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.

This coming week sees the start of the Genital Integrity Awareness Week - GIAW. Demonstrators will be in Washington, DC, with a march to the White House scheduled. The 18th Annual Demonstration / March Against Infant Circumcision is scheduled from March 28 through April 3, 2011. March 30 will be the 14th anniversary of the FGM law being enacted. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month.
 

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The Daily Targum Letters: Circumcision undermines child’s human rights
Various dictionaries list the phrase "genital mutilation" as the act of cutting all or some of the genital organs. "Mutilation" is an accurate way to describe infant circumcision. That there are possibly some benefits to this surgical procedure does not justify the act. Elective surgery — especially ones dealing with the genitals — should not be done without consent from the child. It is inexcusable to put a child through a painful ordeal that causes permanent negative changes even if there could be potential benefits. 

Dr. Momma's Peaceful Parenting: He Didn't Cry: Babies in Shock
The baby lies strapped to the board. His penis is swabbed. The doctor starts the circumcision by separating the baby's foreskin from his glans. The screaming starts. The doctor then cuts the foreskin. The baby stops screaming. Quiet descends in the room as the infant goes into shock from the pain. Parents may be told the infant is asleep, but in reality the infant is in shock from the trauma of having a sensitive part of his body cut off.
 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Joseph4GI: Who am I? Why am I so against circumcision?
Joseph describes what drives him to be an intactivist. He is a citizen concerned for the rights of minors and the individual. He is against circumcision, specifically the circumcision of healthy, non-consenting minors because it is wrong on so many different levels.
 

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Moody Eye View: San Francisco Looking To Ban Infant Circumcision, Avoiding Cuts In The Private Sector
Circumcising the penis, particularly that of a baby, is a bad idea. Everyone should grow up with all their body parts. It should be the man who decides on his own body modifications. His body, his choice.

KUAR News: Parents Struggle to Make Circumcision Decision; Some Want Procedure Banned
A mother of two boys says, “As more and more stories came to surface about botched circumcisions and circumcision deaths, I felt compelled to get more awareness out there about the risks of circumcision.”

The Case Against Infant Circumcision: Why does the foreskin become more important as men age?
Direct Sexual Nerve stimulation and its response becomes more important for men as they age because sex hormone levels of testosterone gradually diminish and vascular circulation becomes less efficient. Robbing men of 20,000 pleasure nerves and anatomical pleasure structures like the frenar band and frenulum deprives them of much needed nerve stimulation as they age. I found that as I got older, my sexual pleasure decreased. After I started restoring my foreskin, sex got much better, even better than I remember from my 20's.
 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Darwin Harmless: A Call to the Jewish Community
There are some things that are clearly wrong.  Obviously wrong.  Obviously immoral and against human rights.  There are some traditions which obviously deserve to be modified or abandoned.  I ask that the Jewish community recognize this, and when presented with a call for change simply acquiesce. Circumcision of a baby boy is one of those things that is just wrong. Babies do not need to have part of their bodies removed unless there is a dire medical need.

The Daily Guggie Daly: Confessions of a Mom who has "Been There, Done That"
Tips for mothers-to-be from a mother who has been through it. She advocates avoiding epidurals, C-sections, routine inductions, formula, crying it out (CIO), and infant circumcision. She advocates breastfeeding, co-sleeping, rear-facing carseats, and leaving babies intact.

The Orange County Register: Senseless war still rages against masturbation
There are many who still rail against masturbation. The article epilogue tells of how circumcision was instigated and continued in America in the effort to minimize sexual pleasure. The Victorians and religious fanatics advocated genital cutting and mutilation of both boys and girls in the United States.
 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

IOL Tonight: Penis Monologues are lonely
An actor takes a stand against circumcision during his performance in the buff. The actor takes a stand against circumcision and appearing nude on stage allows the audience to know positively if he was circumcised or not.

Salem-News: Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Circumcision, A Dangerous Collective Madness
Article analyzing the underpinnings of why there is a "particularly fierce compulsion of repetition, backed by a massive denial of the reality of the endured loss and reinforced by the collective character of the aggression" with respect to infant circumcision.

International Coalition for Genital Integrity: US Doctors told to “Put Down The Knife”
Intact America is sending a clear message to American medical societies that are protecting doctors, but not protecting babies, by insisting that they stop promoting male infant circumcision and “Put Down The Knife.”

no circumcision: peaceful parenting: He Didn't Cry: Babies in Shock
A blog on Dr Momma's Peaceful Parenting post described above.

Joseph4GI: I remember
An intact man recalls the first time he saw a circumcised penis. As a young boy he saw another boy in the bathroom and remembers seeing his penis and wondering “what the hell happened to you???”
 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Dr Momma's Peaceful Parenting: Circumcision Gone Wrong: Lantz' Story
A mother was completely against infant circumcision as a barbaric, elective surgery until someone told her, "He's gonna cuss you for the rest of his life." So, she changed her mind and her son was circumcised. But the doctor botched the circumcision and took off too much skin and left the boy bleeding. The baby then had an emergency surgery to stitch the top of his penis to the baby fat around the base of the penis to stop the bleeding. The circumcising doctor had cut all the skin off the shaft of her son’s penis. At eighteen months and again at twenty months the boy had more corrective surgery on his penis.

Birmingham Mail.net: Ban extended for doc who botched circumcision on Birmingham child
A surgeon who botched the circumcision of a five-year-old Birmingham boy and put the boy's life at risk has been banned from working for a further year. The General Medical Council Panel determined the doctor's fitness to practice is still impaired. No more circumcisions by this guy for a while longer.
 

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Intact for Life: Blair Shows us How he is Restoring his Foreskin
NSFW: The man running the Intact for Life website thought a contributor was intact. Turns out he is restored. The man shows his penis while wearing a penis uncircumcising device, or PUD. He has been wearing the PUD and manual tugging since 2008.

Confessions of a High-heel Wearing Hippie Mommy: Intact. In general.
A mother blogged last year about Why we kept our son intact - the circumcision post. That post recently received some critical comments by mothers who felt that the post was judgemental and offensive. Unlike the blogger who does not want to tell others what to do, I do not mind telling people that they should not circumcise their children. Infant circumcision is wrong because it violates the bodily autonomy of the child.

I have noticed that when people complain about being judged, it is usually because they feel guilty about what they did. Sorry, but we all make mistakes. Parents that cut the genitals of their children are not bad parents, but they have made a mistake. Many times it is a terrible mistake when there are complications, such as described above in Lantz' Story. It is those that learn from their mistakes and do better in the future that earn my respect.