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.

One interesting topic this week is the furor in Africa what happens to the removed foreskins from the male circumcision campaign. News has come to light that male foreskins are used in the cosmetic industry and for manufacturing some medical products.

• iAfrica: Government fuels 'foreskin trade' Monday, August 8, 2011
• Sowetan: Concern that foreskins of circumcised babies will be sold illicitly to the global cosmetics industry Monday, August 8, 2011
• Africa Times Live: Babies' foreskins could be sold: Ethics watchdog Monday, August 8, 2011
• Daily News: Circumcision could promote illicit trade: report Monday, August 8, 2011
   

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The WHOLE Network: An Open Letter to Mohel Michael Henesch
A young man writes a letter to the mohel who circumcised him 21 years ago. The young man does not like being circumcised. He provides his personal experience with the results of the mohel's handiwork. He does not like the irritation of the exposed tissue. Nor does he like the gradual loss of sexual pleasure as his penis develops a protective callous because the foreskin is missing and cannot protect the delicate tissues.

Salem-News:  Rites of the Parents Against Rights of the Child; Circumcision, a Misdemeanor or a Crime?
A discussion of religious rites versus bodily rights of children. "Circumcision: men's power over the child!" "Circumcision does not answer the needs of the child…" Genital cutting of children is slowly becoming abhorred worldwide. But it is not disappearing fast enough.
 

Monday, August 8, 2011

The WHOLE Network: Does Circumcision Cause Erectile Dysfunction?
The United States, a nation with 4.5% of the world's population, consumes 47% of the world's Viagra. Hmm. The United States also is one of the nations with the highest male circumcision rate in the world. Correlation? Causation? Hmm. I know that before I started restoring my foreskin that my sexual performance had dropped tremendously as I aged. I cannot say that I had Erectile Dysfunction or ED, but I was not far from it. Restoring my foreskin reversed that.

ViewsHound!: Circumcision: let's cut it out!
A mother, who circumcised her sons, writes about why the circumcision decision was a bad decision. One of her sons voiced his opinion that he would have preferred to remain intact and uncircumcised. Foreskin is like being a virgin. Once it is gone, there is no return. I do not miss my virginity, but I miss my foreskin. Sure, you can restore a foreskin a regain some of what is lost, but you cannot get it all back. Male infants should not be circumcised unless and until they are old enough to make their own conscious and personal choices.

Africa Times Live: Babies foreskins might be sold to cosmetics industry: AUDIO
The Medical Rights Advocacy Network wrote a letter to Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi urging him not to continue with the Department’s plan to circumcise babies. This comes after the Kwazulu- Natal Health Department said last year, that from 2010 it would offer circumcision as option to 10% of the mothers of male babies born in public hospitals. This is an audio interview of the Network’s Co-ordinator Poonitha Naidoo about the fears that the foreskins will be sold to the global cosmetics industry to manufacture insulin and artificial skin.
 

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Saving Babies: Dollars & Sense: the Business of Circumcision
One reason infant circumcision continues is greed. Doctors and hospitals make money and the patient cannot complain. Doctors share the profits with the hospital or clinic. Many times, it is the hospital that encourages circumcisions because it is such a profit center for them.

The Guggie Daily: Newborns are Stronger than Adults; It's a Personal Decision
Many advocate infant circumcision because they say it is easier to do surgery on an infant than an adult. Huh? Circumcision is only easier because the baby cannot complain about how it hurts. But an adult can take pain medication after the surgery and he does not have to wear a soiled diaper that covers his wound.

Babies, Boobs, & Blasphemy: Why Are They Doing This?
A mother makes a video of her three intact sons watching a YouTube circumcision video. Even children understand how harmful infant circumcision is.

Milk and Cookes: Child Circumcision: An Elephant in the Hospital
A video by a college professor lecturing about genital cutting, commonly known as circumcision. He explains what circumcision does and why it is practiced in the United States. A very informative video.
 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Experience Project: So Glad My Pediatrician Gave Me Circumcision Information!!
A mother is grateful to her pediatrician for telling her that male infant circumcision is unnecessary. She decided to leave her son whole and intact. She did not want to subject him to any unnecessary pain and risk of surgery by having him circumcised.

Africa Times Live: Interest in circumcision more than foreskin deep
Male foreskin is an important ingredient for many cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. This article lists the various products and companies that profit from processing male foreskins to make commercial products.

Men's Health Forum: Doctors who circumcise 'are breaking the law'
Two groups, Men Do Complain and NORM-UK, protest that the British Medical Association (BMA) does not take a stand to protect boys from genital cutting, although the BMA does have a policy against female genital cutting.

San Diego CityBeat: Anti-circumcision activist won’t retract his point
The creator of the Foreskin Man comics and the man who runs MGMBill.org states that he would not change anything. He said that the Foreskin Man comics generated a lot of publicity. Unfortunately, that publicity contributed to the outrage against the circumcision restriction measures that were advanced in San Francisco and Santa Monica, California. Both circumcision ban measures are now dead.
 

Saturday, August 13, 2011

no circumcision: Protect your son
"My partner and I decided a long time ago, long before we had children, that if we had a boy, we would not circumcise him. For me, it was partly a reaction to seeing it done while I was in nursing school- it is a somewhat traumatic recollection of a newborn being strapped down and screaming bloody murder while his foreskin was cut off with no anesthesia."