This profile is aimed at dispelling rampant myths about infant circumcision. It is a cruel, damaging human rights abuse that is still going on in this country, despite the fact that every medical organization in the world has confirmed that it's unnecessary, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
In the American Medical Association's report ( click here) they evaluate every possible medical "benefit" and conclude that none of them are justifiable. And even if they were, the same benefit can be accomplished by simply taking a shower each day and washing yourself with warm water, like you would every other body part. The British Medical Association has taken a strong stand against infant circumcision, and the Canadian Pediatric Society doesn't recommend it either. The royal Australasian College of Physicians has found no medical reason for infant circumcision, and its statement has been supported by the Paediatrics & Child Health Division of The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Australasian Association of Paediatric Surgeons, New Zealand Society of Paediatric Surgeons, Urological Society of Australasia, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, and the Paediatric Society of New Zealand.The American Academy of Family Physicians has found no justification for the procedure; the describe it as only cosmetic. Their paper.
There are a growing number of men who are extremely angry with doctors and parents who do this to them. Some have even had depression over it, and there are support groups for them all over the country. (click here) Many go to great lengths to restore their foreskin. One Doctor said recently, "There are well over a million men estimated in America that would pay good money to have their foreskins restored were there an effective procedure." (link to his paper) There are also a number of lawsuits against parents and doctors for performing this without any medical reason.
It has also been medically proven that circumcision greatly reduces sensation. This is because the foreskin itself has far more specialized nerves in it than the rest of the penis. If you cut them off, obviously you cant feel them anymore. A study recently published in the British Journal of Urology proved that the most sensitive parts of the penis are on the foreskin itself. The researchers had this to say:
The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis.Here is a link to the study itself.
Also, in an intact male, the foreskin covers the glans(head) of the penis, keeping it wet and soft. The skin on the glans is only one cell thick, which makes it far more sensitive to touch. When the foreskin is removed, the head gets dry since it is constantly exposed to the air. And since it rubs against clothing and diapers, it grows a thick layer of keratin(thats what your fingernails are made of) to protect itself from being damaged. The skin gets to be about 15 cells thick. This means you wont be able to feel as much during sex or masturbation.
Here is an interesting excerpt from an article in Men's Health magazine on the subject:
"Increasingly, men who were circumcised as adults (for various medical reasons) are speaking out against circumcision, providing firsthand accounts of sex before and after.
"I had ample sexual experience, and I was quite happy as an intact male," says Rick Thomas, who was circumcised on advice of his doctor at age 26. "After my circumcision, that pleasure was utterly gone. On a scale of 10, the uncircumcised penis experiences pleasure of at least 11 or 12; the circumcised penis is lucky to get to 3. If men who were circumcised at birth knew the loss of pleasure they would experience, they would storm the hospitals and not permit their sons to undergo this."
Douglas MacArthur, a 55-year-old locksmith from Pennsylvania who was also circumcised as an adult, reports similar problems. "Sex before circumcision was like driving a luxury car with automatic transmission," he explains. "I used to just glide along. Sex now is like driving a tiny, powerless compact with a manual transmission. It takes a lot of work to get anywhere. My penis has lost 90 percent of its sensitivity."
from Men's Health, July/August 1998, pages 130-135,163.
Here is another personal account of the loss of sensation by a man who was circumcised as an adult:
At age 30, during a physical exam, my doctor, noticing my long foreskin, stated this was an unhealthy situation. That I would likely have problems with it, and advised that I be clipped. Have never studied circumcision on the pros and cons, I consented. He gave me no information on which to base an informed judgment. Neither did he give any information about what style he would employ, or how tight he would cut me, and I did not know enough to ask.In a couple of months the sensitivity began to decline and has continued to decline to this day. Sexual pleasure has been reduced by at least 70 per cent, both in intensity and the fact that the whole rage of sensation is completely gone. This is most logical, as two of the structures [foreskin and frenulum] were removed, and the only remaining structure, the head, has been toughened and desensitised by being deprived of the moist natural covering which God intended it to have, and is constantly exposed to the friction of clothing. Circumcision has deprived me of much pleasure for the remainder of my life, has caused me physical pain and has been psychologically devastating. I no longer feel like a real man.
William E. Krueger, Winston-Salem NC, USA, open letter to newspapers and Intactivist organisations, 12 July 1993
taken from circumstitions.comalso check out NOHARMMso why did circumcision get started? in the 19th century, "doctors" thought that almost every disease(tuberculosis, mental illness, retardation, paralysis, almost anything else you can think of) was caused by masturbation. so, they figured if they took away the source of most of the penis' sensitivity and pleasure, everyone would stop masturbating, and they would have a sudden miracle cure.
obviously, this didnt work. but by the next century rolled around, the practice was institutionalized. Doctors began saying that it was cleaner(mostly to cover their asses), but all an intact man has to do is wash it like any other part of his body; it takes only a few seconds.
and now, the reason often given is that circumcised men have lesser chance of getting Urinary Tract Infections. That's true, but the difference is insignificant. the incidence of intact men getting UTIs is 0.4%-1%, according to the AMA. One study reports that 195 circumcisions are needed to prevent one UTI. And if a man somehow does get a UTI, all he needs is a single antibiotic shot just like with any other kind of infection, and he's fine in a couple of days. no genital amputation necessary.
and here's the kicker: since circumcision is surgery, there are risks that go with it. taken from the American Medical Association's web site:
Two large series detected a complication rate between 0.2% and 6% in circumcised infants. Bleeding and infection, occasionally leading to sepsis, are the most common adverse events requiring treatment. In the majority of cases, bleeding is minor and hemostasis can be achieved by pressure application. Other untoward events can result from taking too much skin from the penile shaft causing denudation or rarely, concealed penis, or from not removing sufficient foreskin, producing an unsatisfactory cosmetic result or recurrent phimosis. Other postoperative complications include formation of skin bridges between the penile shaft and glans, meatitis and meatal stenosis, chordee, inclusion cysts in the circumcision line, lymphedema, hypospadias and epispadias, and urinary retention. Case reports have associated circumcision with other rare but severe events including scalded skin syndrome, necrotizing fasciitis, sepsis and meningitis, urethrocutaneous fistulas, necrosis(that literally means the penis gets infected and falls off) (secondary to cauterization), and partial amputation of the glans penis
Look at the above statistics; they illustrate that you are far more likely to have one of these problems from being circumcised than you are to have a problem from being intact. Not to mention, since most circumcised men have it done in infancy, many complications don't manifest until they hit puberty and their penis begins to grow. If too much skin is removed, it can cause pain during erection, difficult or painful masturbation, painful skin tearing, curved erections, and can decrease penis length because the skin gets so tight that part of the penis is pulled back into the pubic fat. the incidence of these complications is proven to be at least 10 percent by the Royal Australian College of Physicians (Their Report) , but is known to be higher because so many men are circumcised, doctors dont realize that circumcision is what causes the problem. So, the risks of the procedure are numerically greater than any "benefits."
despite all of this, currently about 55% of american baby boys are circumcised. the rates are dropping fast, though.
The bottom line here, though, is that people have a right to make their own decisions about their own bodies. A person's parents do not have the right to perform cosmetic surgery on them. If, when a man is grown, he wants to be circumcised for some reason, he can do it(only .3% of intact men actually do so. they know how good it is to have intact genitals). But it is a human rights abuse to forcibly amputate a healthy, normal part of someone's body, altering them for the rest of their life.
It is expressly illegal to perform genital surgery on girls in almost every country(including the US) yet male circumcision is not illegal anywhere.
the only countries that still practice this are the US, and muslim and african countries.
add this profile to your friends list and maybe put it in your top friends, to make people aware of this horrible human rights abuse! There's also a number of Myspace groups made for the purpose of stopping this, Click here to go to one group.
