Intactivists seek genital integrity for all children. This means we want to see male infant circumcision end in the United States and do not want female circumcision to be reinstated in the US. Cutting the sex organ of a child, boy or girl,  is barbaric and has no place in the modern world.

Some religions still practice the ritual of genital cutting. Jews practice ritual circumcision of infant boys. Muslims practice ritual circumcision of both boys and girls. In Indonesia, female circumcision is widely practiced on infant girls. Generally, only a sliver is removed.[1]

Recently, the second issue of the Foreskin Man comic book became news because of its imagery. Foreskin Man Number One has the hero fighting an evil doctor to save a boy's foreskin from amputation. Foreskin Man Number Two has the hero, a blond-haired strapping male, fighting "Monster Mohel," a bearded, black-hatted man wearing a prayer shawl.

When the second comic came out late last year, I was surprised that there was not more of an outcry against it. Perhaps the intactivism movement had not garnered enough attention where the comic was considered worth speaking up about. With two cities in California considering banning infant circumcision, the comic was put in the spotlight. The controversy was enough for the backer of the Santa Monica, California, effort to drop out. The ballot measure to ban infant circumcision in San Francisco, California, continues. Read more . . .

This has been a sad week for intactivists. Van Lewis died on Monday from cancer. He fought for the rights of children to the very end. The week before his passing, I received an e-mail message from Van about the upcoming vote on the Male Genital Mutilation ballot measure in San Francisco.

Van was arrested in 1970 while protesting against male infant circumcision. He and his brother were in front of a hospital with signs advocating genital integrity and against infant circumcision. The police were not happy. Since that time, he has not wavered in his fight for genital integrity for all children.

Van Lewis will be missed. Rest in peace, my fellow intactivist.

In other news, the second Foreskin Man comic book continues to be attacked for its antisemitism imagery. It is unfortunate that the promoter of the comic has not come out and apologized for any offense given. That is what Russell Crowe did after his anti-circumcision rant late this week. I think the reaction to Russell Crowe's tweets was driven by the Foreskin Man controversy.

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, June 5, 2011

Rolling Doughnut: Opposition to Circumcision and Anti-Semitism
The second issue of Foreskin Man has been attacked for containing antisemitic imagery. In the comic, an Aryan-looking hero fights Monster Mohel, who is trying to circumcise an infant boy. It is distressing that some still publish such imagery. One would think that we have become more enlightened than to attack a group that has suffered great persecution, but we have not. As an intactivist, I do not condone the comic. I do not believe we should demonize those who circumcise. I would prefer to educate and enlighten using positive messages. Many other intactivists share my sentiments.

no circumcision: peaceful parenting: Ballooning in the Intact Child
When a male is born, his foreskin is fused to his glans. The foreskin does not separate from the glans for several years. Sometimes, as the foreskin naturally separates, the foreskin balloons when the boy urinates. This is perfectly natural and can be safely ignored.

Joseph4GI: Swazi Men Not As Dumb As American Circumcision Advocates Had Hoped
The male circumcision campaign being waged in Africa is not having as much success as the proponents hoped. Instead of 1 out of 8 Swazi men being circumcised, one clinic is seeing less than 15 men per day, fewer than before the circumcision campaign began. Maybe many adult men realize that the foreskin is important for sexual pleasure and have little desire to lose or reduce their sexual pleasure by being 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.

The image on the right is from Facebook. It shows a new t-shirt design that lets the world know that some men do not like that they are circumcised. The t-shirts are offered by Made by Momma, who sells peaceful parenting advocacy apparel for the whole family.
 

Monday, May 30, 2011

Male Circumcision and HIV: VIDEO: Jewish American Scholar Leonard Glick on Circumcision
YouTube video by Bonobo3D: Jewish American Scholar Leonard Glick - Circumcision

YouTube video of Jewish American scholar Leonard Glick, author of "Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision From Ancient Judea to Modern America." He speaks of his life, his academic career, and his research on the history of circumcision. He talks about how male circumcision is a sexist practice.

Choose Intact: Think From the Beginning, Not the End
A critique of a common argument used by critics of the proposed male infant circumcision ban for San Francisco and Santa Monica, California. Critics often claim that it is better to circumcise babies because men will not like to have their sex organs cut as an adult. Duh! The critique is that, generally, adults do not get circumcised in any great numbers. Very few men willingly choose to be circumcised. Why should we do it to 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, May 22, 2011

Experience Project: New Member And My Story....
A mother describes her experience with her intact son. Between the time of her son's birth and his schedule circumcision, she learned about the harms of male infant circumcision. The clincher was visiting her doctor and hearing the screams of a baby boy being circumcised. No way was she going to subject her healthy boy to circumcision surgery.

Beyond the Bris: How "Cut" Saved My Son's Foreskin: A Movie Review
The film Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision saved the author's little boy’s foreskin from herself and her Jewish religion and culture. She admires Cut because it shows actual circumcisions and parents should be made to view how it is done.

Barefoot Betsy’s Thoughts: The Taboo Topic
A blog about circumcision where the blogger goes to great lengths saying that she is not judging anyone. He entreats others to research the issue before deciding to circumcise their son. She warns parents that they should be able to answer their son when he asks, "Why did you circumcise me?"
  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, May 15, 2011

HuffPost Health: Circumcision Pros And Cons: 'Intactivists' Take On Traditional Ritual
In the U.S. there are several intactivist groups, but the most visible is Intact America, a non-profit founded in 2008. On its website the group claims to stand in opposition to "medically unnecessary genital alteration, whether carried out for cultural conformity or profit, in medical or non-medical settings." "The rest of the world doesn't do this for medical reasons." said Georganne Chapin, executive director of Intact America. "Countries that have better health status and spend far less on healthcare would no more line up their baby boys and cut off their foreskins than they would poke out their eyes."

normblog: Male circumcision and Jewish identity
A Jewish man speaks out against male infant circumcision. The right of infant circumcision violates the rights of a non-consenting person.

Greenfoley: Circumcision - "It's not cleaner"
One of the most common reasons given for circumcising or supporting circumcision is "It's cleaner". This is like admitting that you intend to not teach your son to wash his penis. Caring for an intact penis is much easier than caring for a circumcised penis when the boy is an infant. When the boy is older, "TRY to get a young boy to ignore his penis, especially in the shower." Read more . . .

The Learning Channel's show, Strange Sex, featured Ron Low and foreskin restoration on its Season Premier April 3. The show was again featured on May 15. Ron Low is the maker of the TLC Tugger and other restoring devices.

The show is making an impact as it educates the American public about the male foreskin and how a foreskin is a good thing to have. The show put foreskin restoration in a good light. The producers allowed Ron to tell his story, which is one of improving his sex life by restoring his foreskin. Ron is a dedicated intactivist. He was also able to speak out against infant circumcision. Yea, Ron! 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, May 8, 2011

Foreskin Restoring Downunder:  Coming up to 1 year...
A man restoring his foreskin approaches his one-year restoring anniversary. He wonders what results he should be seeing at this juncture. A lot depends upon how regularly he tugged and how closely he monitored his progress. Restoring a foreskin takes time. It also takes some experimentation to determine the optimum tugging routine and amount of tension to apply. He started with a relatively loose circumcision. Initially, he should have noticed that his skin became more flexible and mobile. Depending upon how regularly he tugged, after one year of tugging he should be approaching flaccid coverage. But it is difficult to say what another person's progress should be. I was fantatical about tugging my first year and I had full flaccid coverage most of the time after a year.

The Case Against Infant Circumcision: Why some people/cultures value circumcision above human life
So when we hear of an infant or child dying from the complications of a circumcision, instead of a total human outcry to ban the practice and stopping a preventable death, we see many who practice circumcision, defending the practice of circumcision, & many of us shake our heads in despair. Why must parents continue cutting the genitals of their children, even when there is so much evidence of circumcision harm?
  Read more . . .

The big news this week is the baby boy that died after being circumcised.

Two years old. Dead. Because his parents wanted to have part of his penis cut off. Circumcision sux! In this case, circumcision kills!

A baby boy, who was about to celebrate his second birthday, was circumcised on Tuesday and died shortly after his circumcision surgery. A parent's worst fear is that something will happen to their child. In this case, the parents decided on elective surgery to remove part of their young son's penis, commonly known by the euphism of circumcision. The healthy boy had his foreskin removed in a hospital. If his parents had let the boy remain whole with his penis intact, he would not have died from his circumcision.

The baby boy's circumcision death has received wide attention in the press. Although tragic, hopefully the boy's death will educate parents on the risks and complications of infant circumcision. Unfortunately, many parents wrongfully believe circumcision is just a snip and that it removes only a small flap of skin. Circumcision removes a substantial part of the penis. Circumcision removes sensitive, erogenous tissue that intact men rarely ever consider removing. 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 was that the San Francisco MGM Bill effort collected almost double the required signatures to get the Bill on the ballot in November. The San Francisco MGM Bill website has the full text of the bill.  The Male Circumcision and HIV blog is one of many bloggers and news organizatins writing about the successful gathering of signatures to get the bill on the ballot in November. CBS Health reports in a typical style: lots of puns and the obligatory circumcised banana.
 

Sunday, April 24, 2011

YouTube Video CanadianGirlsTalk: Circumcised Is ??? Ummm...
Susie and Richanda have been getting comments from circumcised guys who seem to think they discriminate against them. This video responds to that.
 

Monday, April 25, 2011

Intact America Press Release: Intact America Tells Doctors to Put Down The Knife!
Intact America, an organization founded in 2009 to abolish the practice of infant and child circumcision, has launched a campaign calling upon American doctors to stop performing medically unnecessary circumcisions on babies and children. Read more . . .

I created two public Google calendars: one for foreskin restoration and another for intactivism. These calendars can be freely copied and posted on other websites.

The Foreskin Restoration Google calendar shows Foreskin Restoration events. The foreskin restoration calendar has events such as NORM meetings and other meet ups that are of interest to those restoring their foreskin.

The Intactivist Google Calendar shows Intactivist events. The intactivism calendar has events such as demonstrations and marches for genital integrity and against infant circumcision. The intactivist calendar also includes notices of local intactivist meetings and other important events, for example, the date San Francisco residents vote on the SF MGM Bill to ban infant circumcision in San Francisco, California. Read more . . .