This site differs from others opposed to genital mutilation: its
focus is on intactness rather than on genital cutting. It is intended to
counteract the mindset that the foreskin is an "extra" "flap of
skin" -
- and that male genital cutting is the norm, and the
corresponding mindsets that lead to the cutting of girls and
intersex people.
Links to the most useful pages, if they are not in the list
below, are at Background.
A Glossary of words relating to
Intactivism and normal anatomy. Some of the main ones are illustrated.
Diagrams of male and female anatomy
at eight weeks gestation and at birth illustrate the similarity of
structure.
Not "just a flap of skin": a non-erotic animation of how
a foreskin works. A more stylised animation to
demonstrate its size. A
remarkable illustration of its
actual size.
A short story for intact boys and their
parents about what intactness is, and why intact boys
should, if anything, be glad to be "different" from
their friends.
The Lost List -- what is lost to male
genital cutting (18)
A chapter from a 1980 classic,
Wallerstein's Circumcision: an American health fallacy.
SCHMUCK Interview with Dan Strandjord, who daily picketted the
University of Chicago Hospital for 10 years to protest its
high male genital cutting rate.
The only male genital cutting-related
video to explore important issues not addressed in other
programs, and so far the only one that can both be
purchased as a DVD and viewed online.
as part of a podcast, Circumcision--a
"cure"
in search of a disease, a presentation to the New
Zealand Skeptics, September 26, 2009, (Open Doc Presentation
file--opens in Powerpoint and LibreOffice; 4.7MB)
Comments about this site are welcome.
Please use email.
(No e-cards, thank you. Hostile messages
may be displayed unedited. Link exchange considered only for
sites related to genital cutting.)
Miscellaneous
Types of male genital cutting articles; male genital cutting in
Shakespeare; infection vs. inflammation; diabetes; other "useless"
organs, the appendix and Jacobsen's organ; whether babies remember
being circumcised; permanent retraction; male genital cutting and
royalty.
)
with insufficient anaesthetic: the doctor can hardly
make himself heard over the shrieking baby. Disturbing.
An 8 minute video of a Gomco
circumcision
uploaded by Dr Kevin Windisch "for health
professionals".
He has to raise his voice and still can't be heard over
the baby,
to whom he repeatedly apologises. Disturbing.
Islam:
The Qu'ran does not mention cutting. This
page challenges assumptions.
Judaism:
A very small proportion of male cutting worldwide, but
pre-eminent in the public consciousness of it. An
essay looks at the case for Brit
without Milah.
For those who think male genital cutting improves the appearance
and is invariably harmless, there's a gallery of pictures of circumcisions.
One man's multiple botches.
Side-by-side comparison
of the intact and circumcised penis: you can see the
difference (NSFW).
covers most of the main issues — shows
several circumcisions, not for the squeamish
MexicoA guide (en espagnol) from the National
Center for Health Technology Excellence, with input from the
institutions that make up the National Health System, says
"Circumcision of boys should not be done without medical
indication."
Sweden (på svenska)
The first country to regulate male circumcision See
Items from Sweden, most in
Swedish and English.
U.S.A.
The United States is the only
country in the world that surgically modifies a majority of
its boy babies.
Korea From unknown, circumcision has
become almost universal in Korea
in the last 50 years.
Iran Infant male cutting is routine,
even for boys whose parents are not Muslim. An
article in Farsi (Persian) (NSFW )
The Philippines A traditional ritual
for boys has become medicalised in the
Philippines without the need for it ever being
questioned. Myths are rampant.
Yemen Justified by appeal to Islam,
a report of Yemeni circumcision
from 1921 details a particularly brutal variant (an answer
to "but FGM is much worse")
REPRESENTATION--how male genital cutting is perceived
Silence - the normalisation of male genital cutting by
ignoring the foreskin
Satire
There is a whole genre of articles defending genital cutting, with
so many features in common that this short
tutorial shows you how to write them yourself. A checklist
enables you evaluate their Coefficient
Of C*rc*mc*s**n Knowledge.
Midwives
The serious bias towards circumcision of a leading US midwifery
textbook, including a chapter telling midwives how to do it (yet
it details the disadvantages of each method)--analysed
and contrasted with a British
textbook. Famous hippie guru midwife Ina May Gaskin used to
cut babies and has never renounced it. This video calls on her to
do so:
REBUTTALS
The case presented for circumcision is hydra-headed:
answer one argument and its supporters will produce
another, and another, indefinitely. (Urinary
Tract Infections, until recently cited as the main
reason to circumcise, were only added to the list in 1982)
Something else is going on--if the foreskin has so many
faults and varied, how could it ever have have survived?
A 1941 article mentions in
passing that some doctors then did it without asking
Former US Surgeon-General G. Everett Koop's site, drkoop.com
has moved forward very little.
The Royal
Australasian College of Physicians' 2022 policy
mentions foreskin function and ethical objections, but
fails to say anything more about them and comes down
firmly on the side of "parents' choice".I
It is a step backward from the 2010
policy, which disposes of the medical claims,
details the functions of the foreskin and considers the
plight of unhappy cut men.
Episiotomy A
form of Female Genital Cutting still common in the US.
Breast-ironing
Another cruel sexually-related female mutilation, practised in
parts of West and Central Africa.
Intersexed people and
non-consensual gender-assignment.
Castration
Mozart, Handel, Rossini and Gluck wrote music for castrated
singers, and Allegri was one. This was as accepted in Italy in
1600-1860 as circumcision is in the US today.
And beyond the genitals, infant circumcision compared with footbinding
and uvulectomy (removal of
the uvula that hangs down at the back of the mouth)
Vorhaut-Restoration: 
Mexico 
(
In
) 
