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.

ERIC- End Routine Infant Circumcision: Foreskin Is Easy To Keep Clean
An intact man describes how easy it is to keep his foreskin clean. The hygiene argument for circumcision is invalid because hygiene is not an issue for intact men.

DrMomma Peaceful Parenting: Medical Congress on Children's Pain: A Report from the Field
Nicolas Maubert reports on a conference in Paris, France, The Pain of Circumcision: What to Do?, which was a part of the Medical Congress on Children's Pain. A program was given to all participants that read, “This literature review deals only with the management of circumcision pain and does not enter into the controversial and pressing subject of neonatal circumcision in particular."
 

January 3, 2011

The Daily Guggie Daly: Confessions of A Circumcised Woman
OMG! A moving story of a woman who was circumcised in the US less than 30 years ago. A thirty year old woman describes the shock of hearing her OB/GYN tell her that she was circumcised. It was her mother's decision to have her circumcised when she was two years old. She is a very vocal intactivist and fights for genital integrity for all children.

Bloom Spokane: 10 Great Things About an Intact Penis
A mother of two intact sons lists the reasons that her sons are better off with their whole sex organ. There was no way she was going to circumcise her babies.

DackIsBack - YouTube: Whose Body, Whose Rights? Circumcision Ethics (Part 1/2)
DackIsBack - YouTube: Whose Body, Whose Rights? Circumcision Ethics (Part 2/2)
The 1996 documentary examines the ethics and human rights issue of male infant circumcision. The independently produced two-part social issue documentary compassionately explores genital mutilation of unconsenting children, euphemistically termed "circumcision."

tattooskin72 - YouTube: You might as well just beat the baby boy
A young man describes his feelings about male infant circumcision. He does not like being circumcised. He tells of when his nephew asked him why he (the nephew) was circumcised. He had no good answer. His nephew was seriously horrified that this was done to him for no good reason.

DrMomma Peaceful Parenting: Violated: A Baby Boy's Point of View
Poetry by Christina King of W.I.N. Whole Iowa Newborns. She writes of the all-too-real suffering of a tortured, frightened, and helpless little man who is being circumcised shortly after birth.
 

January 4, 2011

360Health: Book Review: Circumcision: A History Of The World’s Most Controversial Surgery Reviews
Historian of medicine David Gollaher tells the strange history of medicine’s oldest enigma and most persistent ritual in Circumcision. How has a medical practice that carries substantial risk to the patient and offers very little actual benefit become so widely accepted by parents and fiercely advocated by the medical community?

The Daily Guggie Daly: The Tragic Story of Joshua's Circumcision According to His Mother
Baby Joshua's death after his circumcision is an example of a mother accepting the blame for a doctor's actions. Guggie writes of how so many people accept responsibility for something that happened to them, something over which they had no control. She advocates putting the blame where it belongs and not internalizing it.

The Stir - A CafeMom Blg: Ask Dad: I Want My Man to Get Circumcised
A woman wants to marry an intact man, but she wants him to get a circumcision first. Ask Dad uses humor to tell her that is not a good idea. The comments are more direct that the woman is bonders and she should embrace the intact guy.

Change.org Human Rights: Doctors Abuse Patients with Intersex Conditions
It is not just baby boys who are genitally mutilated in the US. There are doctors that perform clitoral reduction surgeries on girls. One such case is a pediatric urologist at Cornell who amputated girls' clitorises and performed "clitoris sensitivity" tests on girls as young as 6 years old. Advocates for Informed Choice are advocating that people with Intersex conditions be allowed to make their own decisions about their bodies.
 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

datbeardyman: Is male circumcision a feminist issue
The elective cutting of a man’s penis is done without any rational basis. It is an irrational and uncivilised practice that continues because of our Western fear of commenting negatively on other people’s cultural or religious mores.
 

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The Sentinel-News - Kentucky: JHS settles in penis amputation - Trial starts Monday in suit by Shelby man vs. doctor
In 2008 a man entered the hospital for a circumcisin to remove an infected foreskin. He left the hospital without his penis. The doctor removed his entire penis because the man had penile cancer. The doctor, hospital, and anesthesiologist were sued by the man. The hospital and anesthesiologist settled. The doctor is taking the matter to a jury trial. He probably would have been smart to settle rather than leave it up to a jury, particularly if the jury is composed of men.

DrMomma Peaceful Parenting: Neonatal Circumcision [A video for heathcare professionals]
In a medical video showing a male infant circumcision, the doctor says prepuce amputation is done for "cosmetic" reasons - not medical necessity. As he begins, the physician says, "Sorry, Buddy. This is the part that everyone hates..." and starts ripping the foreskin from the glans.

The Daily Guggie Daly: If Someone Retracted Your Son's Foreskin...
An intact baby boy should never have the foreskin retracted. A newborn baby has the foreskin fused to the glans. Forcibly retracting the foreskin will damage the penis, causing problems later in life. Guggie describes what parents can do if a caregiver forcibly retracts a baby boy's foreskin.
 

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Lancet: Effect of circumcision of HIV-negative men on transmission of human papillomavirus to HIV-negative women: a randomised trial in Rakai, Uganda
Using data from the Uganda circumcision trial, researchers found that the partners of circumcised men had a slightly lower incidence of HPV infection. I note that the lead researcher, Wawer, also authored the study that found circumcised men caused a 50% increase in the HIV infection rate of their female partners. The latest article does not consider any balancing of risks, but unabashedly advocates male circumcision. It is noteworthy that the article states that circumcision "protection is only partial; the promotion of safe sex practices is also important." In other words, wear a condom regardless of your circumcision status.

quizzical pussy: The grown ups are talking now
The point is made that, if all the studies are correct, then the circumcision decision is best made by the adult. After all, babies do not get sexually transmitted diseases from sex. That is only an issue after the baby grows up and becomes sexually active. That is when circumcision should be first considered.

IntactByDefault: So many studies, so few experiments
The African circumcision trials continue to supply the circumcision campaigners with ammunition supporting their viewpoint. The latest "study" claims male circumcision reduced HPV.

Hormonal Imbalances: If everyone jumped off the circumcision bridge…
A mother leaves her infant son intact by refusing to circumcise him. Her husband, on the other hand, wants his son to be cut, even though he says, "Hell NO!" when she asks him if he would get circumcised now if he had not as a baby. She would like to leave the decision up to her son – it’s his body. His choice.
 

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Daily Guggie Daly: Confessions of a Circumcised Man
A color-blind man describes how he learned he was missing out on all the rich colors surrounding him. He was happy for what he was seeing, but distraught that he could not see the full visual spectrum. He is also circumcised. Although he is able to enjoy what he has, he is distraught at knowing that he cannot experience the full range of sexual pleasure that he could if he were intact.

no circumcision: The Myth of Male Circumcision and HIV Infection Rates
A copy of the YouTube video The Myth of Male Circumcision and HIV Infection Rates by sofiarune.

no circumcision: What's the harm? (Male circumcision)
A copy of the YouTube video What's the harm? (Male circumcision) by sofiarune.