I've been busy these past two weeks. So here is my combined weekly review for two weeks.

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.
 

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Just a Snip – Genital Mutilation: German Paediatric Association suggests Ban on Circumcision of Boys
In spite of the German government moving towards allowing male circumcision of children, the German association of pediatricians is defending the rights of children by calling for a ban on circumcision of boys. Given the possible severity of the consequences for the children both in body and spirit, nothing less than a ban on the procedure would be acceptable until the child had matured enough to endure the procedure in order to prevent possible trauma.

Uganda Media Centre: Circumcision offers No Immunity to HIV/AIDS
Uganda President says that circumcision does not provide immunity against HIV and AIDS. The President pointed out adultery and prostitution constitutes the leading factors of today’s new infections adding that the practice of having multiple sexual partners is more common among men of today.

Joseph4GI: New University of California Logo: Circumcision Clamp?
I gotta admit, I agree with Joseph. The new University of California logo does remind me of a Mogen circumcision clamp. The two sides swing apart at the bottom and, unfortunately, the baby boy's foreskin is amputated when tthe two halves are brought back together.

Should I circumcise?: Religion and circumcision
There is no religious justification for circumcision. Ever. Nope. That was easy. Unfortunately, many will not agree. Other religious practices have been outlawed for being repugnant. So, too, should infant circumcision.
  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.
 

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Network for Church Monitoring: Circumcision Must Go!
An article by Dr George C. Denniston, MD, MPH (Harvard), who is President of Doctors Opposing Circumcision, an international organization seeking to educate about the harms of male infant circumcision. Dr. Denniston describes how male infant circumcision is finally being recognized worldwide for the harm it causes and that it is a violation of the human rights of the child.
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

The Man in China: My Petition is Back On Line. Please Sign It
The author has posted a petition to Reduce medical participation in Infant Male Circumcision. He rightly points out that there is no medical justification for the unnecessary infant circumcision procedure. He notes that in China, which has a low rate of circumcision, the intact boys and men are healthy and enjoy their foreskins without any significant medical problems.

Men Do Complain: Iris Fudge
Men Do Complain honors Iris Fudge, a retired nurse who supports the efforts to abolish male infant circumcision. Iris has a YouTube video talking about genital integrity, fighting against circumcision, and foreskin restoration. She works with NORM-UK, a group of restoring men who also promote leaving children intact and whole.
  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.
 

Monday, November 19, 2012

Mothering: If you regret being circumcised post here
A thread on the Mothering forum asking the men to tell why they are upset. Several men wrote lengthy posts about how their infant circumcision adversely affected them. The consensus is that the men say that having part of their penis cut off by circumcision cost them a full and complete sex life and the sense of being whole.

My Foreskin Restoration Project: Welcome
A new foreskin restoration blog. This is the first post for the site. He identifies two websites: Restoring Foreskin and the DTR device site. He still needs to work on his site because it would not let me leave a comment. But he is off to a start, which is always good.
 

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Times-Standard: Americans, keep your sons intact
A mother speaks out for genital integrity. That is, she speaks out for keeping baby boys intact and whole, free from circumcision. She points out that girls are protected from genital cutting, but boys are not. In 1996 it became illegal to circumcise girls in the US. She hopes that, soon, boys receive equal protection under the law from unnecessary genital cutting surgery.

strocel.com: The History of Circumcision
A mother decides to leave her son intact. No unnecessary surgery for her son, who was not circumcised. She writes of the various reasons advocated for circumcision in recent history. Circumcision gained popularity during the Victorian period. It was believed that circumcision cured masturbation.
  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 big news this week is the German opposition to the law permitting child circumcision and the Canadian court upholding the father's assault conviction for circumcising his son at home.
 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Vox Iz Neias? Germany - Lawmakers Want Circumcision Ban Under 14
The Jewish Press: Fight over Circumcision Dividing German Parliament
A news report of a group of German lawmakers who propose that parents should wait until their son is 14 before allowing him to be circumcised. The proposal comes after a bill permitting child circumcision being promoted to appease religious groups.

The Doctors: Non-Surgical Foreskin Restoration
The television show, The Doctors, featured a segment on foreskin restoration. This forum page provides commentary about the poor treatment given the attempt of many men to correct a condition that was forced upon them, that is, men are undoing their infant circumcision.

The Algemeiner: Circumcision Makes No Sense (And That’s Okay)
"Let’s be honest with ourselves. Circumcision is crazy." So starts an honest article by a Jew who calls for admitting the truth behind the circumcision ritual. Jewish circumcision is not done for logical reasons. It is done for religious reasons. It is a mistake to justify a religious ritual using secular reasons when those secular reasons make no sense and are not true.
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Thoughts I Want to Think: Routine Infant Circumcision - The Facts I Wish I'd Had
She wanted her son to remain whole and intact. He wanted to circumcise his son. The hospital required both parents to consent to the elective surgery. The baby went home intact. The father, holding his newborn son, realized that circumcision was wrong.

Circumcision diaries: Circumcision decision
Restraining an adult and forcing him to be circumcised would be sexual battery and aggravated assault. Do the same to an infant and it is considered parental choice. Huh? Parents do to their children something that would never be done to adults?
  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 two weeks. This is a running tally of the ones I found interesting.
 

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Men Do Complain: No prosecutions
Female genital cutting is illegal. But no one has been prosecuted for FGM after the law was passed in 1996 making MGM illegal. Male genital cutting is legal, though. There are differences between male and female genital cutting, but when children are involved, both remove parts of the sex organs of non-consenting individuals.

Joseph4GI: Rabbis Delay NYC's Metzitzah B'Peh Regulations - Meanwhile, in Israel...
New York City rabbis who practice the circumcision ritual with oral suction fight the regulation requiring informed consent from parents. Meanwhile, The Israel Ambulatory Pediatric Association advocates against the circumcision ritual. The Israeli medical group recognizes the medical risk for that particular circumcision ritual.
 

Monday, October 29, 2012

Intact America: 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Conference Report
A report of Intact America's efforts during the 2012 American Academy of Pediatrics Conference in New Orleans, LA. Dozens of demonstrators showed up and were very visible outside the conference hall.

Modern Medicine: Medical professionals to discuss circumcision on Twitter
In an attempt to solicit doctors' opinions on male infant circumcision, two publications sponsored a Twitter event. Circumcision related tweets were to be marked with the #circumchat hashtag. The publications were overwhelmed by the number of tweets from intactivists. As is normally done by doctors and medical groups, the medical publications pretty much ignored the tweets identifying facts related to the risks and harm of male infant circumcision.

Hippies with Babies: The circumcision decision
A mother talks about the reasons she will not circumcise any son she may have. Circumcision is an elective surgery that is unnecessary. Circumcision removes the foreskin, which serves important functions.

Saving our Sons: HBO "Girls" Star, Jemima Kirke, Says NO to Circumcision
Jemima Kirke is expecting her second child. The HBO Girls star says that the child, if a boy, will remain intact because she will not let him be circumcised. Her baby will be protected from the knife.
  Read more . . .

I was recently asked about the scrotum. A man starting to restore his foreskin noticed that his ball sack was hanging lower and he was concerned about it.

A common side effect of male infant circumcision is too much skin is removed. Men end up with tight erections. That is, when erect, their shaft skin is stretched taut. Because there is not enough skin to accommodate the man's erect length, skin from the scrotum is pulled to help cover the shaft during an erection.

Foreskin restoration expands the skin on the shaft. As more shaft skin grows, less skin needs to be borrowed from the scrotum. Eventually, the scrotum will hang naturally because it is not being pulled up the shaft.

Sometimes, men starting to restore their foreskin notice little progress, even though they are are tugging and tugging. What often happens is that the newly grown skin allows the scrotum to return to its natural position. It is only after the scrotum skin stops being pulled up the shaft that restoring progress is seen. Read more . . .

The featured blog this week is one that is not the typical circumcision related blog:

Juan Pistolas sin su "funda"... mento: Retrospectiva: etapa infantil (Retrospective: infancy)
A Spanish-language by a Mexican man. He writes about circumcision and being intact. Even in Mexico, the US circumcising culture is felt. To read it in English, check out the Google Translation.
 

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.
 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Legos on the Stairs: Circumcision: a question that should never have been asked
A mother tells the story of her first son's circumcision. It was not good (are they ever?) and she did her research after the boy was cut. But it was too late for him then. When she had her second son, she knew better. She left him whole and intact. She was pleasantly surprised at how much easier it was to care for a baby who was not circumcised.

Joseph4GI: AAP TRADE SHOW 2012: Silencing Dissent - First the Booth, Now the Protest
A short report on how the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is trying to stifle the demonstrators outside the convention hall.
 

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Washington Post: Anti-circumcision activists confront pediatricians
A news report of the demonstrations at the recent American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Annual Convention in New Orleans. Intactivists from across the United States protested outside the convention hall. Many men are starting to speak up about the harm they suffered from having part of their sex organ removed at birth. I am one of those men. I do not like that I was circumcised.
  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.
 

Monday, October 15, 2012

The damage from circumcision: Presentation
A new blog and its first post is about the objective of the site, which is "to dig deeper into understanding the damage that circumcision makes on a routinely basis, to create awareness about the need of further research and reevaluation of routine infant circumcision."

The Jerusalem Post: An insight to the Denmark circumcision debate
An examination of how the Dutch view male infant circumcision. Denmark has a secular society and their concern is for the child. They respect the rights of the child to have bodily autonomy. The author of the article points out:

The majority of the voices raised against circumcision have three main points: firstly, the basic human right to an intact body. When there are no medical reasons to perform surgery on a child, any procedure must be considered an assault.
 
Secondly, research has shown that in societies such Denmark’s where good healthcare and high hygiene standards prevail there are hardly any medical benefits from circumcision. When it comes to preventing STD’s, for instance, a much more effective approach is the simple use of condoms.
 
Thirdly, there is the concern that if there are any risks the child may suffer health or sexual consequences from the circumcision immediately after the procedure or perhaps later on in life as an adult, it should be prohibited.

The Sudbury Star: Circumcision is an assault on a male child
An opinion letter for a newspaper. A registered nurse tells that assisting with circumcisions was the worst experience in her training. From her experience, male infant circumcision is an assault on the baby's body.

Attorneys for the Rights of the Child: Journal of Law and the Public Interest to publish article by ARC's Peter Adler
The article, "Is circumcision legal?" has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Law and the Public Interest at the University of Richmond. The author shows that the facts about circumcision are known and the law is clear. Circumcision is dangerous, harms all boys and men, benefits few, if any, and any benefits can be achieved more easily and effectively without it. Boys, like girls and adults, have an absolute right to genital integrity under the common law, constitutional law, criminal law, tort law, and human rights law.
  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 two weeks. This is a running tally of the ones I found interesting.

But first, here is a post I found at Austin Mama: Foreskin and Several Years from Now. This humorous article was written by the wife of a man restoring his foreskin. It was posted on October 11, 2001. I imagine her husband is fully restored by now and she is no longer laughing, but likely screaming from pleasure as he uses his new foreskin.
 

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Intact America: INTACTIVIST OF THE MONTH: Joseph Jensen
The October 2012 Intactivist of the Month for Intact America is Joseph Jensen. He is a young man, recently graduated from university and newly employed by Intact America. He is intact and the post tells of him growing up intact. He says it was not a problem.
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Lizard Dick: Fall is here! Time to Tug my Foreskin!
After restoring his foreskin for several months, this tugger took a break over the summer. He writes about starting to tug again.

Above the Law: Circumcision, Anti-Semitism, And You (Part Deux)
A legal analysis of the various issues with respect to the New York City informed consent requirement for circumcision. The Jewish community is up in arms. But the law is on the side of allowing the required informed consent.

Intactivists of Australasia: Circumcision and foreskin restoration hit the mainstream media in Australia
A report of a Australian public broadcaster having an open forum on circumcision. Also, Punch publishes a testimonial by a man who says I was circumcised and I want my foreskin back!
 

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

The Punch: I was circumcised and I want my foreskin back!
A man tells of how he reacted to seeing other boys who were intact and had their whole penis, not circumcised like him. He dismissed foreskin restoration when he first learned of it as a teenager. By the time he was in his mid-twenties he decided to begin foreskin restoration in earnest. He believes that boys should be protected just as we protect girls from genital cutting.
  Read more . . .

I am running late with reporting my foreskin restoration progress. I had intended to write a 4 year progress report. Yep, four years. I started restoring in August 2008.

My initial progress was fast. Within 18 months my penis was unrecognizable because I had restored so much of my foreskin. I had full flaccid coverage most of the time. With full flaccid coverage I no longer had that irritation of my penis rubbing against my shorts. I had restored the full luster of my glans and inner foreskin remnant such that the mucous membranes were shiny and pink. I also had the gliding motion of the foreskin. The gliding action was a new experience for me and turned out to be the best part of restoring.

My progress slowed after that, mostly on purpose. With full flaccid coverage I had reached a major milestone. I reduced my tugging sessions from one to two hours a day to about 10 to 15 minutes most days. I was happy with my restored foreskin and I was less motivated to get more. Read more . . .