Baby Mario was born this summer in a South Miami, Florida, hospital. Due to complications (some type of infection), baby Mario was in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for ten days. While in the hospital, Mario's mother Vera Delgado explicitly and repeatedly told the hospital staff that she did not want her son circumcised. She refused to sign the consent form for the circumcision surgery.

Despite all this, Mario was circumcised. On the eighth day of Mario's stay in the NICU and after Vera Delgado left her son's side to go home and shower, a doctor removed baby Mario from the NICU and circumcised him. Without consent. Without the parents being present. Without consideration that the infant was in the NICU and should not have to undure the stress of circumcision surgery.

Say no to circumcision - 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 5, 2010

The Local: Sweden's News in English: Boys not circumcised without medical grounds
Several county and regional health authorities in Sweden continue to contravene national guidelines by refusing to perform circumcisions on boys who lack specific medical grounds for the surgery. These ethical doctors are being criticized because others think parents will go to butchers for the surgery. Too bad they are not holding the parents accountable for non-therapeutic infant circumcisions.

It is 3 in the morning. The room is dark except for a sliver of light leaking in through the partially closed door. Other than the bustle of the floor nurses leaking in through the door, it is quiet in the hospital room.

Paul had his ninetieth birthday a month ago. Four months earlier he was a vibrant old man. He walked about two miles a day with a friend. An extrovert, Paul talked to everyone that he met as he wandered. He woke up one morning complaning that his right leg was not working. It hurt when he tried straightening it, and it would not move as well as it had. Shortly after waking Paul showed the classic signs of a stroke: one side of his face went slack, he could not talk and he was slurring his words, and he was very confused. We rushed him to the hospital.

A week later he went into a rehab facility. A month and a half later he finally came home. No longer could he wander about visiting his friends. He could barely maneuver with a walker. With three hours a day of physical therapy, Paul slowly regained some of what he lost, but he was wore out from the exertion.

Say no to circumcision - 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 29, 2010

Mothering:  To Not Circumcise or to Not Circumcise; There is No Question
A comprehensive list of reasons supporting genital integrity, that is, leaving infant sons intact by avoiding circumcision.
 

Say no to circumcision - 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.

This week has not had many intactivist related posts. NPR presented a very one-sided view supporting infant circumcision on All Things Considered. The blogosphere has been filled with similar posts that followed the NPR slant. Amazingly enough, the overwhelming majority of these comments supported genital integrity. It seem that intactivists are speaking out more.

On the bright side this week, the circumcision flow chart to the right popped up all over the internetz. The message is simple. Hopefully, it will become a meme and people will continue to avoid circumcision.
 

Sunday, August 22, 2010

npr: Study: Circumcision Rates Falling Fast In U.S.
A biased story that looks primarily at the cutting culture and discounts the reasons not to circumcise an infant. NPR does not present any information on the genital integrity side of the issue. But, there are many good comments supporting genital integrity. I guess the outcry against the biased story confirms that the majority of today's parents support leaving their children whole by saying NO to circumcision.

I'm new to this forum and thought I would introduce myself. I'm a 25 (almost 26) year old woman, and definitely consider myself an intactivist.

I used to be one of those girls that thought an intact penis was kinda strange, and that I would probably circumcise my sons because it had been done to basically every penis I had seen. I discovered the TLC Tugger website a little over a year ago when I was doing some research on phimosis. I am a very curious and open-minded person and decided to look around some more. I was shocked to find the real differences between an intact penis and a circumcised one!

I was in a relationship at the time, and had been having sexual issues for quite a while. My partner was of average size and was very caring, but something just never felt quite "right" about our sex life. In fact, sex had been a frustrating part of my life for some time, as it had always been a little bit painful and awkward for me. There were times when I liked it, but it was never quite what I envisioned it to be.

Say no to circumcision - 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 drop in the male infnat circumcision rate to 32.5% in 2009 is finally hitting the news. The New York Times reported on the CDC presentation where the lower circumcision rate was first reported. Then, the blogosphere picked it up.
 

Sunday, August 15, 2010

MyMamaMojo: Intact
A mother describes how she decided against circumcision and to leave her son intact. Now that her son is 3-1/2 years old, she is still happy with her decision to leave her son natural and intact.

It has been two years since I had my HoLAP prostate surgery. I have gone from wearing a catheter to peeing like a teenager to sleeping all night long.

I am very happy with my current prostate status. I really enjoy sleeping all night long without having to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

Before my surgery, I scored about 32 of the maximum 35 points on the American Urological Association (AUA) symptom index of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH). That score gave me a rating of severe.

Currently, I score mild (5 points) on the index. The reason I have as many points as I do currently is that I think I have a weak stream. I had a much stronger stream a year ago. My stream is still much stronger than it was before my surgery.

Say no to circumcision - 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.

Last week the buzz was that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said that the male infant circumcision rate was 32.5% in 2009 in the United States. This week the buzz is that some intactivists are questioning the validity of that circumcision rate. Without having any evidence or contravening data, some are declaring that the 33% circumcision rate is false or unsupported. Unfortunately, the public paranoia has given some pro-circ advocates ammunication for their propaganda against intactivists and others fighting for genital integrity.

Until someone has DATA or FACTS showing otherwise, the intactivist cause is set back when some unreasonably question a result that can only help us persuade parents not to cut. Intactivists need to pick their battles. The 33% circumcision rate is not a battle we should be fighting. Use the new circ rate when it is helpful, ignore it when not, and move on.

Woohoo! This is my 2 year anniversary for restoring my foreskin.

It does not seem that I have been restoring that long. In these past 24 months I have seen significant changes to both my penis and my well-being.

When I started restoring, I had tight erections. My shaft skin was taut, which made my erections rock hard. Sort of like having a broomstick with a knob on the end. I am a grower and when flaccid, I did not have any skin mobility. Before restoring I never knew it was possible to pull your skin over your glans. My skin was not that flexible and mobile, then.

Now, after two years of tugging, my erections are not covered with tight skin. My skin moves along my shaft and I have that gliding action that I never knew even existed. I do not have full erect coverage, but that is not a big deal for me. The gliding action is a big deal. It adds a lot to my sexual pleasure.