September 2011

Intactivism: Week in Review September 24, 2011

We the people - The Whitehouse site for allowing your voice in our governmentThis week two petitions were started at the Whitehouse page. The right to petition our government is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Throughout our history, Americans have used petitions to organize around issues they care about from ending slavery, to guaranteeing women's right to vote, to the civil rights movement. The Whitehouse has set up a petition system that will bring the petition to the attention of the Whitehouse for an official response if the petition receives 5000 signatures within 30 days.

We petition the Obama administration to:

  1. Ban non-therapeutic routine infant circumcision. (814 signatures since September 23)
     
  2. Amend the 1996 law banning female genital mutilation to include protection for males as well. (6 signatures since September 23)

Go to the Whitehouse petition site. Sign up. Sign each of these petitions. Do it for all the unborn baby boys who may get circumcised if you do nothing.


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, September 18, 2011

Dandelion Stories: Being Circumcised
A 76 year old man laments his infant circumcision. He started restoring his foreskin when he was 73 years old. He is happy to have regained his lost sensitivity. He wishes he had learned about foreskin restoration 50 years ago. Read more . . .

Intactivism: Week in Review September 17, 2011

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, September 11, 2011

Psychology Today: Moral Landscapes: Myths about Circumcision You Likely Believe (Circumcision does great harm to babies)
Six myths about circumcision surgery that are debunked. The foreskin is not a flap of skin. The foreskin is skin tube that covers the penis to protect the glans and provide the gliding action during sex. Infant circumcision is painful, both during the surgery and afterwards when the wound is healing in soiled diapers. Infant circumcision does cause long-term harm to the boy as he grows up and the man he becomes.

Intact News: Demonstration Against Circumcision at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 National Conference and Exhibition in Boston
The Stop Infant Circumcision Society is sponsoring a demonstration at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 National Conference and Exhibition at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center October 15 - 18, 2011. See the Facebook event page: American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 Demonstration. See the Intactivist Calendar for more information on this demonstration and other intactivist events.
 

Monday, September 12, 2011

Lawn Cares: Circumcision is too repulsive, injurious, uncivilized to last
"The days, months, years and decades march on, and the macabre procedure of circumcision does not end.  How absurd that in an “enlightened society,” the madness goes on, and medically trained humans cut off healthy foreskins. Where are their principles?" There is such an overwhelming amount of literature, videos, testimonies, web sites and speakers out there debunking circumcision. Fortunately, many are listening and learning of the harms of male infant circumcision. Read more . . .

Intactivism: Week in Review September 10, 2011

Stop genital mutilation in children's clinics Coming up next week is a series of public information meetings and protests outside London clinics that perform genital alterations of children with 'atypical', 'ambiguous', or 'otherwise deemed unworthy' genitals.  STOP Genital Mutilation in Children's Clinics! is aimed at those children who are born with genitalia that fall in the continuum between completely male and completely female. These children are often called intersex.

The meetings and protests are sponsored by Zwischengeschlecht.org. Zwischengeschlecht.org is a Human Rights Advocacy Group of survivors and allies fighting against genital mutilation in children's clinics and for the right to physical integrity and self determination for all children born with "atypical genitalia."

Genital alterations of children is a problem in the United States, also. Recently, news was published of a doctor at Cornell University who used a vibrator on female children after clitorises were surgically altered to a smaller size. The children were born with a clitoris that was larger than is considered normal by many. So, their parents decided to have their child's clitoris reduced. The doctor was testing to determine if the girls were still sensitive.
See Slog: Female Genital Mutilation at Cornell University and Bioethics Forum: Bad Vibrations.

Check out the Intactivist Calendar for other intactivist events coming up.


Parents, protect your babies. Support intactivism. All children deserve to grow up with their WHOLE body. 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, September 4, 2011

Jewlicious U: OPINION: Grabbing circumcision by the balls
Male infant circumcision violates international laws enacted by the United Nations. Article 6 of The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Circumcision goes against the edicts of the United Nations, and therefore violates human rights. "If Jews are to exist in a contemporary world, and escape the barbaric past in which we have so suffered, we as a people must be willing to make sacrifices of our own to coexist."
  Read more . . .

A parents love, the cycle of life, and genital integrity

A candle for Jennifer and her baby that died in the womb. May she see the light and know she is not alone.I was saddened to learn that a friend's baby died. Jennifer is a Facebook friend. She is a fellow intactivist and we are both passionate about fighting for genital integrity. I have never met her. As Intactivists we are members of a close-knit community who fight against male infant circumcision and therein lies our bond.

Jennifer lost her baby after 36 weeks of gestation. It may be another week or two before the baby is delivered as a stillbirth. That short time will give Jen a chance to say goodbye to the baby she carried for so long. One of the greatest losses suffered by a parent is the loss of a child.

Many of us in that Facebook community are showing our support by burning a candle. The candle is for Jennifer and her baby that died in the womb. The candle sheds light when in a dark place. With our many candles burning brightly, we wish to let Jen know she is not alone.

Please join me in a moment of silence as we think of those who have lost a loved one.

 

 

 

 

  Read more . . .

Intactivism: Week in Review September 3, 2011

Slide by CDC showing 33% male infant circumcision rate in 2009, down from 56% in 2006 in the USThe big news this week is the CDC released information on the infant circumcision rate for hospitals. The CDC says that the circumcision rate for male infants born in hospitals has dropped recently. Three different data sources were examined by the CDC. See Washington Post: Circumcision rates falling, CDC says

  • National Hospital Discharge Survey shows the circumcision rate fell from 62.5% in 1999 to 56.9% in 2008.
  • Nationwide Inpatient Sample shows the circumcision rate fell from 63.5% in 1999 to 56.3% in 2008.
  • Charge Data Master shows the circumcision rate fell from 58.4 percent in 2001 to 54.7% in 2010.

It is interesting that the CDC says nothing about their study of circumcision complication rates in which the CDC noted that the 2009 circumcision rate was 32.5%. See my August 2010 report on the CDC slide presentation showing a circumcision decrease..

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, August 28, 2011

The WHOLE Network: Expecting Moms: Trust Your Gut, Don't Make the Cut
Many mothers circumcise their sons even though their gut tells them that it is wrong or that it will unnecessarily hurt their son. Why do mothers allow their newborn babies to be brutally circumcised when there is so much information out there that tells them that infant circumcision is wrong.

HubPages: Ron Low Interview (Infant Circumcision)
Ron Low, maker of the TLC Tugger and other foreskin restoration devices, is interviewed about male infant circumcision and foreskin restoration. Ron very ably discusses why male infant circumcision is harmful and should be stopped. Read more . . .