males from any known pathogenic microorganism. Essentially every health problem pertaining to the foreskin or the intact penis as a whole can be prevented/treated by evidence-based medicine/health practice and without circumcision.


Circumcision always results in at least some measure of damage to the penis regardless of the technique or intent of the circumciser. No man should ever have to spend years of his life tugging on his penis to get back something should never have been removed to begin with, thankfully foreskin restoration is known to deliver effective results.

Admittedly, circumcision proponents have also made me literally laugh out loud many times over the years by saying the most ridiculous things one could imagine as a token of their ignorance:

“Babies can’t feel pain.”

“Cut it off or it’ll fall off.”

“He’ll have trouble putting on condoms.”

“He’ll never have any children.”

“He can’t even go to the bathroom.”

By this point however, such rhetoric has long since outlived its amusement and now we’ve had enough. We will never remain silent until this horrible injustice has been eradicated from the world forever, along with all other forms of human genital mutilation.

Foreskin is Fabulous! Nobody wants less penis... Scott raises awareness in Washington D.C. during Genital Integrity Awareness Week. Professionally made, all-weather rally signs available at Etsy.



Baby Hospitalized with Life-Threatening Risk After Circumcision Contracted Herpes

As reported by NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews

photo via the Intact Jewish Network

New York City health officials are reporting a case of a baby with neonatal herpes following direct orogenital suction (DOS) during ritual Jewish circumcision. This is the first case of neonatal herpes related to DOS during ritual Jewish circumcision reported to the Health Department since March 2017.

Direct orogenital suction (DOS) during ritual Jewish circumcision (also known as metzitzah b’peh) is a practice during which a mohel uses his mouth to suck blood away from the penile circumcision wound. DOS can transmit herpes simplex virus (HSV) to newborn males which can cause severe infection, resulting in brain damage, and death.

According to health officials, the infant was circumcised on the eighth day of life by a mohel who performed DOS. Ten days later, the infant developed a rash on his genitals, groin, and buttocks. A specimen taken from one of the child’s lesions tested positive for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The infant was hospitalized to complete a 14-day course of intravenous acyclovir and is now doing well.

In this case, the child’s caretakers were not aware of the signs and symptoms of neonatal herpes nor the risk of herpes transmission associated with DOS, resulting in a delay in the child presenting for care.

Signs and symptoms may include: a vesicular or pustular rash (following DOS, these lesions typically appear on the genitals, groin, buttocks and ankle (related dermatomes)); fever; poor feeding; irritability; and lethargy. Fever and rash are not always present so, a historical exposure such as DOS should raise suspicion for an atypical presentation of neonatal herpes.

Since April 2006 (when neonatal herpes reporting became mandatory in NYC), there have been a total of 164 laboratory-confirmed babies with neonatal herpes. Of these cases, 19 (12%) developed their infections following ritual Jewish circumcision.


Related Reading:

New case of herpes caused by oral suction: https://www.facebook.com/SavingOurSons/photos/a.1067644796587974/1489506341068482/?type=1&theater

18 Day Old Baby Dies from Oral Herpes: http://www.DrMomma.org/2017/07/18-day-old-baby-dies-from-cold-sore.html

Week-Old Baby on Life Support from Oral Herpes: http://www.drmomma.org/2017/07/week-old-baby-on-life-support-with.html

Oral Herpes (Cold Sore) Prevention & Treatment in Kids: http://www.drmomma.org/2012/02/cold-sore-prevention-and-treatment-for.html

Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective: https://amzn.to/2ldE8px

Celebrating Brit Shalom: https://amzn.to/2mKBVT0

Intact Jewish Network: FB.com/JewishNetwork | FB.com/groups/IntactJewishNetwork

Resources by/for Jewish families: http://www.DrMomma.org/2009/06/circumcision-jewish-fathers-making.html

Brit Shalom bracelets via Etsy



Banning the Declawing of Cats in New York - Human Babies Deserve Better Too

Graphic by Saving Our Sons' MD Chapter, Intact Maryland

When will the time come that we grant equal protection to all babies from unnecessary and forced cutting? The ban on declawing may be good and justified and long-time-coming, but so is a ban on the unneeded medical amputation of children's genitals in the United States.

Related Materials at:
Intact Vegan Network

IntactHealth.org/research
SavingSons.org

#i2 #Declawing #Declaw #AnimalRights #HumanRights #BoysDeserveBetter #IntactRevival

Saving Our Sons Community
Intact: Healthy, Happy, Whole
Peaceful Intact Education
Raising Boys



Intact Info Booth at Boston Pride


We have the fantastic opportunity to host a large expo booth at the popular Boston Pride festivities this year! In doing so, we would distribute a variety of pro-intact items to thousands in attendance and make an enormous ripple effect for the cause. Please help us make this happen! 🎉

We need to raise $500 which will cover booth fees, rainbow flags to pass out (each with a positive intact message on 2 sides) and all the materials needed to give away at the booth.

We will update below with progress to goal (first names only for privacy, or supporting business name/link).

THANK YOU for being a part of Saving Our Sons! 💜

To give: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=37PU8MW4YHS38&source=url or via PayPal friends/family to SavingSons@gmail.com with a note "FOR BOSTON PRIDE"

By mail to:

Saving Our Sons
PO Box 1302
Virginia Beach, VA 23451

BOSTON PRIDE BOOTH UPDATE
(UPDATED Need: $200)
Supporters - THANK YOU!

🌟 Justin B.
A big THANK YOU to Justin for not only kicking off this fundraising need, but for sponsoring 1/2 of this full booth!

🌟 Roland G.

🌟 Moon Bunny Arts
Etsy Custom & Personalized Creations


BabySaving Moms!


Are you a BabySaving Mom? Have a special BabySaver in your life? We're honoring and celebrating all the BABYSAVING MOMS this week with a tip of the hat - we see you! We see the fruit of your work! We see the powerful, positive tidal wave of change that comes forth from the #i2 ripples you start. THANK YOU for being a part of Saving Our Sons ~ for speaking up with compassion, and saving babies

To be added, drop a photo to Saving Our Sons on Facebook, email SavingSons@gmail.com or post/tag at SOS.

You are a HERO in this work! 

* Happy Mother's Day! * 

We will draw three moms via Random.org from among submissions to win a $10 gift card good toward any SOS educational and awareness raising materials at Etsy.

2018 BabySaving Moms

❤ Anu

❤ Elana

❤ Missy

❤ Michelle

❤ Brittany

❤ Amanda

❤ Brandi

❤ Kristi

❤ Danelle

❤ Rachael


New to this topic? Learn more about the functions of the foreskin (an organ all mammals on earth are born having), and the benefits of keeping all babies intact: Should I Circumcise? The Pros and Cons



*******


Breaking the Cycle: Princess Diana says NO to Circumcision in the Royal Family

Princess Diana, Prince William, and Prince Harry

The beloved Princess Diana bucked royal tradition in 1982, and again in 1984, when she chose to keep her boys intact and not circumcise Prince William and Prince Harry. In addition, she stood up to both Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Charles, who intended to cut the boys, as was customary for royal lines. Despite the majority of men in the world remaining happily intact for a lifetime, including virtually all men in England, royal-born baby boys were set apart from others by being cut at birth. In order to protect her babies and keep them whole, Diana made it clear that her sons would be treated gently from the beginning, and in doing so broke the cycle that would pave the way for Prince William and Prince Harry's own future sons (Prince George, 2013, Prince Louis, 2018, and Prince Harry's son, 2019) to remain intact as well.

Roger DesMoulins notes, "It is a matter of public record that Queen Elizabeth had her three sons circumcised, following a royal family precedent set 2-3 generations before. In the 1870s and 80s, the British upper middle and upper class decided that the penis should be bald, to discourage masturbation and to enable a boy to be raised without ever talking to him about penis hygiene. I bet the royals simply followed an aristocratic practice of that era. Diana, however, was a trained pre-school teacher who had worked before her marriage. In the course of that job, I would assume she saw natural little boys. If you've seen natural children, and are comfortable with this, you generally cannot stomach seeing those that are cut. Thus a royal custom of recent origin presumably came to an end."

Shane Brewster writes, "Diana approached circumcision like she did all aspects of her life. She looked upon it, questioned its validity, and did what she felt was right, even when it meant standing up against the traditions of the royal family. Diana broke the cycle and kept her boys whole. She was a woman who stood her ground in the face of opposition, and refused to back down. She fought for what was right and was unashamedly honest at a time, and in a place where that was unheard of -- breaking barriers and making headway in various uncharted territories. It was this character of honesty, of doing the right thing simply because it was the right thing, that we believe endeared so many people to her. In that way we believe it's appropriate to honor her memory in a way that shows the world what we've learned from 'The People's Princess' -- Be unafraid to question, even in the face of opposition. Do what is right and let those choices guide your life and the lives you touch into a better place. Question circumcision. Break the cycle."

Princess Diana was also known to be an incredibly warm and nurturing mother, standing up for what she believed best for her children. She refused to formula feed, breastfeeding her babies herself (despite being told not to do so as Princess of Wales), and spent a great deal of time bonding, playing with, and teaching her sons. She was critiqued publicly for spending so much time with her boys, taking them out on adventures to "dirty" kid-friendly places for fun, and was intricately involved in each of their daily lives.

As Princess Diana did, you too can break the cycle in your family.
Even if you have circumcised children, there are thousands keeping future sons intact.


Princess Diana and sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, out on an adventure together.
Princess Diana bucked royal tradition at the time, and kept her two sons intact.
Additional intact celebrities.
Professional awareness raising materials at Etsy.



Peaceful Intact Education

Foreskin Facts and Intact Care



Infant Dies from Heart Failure Following Circumcision


Infant dies after parents circumcise him at home in Italy. [Note: cardiac arrest happens in hospital circumcision situations as well. Over 100 boys die each year in the United States during or after hospital circumcision. It is often coded as something other than death due to unnecessary genital surgery. Related Death from Circumcision: http://www.DrMomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html]

Associated Press.
Quote:

A 5-month-old child died at the hospital in Bologna, Italy after suffering cardiac arrest following a home circumcision.

An infant boy in Italy has died as the result of a circumcision performed by his parents at home, according to Italian media reports on Sunday.

The ANSA news agency reported that the 5-month-old baby was brought to a hospital in Bologna by helicopter in cardiac arrest on Friday afternoon and died that night.

The prosecutor's office in the northern province of Reggio Emilia has opened a manslaughter investigation, and the infant will undergo an autopsy.

The tragedy follows a botched home circumcision of a 2-year-old who died of severe blood loss in December in Rome. In that case, his twin brother nearly died, too, but survived following intensive care treatment.

Circumcision is not practiced among Italy's Roman Catholic majority.

Many immigrants in Italy are Muslim and practice circumcision for cultural and religious reasons, but sometimes have trouble accessing the practice in hospitals. [See also: Intact Muslim Network​]

For some, the hospital costs are too high. Also, in some Italian hospitals, doctors refuse to perform circumcisions until the boys have reached the age of 4 or even older.

Foad Aodi, the founder of the association of foreign doctors in Italy (AMSI), has appealed to health authorities to allow circumcisions at affordable prices and to lower the age of access to help fight clandestine attempts at circumcisions. [See also: Functions of Foreskin - benefits of keeping children intact: http://www.DrMomma.org/2009/09/functions-of-foreskin-purposes-of.html]

#i2 #CuttingCulture #CircumcisionDeath #MedPro CircumcisionRisks.org/research


NEWS LINKS:

Courier News AUS: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/baby-boy-dies-after-parents-allegedly-perform-circumcision-at-home/news-story/08d2132657bb008ecc03794e72cdb9c6?

First Coast News: https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/nation-world/italy-infant-dies-after-parents-circumcise-him-at-home/507-df2ee531-950c-45a8-9ed4-77800af98f93?

BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47687131

Telegraph UK: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/03/24/five-month-old-baby-dies-italy-botched-home-circumcision/

Fox Houston: http://www.fox26houston.com/news/international-news/italy-fatal-circumcision

Stanford University Medicine: Complications of Circumcision



Baby Boy Struggles with Circumcision Hemorrhage: Mom Pleads with Parents to Reconsider


Tennessee mom, Shyanne, and her little one need love and healing as they wrestle with one of the worst outcomes of infant circumcision that we see far too often among newborn babies in the United States each week.

She publicly writes:

If everyone could please continue to pray for my sweet sweet baby. They are keeping us overnight at Children’s to monitor everything, and I will post updates as I find out. Yesterday I made the worst decision of my life. I regret strongly how I allowed my doctor to torture my son, and I will never forgive myself. I 'researched' circumcision when I was pregnant, and saw that it was cleaner, prevented UTIs, infection, and STDs, and I believed it... Please consider this before making the decision to get your baby circumcised! This is something that will haunt me for the rest of my life, something that I can’t take back... Not just a surgery gone wrong, but a surgery that should have never happened. 
💔

An IV line is commonly placed into the scalp of a newborn baby if their peripheral veins are otherwise inaccessible, while they are in intense pain, hemorrhaging, or dehydrated (causing vasoconstriction). 

Related Reading:

Stanford University Medicine: Complications of infant circumcision: https://med.stanford.edu/newborns/professional-education/circumcision/complications.html

Pediatric Surgery International: Late complications of newborn circumcision: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20155423

Keeping Future Sons Intact (testimonies from parents who regret circumcision): http://www.DrMomma.org/2010/05/i-circumcised-my-son-healing-from.html and FB.com/FutureSons

Death From Circumcision: http://www.DrMomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision.html

Dr. Ryan McAllister, Georgetown University: Death from Circumcision Higher Than Suffocation and Auto Accidents: http://www.DrMomma.org/2010/05/death-from-circumcision-higher-than.html 

Intact vs. Circumcised: Outcome Statistics http://www.DrMomma.org/2010/01/cut-vs-intact-outcome-statistics.html

Bollinger, Dan. "Lost Boys: An Estimate of U.S. Circumcision-Related Infant Deaths." Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies. 2010;4(1):78-90.

Male Circumcision Decreases Penile Sensitivity as Measured in a Large Cohort: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23374102

The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8800902 and https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1464-410X.1996.85023.x

Male circumcision and sexual function in men and women: a survey-based, cross-sectional study in Denmark: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21672947

Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis: http://www.SavingSons.org/2014/06/fine-touch-pressure-thresholds-of-human.html and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17378847

Circumcision Affects Glans Penis Vibration Perception Threshold: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18481425

The Effect of Male Circumcision on Sexuality: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17155977 

Premature Ejaculation in a Primary Care Setting: A Preliminary Cross-sectional Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21492404

Examining the association between male circumcision and sexual function: evidence from a British probability survey: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26091302

Should I Circumcise? The pros and cons of infant circumcision: http://www.SavingSons.org/2014/12/should-i-circumcise-pros-and-cons-of.html

Medical Professionals for Genital Autonomy

IntactNetwork.org/research





Educational Intact Penis with Foreskin



Custom crocheted intact penis with functional foreskin for education and awareness raising, available at Etsy. Each individually handcrafted in collaboration with Moon Bunny artists.




















Custom made for educator in Slovenia 
































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