Circumcision:First Cut Is The Deepest

[Alkman]

FIRST CUT IS THE DEEPEST
CIRCUMCISION AT BIRTH BURDENS MILLIONS OF MEN WITH PSYCHIC SCARS



As a society, we're mostly in denial about the fact that a large proportion of guys walking around today were traumatized shortly after birth by circumcision, performed in the hospital where they were born. In Canada, the medical profession didn't come out against circumcision until 1975. Despite official disapproval, babies are still circumcised for irrational reasons like "so he'll look like Daddy." There may be a tendency to joke this subject away, precisely because it is so painful, but unfortunately we now know thanks to recent anatomical research that removing babies' foreskins is not all that different from removing an eyelid or lip. All these structures contain sensitive nerve endings and a mucosal membrane for lubrication. The foreskin contains most of the specialized nerve endings needed for full sexual pleasure. Removing it is the equivalent, gals, of removing your clit. It's still often done without anaesthetic, even though the way the foreskin is attached to the penis in babies is similar to the way fingernails are attached to the nail bed.

Without the foreskin, men often lose even the reduced sensitivity they have left, since without protection the penis gets drier and tougher with age. Circumcision cuts down female pleasure, too – circumcised men have to thrust a lot harder, which can cause vaginal tears. Studies indicate that women with uncut partners come more.

Besides being unethical, since it removes healthy tissue without the informed consent of the patient, circumcision also has no demonstrated health benefits. It's kept going, say activists, by denial and our society's deep-seated anxiety about sex.

Fortunately, rates are dropping rapidly in Canada, though they're still at 60 per cent in the U.S. In the meantime, we have to come to terms with this poor decision made by our elders. It's important to realize that post-traumatic stress from the operation can linger into adulthood, exacerbating rage, fear, depression, low self-esteem or shame. And if you're a male who has trouble being sexually intimate or is chronically angry with women, this could be what ails you.

You might need a psychologist who recognizes circumcision trauma (see www.birthpsychology.com) a homeopath, acupuncturist, cranio-sacral therapist or body-based psychotherapist, because these modalities can address non- and pre-verbal experience. "Restoring" the foreskin through stretching what's left will provide protection for remaining sensitive nerves.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

"Not a single national medical organization in the world approves circumcision. The harm far outweighs any possible benefits in every case. The idea that sex with a circumcised partner prevents cervical cancer was shot down about 20 years ago. In an Israeli study, the incidence of urinary tract infection in men is higher after circumcision than before. A study surveying women found that men who were circumcised put so much effort into getting their own pleasure that they weren't actually making love to the women; the men who had their entire complement were more loving. The worst thing about this is that men have to face up to the fact that they've been diminished. We say, 'Men, it takes courage for someone who's been circumcised not to have his son circumcised. '"

GEORGE C. DENNISTON, MD, master of public health, founder and president, Doctors Opposing Circumcision, Port Townsend, WA

"Male satisfaction with circumcision depends on lack of awareness and knowledge about it. Men may also not be aware of how certain feelings are connected to circumcision, or they may be afraid of disclosing these feelings. One way someone can explore this is first to educate himself as to what circumcision is and talk about it with someone. As a man feels and shares more, the next step comes. Some men (eventually choose) to help raise awareness. Empowering oneself to do something about the situation can have therapeutic benefit."

RONALD GOLDMAN, psychologist, Circumcision Resource Center, Boston, author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma and Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective

"The mother-child bond is affected by circumcision because the baby is in pain for weeks after. Infants show a lowered ability to breast-feed because when held against the mother's body they experience pain. Imagine the effect on you when early hugging and feeding cause you to experience pain. In circumcising, the doctor often has to get the penis into a condition where he can handle it better. To do that, they often stroke the baby's penis and give him an erection. It might be the baby's first. The next thing he experiences is excruciating pain."

LAWRENCE BARICHELLO, executive director, Intact, Toronto

"Newborns have an exquisite sense of pain. Usually, circumcision is done without parents in the room, and babies are restrained. It sounds like torture, doesn't it? A baby's prefrontal cortex develops during the first 18 months. The prefrontal lobes are involved in making higher ethical decisions and forming intimate relationships. When a baby's needs aren't met, he develops high levels of stress hormones that can become toxic and prevent proper brain development. The impact of circumcision on the prefrontal lobes hasn't been researched. We know circumcision causes stress and raises stress levels thereafter."

LISA MURRAY-DORAN, naturopath, Ajax, continuing education instructor in natural parenting, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine



"When people are reliving trauma, other things can come up. Sometimes, it appears to be the memory of being circumcised. I've only seen this a few times, but that was enough to alert me that men who have been circumcised may carry trauma with them. For those who remembered, it was a potent experience, though we don't know for sure it was related to circumcision. Reliving old trauma tends to provide relief. In the short run it's upsetting; in the long run you're able to release old crap."

TOM GOLDEN, clinical social worker, Washington, DC, expert in trauma, author, Swallowed By A Snake

"Chinese medicine looks at piercing and altering the body as adversely affecting energy flow. Your genitals are part of your liver and kidney meridians. This is a severe trauma that happens early. The memory of it would be so buried it would be hard to retrieve. You'd have to have done meditation or other work to remember. Acupuncture deals with trauma even if you're not aware of it; it helps move energy and remove blockages."

KALEB MONTGOMERY, doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, Toronto




SIBYLLE PREUSCHAT

[Arjuna Durden]

Tell ME! I was operated of serious phimosis as I was only three

And they took a lot of skin! geee! The Dr. had to be a Jew!

[Timo]

It is true that some babies die from this jewish practice. Evil, I call it. They would not think to mutilate females, but to males they do it with no problem. It is hideious and terrible to think that this is practice in countries like the USA, where so called doctors mutilate baby boys.

[etoile noir]

Originally Posted by Timo

It is true that some babies die from this jewish practice. Evil, I call it. They would not think to mutilate females, but to males they do it with no problem. It is hideious and terrible to think that this is practice in countries like the USA, where so called doctors mutilate baby boys.

Female genital mutilation does exist too! it is not pracised by jews, but by many african tribes. and it's far more horrid than what they do to males.

"Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the term used to refer to the removal of part, or all, of the female genitalia. The most severe form is infibulation, also known as pharaonic circumcision. An estimated 15% of all mutilations in Africa are infibulations. The procedure consists of clitoridectomy (where all, or part of, the clitoris is removed), excision (removal of all, or part of, the labia minora), and cutting of the labia majora to create raw surfaces, which are then stitched or held together in order to form a cover over the vagina when they heal. A small hole is left to allow urine and menstrual blood to escape. In some less conventional forms of infibulation, less tissue is removed and a larger opening is left.

The vast majority (85%) of genital mutilations performed in Africa consist of clitoridectomy or excision. The least radical procedure consists of the removal of the clitoral hood.

In some traditions a ceremony is held, but no mutilation of the genitals occurs. The ritual may include holding a knife next to the genitals, pricking the clitoris, cutting some pubic hair, or light scarification in the genital or upper thigh area."

source - http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm

[Aeternitas]

Truly sick minded people.

[Awar]

It's just an example of how traditions can go horribly wrong,
individuals can't change that.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by etoile noir

Female genital mutilation does exist too!

I know. But not in Western Countries - where as male circumcision is common in certain countries in west. Sick... sick... sick...

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Arjuna Durden

Tell ME! I was operated of serious phimosis as I was only three

And they took a lot of skin! geee! The Dr. had to be a Jew!

In the golden age of the Inquisition in Spain there is a relate where one man took his son to a doctor to have a badly needed phimosis performed. No doctor in Seville agreed to perform it fearing of being accused of carrying out Jewish rituals.

You are in trouble, and now give me you doctor's name and address at once.

[Arjuna Durden]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

In the golden age of the Inquisition in Spain there is a relate where one man took his son to a doctor to have a badly needed phimosis performed. No doctor in Seville agreed to perform it fearing of being accused of carrying out Jewish rituals.

That's efficiency! Today who knows which obscure physicians might be at work out there? (see my story below)

Originally Posted by Mynydd

You are in trouble, and now give me you doctor's name and address at once.

I would give his details to you, but ... ok, something happened that day that is hard to believe. It sounds like a kafka tale: the nutty professor who arrived at the op room to perform the phimosis surgery made his big cut with almost no local aenestesic and left. My mother went to reception to protest, while my father waited at my side (I had fallen from the bed at the moment of the incision). And then a nurse appeared at the room to perform the operation, saying the doctor would arrive in five minutes. ????

My father left in a frantic pursuit for the mad doctor but he never found him. Hospital managers just gave my parents some apologies and excuses, but nobody really cared about that episode ever after ad so the "cutter" was never found.

Weird and funny, isn't it?

proposed title: "Jewck, the penis skin ripper"

[Dr. Solar Wolff]

In the USA, unless you live way out in the country and are born far from modern medicine, you will be cut. This is almost universal but nobody seems to know why. It must have something to do with Christian Fundamentalism and Jew-loving. I remember it being done to me even as an infant. It is probably my first memory. By the time my grandson was born in 1989, I questioned this practice and asked my daugher if she really wanted this for her son. She went ahead with it for some reason.

The only defense seems to be NOW that African tribes who are circumcized run a much reduced chance of contracting AIDS than their uncircumcized neighbors. This has been studied and found to be real. It has something to do with secretions of the foreskin helping the virus. But this is only recent evidence and has nothing to do with the basic cultural question in this country at least.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Dr. Solar Wolff

In the USA, unless you live way out in the country and are born far from modern medicine, you will be cut. This is almost universal but nobody seems to know why. It must have something to do with Christian Fundamentalism and Jew-loving.

Uh? Here in very Catholic Spain it is weird to find foreskin amputated people. But then again, I guess that it is the real thing, not Christian Fundamentalism.

I mean, if you implied Christian = Jew-loving, Catholicism is rather the opposite.

But yes, I've heard that it is unusual to find an uncircumcised American. That explains a lot.

[Dr. Solar Wolff]

In America, regardless of religion, circumcision is almost universal. Catholics are circumcised with everyone else.

[etoile noir]

Originally Posted by Dr. Solar Wolff

In America, regardless of religion, circumcision is almost universal. Catholics are circumcised with everyone else.

i find this rather odd. i mean, if you were born that way, why chop off something you were born with? surely if it's there [the foreskin], it must serve a purpose.

is this some tradition? is there some reason? hygiene maybe? whose decision is it? the mother's? the father's? surely not the new born child's! and why keep the vicious [to me] circle going?

plenty questions i know. apologies if you find them vexing. you needn't answer of course.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by etoile noir

is this some tradition? is there some reason? hygiene maybe? whose decision is it? the mother's? the father's? surely not the new born child's! and why keep the vicious [to me] circle going?

They used to brain wash the public to think it was because of hygene (total lie). It is the parents decision, but the doctors will talk the parents into doing it. The doctors in america are largely judeo (meaning either jews or controled by jewish intrests).


"Hi, my name is Dr. Rosenbaum. Can I cut up your little boy's penis?"




(ps, that guy isn't a 'real doctor', but google dr. rosenbaum and it is scary)

[Graeme]

What an odd subject! Phimosis, circumcision. I can imagine that for Europeans even the Brits, circumcision is an odd thing to do. In Australia, circumcision was rather popular with the Anglo-Australians and Irish Australians but after all the Europeans from mainland Europe started immigrating after the WW2, it has fallen out of practice. There would be few medicos in Australia today who would recommend it. Apparentally the scuttlebutt is that Australian men who were fighting in the Great War in Turkey and Palestine ended up with severe balanitis due to sand sticking to the inner foreskin and glans. A trend started where just about every male born in Australia was circumcized. Now the trend is opposite. Mothers by and large are against circumcision seeing it as an unnecessary trauma and possible route of infection. In America where the number of mestizos are increasing rapidly, I would think that circumcision would not be part of their culture. So the percentages must be reducing rapidly due to the presence of foreign elements in the States.

[Dr. Solar Wolff]

Thinking back to high school sports (shower room environment), I don't even remember seeing an uncircumsised male. This was true of some German kids we had as well as two Mexican nationals. Maybe they got cut to fit in.

[Cristoforo]

Fortunately, as far as I know, circumcision in Malta is almost non-existent.

I started to feel pain as soon as I read the main article. Jeez, why remove something natural? There is no health advantage. Actually there are health risks in doing so.

I was quite surprised to learn that this was done by non-Jews too and it seems it's quite common.

[Zyklop]

The Jewish circumcision ritual also includes sucking on the infants dick.

The baby cried, blood flowed on to his penis and - as the rabbi had predicted - Graham [the godfather] did not faint. The rabbi then bent over the baby and sucked the wound. I know this sounds awful, but it is part of the Jewish tradition. It's supposed to help the healing." Jack Shamash. "My Son on the Cutting Edge." Independent (London), no. 3,797 (Thursday, December 17, 1998): p. R8

For more disturbing information:
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/mohel.htm