The Truth Seeker: Circumcision

circumcision

we have broken a child's spirit

he looked at me

before we began

and knew me for who i am

hey he said to me

in his gentle smile of recognition

hey you are the same as me

you must be who i am

and then i held down his legs

as we cut off his foreskin

infinitely sore tender life of orgasm

we rejected his life

force

power

he could not fight us off

despite the fact

that he fought with all his might

he gave up the fight

his legs lay beneath the ten ton fire

of my hands

and stayed there

with all his might drained

even after i had let him up

i cannot believe

that it does not harm so tender a life

to have his spirit broken

at this tender time of his life

at my hands

who has ushered in his life

-Karen Hope Erlich
birth song

Originally published in The Truth Seeker, July/August 1989

Read more from parents who regret infant circumcision: DrMomma.org/2010/05/i-circumcised-my-son-healing-from.html

It Was Done To Me: Grocery Store Awareness Raising

By Michael Dulin

Yesterday at the grocery store a woman's voice from behind me said, "It's terrible that they do that to women..."

I turned.

She read the front of my T-shirt. "Oh, my God..." she said. She touched me on the shoulder, and then as if apologizing to me, she said, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." There was such sadness in her eyes. In that brief encounter, without argument or excuses, she simply understood. Her empathy was invoked because a Latin word wasn't encouraging her prejudice.

The words we use make a difference. This woman will never disregard what adults are doing to the bodies of children because she saw a man wearing a T-shirt, man who had the guts to call it what it is: Genital Mutilation and to say it was DONE to ME.

"Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak." -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Also by Dulin:

Stop using the Latin word for Genital Mutilation

Genital Mutilation Doesn't Only Happen to Women

Bearing Silent Witness in Boston

Speak Truth

Circumcised? Get over it!

i will not assume

Men Speak

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Bearing Silent Witness in Boston: Male Genital Mutilation

By Michael Dulin

This past week I spent a few days in Boston with my friend Edward Barron. We bore silent witness to the harm of Child Genital Mutilation, exposing the truth to thousands and thousands of people. Not a single person made any excuses, or challenged our message. A man dressed in scrubs stopped us on the street to say he agreed with us, "It is Genital Mutilation." A woman even volunteered on her own, "isn't only done to females..."

Nothing had to be explained, argued, or debated because the truth speaks for itself.

Don't give mutilators a word to hide behind. Maiming her healthy genitalia is called Female Genital Mutilation, because isn't that exactly what it is? Maiming his healthy genitalia is called Male Genital Mutilations, because isn't that exactly what it is? You cannot hide behind a word in the Bible or a medical text book when what you do is called exactly what it is - genital mutilation.


Also by Dulin:

Stop using the Latin word for Genital Mutilation

Genital Mutilation Doesn't Only Happen to Women

Speak Truth

Circumcised? Get over it!

i will not assume

Men Speak

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Ear Drum Rupture During Circumcision

Wondering why many hospitals ask whether or not a baby is circumcised during a hearing exam? Because all too often the ear drum can rupture from extreme pain that causes terrific crying (an unnatural cry for any baby) during infant circumcision.

A Saving Our Sons parent writes, "Took my son in today to get his infant hearing test done. Part of their medical questionnaire was if baby was a male, was he circumcised? I asked why that was a relevant question and was told because sometimes an ear drum can burst while they are crying during circumcision [surgery]. My heart sank."

If you have yet to observe how circumcision happens, these are the two most common forms in use today:

• Gomco - SavingSons.org/2011/01/neonatal-circumcision-video-for.html 

• Plastibell - DrMomma.org/2009/08/plastibell-infant-circumcision.html 

Question circumcision. Research the many benefits of keeping all babies intact.

#i2 #CuttingCulture IntactNetwork.org/research

Original Facebook (public) post.

Stickers and cards available for sharing at Etsy.

Routine Infant Circumcision: Dr. Szasz Responds

"[T]he practice of routine neonatal circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in creation born in a condition requiring immediate surgical correction is the human male. If the penile foreskin is not merely nonfunctional, but a biological disadvantage so severe as to justify its immediate surgical ablation, then surely, it would have atrophied by now." -Thomas Szasz, M.D. (born into a Jewish family) as presented in a lecture 1996.

Szasz, T.S. “Routine neonatal circumcision: Symbol of the birth of the therapeutic state," Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Vol. 21, April 1996, pp. 137-48.

Just as a newborn monkey responds to sensation, so also does a newborn baby.

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

Hear more from physicians in the fields of medicine, pediatrics, and health:

Medical Professionals for Genital Autonomy

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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

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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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