Circumcision Controversy in Germany

The big news this week the continuing saga of the circumcision controversy in Germany. Last month, a German court ruled that circumcision of a child is an illegal assault on that child's body and a human rights violation. This ruling was a result of a botched circumcision that harmed the child. As expected, religious groups attacked the court's decision, some calling it an anti-semitic decision. The German government responded to the backlash by attempting to mollify the religious groups. Recently, the German state of Berlin declared that child circumcisions could only be done by a medical practitioner, not by Jewish mohels. The controversy continues.

Throughout this recent controversy, it helps to know that many Jews do not agree with male infant circumcision. We can only hope that in time more will realize that male infant circumcision has outlived its time. We live in the 21st Century. It is time to put body modification rituals behind us and recognize the sanctity of all human life and everyones right to have a complete and whole body, free of any genital cutting.

Week in Review September 8, 2012

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 2, 2012

The Good Men Project: Our Bodies, Our Choices: Circumcision is Not a Joke
"My body, my choice." That is an often repeated statement by intactivists, particularly men who were circumcised and are not happy about it. This article extensively covers male infant circumcision and the many things that can go wrong from the unnecessary, elective surgery of baby boys.

The Creativity Post: The AAP Report on Circumcision: Bad Science + Bad Ethics = Bad Medicine
Without mincing words: "The new policy regarding infant circumcision from the American Academy of Pediatrics is scientifically unfounded and ethically bankrupt. It should be rescinded without delay." In the risk/benefit calculations of the policy, the AAP leaves out a critical bulk of relevant factors including the range of proven healthcare strategies like condom-use or the administration of vaccines (including an effective HPV vaccine) and antibiotics. Any rational organization would have come to a different answer if they had bothered to consider human rights and bodily integrity issues, the function of the foreskin, and the foreskin's value to the individual and his possible wishes in later life.

The Rational Animal: Motivations Behind Circumcision
People who favor circumcision often make desperate and easily refuted arguments. This post addresses many of the most fevered and emotionally driven defenses of circumcision.

Intactivists of Australasia: Despair, embarrassment, grief and survival: A personal account of the impact of infant circumcision
A man writes about his experience as a man circumcised as a baby. Thanks to the Internet, he discovered the extent of his circumcision harm (it was botched). He also learned about foreskin restoration on the Internet. By restoring his foreskin, he improved himself and his quality of life. He also has become an intactivist, fighting to keep baby boys whole because they cannot speak for themselves. Read more . . .

The news is filled with speculation and a leaked copy of the new American Academy of Pediatrics(AAP) policy regarding male infant circumcision. Once again, the AAP seeks to protect their financial interests by not addressing the risks and harms of male infant circumcision. Instead, they now suggest that insurance pay for the unnecessary, elective surgery of baby boys. After all, doctors need to make a living, even if it involves putting baby boys at risk.

Click the pic to the right for a bigger view: -->

The image to the right is a comparison of the AAP policy versus the Dutch Medical Association with respect to male infant circumcision. The Dutch are much more enlightened than the AAP in the US.

Another tidbit in the news was a recent Johns Hopkins report that the reduction of male infant circumcision rates will possibly lead to increased future costs. The report sounds like a blatant attempt to promote male infant circumcision for immediate profits because the increased costs are based on the flawed Africa trials used to promote the male circumcision campaign in Africa. The report contradicts the real-world costs experienced by European and other non-circumcising countries that do not have any problems with intact men as claimed in the report for US men. As noted in one blog below, What is the deal with circumcision? Why do so many advocate for cutting the genitals of baby boys?

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, August 20, 2012

BBC News: Circumcision, the ultimate parenting dilemma
Europeans increasingly question genital cutting of children, while doctors in the United States push for more genital cutting. The BBC takes a look at the unnecessary practice of male infant circumcision, which is much more common in the US than the UK. Fortunately, parents are leading the way to reducing the rate of infant circumcision in the US, in spite of doctors.

Should I circumcise?: Moms who regret circumcising
A post about mothers who circumcised their sons, only to learn about the harms of circumcision and regret that they allowed their sons to be cut. Mothers who learn from their mistakes make powerful advocates for leaving baby boys whole and uncut.

The WHOLE Network: New Study: Circumcision Increases Likelihood of STI & HIV Infections
The Journal of Sexual Medicine recently published a study that found that circumcised men suffered more sexually transmitted infections (STI) than intact men. Contrary to the trials conducted in Africa, this study of Caribbean men found that circumcised men are at greater risk for various STI's, including HIV.

Circumcision Diaries: The players in the circumcision debate
A who's who of pro-circumcision advocates are identified. A video news report features one of the most vocal advocates of child genital cutting, Brian Morris, and soundly refutes all his unsupported reasons for male infant circumcision.

Salem-News: Baby Boys Have the End of Their Penis Cut Off for the Worst Possible Reasons
Instead of saying "male infant circumcision," why not say, "baby boys have the end of their penis cut off for the worst possible reasons and it is unnatural and unimaginably painful; a surprising number of babies die each year from the procedure." Instead of the benign word circumcision, why not describe what happens to the baby when a healthy, sensitive part of his body is cut off.

Cosmetics Design: First personal care product for circumcised men claims to increase sensation
A report of a cream that helps restore the sensitivity a man loses when he is circumcised. As a circumcised man ages, parts of his penis are exposed by the loss of the foreskin. Over time, the exposed parts become tougher and lose sensitivity. The new cream restores the lost sensitivity. For best effect, a foreskin retainer should be worn to prevent future abrasion from reducing the sensitivity again. For more permanent results, the circumcised man should restore his foreskin.

Circumcision Diaries:  What is the deal with circumcision?
A blogger asks why so many are so concerned about circumcising baby boys? The intactivist point of view makes sense. Many intactivists are men who are unhappy with their circumcision. Others are mothers who either have first hand experience of circumcision harm or have researched the issue enough to understand the risks and and harms of male infant circumcision. But what drives people to want to circumcise baby boys?
  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, August 5, 2012

The Star: Friends of the foreskin march against circumcision
A news report on Glen Callendar of CAN-FAP, who organized a Foreskin Pride March outside the Vancouver offices of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C. The March called on the federal government to ban circumcisions on minors.
 

Monday, August 6, 2012

The WHOLE Network: My Doctor Says My Son Needs to be Circumcised...
The author of the book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Circumcision writes about medical advice given to parents. As a doctor and a pediatrician, Dr. Fleiss is well aware of the risks and complications of male infant circumcision. Unlike many doctors, though, he is willing to discuss the circumcision risks and complications with parents. This post answers many questions parents may have about their son's penis. He describes the care of an intact penis and how to handle any foreskin issues that may occur as the boy grows up.

The South Africa Times Live: A father's dilemma
A Jewish father describes the circumcision decision for his son. He was circumcised at 8 and remembers the pain, both of the operation and while healing. He decided to not have his son circumcised, in spite of this Jewish identity.

The Telegraph: Circumcision and the ancestor factor
Jake Wallis Simons: Circumcision and the ancestor factor
A Jewish father writes about his decision to not circumcise his son. After writing about his decision, he received a very public, and sometimes personal, backlash. He notes that the prevailing sentiment, though, is that there is no reason for parents to fret about the circumcision decision. After all, it is his body, it should be his choice and decision.
  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, July 22, 2012

The Telegraph: How could I inflict the pain of circumcision on my son?
A Jewish father describes how he came to his decision to leave his son whole and intact, breaking away from the Jewish tradition of circumcision. He says, "A respect for Isaac’s right to choose, combined with our other hesitations, led to our decision not to have him circumcised." He is proud that he has not caused his son any unnecessary pain, and allowed him the freedom to decide what to do with his own body. This father says that when his son grows up, he will be able to look him in the eye knowing that he did the right thing.
 

Monday, July 23, 2012

Attack the System: Opposing Circumcision: A Shoah Thing?
A collection of snippets from across the web with respect to the recent German court ruling that child circumcision is a violation of the right of the child to an intact body. Protecting the body of a child from genital cutting protects the liberty of the child.

Circumcision Diaries: The ethical issues of non-therapeutic circumcision of infants
The ethics of performing elective, non-medically indicated surgery on infants is presented in view of male infant circumcision. Male infant circumcision is a non-therapeutic procedure that is not meant to treat a disease. For those that believe in the dubious health benefits, then it is a prophylactic or preventive procedure for things that may or may not happen many years from now. In any case, male infant circumcision is an elective surgery that can wait until the baby becomes an adult and can give consent for surgery to his own body.

Circumcision Diaries: Waiting for male circumcision to be acknowledged as damaging as female circumcision
Things change. Female circumcision used to be done in the United States. Female genital cutting only became illegal in 1996 in the US. It is about time that genital cutting of boys became illegal, also. For those that claim it is not such a big deal, they why are so many advocating for genital cutting?
  Read more . . .