I was "circumcised" the day I was born, like most. Next to the words "reason to operate" were the hand written words "live birth". Since when is "live birth" a disease? My mother claims that she does not remember signing a consent form, so I assume they forged her signature.

Like most men, I was not aware of what was missing while growing up. When I noticed the drawings of Greco-Roman nudes and statues, I asked my mother "Why didn't they finish drawing it?" I guess she explained this to me, but I have no audible memory of her words. I was trying to figure out what she was saying, and was thoroughly confused.

When mother told me that I could be drafted one day, I told her I would cut my penis off She replied "You will bleed to death." I hadn't bled to death from the scar they gave me, and could not figure out how they did this. I was glad I did not have to do it again, but was instinctively curious.

When I grew older, in the back of my mind, I was always curious as to what that foreskin thing was all about. I had mixed and confused feelings, but knew that I wish I had been consulted. Assuming my Dad was cut, I was surprised to find out that he was not circumcised when he told me 35 years later. I grew up in a family that did not support nudity as anything good, so much so that when I went to life drawing classes, I was mortified. That mortification was intensified when I first witnessed a "circumcision." Read more . . .

The Good Men Project Magazine published The Foreskin Renaissance, an article on foreskin restoration. I was interviewed for the article.

It is refreshing to encounter a professional writer who is willing to take foreskin restoration seriously. Author Laura Novak did a good job of capturing my thoughts and experiences. I am pleased that so much of what I told her was featured in the article.

As the article notes, I am very happy with the improvements to my sex life and my life in general from restoring my foreskin. Restoring is truly one of the best things I have ever done for myself. 

The article tries to be balanced by presenting different viewpoints. Unfortunately, the article interviews a mohel, who performs circumcision as part of a Jewish religious rite. I wish authors would not play the religion card in these articles. It muddies the waters and fosters the idea that circumcision is allowable for religious reasons. I and most other males in the United States were not circumcised for religious reasons. I was raised in a Catholic family. Catholics and Christians are not required to circumcise their infant males, according to the New Testament.
  Read more . . .

Parents, protect your babies. Support intactivism. The following list includes blogs, articles, and websites of interest to Intactivists that were published in the past week. This is a running tally of the ones I found interesting.

The start of the new year brings us several good intactivist blogs. It also brings us a new study from Wawer and the other circumcision campaigners. This time they find a link between male circumcision and HPV. The authors ignore their previous study results that show male circumcision increases HIV infections for the men's female partners. The media has latched onto the study and numerous outlets are advertising the link between foreskin and HPV.
 

Sunday, January 2, 2011

The Daily Guggie Daly: Circumcision and Religion (Condensed Version)
If you are Jewish, you do NOT have to circumcise. The blessing with the cutting is not required. You can do the blessing without the cutting. For Christians, circumcision is gravely immoral. When done for religious reasons, it represents a denial of Christ's divinity. It denies that Christ is the Redeemer.

Susan Katz Keating: A Newly Recognized National Security Threat? A Guest Post By Erin Keating
A mother makes some common sense arguments supporting genital integrity of baby boys. She addresses many of the usual reasons that parents give for infant circumcision. Read more . . .