intact 101

Examining genital cutting culture. If there is anything you would like removed, just ask.

[intact101]

Birmingham man arrested over alleged circumcision assaults

Man held on suspicion of GBH against boys in Banbury and Bristol

A man has been arrested on suspicion of physical assaults against boys in relation to circumcision procedures.

Hampshire and Thames Valley police forces are leading the investigation into the alleged assaults, which are said to have been carried out at the alleged victims’ homes in Banbury in Oxfordshire and Bristol.

[uncutting-old]

[intact101]

Does Circumcision Help Prevent HIV?

Circumcision has been a go to for HIV prevention, especially in Africa. One researcher questions its validity.

The U.S. media reports that circumcision prevents your chance of contracting HIV by 60 percent. If we were to take a look at what the studies actually showed (summing the results of the three randomized trials the US media often cites), the difference between intact men who got HIV vs. circumcised men who got HIV was 1.3 percent; 58.7 percent smaller than what the media reports (this has to do with relative vs absolute risk reduction - a distinction largely lost to the public). And, if you were to take a look at the study design, they are unapologetically designed to favor the hypothesis that circumcision reduces your chance of contracting HIV. It is some of the most pathetic published research on the face of the planet, which is then unapologetically misrepresented in the media.

[intact101]

The Circular Cut: Problematizing the Longevity of Civilization’s Most Aggressively Defended Amputation

Shemuel Toviah Garber, Wesleyan University

“Presumably, a boy who is circumcised shortly after birth generally does not consciously remember his circumcision. Thus, he does not originally relate to his penis as a circumcised penis, but rather simply as his penis. I believe it is therefore experienced as normal. That is not to say that is believed to be normal as if its normality were learned through concepts or comparison with a standard. Rather the sense of normality is the direct consequence of self-apprehension. This sense of normality is deeply ingrained before he forms any concept of ‘circumcision.’ When he eventually learns the concept ‘circumcised’ and applies it to his penis, this conceptual knowledge does not impede his relation to the organ (as it is) as an essential part of himself, as thus, as normal. Furthermore, the ‘uncircumcised’ penis is 68 thus immediately abnormal to the circumcised male simply since it differs from that which is immediately apprehended as normal.”

“For a male who has grown up experiencing his circumcised penis as normal, it is not surprising that the idea that circumcision is considered by some to be ‘genital mutilation’ would be considered not merely wrong, but absurd. “Mutilation” connotes ugliness and abnormality. In communities where circumcision is highly prevalent, the personal sense of normalcy is reaffirmed by the others’ sense of normalcy. When a circumcised father bestows circumcision upon his son, he expresses the deeply held and culturally sanctioned belief that his body is normal, that his body is the way the male body should be. The extra-rational seat of the proudly circumcised man’s sense of normality makes the project of convincing him of the wrongfulness of circumcising his son extremely challenging. Convincing him of his own abnormality is impossible, because he is normal for himself. In order to spare his son’s prepuce, he must be able to recognize his normality as a personal truth rather than a universal truth.”

[intact101]

What Were the Original Motivations Behind Routine Infant Circumcision in the West?

Circumcision Information Resource

“Routine circumcision as a preventative or cure for masturbation was proposed in Victorian times in America. Masturbation was thought to be the cause of a number of diseases. The procedure of routine circumcision became commonplace between 1870 and 1920, and it consequently spread to all the English-speaking countries (England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand). None of these countries now circumcise the majority of their male children, a distinction reserved today for the United States (in the UK, in fact, nonreligious circumcision has virtually ceased). Yet, there are still those who promote this social surgery, long after the masturbation hysteria of the past century has subsided.”

[intact101]

I’m 21, male, from Alabama. The point of this post is to hopefully encourage anyone who is considering circumcising their children to think...

“Genital cutting rituals of both male and female varieties are a complex socio-cultural phenomenon, because they’re deeply personal, often rooted solidly in cultural or religious identity, and are performed on those without knowledge of the consequences or consent for the procedure. This creates a cycle of feedback, where the social pressures experienced in that culture strongly push an individual to not only accept these practices, but to justify and condone them in order to avoid critical examination that might result in negative self image. Consider the implications for recognizing circumcision as a harmful procedure if you are yourself circumcised and chose to have your son cut as well. Not only are you confronted with the idea that you yourself have been irreversibly sexually harmed in some way, but you have to come to grips with the fact you also perpetrated that harm on your own son in kind. When the alternative option is to believe the strong cultural voice around you saying this is actually a good thing, it becomes incredibly obvious why this path of least resistance is the one many men (consciously or not) choose.”

“Your parents are not immune to socio-cultural pressures. They did not make the decision to circumcise you in a vacuum without influence from those (both trusted medical professionals, and others) around them, so it’s unfair to focus your discontent on them in this way. Additionally, it’s unhealthy for you to harbor such negative feelings about a situation that cannot be changed, is long past, and likely was done with utmost good faith and intention.”

[expatthoughts]

“Why are so many Americans for male circumcision but against female circumcision? Both are equally cruel and barbaric traditions.”

― Oliver Markus Malloy, Inside The Mind of an Introvert

[intact101]

Mother calls for ban on circumcision

A mother whose baby son was in such pain after he was circumcised that he could not wear a nappy said boys should be given the same protection as girls get from female genital mutilation (FGM).

A mother whose baby son was in such pain after he was circumcised that he could not wear a nappy said boys should be given the same protection as girls get from female genital mutilation (FGM).

The mother, who is taking legal action to prosecute the doctor who carried out the surgery without her consent, said: “For FGM they can stop people taking daughters out of this country but they won’t protect boys in this country.”

[intact101]

American Circumcision Movie Review

The penis is a major subject of locker room talk. Jokes about circumcision - the removal of the foreskin of the penis - probably abound.

“The subject is as deadly serious as political divisions brought about by gun laws, abortion, and transgender rights. After all, when 120 million American men have circumcised penises, they are likely to be disturbed, even enraged, by a film that challenges their judgment or the judgment of their parents.”

“To insist that cutting part of the body, the part responsible for quite a share in creating the world’s population, is hygienic sounds absurd.”

[intact101]

The Fight Against Circumcision in Colorado and Beyond

American Circumcision, a feature-length documentary about the debate over circumcision in this country that will make its Denver debut on April 9, features an appearance by Gillian Longley, state coordinator for Colorado Advocates for Body Integrity and Children's Rights, shorthanded as Colorado ABC.

"Federal law says Medicaid is only supposed to be used for medically necessary procedures, and that doesn't apply to circumcision or any other elective or cosmetic procedure," Longley allows. "But it's such a culturally embedded procedure that we ended up going back and forth, back and forth with it in the legislature."

[intact101]

What Circumcision and 'Religious Freedom' Have in Common

A proposal to ban the procedure among infants is prompting a familiar battle cry.

[intact101]

Traditional nurse shot dead at circumcision school in Mthatha

A masked gunman has shot a tradition nurse dead and wounded two others at a Mthatha circumcision school.

Mthatha – An unknown, "balaclava-clad" gunman shot a 32-year-old traditional nurse dead and wounded two others at a circumcision school in Mthatha, police said on Friday.

[intact101]

'When I woke up in hospital, my manhood was damaged,' says Abulele Zengazi after he went to initiation school looking forward to becoming a man.

Since returning home, the 21-year-old has been struggling to go out and meet his friends. He is afraid of seeing the man he blames for the botched circumcision. He has lost his girlfriend. He often locks himself in his bedroom. He suffers from nightmares.

"I felt so helpless seeing my son in that state. As I was getting closer to him I saw he was still breathing. I untied him and took them both [the younger son too] home," he says. NS and his friends had already left.

"I first washed him. He was smelling terrible and in pain. I then called an ambulance. They were both taken to Sulenkama Hospital in Qumbu," Vulamasango says.

Zengazi spent nearly two months in hospital.

[intact101]

CRL commission reveals 'shocking' initiation death toll

The CRL Rights Commission revealed that 774 initiates died across the eight provinces between 2006 and 2016.

The deaths are not registered at the department of home affairs. Between 2006 and 2014, police made 260 arrests of alleged perpetrators of such crimes.

But the commission said no prosecutions had been recorded. The commission has summoned different organs of state, including the National Prosecuting Authority, to answer for nonprosecution of perpetrators that resulted in the deaths of 774 young males.

On Tuesday, families of the survivors, who wished not to be named, shared gruesome details of their tales before the commission.

It emerged their children were abducted and taken to initiation schools without their consent, while others said it was due to peer pressure and to escape bullying at normal schools.

A family member of a 16-year-old boy who allegedly died at an initiation school said her son was abducted, returned home ill, went back to the initiation school, died and was buried there.

But the family have not been allowed to see his body.

[intact101]

With newfound democracy, Gambia faces resurgence in FGM

Wearing a long black veil with her newly circumcised daughter on her lap, Aminata Njie vehemently gives her justification for having the two-year-old cut.

“Female circumcision is our religion and tradition,” says the tall, frail mother of five from her one-bedroom home. “If Gambia is a democracy now, why should anyone stop us from practicing our religion and tradition?”

[mahamara]

Turkish boys scream as they're put through agonising circumcision ritual

“Turkish boys scream as they're put through agonising circumcision ritual https://t.co/JgYIfOMSc5”

[hurt-by-circumcision]

Horrifying. 

[intact101]

Original story...

[intact101]

Most serious charge in female genital mutilation case is dismissed

Two doctors faced a charge of conspiracy to transport a minor "with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity," which carried a life sentence.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled Sunday night that a charge of conspiracy to transport a minor "with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity" against Dr. Jumana Nagarwala and Dr. Fakhruddin Attar be dismissed, agreeing with the defense argument that even if female genital mutilation were proven, it would not meet the definition for "sexual activity."