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, July 1, 2012

Intactivists of Australasia: Understanding ‘phimosis’: truth, lies and appropriate responses
If a baby boy survives being an infant, he may still be at risk of being circumcised. Often boys and men are diagnoses with phimosis. Instead of treating the condition conservatively, doctors often recommend circumcision to cure phimosis. Just as much as cutting off your finger will cure a hangnail, so will circumcision cure phimosis. But, just like a hangnail, there are much easier ways to treat phimosis than amputation of the sensitive foreskin. Sometimes, treating phimosis is as easy as stopping the use of soap when washing under the foreskin.

The Standard - Zimbabwe: Powerful lobbyists behind the circumcision crazy
The author questions the current male circumcision campaign in Africa. He notes that the circumcision campaign appears to be driven by outside forces. Also, less invasive measures are available than the drastic amputation of part of the man's sex organ through circumcision.

The Standard - Zimbabwe: Is circumcision not a costly sideshow?
An African man questions the male circumcision campaign being waged in Africa. He notes that current information shows that there are more cases of HIV among circumcised men than intact men for Zimbabwe. This evidence contradicts the circumcision studies used by advocates.
 

The big news is the German lower court ruling that circumcising a child is a criminal assault.The court case revolved around a four-year-old Muslim boy who was circumcised at the request of his parents but was later admitted to hospital with severe bleeding. The doctor was charged and tried for grievous bodily harm but was acquitted on the grounds he had parental consent. But the court ultimately ruled to clarify the law by stating that circumcision violated a child's "fundamental right to bodily integrity" and that this right outweighed the rights of the parents.

The Local: Germany's News in English:  Religious circumcisions are crimes says court
Expatica: Berlin hospital suspends circumcisions after court ruling
Andrew Sullivan: The Dish: Cologne's Court Bans Infant Male Genital Mutilation
Intact America: German Court: A Child’s Right to Bodily Integrity Trumps Freedom of Religion and Parents’ Rights
Choose Intact: Coercion Negates Self-Determination
Choose Intact: Outrageous Outrage

Islam versus Europe: German Law Professor Threatened Over Circumcision Court Case
Holm Putzke, the German legal professor whose work formed the basis of the Cologne court's decision to ban circumcision as unlawful violence against the person, has been receiving threats since the judgment was rendered.

Sadly, I have been way too busy the past two weeks. This post is a biweekly review.

Parents, protect your babies. Support intactivism. The following list includes blogs, articles, and websites of interest to Intactivists that were published in the past two weeks. This is a running tally of the ones I found interesting.
 

Sunday, June 17, 2012

The WHOLE Network: How Do I Talk To My Husband About Circumcision?
You are having a baby and you want to have the circumcision discussion with your husband. This post provides help for wives that want to be well-armed with information before approaching their husband.

Intact Houston: Circumcision symposium
The University of Texas Medical Branch held a symposium on circumcision as part of its annual Pediatric Review & Update. Unfortunately, the panel discussion was lopsided by presenting primarily the pro-circumcision viewpoint. They even included a mohel on the panel for the group of doctors. Sadly, the medical symposium did not even cover the ethics of non-therapeutic surgery on children who could not consent.
 

Intactivists of Australasia is a new website devoted to fighting for genital integrity of baby boys. The site advocates against male infant circumcision by offering educational and informative posts. Their focus is bringing an end to the non-therapeutic circumcision of minors in Australia and New Zealand.

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, June 10, 2012

Circumstitions News: GALVESTON: Symposium on circumcision lacks Balance: No Intactivist voice
A panel of experts convened at a symposium on male infant circumcision for Texas pediatricians. Sadly, the panel was not set up to provide a solid viewpoint about the issue of leaving baby boys whole and intact, that is, not circumcising them. The panel had two advocates for male infant circumcision and one member who counsels parents about circumcision.
 

Monday, June 11, 2012

Intactivists of Australasia: The top 5 disturbing things your son will eventually read about his circumcision
Thanks to the Internet, boys who are circumcised today will be able to easily learn what they lost by being circumcised. They will also be able to learn what their parents knew about circumcision. This does not bode well for parents who let their sons be circumcised. I have noticed that many men appreciate that their parents have apologized to them for letting them be circumcised. I hope more parents become educated about the harm of infant circumcision and make amends to their sons that were circumcised.

Josph4GI: TEXAS: UTMB Debates the "Pros, Cons and Contexts of Male Circumcision"
A critical look at a symposium on male infant circumcision held for pediatricians in Texas. The symposium has a panel addressing techniques, methods, and devices used for male infant circumcision. The panel does not seem prepared to discuss the ethics of cutting off healthy tissue from a baby's sex organ. Nor does the pane seem prepared to discuss the medical need for circumcision of healthy baby boys.

Dr. Momma peaceful parenting: The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding: Circumcision
Many mothers notice a big difference in breastfeeding after their baby boy is circumcised. The painful surgery often breaks, sometimes weakens, the bond between mother and son. The 1981 edition of The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding included information on circumcision. Subsequent editions of the book removed all references of infant circumcision. The author's claim the removal of circumcision information was an oversight, but was it?
 

The big news this week is a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report about the increased herpes infection rate due to the Orthodox Jewish circumcision rite of metzitzah b'peh. The rite has the mohel using oral suction after the foreskin is removed. Unfortunately, if the mohel has herpes, there is a high probability that the boy will get it, too. There are many solutions to prevent herpes infection of baby boys. The Orthodox Jewish community does not like the idea of stopping circumcisions, which would be the best answer. There should be testing of mohels with infected mohels prohibited from circumcising. This should be the immediate response and widely supported. We shall see if it happens.

For more information, read:

• CDC: Babies infected with herpes following circumcision ritual
• New York City Statement on Jewish Ritual Circumcision with Direct Oral Suctioning - Metzitzah B’peh
• Circumcision’s Deadly Fault Line: Rationality vs. the Metzitzah B’Peh
• HealthDay: 11 New York infants infected with herpes through ritual in Jewish circumcision
• The Week: Should extreme Orthodox Jewish circumcision be illegal?

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, June 3, 2012

Intact America:  INTACTIVIST OF THE MONTH: Dr. Dean Edell
Dr. Dean Edell is an outspoken activist against male infant circumcision. He has taken a public stand to educate parents about he harms of male infant circumcision. Intact America honors Doctor Edell as the Intactivist of the Month for June 2012.

Tales of a Midwestern Housewife: The Circumcision Decision
What circumcision decision? Why do people think there is a circumcision decision that needs to be made? Deciding if a part of a baby's penis should be cut off is not a decision that parents should be making. Parents do not decide about female circumcision of their daughters. Why their sons? His body. His choice.

Hilary Burrage: The Other FGM Debate: Is Male Circumcision Also Child Abuse?
Currently in the United Kingdom the issue of female genital cutting or mutilation (FGM) of girls is a hot topic. Female circumcision is unquestionably child abuse. But what about boys? Why is genital cutting of boys not considered child abuse?

Circumcision and HIV: SANTA CRUZ PRIDE: First Amendment Free Zone?
The ACLU in California supported male infant circumcision and helped to shoot down the San Francisco ballot measure to ban infant circumcision. Their action made them a target of a protest against infant circumcision. But the ACLU did not like the adverse publicity and sought to stop it.
 

Monday, June 4, 2012

Choose Intact: Flawed Circumcision Defense: Dr. Ruth Westheimer
Doctor Ruth was outspoken about sexual issues and she offered lots of advice. Most of it was good. Unfortunately, here infant circumcision advice is typical of doctor - cut the boy. We cannot guess if she was advocating for circumcision because of her religion or because, as a doctor, they make money by cutting.

The Case Against Infant Circumcision: Female Circumcision & Health Benefits
Many falsely believe that "Male circumcision has health benefits, but Female Circumcision has no health benefits." In the Western world, researchers spend much time looking for benefits to male circumcision, and frequently come up short. But no one in the West investigates female circumcision or female genital cutting. There is one African study that shows women with the most severe form of FGM, infibulation, still experience orgasms. For some reason, the West is against female circumcision for being a violation of human rights. But those in the West ignore the human rights violation of cutting the genitalia of baby boys.
 

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 27, 2012

barrels of oranges: Circumcision was not a debate
A mother writes that there was no circumcision debate in their house about their baby boy. With about 5 minutes of education about circumcision, her husband (who is circumcised) realized the harm of male infant circumcision. Their baby was left whole and intact.

Choose Intact: Circumcision: A Limited View of Science
Choosing to leave a baby boy whole and intact by refusing to circumcise him is an acknowledgement that science matters. Medical science does not support the immediate need to circumcise baby boys. Medical science shows that healthy boys will remain healthy if they keep their foreskin.

Times of Swaziland: Totally against circumcision
An article about the male circumcision campaign in Africa and how the promoters are not telling the full story, including the harmful effects of male circumcision.
 

Monday, May 28, 2012

Should I circumcise?: Stopping circumcision one coworker at a time
Not only does the blogger fight against male infant circumcision on his blog, he also talks to people IRL. When the situation presents itself, he provides others with educational information on the child's right to a whole body, intact and free of genital cutting. He describes some of the issues he confronted before he felt comfortable approaching people that work for the same large corporation that he does.
 

A website that is worth looking at is Circumcision Insanity. The Circumcision Insanity website posts examples of the crazy things people say about circumcision. The site has examples of posts made by parents who make fun of their baby boy's painful circumcision.

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 20, 2012

Stop the Cut: Colorado Bill to restore Circumcision Funding Failed
A report of the recent effort in Colorado to have the government pay for elective surgery, namely male infant circumcision. Fortunately, the measure failed and there will be no Medicaid funding of male infant circumcision.

Mile High Advocate: About to give birth? Thinking of circumcision? You owe it to your child to read this article!
A great resource of information and links about intactivism and male infant circumcision. The author provides her personal story, followed by the facts that speak against circumcision. She wraps up her post with links, lots of links. Websites that provide information. Facebook pages and a state-by-state list of intactivist groups are listed.
 

Monday, May 21, 2012

no circumcision: Circumcised or Uncircumcised: Does It Matter in Sex?
Recently, Huff Post Women published a post Circumcised or Uncircumcised: Does It Matter in Sex? where a woman wrote about her first encounter with an intact man. Until then, she had only been used to circumcised men. She liked sex with a foreskin so much, she did more research. She recommends that women should have sex with an intact man at least once so that they can see what they have been missing. The author even linked to another post with tips on giving an uncircumcised man oral sex. This is one more example of how women love foreskin.

Choose Intact: More on the Fallacy of Voluntary Male Medical Circumcision (VMMC): Infant Volunteers
The male circumcision campaign in Africa is supposes to be voluntary male medical circumcision. That is, African men are supposed to voluntarily consent to circumcision. Unfortunately, babies and boys are being circumcised. So much for the voluntary part of the circumcision campaign.
 

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Practical Ethics: When bad science kills, or how to spread AIDS
A well researched article about the male circumcision campaign being waged in Africa. The three clinical trials relied upon to support the circumcision campaign are deeply flawed. Further, the distorted results of those clinical trials have been heavily promoted to influence public health recommendations. The conclusion is that HIV infections will likely increase because the circumcision surgeries are conducted in less than sanitary conditions and because Africans falsely believe that circumcision will protect them.
 

Several weeks ago, the news was the battle over having Medicaid fund male infant circumcision in Colorado. Currently, the news is the battle over Medicare funding of male infant circumcision in Australia.

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 6, 2012

Greg Fitzsimmons: Some Tips on Circumcision
Stand up comic and entertainment personality Greg Fitzsimmons speaks out against male infant circumcision. He tells the world that his son is not circumcised. He explains why. Tradition is a poor excuse to cut the sex organs of a baby boy.

Intactivist Blog: Another telling shot
A NSFW photo comparison of the glans from an intact penis and a circumcised penis. The intact glans is smooth and glossy. The circumcised penis, although pink, is rough and course. The intact glans has the appearance of mucous membrane, which is what it is.
 

Monday, May 7, 2012

Authentic Parenting: The Truth about Circumcision
A list of facts about male infant circumcision. With these facts, one wonders why anyone would think circumcising an infant boy would be a good thing to do. Circumcision is painful, both psychologically and physically. Circumcision does not, as many think, promote penile hygiene. Circumcision may reduce sexual pleasure later in life.

Men Do Complain: No Deaths
No one wants to admit that babies die from circumcision. When a baby dies after being circumcised, the cause of death is rarely, if ever, attributed to being circumcised, even though, the baby would not have died but for being circumcised. Often the cause of death is identified as loss of blood, septicemia, or even sudden death syndrome. At best, the cause of death may include the phrase "following circumcision."

Intact America: INTACTIVIST OF THE MONTH: Marilyn Milos, RN
For Mother's Day 2012, Intact America celebrates the "founding mother" of the intactivist movement—Marilyn Milos, RN. Marilyn founded the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC),

RoboJustice SuperFighter: I Have A Penis And It’s Missing A Little Bit
A young man laments his missing foreskin, removed when he was a baby. He provides strong arguments for leaving babies whole, without circumcision.
 

Foreskin restoration takes time and patience. Knowing how much I have grown and recognizing the benefits from restoring motivates me to keep on tugging.

Fortunately, progress is often easily seen. Before I started restoring my foreskin, I had tight erections. Within a week of starting manual tugging, I noticed my skin was more flexible and it was much more mobile. Before restoring I never knew that my shaft skin could move back and forth when I was flaccid.

After a month of restoring I noticed that my shaft skin had lots of wrinkles. Then I noticed that my shaft skin was starting to bunch up behind my corona. The inner foreskin remnant that was inside the folds of skin next to my corona became more sensitive because the tissue was protected from rubbing against my shorts.

At around the four month mark I started masturbating differently. I could not pull my new skin over my glans when erect, but my shaft skin was much more mobile when I was erect. I could move it back and forth, causing it to bump against my corona. That felt good, really good. Eventually my skin grew enough where it would start to roll over my corona when masturbating. That is when I stopped using lube to jerk off.

A few months later I started to get whole body orgasms. I would reach a point where I would feel a flush moving through my body. Then I would get a tingly feeling in my scalp. Instead of just ejaculating like I did before as a circumcised man, my whole body felt the pleasure as I kept stroking my penis with my newly grown skin.

My foreskin restoration milestones are not just limited to my penis. I feel more comfortable in my body. I remember that first time I was walking along and thought to myself, "I feel comfortable down there. I don't feel any irritation from rubbing." Emotionally, I feel more at ease with myself.

As each of these changes occurred, I was freshly motivated to continue tugging to restore my foreskin.

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, April 29, 2012

Moralogous: The purpose of circumcision is to ruin male sexuality
This blog starts out with the illustrations from the Sorrells study showing the sensitivity of different regions of the intact and circumcised penis. That study showed that the most sensitive parts of the penis are removed by circumcision. The history of circumcision shows that the point of circumcision is to dull male sexuality, and it has been a huge success.
 

Monday, April 30, 2012

Male Circumcision and HIV: GILGAL SOCIETY: Circumcision advocate, Vernon Quaintance, convicted of sex crime
An advocate of male circumcision was convicted of possession of child pornography. The UK man has long promoted male circumcision.

The Jewish Press: US Pediatric Doctor Favors Female Circumcision
The genital cutting of any child is abhorrent. The medical doctor and fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), justifies his position by referring repeatedly to the words of classical Islamic scholars. Certain other religions point to scripture and religious scholars to justify male infant circumcision. But there is not outcry about that.
 

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.
 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Beyond the Bris: Questioning Jewish Circumcision: Choosing Brit Shalom Over Brit Milah
A Jewish mother tells of holding a Brit Shalom for her son. She and her husband decided against circumcising their son. Her son grew up happy to have his whole penis. He is actively involved with Judaism and has not been held back because he was not circumcised.

Solutions: Lawmakers reconsider circumcision for babies on Medicaid
An amendment adding circumcision payments to Medicaid was voted down in the Colorado Senate last week. This week a senate subcommittee voted to move the bill forward. Huh? It seems like some in Colorado really want to cut the sex organs of baby boys.

Salem-News: CIRCUMCISION: Culture-Bound and Culture-Specific Syndromes with Shared Psychotic Disorder
An article discussing the cultural aspects of circumcision.

sitfu.com: Circumcision – Male Genital Mutilation
sitfu questions why male genital mutilation is so accepted as a societal custom. "’s like, after the baby boy is born, as if that’s not traumatic enough, he is then forced to suffer the excruciating pain and shock of having a very important piece of his body cut off … from the most sensitive part of his body, no less!"

Planetary Vision: Infant male circumcision is genital mutilation
A plea to parents to leave their sons whole and uncut. Do not circumcise your baby boy.