Circumcision

Menstuff® has compiled information, books, and resources on the issue of circumcision. For clarity, circumcision is the surgical removal of foreskin. Clidoridectomy, the surgical removal of clitoris. Infibulation, the surgical removal of the labia, then suturing. Baby foreskin is some of the purest skin available, so medical labs pay hospitals big bucks for tiny penis-hoods, as much as $20,000. Photo upper left is by Jean-Claude Bouvier, on the right "How Could You" to such a beautiful expression of God's love? by Wayne Miller. Also, check circumcision Books, Resources

IMPORTANT BOOKS

Click on covers for more specific information.

Newsbytes - collection of articles on the subject.

Annual Protest Against Circumcision
Snippets
Definition
Discussion
Position Statement
Statistics
Restoration
Circumcision & Sensation
A Spoonful of Semen
Circumcision: Cutting it Off in the Fight Against STD's
Circumcision is Battery
Normal (not necessarily health) versus Circumcised: U.S. Neonatal Male Genital Ratio
Ouch!
Knowing Your Anatomy
Non-surgical foreskin restoration
Circumcision in India
Arizona Joins Growing Movement Against Medicaid Circumcisions
Announcing Two New Books
Request for Help
International Symposium
Dr. Dean Edell's Various Articles
Related Pages on Male & Female Circumcision
Foreskin Intelligence Quotient is a downloadable 12-question test of the function and history of human foreskins, including references.
Newsbytes
Resources
Books
Tapes - Audio and Video
Journals - on Child, Emotional, Religious, and Sexual Abuse and Trauma

Annual Protest Against Circumcision

10th Annual Protest Against Circumcision.... also know as MGM male genital mutilation......will take place on the steps of the US Capitol from March 27th and will end with a protest march from the White House on April 1st (the beginning of National Abuse Awareness Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month) gathering at 8:00 am and marching around 12 noon. We will then gather on the east steps of the US Capitol. On March 1st 1999 The American Academy of Pedestrians stated that they would no longer recommend to parents that newborn males be circumcised...but they failed to put a stop to this horror of mutilating our young men at birth. www.sicsociety.org or sicsociety@sicsociety.org

Snippets

What they don't tell you...........

Something to think about:

We have a large list of Links/Resources, Books, Audio and Video tapes. Here are some of the first sites you should check out: www.nocirc.org or www.SICSOCIETY.org or www.mothersagainstcirc.org or www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org or www.noharmm.org or www.intact.org

Statistics

Over a million boys are sexually mutilated each year - and this is just in the U.S.

US Circumcision Incidence see www.cirp.org/library/statistics/USA/

Normal versus Circumcised: U.S. Neonatal Male Genital Ratio By Dan Bollinger, Revised: April, 22, 2003
Source: www.cirp.org/library/statistics/bollinger2003/

Normal versus Circumcised: U.S. Neonatal Male Genital Ratio By Dan Bollinger, Revised: February, 2004
Source: www.cirp.org/library/statistics/bollinger2004/

Definition

cir-cum-ci'sion: to cut off all or part of the foreskin of the penis.


Discussion

It usually refers to the surgical removal of the loose fold of skin, the foreskin, that covers and protects the glans of the penis (glan means acorn in Greek). Sometimes done as a religious ceremony, as with Jews and Moslems, or, when the penis is slit the whole length of the urethra, as an attempt to make male genitals more like females, as in Australia and Africa as a puberty rite. The United States is the only remaining country to continue the practice of routine circumcision for non-religious and non-medical reasons on the majority of its new born boys. In fact, 80% of the world's male population is not circumcised. Circumcision began in the English-speaking countries during the mid-1800's supposedly to prevent masturbation which was believed to cause many diseases. For women, the last recorded clitoridectomy was performed in the U.S. as late as 1955 on a 12-year-old girl. (The clitoridectomy of the 12-year-old girl was performed at Baltimore Women's Hospital in 1950. I have a copy of the doctor's diagnosis, "Hypertrophic clitoris from excessive masturbation." Of course, if genitals became enlarged from masturbating, we'd all be walking around with our genitals in a wheel barrel. That same year, a 3-year-old North Dakota girl was also clitoridectomized for touching herself "down there.")

It is still practiced, often as a religious act, in other cultures. A US federal law and a number of state laws have outlawed female genital cutting, which sets the standard, while at the same time driving the practice underground among immigrants, especially from Africa, who continue the practice in the US. Following the law, an aggressive educational program must be initiated.

Yet, there are no such laws for male children and 60% of all male children in the U.S. are still circumcised compared to .4% in England. To remove the foreskin for hygiene is no more logical than pulling teeth instead of cleaning them. The foreskin is a normal, healthy and necessary body part.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Pediatric Urologic Society state the following: "Circumcision of the male neonate cannot be considered an essential component of adequate total health care." Furthermore, the American Academy of Pediatrics states "A program of education leading to continuing good personal hygiene would offer all the advantages of routine circumcision without the attendant surgical risk."


Position Statement

The practice of medically unnecessary surgical circumcisions, excisions and incisions on male and female genitalia (under the age of eighteen), whether for religious or non-medical reasons, constitutes sexual mutilation and should be prosecuted under the law.


Circumcision is Battery

Defending a one-year-old against a father's wish to have his son circumcised, California Superior Court Judge A. Girolami said, "...Circumcision would not be allowed since the declarations are all clear, it's not really medically necessary...so it's something that is not required and I can't see it being in the best interest of the child...When the child is older, the child can make his own decision in that regard. And, obviously, it's painful - memories are painful when it's done older, I'm sure pain is still there even at the young age..." Circumcising the boy,k the judge warned, would make the father "subject to being prosecuted for battery or assault".

Independent. "Circumcision is really a most barbaric ritual and shows that religious practices of this sort should be confined to the history books. This man's family is of Jewish origin, but he's glad to say that none of his sons have been subjected to such brutal treatment. Some might say that his sons are not part of the Jewish faith. He says, well then, maybe they're just not cut out for it!" The faith called for the slaughter of animals in religious ritual. The traditional compassion of the Jewish people removed these rituals long before any courts demanded it. But, it seems, that the protection of animals, for some, is more important than the protection from abuse of boy children. Some see this as ritual abuse since it is done to someone without their consent and they are not allowed to decide whether it is their path. Without social pressure, why not include it as part of the Bar Mitzva as a conscious decision each boy makes on his own. Otherwise, get rid of the moils and go back to the original ritual where the father circumcised his own son. Then see how long the practice continues.

Pediatrics. Researchers at the University of Rochester School of Medicine found that acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) does not reduce the pain during and immediately following circumcision. "The pain of circumcision is too severe to be controlled by a mild analgesic," they concluded, even though most circumcisions in the U.S. are done without any pain killers. Babies do experience great and persistent pain during and after the surgery, based on crying, increased heart and breathing rates and other measurements, which also seems to interfere with breastfeeding in some babies.

Alice Miller, author of many books including Banished Knowledge and Breaking Down the Wall of Silence, regarding circumcision. She said "The earlier in life a harm was done and the more its effects are denied by parents and society, the more a person will be damaged. Not only physically, but also psychically. If parents know of the child's suffering, they can help as enlightened witnesses, by giving support and compassion. If they deny the reality of suffering, the children will deny it as well and will later inflict the same unnecessary pain onto their own children.

"I believe the time has come to acknowledge that the practice of routine circumcision rests on the absurd premise that the only mammal in creation born in the condition that requires immediate surgical correction is the human male." Thomas Szasz, M.D.

Playboy. "It's not circumcision that needs to be studied; it's circumcisers." John A Erickson. To this I would include doctor's Aaron Funk, Edgar Schoen, Gerald Weiss, Terry Russell and Thomas Wiswell (who thinks that the foreskin is a mistake of nature) and many others. 95% of the world's male babies are not circumcised. Medical organizations worldwide do not recommend routine circumcision. In deeper analysis, I wonder how much comes into play that the "routine neonatal circumcision" in the U.S. is a quarter-billion-dollar-a-year industry and some supporters of routine circumcision want to insure their cut.

Ouch!

"Olympic Medical, the company which manufactures Circumstraint, boasts in its product literature: 'In less than 30 seconds a nurse can immobilize the struggling infant securely in the correct position with Circumstraint. Soft, wide Velcro straps encircle the infant's elbows and knees, depriving him of leverage. He's held securely without danger of escape. ...(E)levates the infant's hips, perfectly presenting the genitalia. Call 1.800.426.0353 to voice your discontent, keeping in mind that each time you call they have to pay the toll.

Knowing Your Anatomy

Learning about the anatomy and functions of the normal foreskin. This is the only healthy tissue that is routinely sliced off of either gender and it is obviously aimed at diminishing male sexuality. Few men know anything about this vital portion of their anatomy -- of if they have been circumcised, what they are missing. Without knowing some basic knowledge about the normal foreskin [what it is, what it does, and how it works], it is virtually impossible to understand the ramifications of circumcision.

Non-surgical foreskin restoration

Once a man understands the anatomy and functions of the unaltered foreskin, plus what circumcision is and what it does to the male sex organ, I feel it is imperative that information be provided to the reader on how he can restore some of what was taken from him. On a 1 to 10 scale, with 10 being the level of sexual sensations felt by an intact foreskin, circumcised men have been described as only knowing the sensations felt at the 1 to 2 level. They have never been able to experience anything else because most were circumcised in infancy. They believe what they feel at the 1 to 2 level is "normal" and have no idea what they are missing, or that they can achieve "higher" levels of sensation through foreskin restoration.

New Books

Two major books have been published recently on the subject of circumcision, both over 500 pages.

1. Male and Female Circumcision: Medical, Legal and Ethical Considerations in Pediatric Practice which is the proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilation held August 5-7, 1998 in Oxford, England. ISBN 0-306-46131-5 www.nocirc.org

2. Male and Female Circumcision in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities, religious debate. ISBN 1-85513-406-3 with a forward by Nawal El-Saadawi, a famous Egyptian writer and physician. members.xoom.com/nonviolence/

Request for Help

Dear Concerned Friends of Jim and Matthew Price,

Please help fund the legal battle to keep 3-year-old Matthew Price intact. In August, a New Jersey court authorized Matthew's mother to have him circumcised against the wishes of his father, Jim. The surgery was scheduled for October 12, 2000 and was cancelled at the last minute by the urologist because of the public outcry. Fortunately, this bought the father time to hire new lawyers and go to the appeals court. He was granted a temporary stay on the circumcision on Friday October 13, for 10 days. On October 23, Mr. Price's attorneys must submit their full appeal to the court. Jim and his attorneys are willing to take this case as far legally as the courts will allow in order to save this boy from an unnecessary circumcision. Jim would also like to pursue a malpractice case against his son's pediatrician, who advised premature retraction of the foreskin. Unfortunately, this legal battle will require a significant amount of money. We need to raise $10,000 to fund this suit.

This case is very important for two reasons: First, the protection of a 3-year-old boy from a harmful, traumatic, and unnecessary surgery. Second, this case has sparked significant publicity and helped raise awareness about proper care of the intact child, as well as medical ignorance. To date there have been 8 articles written, 3 radio show mentions, a television mention, and a taped appearance on a talk show (to be aired soon). No donation is too small. Your contribution is greatly appreciated! Your donation is tax-deductible, please make your check out to NOCIRC and mail to: Matthew Price Defense Fund, c/o NOCIRC of NC, PO Box 5081, Chapel Hill, NC 27514

Please forward this to all friends, family, circumcision chats, attachment parenting groups, and anyone else you think might be willing to help. Together I know we can win this one! Thank you!

*    *    *  
In California, circumcised boys are in the minority with fewer the 40% of other boys who look like him.

"I believe no man would allow his beloved son to be circumcised if he were in touch with the terror he experienced during his own." John Breeding

Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy Statement
Menstuff® Directory
Menstuff® is a registered trademark of Gordon Clay
©1996-2008, Gordon Clay