Parents, protect your babies. Support intactivism. The following list includes blogs, articles, and websites of interest to Intactivists that were published in the past week. This is a running tally of the ones I found interesting.

The big news this week is the lawsuit brought for a boy with a botched circumcision. When the boy was a week old, he was circumcised, Unfortunately, more than his foreskin was removed. This is a complication of the surgery that most parents are not aware of. The boy, now eight years old, has had multiple corrective surgeries and will have to live the rest of his life with his botched circumcision. Sure, he was awarded $4.6 million, but I would rather have my whole penis instead of the money.

• laist: Family Wins $4.6M in Lawsuit After Circumcision Gone Wrong
• NZ Herald: NZ $5.6 million compo after botched circumcision
• LA Weekly Blog: Penis Clipping as Part of Circumcision Gone Bad Yields $4 Million-Plus Settlement For Boy in L.A.
• Long Beach Press-Telegram: Boy's botched circumcision leads to $4.6 million award
• California Injury Lawyers Blog: Products Liability: Los Angeles Judge Awards Family $4.6M for Injury from Botched Circumcision
   

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Barefoot Intactivist: Urologist Renounces Infant Circumcision; Discusses Risks, Harms, & Lack Of Benefits
A discussion of a video interview of Dr. Snyder, former president of the Virginia Urological Society. Dr. Snyder talks about the ethical problems with performing an unnecessary procedure (circumcision) on a child that cannot consent.  The urologist also de-bunks the myths that newborn circumcision can stop penile cancer (the rarest of all male cancers), urinary tract infections, and HIV.

Saving Babies: Intact Care: So Easy a Caveman Can Do It
Intact baby boys should be cleaned by wiping. Never retract the foreskin of an infant. The foreskin should be retracted only after the foreskin naturally separates from the glans, which can happen anywhere for a couple years old to after the onset of puberty. Sadly, too many, including doctors, think that the infant foreskin must be forcibly retracted. "Where did we ever develop this crazy concept that baby boys need their foreskin forced back from birth for cleaning? I mean really think about it."
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Daily Breeze: Boy's botched circumcision leads to $4.6 million award
Botched circumcision results in boy losing part of his glans. The boy, now 8 years old, had had multiple surgeries to minimize the damage done from the botched circumcision. The judge approved a $4.6million award. I would rather have my whole penis than the money.

Feeding the hand that bites me: Oh USA Why do you still Circumcise your newborn boys?
Tim presents a rational, reasoned, quiet video of a urologist talking about infant circumcision and how circumcision does not prevent any disease or ailment.

Adelaide Now: Jory: Why allow this cruelty?
Male circumcision, when considered clinically and unemotionally, is a cruel, unnecessary, unethical and painful process and a barbaric denial of basic human rights. Removing part of an infant's penis has to be a gross violation of personal dignity and basic human rights. If the same thing happened to a non-consenting adult male there would be a public outcry.

Male Circumcision and HIV: IAS 2011: Two days in the fray
A short progress report of David Wilton's trip to the International AIDS Society meeting in Italy.
 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Bay Area Intactivists: SF MGM Bill Court Hearing Demonstration
Opponents of the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill filed a lawsuit against the city of San Francisco to have the bill removed from the November ballot. Should this attempt to stifle democracy succeed, it will unjustly silence the voices of the more than 7000 San Franciscans whose signatures qualified this landmark ballot initiative. In protest of the lawsuit, members of Bay Area Intactivists will demonstrate outside of the San Francisco Civic Center Courthouse.

The Australian: Boy awarded $4.6m in US for botched circumcision
A report from Australia about the recent lawsuit awarding $4.6 million to a boy who had part of his penis removed during an infant circumcision. Many parents are not aware that male infant circumcision is risky. Well, there are risks for the elective surgery. In this case, the boy paid the price for his parents decision to have part of his manhood removed by circumcision. If the parents had not made the circumcision decision, the boy would have grown up whole, with his penis complete. Instead, his parents wrongly decided for the boy to have the unnecessary surgery of circumcision.

coffee and kids: Joseph4GI: Circumcision is Child Abuse: A Picture Essay
A reprint of portions of Joseph4GI's post showing the similarity of female genital cutting to male genital cutting. The only reason people think there is a difference is cultural conditioning. The American culture abhors female genital mutilation, but sees nothing wrong with male genital cutting, which is called circumcision to minimize that it is genital mutilation.

Male Circumcision and HIV: IAS 2011: Encounters with circumcision advocates/program directors
A short progress report of the Intact America efforts in Italy at the International AIDS Society Conference. Two contacts were made. One person was caught up in her own hubris and unconcerned that she was imposing her beliefs and culture upon others. Another person was willing to learn more about the harms of circumcision. He was interested in reaching common ground.
 

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Salem-News: Jewish Voices: The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision - Part 1
The current San Francisco circumcision referendum has made the public aware of the severe physical consequences of the controversial surgery. The idea that an individual has the right to their own body is recent by historical standards. For many years, a number of courageous Jewish and Israeli scholars, historians, activists, and parents have raised serious objections to circumcision surgery. More and more Jews are choosing not to circumcise their sons. These Jewish voices against circumcision are just starting to enter the mainstream conversation. “In Israel, opposition to circumcision has happened in just two decades, and now these “rebels” number in the tens of thousands, according to Ronit Tamir, founder of Kahal, a support group for parents who choose not to circumcise their children.” - JEWISH WORLD.

Intact for Life: MC Shows Us His Foreskin (Restoring) NSFW
A man restoring his foreskin has full flaccid coverage, but he wants more. This blog entry has a picture of the restored foreskin.
 

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lizard Dick: 2 Month Check-in
After two months of restoring his foreskin, Lizard Dick is seeing some changes to his penis. His skin has become looser and more elastic. He is impatient, but he realizes that foreskin restoration is a long process.

Beyond the Bris: Eli Ungar-Sargon Debates “Kosher Sex” Author Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the Ethics of Jewish Circumcision
Eli Ungar-Sargon is the filmmaker who made Cut, a documentary about Jewish circumcision. He says infant male circumcision is physically harmful, medically irresponsible, and morally wrong. Circumcision is physically harmful, because it permanently damages the penis. We now know, that the prepuce, or foreskin as it’s colloquially known, plays an important role in male sexual experience. Infant circumcision is also medically irresponsible, because it’s an unnecessary surgical practice that puts babies at risk. Ask any immunologist or epidemiologist and they’ll tell you that neonates and the elderly are two of the most vulnerable populations to infectious disease. Artificially creating an open wound on an infant is asking for trouble. Precise statistics on circumcision-related complications are difficult to come by in the United States, but a low estimate is 2%. Complications include hemorrhage, sepsis, and even death.

Should I circumcise?: Burning questions I need someone to answer
A circumcised man who is restoring his foreskin has some burning questions. These are some really good questions that make you think, why are we circumcising our boys?
 

Friday, July 22, 2011

What I'm Missing: Part 22, Shame
Another installment in Kurt's circumcision story. This part of his story is about shame. Is shame based on what we have no control over? We know we cannot fix the problem. Do we feel shame for even having the problem? Is all we can do is stay quiet and pretend the problem does not exist?

ChangeActivists.org: Circumcision & The Empathy Deficit In Leadership Today
The trauma of infant circumcision may have an effect on the man the baby grows up to be. Many of our current leaders are circumcised. These leaders show a marked lack of empathy. The author questions if circumcision trauma may be a contributing factor for the lack of empathy in our leaders and politicians. Smilar questions have been raised by others who note that cultures with the highest male circumcision rate are also the ones most likely to be warring with others. The US, the Middle East, and some African countries come to mind immediately.

YouTube Video SpinCycleSubmission: Foreskin Restoration & Medical Dogma
A young man describes how restoring his foreskin has improved his sex life. Foreskin restoration has also made him realize why he does not trust doctors. He advocates that everyone should do their own research instead of just trusting doctors.
 

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Salem-News: Jewish Voices: The Current Judaic Movement to End Circumcision - Part 2
Part 2 of a series started on July 20. Part 2 includes a  collection of quotes from Jews speaking against infant circumcision. There is also an extensive list of links to articles describing the growing Jewish movement.

Cancer Type: Top 5 Reasons to Circumcise Your Daughters
A YouTube video that shows that many of the reasons justifying male genital cutting (circumcision) also apply to females. Based on the comments, many do not get the parallels between male and female genital cutting/mutilation.
#1. It helps prevent HIV/AIDS
#2. It improves hygiene
#3. It improves smell, by reducing bacteria levels
#4. It looks better, by removing unsightly flaps of skin
#5. To allow male circumcision, but not female circumcision is sexist

The Guggie Daily: Who would you cut?
Forced circumcision. But only for boys, never for girls. Many on Facebook are offended at infant circumcision related pictures. But the cultural bias is strong. Genital cutting of girls is bad. But not so for boys. Genital integrity should be for all, boys and girls.