The big news this week is that a judge ruled that the San Francisco circumcision ban measure must be removed from the ballot because it violated state law. First, the judge made a tentative ruling that the ballot measure would be stricken from the ballot. the judge said that the California Business and Professions Code prohibits local regulation of medical procedures. She said that it "serves no legitimate purpose" for an illegal measure to remain on the ballot and ordered elections chief John Arntz "to, um, cut it off." (Can we grow up enough to stop with the stupid puns, already.)

• City Insider: Circumcision ban to be snipped from ballot
• USA Today: Circumcision ban to be stricken from San Francisco ballot

Then, the following day after a hearing the judge makes her decision final.

• BBC News: San Francisco circumcision ban struck from ballot
• CNN Health: San Francisco judge removes circumcision ban from ballot

Intactivists say they are considering an appeal of the judge's ruling.

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.
 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Post-Journal: Circumcision Has Outlived Usefulness
Circumcision is the physical abuse of children in order to protect and maintain an identity that is in no danger of being lost. It is a tradition that has outlived its usefulness and should have no place in the 21st century.

Male Circumcision and HIV: IAS 2011: Delegate Interactions with Intact America
A report by David Wilton, who attended the International AIDS Society Convention in Rome, Italy. The response was divided between those who were intact and knew the value of a foreskin, personally, and those who were circumcised and had no knowledge or experience of the foreskin's value. "The ones who know what a foreskin is and how it impacts comfort, health, and sexual pleasure were with us. Those who did not have this experience or knowledge were skeptical."
 

Monday, July 25, 2011

The Case Against Infant Circumcision: Response to David Wilton @mc_hiv
MindOfOwn adds his commentary to David Wilton's report of his trip to the International AIDS Society (IAS) conference in Rome. He provides information on the various confounding factors of the studies relied upon to support the Africa circumcision campaign.
 

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

CafeMom - The Stir: How to Avoid Circumcision When You're Jewish
A report about Brit Shalom, a Jewish naming ceremony that does not involve circumcision of the baby boy. Brit Shalom is a viable alternative to Brit Milah.

Top Baby Care Guide: Baby Mario Circumcised Without Permission
Last year baby Mario was in neonatal intensive care. His mother explicitly told the hospital that her son was not to be circumcised. When the mother left the NICU, the baby boy was circumcised. The mother is suing the hospital for the unwanted sugery.
 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Beyond the Bris:  Defying Convention: An Interview With Miriam Pollack
Miriam Pollack is widely recognized within the anti-circumcision community as both a proud Jew and a dedicated opponent of genital cutting. She boldly, yet gently, speaks her mind, which has at times put her at odds with the two communities she holds most dear: the Jewish community and the community of intactivists.

NPR: Circumcision: Age-Old Rite Faces Modern Concerns
The vast majority of Jewish parents — whether orthodox or secular — opt to circumcise their boys. Yet, a small but growing number of Jews, are wavering. An Alternative: the Brit Shalom. One parent says, when considering not circumcising their son, "we also recognize there are many commandments that have gone away over time, that are observed by some and perhaps not others." Dan and others say that most modern Jews don't follow everything the God of the Bible ordained, such as ritual cleansing or punishments like stoning people. So the couple is considering an alternative, called a Brit Shalom, which is a Jewish welcoming ceremony without the circumcision. This is why they're sitting in the living room of Binyamin Biber, one of a few dozen rabbis nationwide who perform these ceremonies.

The Guggie Daily: Circumcision ban to be snipped from ballot
A parody of the SF Gate report of the circumcision ban. The viewpoint is changed by considering genital cutting of the opposite sex. Suddenly, genital cutting is not worthy of puns when it is females who are being cut. It is about time that males got some respect. Genital cutting of any child is abhorrent.

Male Circumcision and HIV: Judge Giorgi removes SF MGM Bill from San Francisco ballot [updated with video]
Judge Loretta Giorgi of the Superior Court in San Francisco ruled against the SFMGMBill.org ballot initiative as was expected from her tentative ruling the day before. In addition, she ruled that the Doctors Opposing Circumcision Amicus Curiae brief was untimely and therefore would not be considered.

YouTube Video by Bonobo3D: Jewish Man With Foreskin Speaks Out!
A video of Bay Area intactivists at the San Franciso Pride celebration after the parade. One of the men in the video is Jewish and he is happy that he still has his foreskin.

 

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The New York Times: Increasingly, a Ritual Is Bypassed
Increasingly, Jewish parents are opting out of Brit Milah. They are not circumcising their sons and are holding a Brit Shalom, instead. Brit Shalom is the brainchild of Dr. Mark David Reiss, a 78-year old retired San Francisco physician, who was raised in the Orthodox Jewish tradition in New York and attended Yeshiva as a boy. Like other “inactivists,” Dr. Reiss holds that the commandment to circumcise should be updated.

Choose Intact: Inquiry Is Better than Insinuation
A rebuttal of an essay by Rabbi Gary Creditor, who likens a restriction on infant circumcision to anti-semitism. The good rabbi is incorrect in that there is no pogrom against Jews by requiring that male circumcisions be conducted only with the consent of the person who's penis is being partially amputated.
 

Friday, July 29, 2011

Babies, Boobs, & Blasphemy: Oh, Hypocrisy...
An opinion piece about the judge ruling against the male infant circumcision ban in San Francisco. Meanwhile, a bill in New Jersey seeks to ban botox injections for children. OK to cut infant genitals, but let's not inject our kids with chemicals.
 

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Dr Momma Peaceful Parenting: Removing Pleasure: Male Genital Mutilation
The practice of male genital mutilation, commonly known as circumcision in the United States, predates recorded history. There is no therapeutic or prophylactic benefit to circumcision. In 1971, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a statement that “there are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period.”  Victims of routine infant male genital mutilation have very mixed reactions when it comes to the subject. There are many who whole-heartedly embrace the detrimental alteration that has occurred to them. They accept their culture's view of the practice and their personal state of being sexually altered. There is another reaction common among sexually altered men. This is the deep feeling of loss. Those who decide to restore their foreskins embark on an interesting journey. Along the way they will experience pain, pleasure, possibly a few awkward moments while on the way to a sense of completeness.

Male Circumcision and HIV: IAS 2011: "What village?! What village?!"
Intactivists at the International AIDS Society IAS convention in Rome, Italy, report of an encounter with Ugandan researchers. These men were adament that there is no homosexuality in Uganda. Considering that there is a pogrom against homosexuals in Uganda, it is not surprising that none come forward with that information during the circumcision studies.

The Provocation: Circumcision Ban Doesn't Curtail Rights, It Protects Them
Whose rights are more important, the parent's or the child's? Whose body is it? Whose sexual life is being affected? This article with a poll answers those questions by pointing out that the individual most affected, the male child, is having his body permanently altered by circumcision for no real medical need. We should know better. "Banning circumcision isn't about curtailing the rights of parents, it's about affirming the rights of their children."

Instinctive Parenting: Leave my son alone!
What is it about babies that makes doctors bring out the knives? It starts with C-sections and episiotomies, then clamping and cutting the cord, and if you have a boy, circumcision. Parents with intact sons need to be strong enough to tell doctors to leave their son’s penis alone in the unlikely case of an issue with the penis. Most penile problems are solved with patience and time, and those that aren’t are remedied with means other then the surgical removal of the foreskin.