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All that is needed to understand the nature of circumcision, is to watch a circumcision being performed <http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/plastibell.htm> and see the baby in question cry its little eyes out and scream in pain and terror, perhaps qualifying such babies as being "anti-circumcision" by nature in the eyes of some people. In March of 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics announced <http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/marcircum.htm> that they had concluded that there is no weight of medical evidence in favor of routine neonatal male infant circumcision and that babies being circumcised actually DO feel the pain. <http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/anand/> Because of this, the AAP claimed, <http://www.aap.org/policy/re9850.html> they would no longer recommend circumcision as a routine neonatal operation, and have now stated that circumcision should be an "ethical" choice. Female genital mutilation is now a felony crime in the United States. In the decade of the 90's, after over 20 years of debate, lawmakers in California and Washington, D.C. finally passed laws making the genital mutilation of female humans under the age of 18 a felony crime. However, boys are apparently not considered "people" by the courts and are therefore not entitled to equal protection, and they apparently do not possess the same worth and dignity as do little girls. Boys and men apparently do not qualify as "people" according to the American Medical Association (AMA) either, and therefore their members are apparently free to ignore the ethical standards that the AMA uses for girls. This inconsistent legal interpretation is also in conflict with existing international law, in that the United Nations non-governmental organization "National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers" (NOCIRC) <http://nocirc.org/> has acknowledged that male infant circumcision is, in fact, a form of child abuse. <http://www.nocirc.org/legal/> Furthermore, NOCIRC currently presents information that male infant circumcision is clearly in violation <http://www.nocirc.org/legal/smith.html> of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child <http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-convention/> AND the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. <http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-human/> In that respect, NOCIRC also presents an alternative birth ritual, developed by a Jewish parent in consultation with his rabbi, entitled Brit Shalom, Covenant of Wholeness, <http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming%20ceremony.html> and this ritual now offers religious parents a way to maintain their religious convictions while also avoiding violation of international law, and prospective future national law. In the United States during the decade of the 90's, approximately 1 million infant boys annually had circumcision unwillingly perform upon them - more than 3,000 babies each day - one child approximately every 30 seconds. This surgery used more than $250 million health care dollars annually as well as untold personnel hours. Globally, 15-20% of male children were subjected to some form of non-medically indicated genital mutilation. Circumcision is extremely painful and traumatic for a baby. In the male version, the baby is placed spread-eagle on his back on a board and his arms and legs are strapped down so that he can not move. His genitals are scrubbed and covered with antiseptic. His foreskin is torn from the glans and slit lengthwise so that the circumcision instrument can be inserted. Then his foreskin is cut off, usually without anesthetic. <http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/plastibell.htm> While this may appear to be an odd thing to do to a baby boy, the ancient orthodox religious ritual is more bizarre. According to "The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia"; "The circumcision rite consists of the following: . . .3. metzitzah, the sucking of the wound, to staunch the blood, by means of the mouth, as practiced in earlier times, or by means of a suction cylinder or other modern methods in more recent times." Believe it or not, the female version of circumcision in some societies is even more bizarre, removing most or all of the girl's clitoris, and is often performed with a sharp but dirty instrument only vaguely resembling a knife; the claim by these people is that a girl who is not mutilated in this manner is "unclean" in the eyes of society and their future husband. In some other cases, the mutilation is performed by a newly-betrothed husband of a young girl bride who is sometimes brutally raped after the bloody mutilation. The often repeated claim that babies can not feel pain is not true. <http://www.cirp.org/news/1996.05.29%3aNewYorkTimes> Babies are as sensitive to pain as anyone else. Most babies scream frantically when their foreskin or clitoris is cut off. Some defecate, and some lapse into a coma. The reason why some babies do not cry when they are circumcised is that they can not cry because they are in a state of shock. Most babies are circumcised without anesthesia, and anesthetics injected into the external sexual organs do not always work. Being stuck with a needle in the penis or vagina is itself painful for a baby, just as if would be for anyone else. Often, no pain medication is given after the surgery or during the week to ten days it takes the wound to heal; can you imagine the incredible pain and suffering that is inflicted upon victims of infant circumcision as part of the first few weeks of their lives in this world? Botched circumcision horror stories are multitudinous and easily uncovered upon even cursory research, resulting in complications that cause a myriad of problems for numerous babies, children, and mature adults, every year. It is a fact that every year throughout the world, babies are losing their entire penis to botched circumcisions, end up having transgender sexual surgery performed upon them, and are subsequently given female hormones and raised as girls. Often, these children have no idea what has happened to them, grow up with an innate confusion about their true identity, and are never told about what originally happened to them, this because their parents are apparently more concerned with protecting their leaders and their rituals than they are concerned with the well-being of their children. These children most often are quite odd-looking in appearance (essentially like the character "Pat" played by Julia Sweeney of Saturday Night Live television fame; what is described as a "butch" female by some people), and are often ostracized and continually insulted and taunted by society for their appearance, which is obviously wholly not of their own fault. And that is not even to mention that even correctly performed circumcisions end up removing as much as 50-70% of the penile skin, reduce penile sensation by approximately 40%, and generally reduce erect penile size 2 inches in length and 1/2 inch in girth. Often, "correctly" circumcised penises lean to the right or to the left and can be bowed upwards or downwards (both when erect and when flaccid), are in both states grotesquely scarred in appearance, and will generally feel constrictively taut when erect. And circumcision even further results in the eradication of the excitement for the male that arises from the natural exposure of the glans and an absence of sufficient foreplay which is necessary to the satisfactory sensual stimulation of the woman, further resulting in a hurried rush towards penile stimulation through vaginal intercourse and an even more hurried rush to complete the act, often further resulting in continued attempts to soothe the denuded penis of the circumcised male as part of an innate psychological attempt to heal the pain that still resides in the deep recesses of the mind of the circumcised victim. All of which can lead to strained sexual relations and stereotypical stigmatization of the marital relations of couples who must deal with all of the indicated complications, further resulting in high divorce rates, and thus, single-parent family units, which all eventually end up causing additional complications in the lives of the children of such parents. Furthermore, circumcision can be implicated as one of the historical and current reasons why some people hate so many other people in their lives, <http://www.nurturing.ca/saharasiareview.htm> because of the trauma of the terrible pain and suffering that was inflicted upon those people right after their birth into this world. Circumcision can also be implicated as one of the reasons for many of the sexual and mental abnormalities found in some societies that are not generally found in other societies throughout the world, and apparently, the embarrassment that many circumcised men exhibit regarding nudity occurs because on some level, they are ashamed to show their scarred, mutilated, and smaller circumcised penises to other men who may or may not be circumcised. And this continues to occur despite the fact that the functional necessity of the foreskin has been proven and understood by science for a long time. During infancy, the foreskin protects the glans from irritation from waste material, and later on protects the glans from friction, all designed with the natural intent of keeping the glans soft and sensitive. During sex, the extra length of extremely sensitive skin provided by the foreskin allows the erect penis shaft to slide gracefully back and forth within the penile skin, providing an additional layer of friction and protection during the sexual act and providing an additional level of pleasure, when compared to the taut and inflexible nature of most circumcised penises. Do the research yourself, and begin to learn about circumcision; Female Genital Mutilation: An Introduction <http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/fgmintro.html> - "FGM has often been referred to as female circumcision and compared to male circumcision. However, such comparison is often misleading . . . A more appropriate analogy would be between clitoridectomy and penisdectomy where the entire penis is removed." The Female Genital Mutilation Education and Networking Project Page, <http://www.fgmnetwork.org/> Female Genital Mutilation around the World: Population Groups, <http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/world.html> FGM and Women's Reproduction Bibliography <http://www.fgmnetwork.org/reference/biblio.html> Female Genital Mutilation (Female Circumcision) in Africa, the Middle East and Far East <http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm> - "Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is an destructive, invasive procedure that is usually performed on girls before puberty. Part or all of the clitoris is surgically removed. This leaves them with reduced or no sexual feeling." American Academy of Pediatrics Won't Recommend Circumcision <http://www.aap.org/advocacy/archives/marcircum.htm> - The academy is now stating that there is no weight of medical evidence in favor of male infant circumcision and that babies being circumcised actually DO feel the pain. Doctors Opposing Circumcision <http://faculty.washington.edu/gcd/DOC/> - "D.O.C. is an organization of physicians, and others who are opposed to routine neonatal circumcision. D.O.C. has members in 50 States, 12 Canadian Provinces and Territories, and in nations on six continents. These doctors recognize that no one has the right to forcibly remove sexual body parts from another individual." In Memory of the Sexually Mutilated Child <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/> - "In memory of all the children throughout history who have died at the hands of sexual mutilators; and in memory of those who almost died, those who wanted to die, and those who wished they had died; and in memory of those who never knew that a sexual mutilator killed a beautiful, wondrous, irreplaceable part of them." Sue Circumcisers, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/sue.htm> $10,000 Reward!, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/$10000.htm> Foreskins for Sale, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/f4sale.htm> "A Scream We Will Never Forget", <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/pain.htm> The Serial Circumciser, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/serial-c.htm> A Short History of Circumcision in the U.S. in Physicians' Own Words, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/shorthis.htm> The Circumcised Male Has Less Penis", <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/less-p.htm> Recreational/Erotic/Fetish Circumcision, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/fetish-c.htm> Foreskin/Circumcision/Restoration Websites, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/links.htm> Howard Stern on Circumcision, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/stern.htm> Mohel sucking blood from baby's penis, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/mohel.htm> Circumcision Deaths/Disasters Headlines, <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/deaths-d.htm> "When I realized that Judaism cut me off from part of myself, I cut myself off from Judaism" <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/levitt.htm> The Circumcision Fact Sheet <http://www.eskimo.com/~gburlin/mgm/facts.html> - A summary fact sheet, documented with references and sources, which presents a strong case against mandatory, involuntary, routine, male infant circumcision. Mothers Against Circumcision <http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/> - Another effort to protect the birthright of male infants, this time from the mom's viewpoint. And you can see shocking pictures of an actual circumcision (with the heartbreaking picture of a crying baby!) at this page at; <http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/plastibell.htm> but be prepared to be repulsed! National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC) <http://nocirc.org/> - "Dedicated to making a safer world, NOCIRC is a non-profit educational organization committed to securing the birthright of male and female children and babies to keep their sexual organs intact." Answers to Your Questions About Infant Circumcision - http://www.nocirc.org/answers1.html <http://www.nocirc.org/answers1.html> Brit Shalom - Covenant of Wholeness <http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming%20ceremony.html> - "This ritual was developed by a Jewish parent in consultation with his rabbi." "RABBI: Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: 'Abraham, Abraham.' And he answered, 'Here I am.' The Angel said, 'Do not raise your hand against the boy nor do him any harm.' (Genesis 22:10-12) Historians tell us that both the priestly animal sacrifice and the blood rite of circumcision replaced an earlier practice of human sacrifice. Instead of giving up the male child's life itself to God, the Jews began to offer up the blood of circumcision." "Parent 1: But the real test in this passage and in Genesis 17, where God commands Abraham to circumcise his son in exchange for land, was not whether Abraham would blindly obey God but if he would use his innate moral sense and tell God: 'NO! It is WRONG to maim innocent babies just so I could have a piece of land.' 'NO! It is wrong to murder even on your command.' Abraham failed these tests and we have been living with his failure ever since." Jewish Associates of CRC <http://www.circumcision.org/question.htm> - "Our caring for the Jewish community and Jewish male infants compels us to break the silence that supports circumcision. We trust that the enduring Jewish values of ethics and education will lead more Jews to the realization that circumcision does not serve the best interests of the child or the community of Jews." Circumcision and Religion (NOCIRC); <http://www.nocirc.org/religion/> The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments, <http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/moss.html> Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community?, <http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/rothenberg.html> Jehovah, His Cousin Allah, and Sexual Mutilations, <http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/aldeeb.html> Challenging Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective <http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/fourth/goodman.html> Circumcision: Cultural and Religious Issues (CIRP); <http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/> The Holy Bible, Circumcision, False Prophets, and Christian Parents, <http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/christian.html> Christian Parents and the Circumcision Issue, <http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/peron1/> To Mutilate in the Name of Jehovah or Allah, <http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/aldeeb1/> Bris Shalom Ceremony, <http://www.cirp.org/pages/cultural/bris_shalom.html> The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints and Circumcision <http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/LDS/> Circumcising Baby Boys 'Criminal Assault' <http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/971017/1263272.html> - Canada has already banned involuntary female infant genital mutilation. Read how their medical society is leading the effort to consider similar laws against involuntary male infant genital mutilation. The Complications of Circumcision <http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/williams-kapila/> - "The British Medical Association has recommended that circumcision should be performed only for medical reasons. Despite this, controversy exists over whether too many circumcisions are being performed. Are patients being exposed to an unnecessary operation?" Circumcision of American Babies Declines 11 Percent in Just Five Years <http://www.hcia.com/findings/990513_circum.htm> - "In the late 1960s, as many 85 percent of boys in the U.S. were circumcised at birth. That percentage is now about 60-65 percent." Circumcision in America <http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/10/26feature.html> - "Why, exactly, do we circumcise? How did circumcision evolve from a strictly Jewish and Muslim ritual to a standard medical procedure performed on a vast majority of American males, irrespective of religion? Why is the United States the only Western nation in the world to practice it routinely, despite overwhelming evidence debunking medical claims and enduring myths?" Circumcision in America, Part 2 - http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/10/27feature.html <http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1998/10/27feature.html> Call It What It Is: Child Abuse <http://www.universalway.org/Foreign/circchildabuse.html> - "Circumcision is medically unjustified penis reduction surgery." Foreskin.org <http://www.foreskin.org/> - "This website contains close-up photographs of the normal, natural, intact adult male foreskin." Baby Parts for Sale in Massachusetts <http://www.massnews.com/foreskin.htm> - "Many researchers use the foreskin of male babies for their projects. The practice of removing the foreskin at birth has continued as a social norm in the United States although professionals frequently report that the practice is neither necessary nor beneficial." Web Sites on Circumcision - http://www.infocirc.org/websites.htm <http://www.infocirc.org/websites.htm> Circumcision Links - http://www.universalway.org/Foreign/circumcision.html <Foreign/circumcision.html> More assorted circumcision web sites and links; Neonatal Pain and its Effects, <http://www.cirp.org/library/pain/anand/> Newborns Feel Pain, <http://www.cirp.org/news/1996.05.29%3aNewYorkTimes> Child Circumcision: Legal Issues, <http://www.nocirc.org/legal/> Male Circumcision and the Rights of the Child, <http://www.nocirc.org/legal/smith.html> United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, <http://www.cirp.org/library/ethics/UN-convention/> Circumcision in the News, <http://www.cirp.org/news/> Circumcision: Other WWW Resources, <http://www.cirp.org/hotlist.html> Botched Circumcision Horror Stories, <http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/horror/horror.shtml> Amnesty International: Nurses and Human Rights, <http://www.cirp.org/nrc/Amnesty_International.html> AAP Circumcision Policy Statement (RE9850), <http://www.aap.org/policy/re9850.html> Estimated U.S. Incidence of Neonatal Circumcision Complications, <http://www.noharmm.org/incidenceUS.htm> CIRCUMCISION: The Compleat Mother, <http://www.compleatmother.com/circ.htm> National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males (NOHARMM), <http://www.noharmm.org/home.htm> Circumcision Information and Resource Pages, <http://www.cirp.org/> Mother Friendly Childbirth Initiative, <http://www.midwifery2000.com/friendly.html> Fathering: Genital Mutilation American Style, <http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/gmas/> Historical Medical Quotes on Circumcision, <http://circquotes.tilted.com/> Mothering: The Case Against Circumcision, <http://www.cirp.org/news/1997:Mothering/> Fathering: The Medical Basis for Routine Circumcision, <http://www.fathermag.com/health/circ/> Nurses Refuse to Participate in Circumcision, <http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/nursecon.html> NOCIRC Amicus Curaie Brief in Matthew Price Case, <http://www.nocirc.org/legal/brief.html> Accord Not To Circumcise Son Still Leaves Heated Legal Debate, <http://www.cirp.org/news/star-ledger01-25-01/> Circumcision Information Ring <http://nav.webring.yahoo.com/hub?ring=anticirc&list> In the United States and Canada, female infant genital mutilation has been made a felony crime, and because of this precedent, some students of law are already asserting that male infant genital mutilation is also a felony crime, though not engrossed in national statute law at this time. And because female infant genital mutilation has been made a felony crime, some students of law are also claiming that despite the failure to consider baby boys in recent legislation outlawing female genital mutilation, the precedent has been set, the crime has been acknowledged, the punishment has been established, and involuntary genital mutilation of male humans under the age of 18 should also be classified as a felony by nature which, in the future, should become prosecutable, and even if it is not, will now be understood by law-abiding people for the type of act that it is. Thus, some students of law are already claiming that, in the eyes of a civilized society; anyone who performs an infant circumcision is a felon; parents authorizing circumcision on any infant or child under their guardianship are at the very least an accessory to a felony if not felons themselves; people who proactively support infant circumcision are moral conspirators in the commission of a felony; and people who know about the crime of infant circumcision being committed and who do not act to prevent such crimes, are contributing to the continued irreparable harm of unwilling children. While circumcision rates in the United States in the decade of the 90's were reduced to a still-high 60%, the worldwide rate outside of the U.S. is only 15-20%, so it can be asserted with certainty that the majority of the people and nations of the world already understand the implications of infant circumcision. Thus, acknowledging the trends which have been identified, it will probably come to be well-known in the future that circumcision is a form of child abuse, and that the perpetrators of this form of child abuse are really felony criminals who have caused irreconcilable damage to their own children. The following nightmare will be found to possess an archetypal structure which can be found to be consistent among the different nightmares of the majority of children who have been circumcised shortly after their birth. That archetypal nightmare may go something much like this; You are naked to the world and backed into a corner with no hope of retreat or escape. You can barely move, but you still vainly try to fight back against your assailant by flinging your legs out to try to deflect shooting rays of light which are attacking you at the center of your being and which are causing you immense pain and suffering. Horror and terror overcome you as you experience the ultimate frustration possible since whatever you try to do to stop the attack is totally futile, and the attack never ends without completing its mission of completely submitting you to continued pain and suffering, and inflicting upon you the frustration of such a horror and terror that when you awoke from sleep and remembered the nightmare you could never understand why anyone in the world would possibly be tortured by such an experience in the first place. This is an archetype of a nightmare that many babies have experienced in their childhood, and even in their later lives, and this nightmare will finally end permanently when a person realizes that it is a recounting of exactly how a baby boy would interpret the experience known as infant circumcision. There can be no doubt that this explanation is the correct explanation for this archetypal nightmare, and the question must be asked; how many children have experienced a similar nightmare in their lives, without ever being able to understand or express the frustration of the horror and terror and pain and suffering they experienced, and how many children have been so haunted in their sleep that such a nightmare made such a distinct impression on them that it affected them in their waking life? The psychological implications surrounding people who obtain apparent benefit from committing acts of genital mutilation upon innocent babies, is also an astonishing subject to contemplate, however, there are apparently few people in the world who are objective enough to be able to comprehend the full extent of the matter. The practice of routine neonatal male circumcision was very, very rarely seen in the United States of America until it was first introduced by the American Medical Association at the end of the 19th century, and later grew greatly in popularity after WWII ended. The published reasons by the AMA for the imposition of male infant circumcision as a routine neonatal operation in the United States will be found to be the prevention of masturbation. Medical journals from the late 19th century assert this as a fact, and since masturbation was at the time believed to be the cause of many other illnesses, including insanity, circumcision was promoted by the AMA as a preventative for masturbation and those other illnesses. It is interesting to note, however, that the current medical rationale for routine neonatal male circumcision was developed AFTER it was made routine by the AMA. Further research into the matter uncovers the following; On page 214 of "The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia" (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, Inc., 1939), the following is found; "The circumcision rite consists of the following: 1. milah, cutting off the end of the upper prepuce; 2. periah, baring the glans by tearing or cutting the tender lower prepuce and pushing it behind the glans; 3. metzitzah, the sucking of the wound, to staunch the blood, by means of the mouth, as practiced in earlier times, or by means of a suction cylinder or other modern methods in more recent times." On page/column 572 in Volume V of "Encyclopedia Judaica" (Keter Publishing House, 1971), the following is found; "The next stage is the performance of mezizah ('suction'). This has led to much controversy in recent years. Throughout the ages this was done by suction by the mouth in order, according to Maimonides, to remove the blood from the distant parts of the wound (Maim. Yad, Milah, 2:2). It was the recognized method of disinfection at the time. A mohel who refrained from performing it was considered to be endangering the life of the child, and had to be debarred from practice. Toward the middle of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century cases of syphilis, tuberculosis, and diphtheria occurring in infants were ascribed to infection from mohalim using this method of suction. This has been contested by a few Jewish doctors, and some communities still follow the original practice. The Paris Consistoire abolished mezizah in 1843." On page 167 of "Encyclopedia of Judaism" (Jerusalem Publishing House, Ltd., 1989), the following is found; "The circumcision itself takes only a few seconds, and is performed by a circumciser (mohel). Formerly the blood was drawn orally by the mohel but now an instrument is used." An interesting addition is found on page/column 570-571 in Volume V of the aforementioned "Encyclopedia Judaica"; "In 1843 the clerical leaders of the reform movement in Frankfort sought to abolish circumcision among their adherents; the controversy concerning its necessity in Judaism lasted for 20 years and eventually spread to America. They based their objections to circumcision on five reasons: (1) It was commanded to Abraham and not to Moses. It is not distinctive of Israel since it is also practiced by descendants of Ishmael; (2) It is mentioned only once in the Mosaic law; it is not repeated in Deuteronomy; (3) Moses did not circumcise his own son; (4) The generation of the desert was not circumcised; (5) There is no initiation of daughters into Judaism. All these were answered by Orthodox rabbinical authorities. To counter this agitation, Leopold Zunz wrote his essay on circumcision (Gutachten ueber die Beschneidung, Frankfort, 1844). Today, most Reform Jews have their children circumcised." It is noted here that in the "New Standard Encyclopedia of Judaism" (Facts on File, Inc., 1992), no mention at all is made of the mezizah, and it will be observed that the more modern the reference edition used, the less that is disclosed about the practice of the mezizah. However, all of the above information is easily found in the reference section of most libraries, and furthermore, an Internet search on "mezizah" and/or "metzitzah" will easily uncover the cherished association and continued use of this practice by some Orthodox Jewish communities. The conclusion in the matter is that the "mezizah" is the stage of circumcision where the mohel places his mouth on the baby's penis and sucks the blood and skin from the wound. And while many of the sects of Judaism claim to no longer use the mezizah, it is clear that this stage was performed by all sects for at least a millennia, and in fact, is still performed in some Orthodox sects (by some people who condemn homosexuality as a sin punishable by death), <http://www.universalway.org/Foreign/judaism-homo.html> all of which identifies the original nature of the ritual upon which the modern operation is based. And at the same time, it is well-known that many a rabbi reports experiencing an exciting chill from participation in the ritual and that many rabbis consider it an honor to perform infant circumcision, and because of this, there are many rabbis who have performed thousands of these operations. Here is some more information in the matter; Mohel sucking blood from baby's penis - http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/mohel.htm <http://www.SexuallyMutilatedChild.org/mohel.htm> From all the evidence available, infant circumcision must thus be considered an act of sexual abuse performed upon the most innocent and beautiful creatures in the world; it is an act that, by Universal justice, must lead to the promulgation of other forms of child molestation in any society that supports or condones such acts. Furthermore, people who use arguments based in freedom of religion, personal liberty, or parental control, as a defense for the crime of infant circumcision, are corrupting the definition and ideals of freedom and parenthood, and are exposing an unsupportable and illogical prejudice, both within the law, and within their own logic. Regardless of all of the above, there are still some people who claim that in a civilization which declares itself in support of truth, liberty, and justice, people who forcibly impose an operation that painfully removes a majority of the most sensitive part of a newborn baby's external sexual organs, are "right." Some of these same people claim that all people have the right to do whatever they choose to do with their own person and property, as long as they do not harm the person or property of any other person; while at the same time some of those same people declare that people who alter the sexual organs of newborn babies are "right" in the eyes of that same society. Every human being deserves to be treated in a fair and equitable manner, afforded all the possibilities available to them in life, and protected from harmful acts that deny them those possibilities. When harmful acts are performed, be it arbitrarily or intentionally, a remedy must be pursued. Furthermore, harmful acts need be researched and identified for their true nature. Tolerance of all human beings includes all people to the degree that they do not perform harmful acts upon other people. Babies are the most innocent and beautiful of all creatures in the world, and harmful acts performed upon babies are some of the most terrible that can be contemplated. Thus, it is important that babies be protected in the law from cultural and traditional acts which may have become rote, but which are really harmful acts. The practice of involuntary infant circumcision stains the souls of the babies and children of many a nation in the world, and makes just resolution of the problems of those nations appear to be an impossibility. The only solution to the entire problem is the acknowledgement of the pattern of existing explicit international law, and the outlawing of male AND female infant genital mutilation (circumcision) on a national level, first in specific and detailed statute law identifying such acts of mutilation as a felony crime, and then by constitutional amendment designed to protect children from involuntary mutilation and to acknowledge such acts as crimes against humanity. There can be NO excuse for the mutilation of the genitals of male or female children. Thus, if your child is otherwise healthy and there are no problems with his/her external sexual organs, DO NOT DO CIRCUMCISION! There are some people who have had the operation done as an adult and say that they wished that it was done as a child. Those people had a choice. They made their own decision. Once circumcised, your child can never decide to not be circumcised. Parents should not allow an operation, no matter how simple the procedure, to be done on any child (male or female) without a firm and solid medical reason. There is NO medical reason for the majority of the circumcisions performed in the United States. Please DO NOT CIRCUMCISE YOUR CHILDREN if there is no medical reason, and there is NO medical reason for routine infant circumcision. Parents who have allowed this operation to be performed in the past, for whatever reasons, and who are beginning to think that they made a mistake, or whose children are becoming aware of the truth about circumcision, should do their own research into the subject matter and seek out the strength to admit to their mistake, apologize to their children, explain to their children why they allowed the operation to be performed, and beg forgiveness of their children, in order to regain the trust of their children and so as prevent any possible estrangement that might occur in the future when children learn the whole truth about the matter of infant circumcision. And it goes a long way also if those same parents would share what they have learned with other prospective and current parents, so that other people may begin to better understand the truth about routine infant circumcision. All people, when confronted with the information presented herein regarding infant circumcision, should do their own research into the subject matter and attempt to rectify that knowledge with their personal religious beliefs, if necessary. For people who accept infant circumcision as a valid religious ritual, they might find it useful to consider that, as suggested in the above Jewish religious ritual Brit Shalom, <http://www.nocirc.org/religion/Naming%20ceremony.html> it might just be true that God created circumcision as some sort of special test of the intelligence and compassion of its creation that, for those of its children who failed the test, they would find themselves living with that failure from that point onward into the future, until they finally decided by themselves, to pass that special test. The time has come for organized religious institutions to admit the truth and find some way to protect their viewpoint by rejecting the practice of involuntary infant circumcision, before even more victims of this crime become advocates for the abolition of the religious, social, and political systems that perform such acts upon their own children and that try to force such acts upon the children of other people. The time has also come for the civilized governments of the world to outlaw male infant circumcision and define it as a felony in the same manner that has been done for female circumcision, and this does not mean that it is any particular religion that is being pinpointed by that act, but that, in fact, a new day has dawned for those religions where they will be able to live in a new freedom. And, in fact, many people are already challenging the practice of ritual circumcision within their religious communities, promoting debate and inspiring change that has already resulted in the establishment of symbolic rituals that do not include the mutilation of the genitals of babies as part of any ritual of their religion. Any society that fails to challenge and outlaw this practice must by their failure be admitting to their control by the leaders of their religions, and thus, a convincing argument may be made that the society itself is a theocracy by nature. Now is the time to acknowledge the truth in the matter, protect the children from the harm imposed upon them by their own parents, help the circumcised peoples and religions of the world with their self-imposed punishment, and direct them towards an understanding of behavior that does not compel these harmful acts upon their own people, especially their babies. Furthermore, the time has also come for all people in the world to accept all other people as their brothers and sisters in the human species and as equal partners in humanity, and to treat all other people in the world the same way that they would treat any other person who followed the same religion as themselves. ~ Recent statistics show that approximately 65,000 "intersexed" babies are born every year throughout the world ("intersexed" babies are babies born with genitals that do not meet the "normal" criteria of "normal" human beings, some of those "intersexed" babies actually being some form of "hermaphrodite" by nature). Some of these babies exhibit some characteristics of male genitals while possessing XX chromosomes (female), some of these babies exhibit some characteristics of female genitals while possessing XY chromosomes (male), and some of these babies exhibit the characteristics of both male and female genitals while possessing a mosaic pattern of both XX and XY chromosomes (true hermaphrodites). The huge majority of these children have performed upon them operations to mutilate and alter their genitals in order to make them conform to the genitals of "normal" society, while at the same time, the huge majority of the victims of these operations end up confused and disturbed about their entire condition, and have asserted their wish that they would have preferred to remain intact with the genitals that they were given by "God" at birth. Many such victims also report experiencing no true sensation in their genitals whereas many who were operated on at a time later than birth report that before their operations, they were able to experience a degree of sensation in their genitals that provided them with satisfactory sensual stimulation. Such a situation, when combined with an understanding of circumcision, and autism (see More Truths About Circumcision: Neurological Disorders and Circumcision), <http://www.universalway.org/circtruths.html> makes it a necessity and a requirement that all parents avoid all types of unnecessary contact with doctors who impose such social standards and who perform such operations. The desired result of this entire matter, can only be the desire of a small amount of doctors to prevent such "abnormal" people from experiencing any true sensual stimulation and prevent them from producing children in the future who might not meet the normal standards set for society by these doctors. [More Truths About Circumcision] <http://www.universalway.org/circtruths.html> |
