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Monday, May 30, 2016

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: This Time in Italy


Circumcision has claimed yet another child victim. It's all happened before, and until it is recognized for the barbaric genital mutilation it is, it will all happen again. But this time it happened in Italy.

I don't have time to make a long, detailed comment, so I'm just going to copy and paste the article verbatim. I'll provide a link to the original article here.

Baby dies in hospital after home circumcision
Doctor says 30-50% of Muslim circumcisions in Italy unauthorised
 
(ANSA) - Turin, May 30 - A one-month-old Ghanaian baby died in hospital on Monday, where he was brought by emergency services after suffering cardiac arrest following a home circumcision.
    The emergency call came from a building known as "Spazio Neruda" where hundreds of homeless or evicted families are squatting and where the boy's parents had brought him on Sunday evening and spent the night.
    "They circumcised their son yesterday, then they wrapped him with gauze and gave him paracetamol," said a Spazio Neruda resident.
 The mother has been reported to prosecutors for allegedly culpable homicide, ANSA sources said on Monday. The 35-year refugee, who has lived in Italy for five years, told investigators she gave the baby a 250mg dose of paracetamol - a dose only recommended for infants weighing over 12 kilos. The baby's father, a 33-year-old Ghanaian, has been tracked down but police are still trying to find the illegal 'doctor' who performed the circumcision.

    Mustafa Qaddurah, a pediatrician and councillor with the Islamic Cultural Centre of Rome, said Italy's national health system doesn't cover circumcisions performed for cultural, non-medical reasons.
    "That means you either go to a clinic, where it's expensive, or to these charlatans," Qaddurah said.
    He said an unauthorised circumcision costs about 30-50 euros.
    "According to our estimates, 30-40% of Muslims (living in Italy) prefer to have it done in their country of origin, but another 30-50% go to unauthorised personnel, who work in unsuitable places, with the result of killing babies or causing serious deformities, that we then see in our offices," he said.
    He said there were other similar deaths recently in Treviso and Puglia.

I can already imagine all the apologetics being thought up.

Is the solution to have male children circumcised by "trained medical professionals in a hospital setting, using sterile utensils and pain management?" Because the same could apply to female circumcision, and even so, children die. Keep in mind that this is medically unnecessary in a healthy, non-consenting child.

I'll say what I've always said: Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

Whatever anyone has to say concerning male circumcision is true of female circumcision.

Any and everything that can be said.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

Death is a risk of circumcision.

How many times do I have to say it?

Death is a risk of circumcision.

I don't have time to write anymore for now.

I've said it all before.

Anyone who is interested could browse my past posts on the subject.

Related Posts:
INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves
MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies
 
Circumcision Death: Another One Bites the Dust

Circumcision KILLS

CIRCUMCISION: The Silent Killer

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

CANADA: CPS Diverges from AAP on Infant Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION RISK: Two More Circumcision Botches

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

Thursday, May 19, 2016

MALAWI: USAID-Funded Program Kidnapping Children for Circumcision - Boy Loses Penis


As if it weren't already bad that circumcision advocates were using questionable "research" to push "mass circumcision campaigns" in Africa under the supposed guise of "HIV prevention," apparently US-funded organizations are now simply taking the liberty of kidnapping children off the streets and circumcising them without their parents' approval.

According to this report, SSDI, a component of the Malawi Ministry of Health, has been simply picking up children off the street, coaxing them with candy, cookies and drinks, forcibly circumcising them without their parents' awareness, and dumping them near their homes, much to their parents' dismay upon discovery.

SSDI apparently receives support from USAID to promote and perform male circumcisions through a campaign known as the "Sankhani HIV Prevention Project."

In one particular case in Chipakuza Village, T/A Lundu in Chikhwawa, a 9-yo boy has lost his entire penis, and his angry father is seeking to sue the Malawi Ministry of Health for damages.

The lawsuit documents served to the Attorney General and Chikhwawa District Hospital, stressed the need for authorities to take this matter seriously, chiefly citing the fundamental right of the minor, which had been violated, and the fact that the parents' wishes were not disregarded.

Furthermore, the father has complained that the people involved forcefully circumcised his son against the values and customs of the Sena culture, his culture of origin.

Given that circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery with dubious "benefits" that are already afforded by less invasive, more effective means, given that it was forcibly performed on a healthy, non-consenting child, given that his fundamental rights were violated, and given that his parents were completely disregarded, the fact that this child has lost his penis is a disastrous tragedy in more ways than one.

This needs to be brought to the attention of the WHO and UNICEF; what has happened here is anything but "voluntary."

Related Posts:
MASS CIRCUMCISION CAMPAIGNS: The Emasculation and Harassment of Africa

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV II

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

JAMA: Lead Article is a "Study" on Bribing Men to Get Circumcised

AFRICA: Creating Circumcision "Volunteers"

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

FACEBOOK NEWS FEED: A Complication and a Death


Circumcision horror stories are common on Facebook, it's too bad they never make mainstream media. I can only imagine what we do see is only a tip of the iceberg.

This was on my Facebook news feed just a few days ago:




Children bleeding uncontrollably is the most common story I see, usually a mother asking for "prayers" because her baby "won't stop bleeding."

In Africa, where circumcision is being pushed as a "safe" HIV "prevention", a 14-yo boy has died during the procedure.



And, as usual, his parents and others are trying to blame something else.

Read a news article about it here.

The fact of the matter is this; the child was alive and otherwise perfectly healthy, and not in need of surgery.

The "benefits" the surgery was supposed to give him were already affordable by less invasive, more effective means.

Had he not undergone this needles surgery, the child would still be alive.

This happened at a hospital setting; yearly, scores of African boys undergoing tribal initiation rites die following their circumcisions. Still others lose their penises to gangrene; others commit suicide.

The risks of circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhaging and even death.

Without medical or clinical indication, how is it that doctors are performing non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting minors, let alone eliciting any kind of "decision" from parents?

Given that male infant circumcision is elective, non-medical surgery, how is it conscionable that healthy, non-consenting minors are being put at these risks?

How is it concsionable that any number of botches, complications and deaths is deemed "acceptable?"

These are circumcision cases that manage to surface on Facebook.

Consider that there are other cases which, for reasons of shame or protection, remain secret.

When are respected medical authorities going to recognize the forced circumcision of healthy, non-consenting minors for the needless, harmful, deadly, abuse and violation of basic human rights it is?

Related Posts:
Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV II

INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves

MALE INFANT CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Boy Dies
Circumcision Death: Another One Bites the Dust

Circumcision KILLS

CIRCUMCISION: The Silent Killer

CIRCUMCISION: Another Baby Dies

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yet Another One (I Hate Writing These)

Another Circumcision Death Comes to Light

Circumcision Indicted in Yet Another Death: Rabbis and Mohels are "Upset"

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Yes, Another One - This Time in Israel

CANADA: CPS Diverges from AAP on Infant Circumcision

CIRCUMCISION RISK: Two More Circumcision Botches

FACEBOOK: Two Botches and a Death

CIRCUMCISION DEATH: Child Dies After Doctor Convinces Ontario Couple to Circumcise

ONTARIO CIRCUMCISION DEATH: The Plot Thickens

Joseph4GI: The Circumcision Blame Game

Phony Phimosis: How American Doctors Get Away With Medical Fraud

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Longtime Champion Against Male Infant Circumcision Decides to End His Life


I am sad, angry and devastated to have found out that Jonathon Conte took his own life on May 9th, this year in 2016.

For a long time now, Jonathon fought at the front lines against the cold, hard machine that is the systemized genital mutilation of healthy, non-consenting minors.

He not only participated in protests at AAP conferences and other venues, he helped at information booths trying to educate people on the subject of the forced genital cutting of minors.




He was a member of the Bay Area Intactivists group, which is a human rights organization comprised of community members who are working to end forced genital modification.

Why did Jonathon Conte take his own life?

I think when reading the words he said when he was alive, it becomes clear:

"As a child, I grew up believing that my body was whole. I grew up assuming that my penis looked and worked the same as any other. I grew up thinking that the scar on my genitals was just a natural part of my body and that all men had it. I grew up figuring that the soreness brought on by clothing and masturbation were normal aspects of being a guy. I never questioned why so many types of underwear were painful, I only found it strange that anyone could manage to wear them. I was about 14 years old when I learned that part of my penis had been cut off. It seems like this is something that one might realize earlier in life and yet I never did. I was never taught about normal male anatomy and no one ever explained to me that I had undergone genital surgery as an infant. When I learned the devastating truth, my stomach sank and my throat closed up. It wasn't easy for me to accept reality. Even though I understood that part of my body had been removed, I was in denial about the implications of this fact. I battled with depression, particularly whenever I had to see my penis. Each time that I got undressed to take a shower, I would see the scar and I would be reminded of what was stolen from me. Each time that I urinated, I would be reminded that I would never know how my body was meant to look and how my body was meant to feel. I felt violated and helpless. I felt embarrassed and angry. I felt robbed and betrayed. I felt incomplete and damaged. And yet, I was incapable of verbalizing any of this. I was paralyzed by embarrassment of my condition and by fear that others would neither understand nor sympathize. It took over a decade of trying to cope with my emotions before I gained the strength to take a closer look at the issue. I read about the functions of the intact penis. I studied the numerous physical, physiological and psychological problems that result from male circumcision and I began to recognize many of them in my own life. I learned of the way that babies are restrained during the surgery and the various techniques that are used to rip, clamp, crush, and cut their tiny bodies. I came to understand the greed, arrogance, and ignorance that perpetuates the genital mutilation of children... So now I speak out. Because I don't want any other child to have to make the same painful discovery that I did: That they were denied their human right to keep the whole body with which they were born."
Jonathon Conte, AAP Conference, New Orleans, 2013




I am not a circumcised male, but for whatever reason, I think I can understand what Jonathon was talking about. My thoughts are a mirror-image of what Jonathon had felt.

I must have been about 15 or 16 when I really gave male infant circumcision consideration, and I remember thinking it was wrong and unfair.

I saw it as a permanent physical abuse, a robbery that males had to live with for the rest of their lives.

I thought that everyone's penis worked the same way.

I thought that not having a foreskin, having a permanently exposed, dried-out head was a physical, genetic trait.

Some guys, that's just how they're born, like being born black, or without earlobes, or with a short nose, or a double-chin...

...or so I thought.

When I learned the devastating truth, that some men look the way they do because someone deliberately took a knife and forcibly cut off part of their penises, I was devastated.

I covered my crotch with both hands and cringed in horror.

Having been born and raised in the US, I felt lucky.

Like I had dodged a bullet.

Whenever I look in the mirror, I'm reminded of the horror and the mutilation that I was spared as a child.

Whenever I urinate, or whenever I masturbate, I get a pang of guilt and regret to realize that I'm enjoying my body as it is, and that not everyone in this country has this privilege.

No, not privilege, this BASIC HUMAN RIGHT.

When I first learned about this, I tried with all my might to normalize male infant circumcision.

"It's OK, they don't even remember," I tried to say to myself.

"Well, that's what Jews have been doing for thousands of years," I heard myself say again.

"Well, it's what parents want, and who am I to judge?" I kept saying.

My whole life as an intactivist has been me trying to justify the forced genital cutting of minors who can't speak for themselves.

Every time I feel I've finally found the perfect alibi, it vanishes before my eyes, and I'm left again at square one:

How is it right to take a child who has just been born, and forcibly cut off part of his most sensitive, most intimate area?

How is it right to make a man live with a permanent physical modification for the rest of his life?

To make a permanent reminder, to remind him every time he urinates, every time he masturbates, every time he is intimate with another person, every time he takes a shower, that his body is not his own?

How is it conscionable to put a healthy child at risk for infection, partial or full ablation of the shaft, hemorrhage and even death?

For elective, non-medical, cosmetic surgery?

Which leaves him permanently scarred for life?




Whenever I see a circumcision video, a picture of a child being forcibly mutilated, I see myself being strapped, held down.

Whenever I hear a baby shrieking in pain, I imagine what I might have sounded like had I been put through that same predicament.

Each time, I am reminded that a man has to live with an intentional wound, whenever he urinates, whenever he masturbates, whenever he makes love, whenever he sees himself in the mirror for the rest of his life.

Every day I live with the reality that this happens hundreds of times each day in my country.


If you do not own your own body, just what do you own in this world?

Perhaps facing this pain, this mutilation, this reality, this life sentence, this inevitability is the reason circumcised men often would rather not think about what happened to them?

Perhaps this is the reason they would rather rationalize and normalize it, rather than to question it and face it head on?

Perhaps this is why rather than question it, they would rather pretend it's "normal?"

Like "nothing happened?"

Perhaps this is why they'd rather think "I don't even remember it?"

Because to question it means that they would have to consider that something very wrong and irreversible has happened to them?

That they have to accept that they have to live with this for the rest of their lives?

That they have to consider that their parents, the people that up until this point they have trusted and loved unconditionally, have allowed others to permanently harm them?

That they have to consider they have allowed this same thing to happen to their own children?

Who wants to live with something this heavy for life?

I'm not even circumcised, but I, for one, find it difficult to live life in a world where male genital mutilation is considered "normal" for boys, but "abuse and mutilation" for girls.

A world where men have to live with the "normalcy" of having to live with permanent "choice" on their bodies they never opted for and be forced to call it "privilege."

A world where the state can mandate the forced genital mutilation of healthy, non-concenting children.

A world where it's "religion," "tradition" and "parental prerogative" to cut the genitals of boys, but "mutilation and abuse" for girls.

A world with a two-track system sexist double-standards.

A world where "my body, my choice" applies only if you happen to be born female.

A world where you are told your feelings of anger are invalid...

A world where you are told to be silent...

By judges, doctors, researchers, your parents, other parents, other men...

Because it makes them feel uncomfortable...

Because they don't want to have to think about it...

Because they don't want to have to explain it to their own children...

Because they don't want to have difficult conversations with their own parents...

Their doctors...

Their religious leaders...

Their patients...

A world where you are dismissed as being "crazy" or "out there" for having these feelings...

For daring to express them...

I'm not even circumcised, but at times I have felt the weight of this reality to be so heavy that walking out in front of a train wouldn't be such a bad idea.

Sometimes at night, I lay in bed, there next to my wife, in the fetal position, with my hands between my crotch, rocking back and forth, with tears streaming down my cheeks, feeling helpless, thinking to myself, "Had I been forcibly circumcised as a child, short of protesting, kicking and throwing a fit, there would be basically nothing I could do."

I would have to learn to live with the fact I was abused at birth.

I would have to learn to live with the fact that my parents allowed it.

I would have to learn to live with the fact that doing this to male, but not female children, is legal and perfectly acceptable in my country.

I would have to learn to live with the fact that doctors can legally reap profit from this, performing non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individual.

I would have to learn to live with the fact that part of my penis went into paying someone else's Mercedes Benz or Porche.

I would have to learn to live with the fact that leaders in my country are trying to push this practice on other countries under the guise of "STD prevention."

I would have to live with a scar around my penis for the rest of my life to remind me of all of this.

To remind me that my body isn't mine.

Every time I used the restroom.

Every time I took a shower.

Every time I touched myself.

Or every time someone touched me.

Every time I'd look in the mirror I'd be reminded.

That my body isn't mine.

Because it was stolen from me.

From birth.

I'd have to live with this for the rest of my life.

I'd have to live with people telling me "Get over it."

"It was such a long time ago."

In a country, where this happens 3,000 times a day, to 1.3 million boys a year.

It is plain to see that for Jonathon, it was too much to bear.

Jonathon Conte died peacefully on May 9th, 2016 between noon and 8pm quickly and painlessly by inhaling helium. In a final act of intactivism he left his trailer with signs somewhere in San Francisco.

Goodbye, for now, Jonathon...

... we will remember you as we fight on every day for the most basic of human rights...

... the right to one's own body...


Tuesday, May 10, 2016

NEW YORK TIMES: Finally a Fairly Balanced Circumcision Article



It's rare to find a balanced article regarding the forced circumcision of minors in the media nowadays, particularly in knife-happy America, where 80% of men are circumcised. Most seem to be shameless plugs for circumcision, focusing on the latest "research," or the enthusiasm of some crazy circumfetishist gushing on and on about how all men in the world should be circumcised, which is why I was surprised to find this article in my news feed on Facebook.

The article is surprisingly balanced, considering it was written by a Jewish author. He counters the most commonly cited alibis with reason and reality, and he beckons readers to listen to what the other side has to say, without dismissing them, conceding that we might actually have a point.

I especially like the fact that he openly declares the fact that he is Jewish, admitting that he has a religious conviction to circumcise his children. I don't think I've read an article written by a Jewish person which gives both sides of the debate consideration in my life.

Still, although I see the author strive for balance, he does stop short of asking some very important questions, but I suppose I can see why; as a Jewish advocate of circumcision with a religious axe to grind, there is only so far he can go.

Still, he is to be commended, for in spite of his conviction he has given our side a fair chance.

Could it be American media is coming around to giving the questioning of the practice of forcibly circumcising healthy, non-consenting infants serious consideration?

I wrote a letter to the editor, which I doubt will be posted, because it's probably too long. I've taken the liberty of posting it here for my readers to read.


5/10/2016
Dear Sirs,


This is in response to the recent article "Should You Circumcise Your Child?" by Aaron E. Carroll, May 9, 2016.


First off, I must applaud the author, for this is the most balanced article I've read on the New York Times concerning this issue. Most articles read like an infomercial selling male infant circumcision, citing all the wonderful things American medical organizations have to say on the matter, mostly ignoring what medical organizations in the rest of the world have to say. I applaud the author for going out on a limb and declaring the conflict of interest that he is Jewish and has religious conviction to do this to his children regardless of what the "science" says. Nonetheless, this author goes out of his way to give American readers perspective, citing reality in light of all the "research" (mostly conducted by American, presumably circumcised authors), that says male infant circumcision is all great and wonderful.


There are a few important facts that I hoped the author would include, however. For example, that in spite of having a male population that 80% is circumcised from birth, we still manage to have higher, if not the highest rates of STDs than industrialized countries where circumcision is rare or not practiced. In some instances, we have higher STDs than countries said to be 2nd world, or developing. According to the CIA World Factbook, we have a higher HIV prevalence than 53 countries where circumcision is rare or not practiced. We have more HIV than Mexico.


Finally, I'd like to pose the question; does parental prerogative and religious conviction truly justify performing non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting minors? Where is the limit to this? Because for better or for worse, female circumcision is also a religious conviction for some, and for better or for worse, it is what some parents wish to do to their daughters. Some readers may object to this question, citing that female circumcision is "more horrific" than male circumcision, but I will contest those who make this objection may not be fully enlightened as to the realities surrounding female circumcision.


While it is true, that female circumcision as performed in the African bush, by amateur healers, with crude materials such as rusty blades and glass shards, is brutal and life threatening, the same is true for male circumcision performed in those conditions. Scores of African men lose their lives annually due to circumcision initiation rituals, while countless others lose their penises to gangrene.


As in male circumcision, when female circumcision is performed in infancy, by trained professionals, using sterile utensils, in the pristine conditions of a medical setting, female circumcision is performed without a hitch. It must be pointed out that our very own AAP has suggested that American doctors perform a "ritual nick" in females for parents who want this for their daughters, admitting that male infant circumcision is riskier and has more adverse problems when they present themselves. A recent paper published in the Journal of Medical Ethics (Arora and Jacobs) echoes the AAP, and affirms the position that female circumcision isn't as bad as anti-FGM activists, as well as male infant circumcision advocates, would like others to believe.


Under any other case, performing elective, non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals constitutes medical fraud. Without medical or clinical indication, can a doctor even be performing surgery on healthy, non-consenting minors, let alone be giving parents any kind of "choice?" What other elective, non-medical cosmetic surgeries are doctors obliged to perform on children "because the parents wanted it," or "because it's the parent's religious conviction?" These are the questions that Mr. Carroll forgot to ask in his paper. Otherwise, I really must say, Kudos on a paper well-written.


Thank you for your time.


Joseph Lewis

Aaron E. Carroll admits that circumcision has risks and complications, and that they are greater than zero, but he fails to mention what these risks and complications actually are.

The risks and complications of male infant circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage and even death.

I close with my mission statement:

The foreskin is not a birth defect. Neither is it a congenital deformity or genetic anomaly akin to a 6th finger or a cleft. Neither is it a medical condition like a ruptured appendix or diseased gall bladder. Neither is it a dead part of the body, like the umbilical cord, hair, or fingernails.

The foreskin is not "extra skin." The foreskin is normal, natural, healthy, functioning tissue, present in all males at birth; it is as intrinsic to male genitalia as labia are to female genitalia.

Unless there is a medical or clinical indication, the circumcision of a healthy, non-consenting individuals is a deliberate wound; it is the destruction of normal, healthy tissue, the permanent disfigurement of normal, healthy organs, and by very definition, infant genital mutilation, and a violation of the most basic of human rights.

Without medical or clinical indication, doctors have absolutely no business performing surgery in healthy, non-consenting individuals, much less be eliciting any kind of "decision" from parents, and much less expect to be reimbursed.

Genital mutilation, whether it be wrapped in culture, religion or “research” is still genital mutilation.

It is mistaken, the belief that the right amount of “science” can be used to legitimize the deliberate violation of basic human rights.


Related Posts:
NYTimes Plugs PrePex, Consorts With Known Circumfetish Organization

Where Circumcision Doesn't Prevent HIV II

WASHINGTON POST: The "Great Controversy" Strikes Again

Politically Correct Research: When Science, Morals and Political Agendas Collide

Intactivism: It's Not Just for Gentiles Anymore

Sunday, May 8, 2016

This Week On Facebook


I'm not sure what pisses me off more.

The fact that an elective, non-medical surgery that is supposed to "prevent" problems is actually the root of this child's predicament, or the fact that people are actually asking for prayers for a child who is suffering because he underwent needless genital cutting expressly forbidden to gentiles in the bible.

Circumcision is not medically necessary in a healthy newborn; it is purely elective, cosmetic surgery.

The risks of circumcision include infection complications, including MRSA, herpes and gangrene, a botched operation that may need correction later on, an aesthetically displeasing result for which there can be no correction (e.g. such as too much skin removed, pulling up hairy skin onto the shaft, uneven scars etc...), partial or full ablation of the glans (head of the penis) if not the entire shaft itself, hemorrhage and even death.

The fact that a doctor is putting a child at these risks for elective, non-medical surgery on a healthy, non-consenting minor, is unconscionable.

Keep in mind, these are circumcision cases that manage to surface on Facebook.

Consider that there are other cases which, for reasons of shame or protection, remain secret.

The cases presented here and otherwise were perfectly preventable.


In any other case, reaping profit from performing non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals constitutes medical fraud. In children, it is clear abuse.

How is it that children suffering due to non-medical, purely cosmetic surgery has become "acceptable" in modern medicine?

Related Post:
INTACTIVISTS: Why We Concern Ourselves