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.

After last week's decision to strike the San Francisco circumcision ban measure from the ballot, the blogosphere and other media have been quiet about circumcision.
 

Sunday, July 31, 2011

What I'm Missing: Part 24, The Jews
Kurt continues his story of growing up circumcised. He recalls an episode where a friend tells his theory of why almost every guy in America is circumcised. His theory that it was because of all the Jewish doctors in America has some credibility. In the mid-twentieth century, more than half of all doctors in the United States were Jewish.
 

Monday, August 1, 2011

On The Couch with Turner Professional Group: Circumcision: Could You Be Dulling Future Sexual Pleasure?
A therapist tells of a patient that wished to address the mental effects of his circumcision. The man was restoring his foreskin to undo some of the damage of his circumcision. The circumcised man also had anger issues towards his parents for "mutalating his manhood" (his words).
 

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

CD Doula Services: Circumcision Facts for Parents
A pdf file listing various facts about male infant circumcision. An important fact is that baby boys are typically born with a healthy foreskin that does not require amputation. The male foreskin "keeps your baby’s penis safe, warm, clean, and moist. It allows the baby’s glans (head) to complete its development normally. The glans is born covered and protected for a reason."

Intact America: INTACTIVIST OF THE MONTH: Leonard Glick
Leonard Glick, MD, PhD, is a cultural anthropologist with a medical degree and author of Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America. He is also one of the most outspoken intactivists in the movement to end the ritual cutting of baby boys. He describes himself as a "scholarly activist," sending letters to legislators, marching in protests, and giving lectures on the history of circumcision and Judaism. "The fact that I am opposed to this anachronistic, barbaric behavior has nothing to do with the fact that I am Jewish."

Savoir ou se faire avoir: Court Decision Regarding San Francisco Petition
A thorough review of the court hearing on the San Francisco circumcision ban ballot measure. The review discusses the arguments made by Michael Kinane for the measure. Hopefully, the issue is ripe for appeal.

Beyond the Bris: Howard Stern's Producer Won't Be Circumcising His Newborn
Howard Stern is against infant circumcision and spoken out about it on his radio show. Howard Stern's advocacy evidently had an effect on the show's researcher and segment producer, Wil Murry. Murry spared his son from the scalpel.
 

Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Zimbabwe's Bulawayo 24: Circumcised men are 'smart'
A possible explanation why some African countries have lower HIV rates in the circumcised population: A study, done by the Institute of Continuing Health Education under the University of Zimbabwe Medical School in 2010, released results that show circumcised men are less likely to be involved with multiple sexual partners due to proper counseling they receive before surgery. "Males under the free male circumcision programme do not show more risky sexual behaviour due to the counselling received prior to their foreskins being removed," the research showed. "The male circumcision programme provides a platform for men to receive counselling on safe sexual practices, not just surgical procedure." The research also showed that there were some men who thought that circumcision offered full protection against such infections.

The Secret World of a Pariah: Routine Infant Circumcision and FGM
Young Lady Solitaire blogs about the harm of genital cutting. Even at 15 years old, she gets it. Now if we could just the rest of the world as enlightened as she is. She writes, "I am vehemently opposed to routine infant circumcision and FGM - always have been, always will be. In a word? Choice. A doctor, a mother, nobody has the right to say whether a piece of an infant can be hacked off and discarded. It's nobody's choice but his."
 

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Bay Citizen: Circumcision: Harm and Psychological Factors Ignored
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.
 

Friday, August 5, 2011

The WHOLE Network: Forced Retraction: What to do Now & How to Clean
An intact baby boy (one who has not been circumcised) requires very little care with respect to his foreskin. Wipe it like a finger and never retract. An infant's foreskin is fused to the glans. It does not retract unless someone forces it back. Forcible retraction hurts the child and can cause future problems by damaging the glans and foreskin. In spite of this, some doctors still insist on retracting an infant's foreskin. The best thing to do in this case is to let the foreskin heal by not repeating the retraction.

Feeding the Hand that Bites Me: Do you have 20 minutes to learn why you must think very hard before circumcising your baby son?
Tim presents a YouTube video on the functions of the prepuce - foreskin. The video shows how the foreskin works. It illustrates what a circumcised man is missing.

The Kenyan Standard: Study: Circumcised men having more protected sex
A recent study, Risk Compensation, which is part of the Sexual Health Attitude and Behaviour Study, shows that circumcised men engage in less risky sexual behavior. They have no increase in their number of sexual partners and they have increased condom use. Perhaps this is the real explanation for why some studies show circumcised men have a lower HIV rate, they wear condoms.

The Guggie Daily: If only I had not let them circumcise
A mother describes her son's circumcision complications. Her son started bleeding a few hours after his circumcision. Two trips to the doctor's office later, her son finally stopped bleeding. But her son had trouble eating because he was in pain from his circumcision surgery. She regrets having her son circumcised.

Sam hindu's Blog: Circumcised Men Vs Natural UnCircumcised Men
A sensible look at the benefits of an intact penis and the disadvantages of a circumcised penis. When all is said and done, you (and your partner) are actually likely to have much better sex with a penis that is uncircumcised.