Citizen Blogs are a public space for news and commentary from the community. The views expressed here are those of the individual bloggers, not The Bay Citizen. We aim for this to become a robust forum for discussion of a wide range of issues. If you are interested in becoming a Citizen Blogger on the site, please send an email to info@baycitizen.org and let us know who you are and what you'd like to write about. We look forward to working with you.
An initiative banning circumcision that was removed from San Francisco's November ballot stimulated a wave of articles related to the topic, but virtually all of them avoid discussing the inherent harm of circumcision. By defending or advocating circumcision, proponents avoid some of the emotional discomfort connected with questioning circumcision and fail to disclose the adverse effects. Consequently, they do not help us to see the whole picture. Psychological factors affect every aspect of the practice, including who chooses to study circumcision, what questions are studied and what questions are ignored; which studies are approved for publication and which studies are rejected; what circumcision information is communicated to parents and what information is withheld from parents; what recommendations are made by policy committees and what recommendations are ignored; and what circumcision information is reported in the media and what information is withheld from the public.
Circumcision is a very misunderstood subject, and statements by "experts" may be misleading. National medical organizations unanimously find no proven medical benefit for circumcision. The endless search for a medical benefit―from treating epilepsy, irritability, and masturbation in the late 1800s to preventing sexually transmitted diseases today―has always been suspect.
Studies show that circumcision is significantly painful and traumatic. Some infants do not cry because they go into shock. After circumcision infants exhibit behavioral changes, and there are disruptions in mother-child bonding. Changes in pain response of circumcised infants have been demonstrated in baby boys at six months of age, evidence of lasting neurological effects and a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder. Anesthetics, if used, do not eliminate circumcision pain. Circumcision also has about two dozen surgical risks including, in rare cases, death. Some doctors and nurses refuse to perform or assist with circumcisions because of ethical considerations.
Long-term harm is also a consideration, but circumcised American researchers also typically avoid the discomfort of studying the sexual and psychological harm (e.g., erectile dysfunction) associated with circumcision. This pro-circumcision bias in American medicine reflects the pro-circumcision bias in American culture. The United States is the only country in the world that circumcises many of its male infants for non-religious reasons. Europeans think we’re crazy.
Americans generally ignore the fact that the loss of the foreskin matters. Most circumcised American men (and doctors) do not know what they are missing. Based on recent reports, circumcision removes up to one-half of the erogenous tissue on the penile shaft. The adult foreskin is a double layer, a movable sleeve equivalent to approximately twelve square inches. Medical studies have shown that the foreskin protects the penile head, enhances sexual pleasure, and facilitates intercourse.
Cutting off the foreskin removes several kinds of specialized nerves and results in the thickening and progressive desensitization of exposed erogenous tissue as men age. This tissue would normally remain sensitive because it would normally be protected by the foreskin. Some men who are circumcised as adults (usually because they followed the questionable advice of a doctor) report a significant decrease in sexual pleasure as a result. For example, having sex after being circumcised has been compared to "seeing in black and white instead of in color."
Some dissatisfied men report wide-ranging psychological consequences of circumcision including anger, a sense of loss and sadness, and sexual anxieties. Reduced emotional expression and the avoidance of intimacy may also be related to circumcision. Most circumcised men may seem satisfied because they accept cultural beliefs about circumcision and may not understand what circumcision is and the benefits of the foreskin, they may suppress certain feelings about circumcision because they are too painful, or they may not disclose these feelings due to fear of being dismissed or ridiculed.
We have not had the courage to admit we are making a very serious mistake by continuing to circumcise. For American society, circumcision is a solution in search of a problem, a social custom disguised as a medical issue. Defending circumcision requires minimizing or ignoring the harm and producing overstated medical claims. Beware of circumcised American medical doctors who defend or advocate circumcision. Instead, watch a circumcision video and trust your feelings, instincts, and common sense. You will certainly want to keep your baby safe and intact.
Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. (psychology) is executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center and author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma and Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective.
© The Bay Citizen, 2012
Tora Spigner
Excellent article, Dr. Goldman. I have been an intactivist for many years and educate and inform people about the harm that infant circumcision does to babies and then subsequently, adult men and women, affecting their sex lives forever. It is difficult to be objective about somethimg when it has happened to you and you can only accept it as the norm, so you must perpetuate it to remain "normal." But if men really wanted to be objective, they would allow the person being cirumcised to be the only one to make the decision to be cut or not. Only 1% of men choose to be circumcised as adults, there is no reason to suspect that number would increase if more American men were allowed to keep their foreskins at birth. So thank you again, Dr. Goldman.
Tora Spigner RN MSN
Ron Low
It's great to point out that infant circumcision is barbaric, but I still say that the greater suffering is later on, with reduced sexual pleasure.
Foreskin feels REALLY good. For SEX. Duh. It's HIS body, and only HE can morally decide how good sex should feel for HIM.
Sigismond
Thank you, Doctor Goldman, though the collective harm is far more serious than the individual one:
"Genocide, wars, the death penalty, excision, rape, and circumcision"
http://circabolition.multiply.com/journal/item/344/Genocides_wars_the_death_penalty_excision_rape_and_circumcision
http://sigismond.multiply.com/journal/item/293/THE_2011_SLAUGHTER_IN_OSLO_AND_THE_CONDEMNATION_OF_CIRCUMCISION_BY_FREUD_
Kim
25 yrs ago I refused circumcision for my newborn. Even his doctor tried to humiliate me. I couldn't care less back then and now I see I was on the right side of history. Feel sorry for all the boys that can't get it back now.
Amen Ronald Oberhollenzer
Dear well respected Fellow Intactivist.
YOU do KNOW:
YOU do have already ALL this INFORMATION:
Millions of children are being mutilated.
This obvious Child Abuse is done not only far away but also in your neighbourhood.
You know who the Child Abusers are.
You know their names and address.
You know where and why they do this to the child.
You KNOW CHILD ABUSE IS ILLEGAL.
But even that you KNOW ALL THIS … all you do is “discussion”.
But even that you KNOW ALL THIS … all you do is ask for more “information”.
But even that you KNOW that Children are being MUTILATED in YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD … all you do is “research” into this TERROR!
Upon KNOWLEDGE that someone inflicts preventable injury to a child near you: The normal social-responsible reaction of a healthy, undisturbed mind and heart of an adult is:
A) FIRST to STOP this CHILD ABUSE IMMEDIATELY!
B) If this is not possible because you have no access to the place this Child Abuse is done YOU REPORT THIS CHILD ABUSE TO THE AUTHORITY!
C) If the Authority does – for what ever reason – act in protection of the child, YOU CONNECT with PEOPLE WHO are READY TO ACT AGAINST THIS CHILD ABUSE!
D) Together with these people YOU DEMAND in DIRECT LEGAL ACTION from the
Authority to ENFORCE the EXISTING LAW which has MGM OUTLAWED!
E) YOU PUBLISH THIS DEMAND EVERYWHERE and STAGE PROTESTS so that
EVERYBODY is able to SEE the FAILURE of the AUTHORITY and to JOIN IN.
F) YOU do NOT STOP THIS COOP DIRECT LEGAL ACTION until YOU SUCCEED!
This is what the normal, undisturbed, adequate responsible ADULT mind and heart does!
>>>When you know better, you DO BETTER<<<.
I KNOW that YOU KNOW all ABOUT what is being done to the child.
So why are you NOT ACTING NORMAL, ADEQUATE ADULT RESPONSIBILITY?
What does your “research” DO to STOP the TERROR NOW?
What is the value of your “discussion” while children are actually being MUTILATED in YOUR neighbourhood to YOUR KNOWLEDGE and all you do is asking for even more information?
Why do you want “new” “research” about an act which every CHILD KNOWS to REACT AGAINST it IMMEDIATELY and without any further “discussion” or “research”?
Maybe you do some RESEARCH into your SOUL to SEE why you react less responsible than any CHILD is able to.
>>>Self-Reflection is a predominant means for Self-Correction<<<
You know that I support any Intactivist in the aim to STOP this TERROR.
But to indulge in even more “discussions” … even more “research”????
What is the value of this?
Do you really think that this will bring this CHILD ABUSE to an END?
The Children I know DEMAND of US ALL to ACT in DIRECT ACTION!
How would you feel if this is being done to you and the adults around you busy themselves with “discussions” … and “research” while MILLIONS CHILDREN are being MUTILATED!!!!!
If you are so hungry to do “research” DO IT AFTER YOU have fulfilled your ADULT CITIZEN RESPOSIBILITY to STOP this TERROR by way of the existing law!!!
All else is fundamental FAILURE and in this a WASTE of TIME and FORESKINS.
INTACTIVIST COOP DIRECT LEGAL ACTION is CALLED FOR!
>>together we are not alone<<. amen
Tom Tobin
Not to mention that circumcision is the only operation routinely performed, which removes healthy parts, "just in case". It has no proven benefits, only what the AMA and AAP euphemistically call "potential benefits".
No one gives the slightest press to the studies which show it to be useless, only the latest study with jimmied data, which always defy logic.
If circumcision was so powerful in preventing HIV infection, why have so many millions of circumcised Americans died of AIDS?
How do the Europeans and South Americans handle it? Just fine, I suspect.
4.7 million or more years of human evolution works well.