Today Penn Jillette, of Penn & Teller, celebrates his 58th birthday. Fitting, then, to take a moment to thank him for speaking up from a clear, research-based position on the subject of circumcision, and breaking down the ins and outs of the practice of genital cutting in America. You can view the entire Bullsh*t documentary on circumcision from Penn & Teller below. After many interviews (with pro-cutting and pro-intact physicians alike) as well as ample research for the show, in the end Penn concludes:
Let’s end this NOW. The first rule of medicine
is do no harm. Cutting off the tip of the
penis is at the very least ‘a harm.’ Quite
possibly f---ing bad - and bad for f---ing!
So to all you penis butchers out there: Put
down the knife! Step away from the baby!
And DO NO HARM.
Please take a moment to think about this before you circumcise your son:
His penis may be used to have sex with a someone who is not you.
This person could be one of our daughters.
You may enjoy having sex with your mate's circumcised penis, or you may not enjoy having sex with your mate's intact penis... but whatever your reason for wanting to circumcise your son, it is in no way relevant to the partner(s) your son will be engaging in intercourse with when he is old enough to do so.
When our straight daughters come to us to talk about the problems they may be experiencing during intercourse such as vaginal dryness, soreness, inability to orgasm, etc., the first thing we will ask will be, "Is he circumcised?" If the answer is, 'YES' we will have to enlighten them about what was stolen away from them when you chose to have this man circumcised at a time he was still unable to defend himself.
Both your son and his partner would be deprived, by YOU, of the ability to have sex as nature intended it. Neither would have any choice in a matter that is so personal to them. You would be choosing to invade their intimacy through unnecessary genital reduction surgery. Your decision to have your son circumcised is tantamount to controlling your son’s ability to give and receive pleasure, to being a part of his physical/emotional/spiritual relationship with another adult.
Perhaps that is what you want -- but it is not right to interject yourself between a couple in such an obtrusive way.
Your son may never be with a partner who wishes he had foreskin. On the other hand, it is entirely possible that he will be - especially today as more men and women are becoming enlightened on the functions of the foreskin.
The children born today are the men and women of the future. They are growing up in a world where access to this information is readily available at their fingertips. Research on the impact of circumcision on sexuality is progressing at a rapidly accelerated rate. By the time your son is an adult man, he will know that you also had access to all this same information. You will not be able to hide your decision behind willful ignorance. You will have to answer to him.
What will you say when he tells you, "It wasn’t your choice to make, Mom."? You have a decision now to leave it up to him. You have the option now to defend your son and stand up for his rights. You may have to stand up to your spouse or your baby's father. This is what we sometimes have to do as mothers -- protect our cubs.
I could be the mother of your future daughter in law, and I respectfully request that you leave matters concerning your son’s sexual relationship with his partner up to the two of them. Please, stay out of their bedroom.
Theodor Seuss Geisel, commonly known as Dr. Seuss, was born March 2, 1904 and today is especially celebrated on his birthday each year - a date that was also chosen in his honor for national Read Across America day. Throughout his life, Seuss gave us much literary wit and nuggets of life's wisdom. Here, we reflect on some of his words through the framework of genital autonomy...
Researchers [Johns Hopkins] say that if circumcision rates drop to the level seen in Europe there will be a 12% increase in HIV cases in men.
There must certainly be an AIDS epidemic in Europe then! Yet, compare the HIV statistics between the United States and Europe today. The U.S. circumcision rate was about 80% in the 1970s and 80s; Europe’s rate was less than 10%. So the U.S. should have a much lower HIV infection rate today as our sexually active population has been 'vaccinated' with a high circumcision rate.
According to the CIA (they have statistics on everything), the estimated percentage of adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2009 was [1]:
You can see why Johns Hopkins went to Africa to get their statistics. Their very limited studies claim that circumcision reduces the HIV infection rate by 60%. Through most of Europe, where competent healthcare is widely available and hygiene emphasized, the HIV infection rate is 50% (France, Spain) to 500% (Germany, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland, Sweden) lower than in the United States. So how did Johns Hopkins calculate that HIV rates in the U.S. would increase by 12% if we followed Europe’s lead? Perhaps they need to refine their data models some more.
Another interesting statistic is the comparative death rate per 100,000 people. This ultra-cool website has an interactive world map [2]. Again, with the exception of Portugal, the U.S. ranks much higher than European countries. In fact, the AIDS death rate is 34 times higher in the (circumcised) U.S. than in (intact) Finland... Where’s that headline?
The medical industry in the U.S. is clearly showing us where its priorities are. Circumcision is very profitable and so we press on in our continuation of this 'cure in search of a disease.'
Condoms, not cutting, prevent sexually transmitted infections.
This is in response to the Facebook discussion that took place publicly last week on Dr. Amy Dunbar's page. What follows is a conversation that needs to happen across America because it concerns us all. Please take the time to read and share this widely. Let's get people talking.
Child pornography is illegal; harming a child, especially sexually harming a child, is also illegal. But fetishists have found a legal-loophole in viewing sexually-explicit material of babies being caused extreme pain; it’s called circum-fetish and it is legal. Sources of circum-fetish material include circumcision-humor web sites [1], circum-erotic stories [2], and medically-produced circumcision videos [3]. Considering that doctors are the source of the video material, it is concerning when we read that many doctors use no pain medication at all in this procedure [4], that some doctors and many medical researchers promoting circumcisions belong to circum-fetish groups [5], and that medical professionals in the U.S. are making comments like: "If you get a chance to see a circumcision, it's cool to watch.” [6], and “Circs are at any time always so exciting.” [7]
Canadian researchers concluded this about medical circumcisions: “All of the subjects suffered pain; some were traumatized to the point of danger. The study was halted prematurely after one of the subjects vomited, went into shock and stopped breathing for more than 25 seconds.” [8] Claims that anesthesia reduce the pain do not hold up against observation as can be seen with the circumcision of Benjamin [video below]. Despite two dorsal-block injections that balloon his penis to twice its normal size, it is obvious he is still in an extreme amount of pain, and the doctor comments as he cuts the anesthetized foreskin, “Nobody likes this part.” [9] Often parents are told that their baby slept right through the circumcision; actually this is the second stage of neurologic trauma response. It is called dissociation, where the infant goes into a form of shock. [10] Dr. Van Howe simply concluded “All neonatal circumcisions are painful.” [11] The foreskin contains 70% of the nerves in a man’s penis. [12] Words cannot describe the trauma of this procedure; you must watch the referenced videos for yourself.
Given the nature of this procedure, the potential for abuse is clear. So the discussion on Dr. Amy Dunbar’s Facebook page is concerning, especially in view of the content, professional conduct of the doctors, and that apparently non-medical people were involved in the discussion. The fact that 10 people “liked” this particular conversation is also disturbing. It is doubtful that the baby’s parents would find this discussion amusing:
Dr. Amy Dunbar (Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis, MO): “Nothing I’d rather be doing at 4 am than a circumcision.”
Dr. Yulia Lifits-Podorozhansky (Mercy Clinic Fenton, MO): “Circs are at any time always so exciting.”
Nurse Marisue Riek (Aurora Medical Center, Summit, WI) : “Oh my God… Gomco or Plastibel!,…!”
Jason Anthony (unknown): “Better than a wagina. Or a wulwa.”
Nurse Angie Tipton Sqrow (Nurse practitioner at St. Luke's Hospital): “Bet the baby had better things to do. ”
The discussion ends with Dunbar’s comment that she had just delivered the baby, and so decided to circumcise him at 4:00 AM so she didn’t have to come back to the hospital. [7] Hopefully she was awake. Nice way to enter the world; just born then subjected to this. The critical mother-child bonding period following birth was replaced with this procedure.
There is no indication that this is a circum-fetish group, but the semi-public forum and lack of professional ethics and empathy are telling. Researchers tell us that childhood trauma causes changes in our genes [13]; MRI images indicate circumcision causes permanent changes in the brain [14], and researchers found that circumcised infants had higher pain responses as much as six months after the procedure and concluded that the trauma may “permanently alter the structure and function of developing neural pathways” [15]. What’s so funny about that?
The U.S. leads the industrialized world in circumcision rates, in sexually transmitted diseases, in violence against women, and in grown men who think they need to protect themselves from the authorities. Is it possible there may be a link here?
