WHY SOUTH AFRICANS RISK DEATH AND INJURY.

Why South Africans risk death and injury to be circumcised.

Circumcision is seen as a rite of passage into manhood by some South African ethnic groups.

Males who have not undergone the ritual are not considered real men; they are ridiculed and ostracised.

This is why thousands of young men and boys risk injury and even death to undergo the procedure during "initiation schools" in the bush.

"The practice has become a way for chancers to make money."

In a nearby hospital, a mother is in tears as she strokes her son's head.
He is still frail following months of treatment for a septic circumcision which also resulted in a penile amputation.

"Our children are dying like ants. I want the people doing this to be arrested and punished," she says, angrily.

Botched circumcisions have led to the deaths of more than 240 boys - some as young as 13 - in the last five years, officials say.

 

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19256839 

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LONG TERM CONSEQUENCES OF NEONATAL CIRCUMCISION.

Long Term Consequences of Neonatal Circumcision:
A Preliminary Poll of Circumcised Males.

Male foreskin amputation, euphemistically termed "circumcision," has persisted in various cultures with the unsubstantiated belief that it is a trivial or benign practice.
This has been due in part to the silence of the victims.
Indeed, when male genital mutilation occurs at puberty, a male's silence during the cutting is a measure of his manhood.
Today, men's silence about these mutilations is being broken and they are demanding to be heard.

...the American medical profession has not yet established an accurate and consistent  method of recording these complications.


Reported Circumcision-Caused Harm...
Of the 313 circumcised men participating in the study, 96.2% suspected or were confident that circumcision had resulted in a reduction of normal male capacity for sexual response and pleasure.
The percentage breakdown of categories of circumcision-caused harm are as follows:

Sexual Harm: 84%
Emotional Harm: 83.1%
Physical Harm: 81.5%
Psychological Harm: 75.1%
Low Self-Esteem: 74.4%
Problems with Intimate Relationships: 44.7%
Problems with Addictions/Dependencies: 25.6%

A remaining 13.1% of respondents variously attributed their non-intact state to their problems with masculine identity, self-confidence, and fear of doctors.
Of the 313 circumcised men participating in the study, 55.3% attributed the following physical problems to their circumcision:

Insensitivity of the glans penis: 55.3%
Excess stimulation required to reach orgasm: 38.0%
Prominent scarring: 29.1%
Insufficient residual shaft skin to cover the erect penis: 26.8%

 

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http://www.noharmm.org/synopsis.htm 

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PREPUCE: ANATOMY / PHYSIOLOGY

The Prepuce Anatomy and Physiology of the Foreskin.

This video is supported by appropriate educational and documentary information.

The prepuce is primary, erogenous tissue necessary for normal sexual function.

The complex interaction between the sensitivity of the corpuscular
receptor-deficient glans penis and the corpuscular receptor-rich ridged
band of the male prepuce is required for normal copulatory behaviour.
~Dr. Christopher Cold, M.D. and Dr. John Taylor, M.D.

Video: 19 mins;
...also contains a 'List of Intactivist websites'...

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBlIHE8Y3pU 

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JEWISH PARENTS QUESTION NEED FOR CIRCUMCISION.

Jewish Parents in U.S.
Begin to Question the Need for Circumcision.

A very small percentage, including Wallach, are not circumcising at all.
Others, uncomfortable with the joyous, public ceremony around an intimate surgical procedure, are circumcising their sons in the hospital and crafting new baby-welcoming ceremonies days or weeks later for family and friends.
Some are having no public service at all.

Meanwhile, there is an unprecedented level of debate among friends, grandparents and couples about whether to circumcise and how.
Given that the topic merges sex, religion, identity, culture, gender equity, health politics and antisemitism, such discussions can grow intense or acrimonious.

Several factors are fuelling the trend, including growing secular discomfort with the practice, mixed data on medical necessity and an American culture increasingly open to reinterpreting religious practices.
The percentage of circumcision procedures among the general population is also dropping.

American Jews, on the whole, are now more immersed in secular culture and thus more apt to look askance at the idea of a tribal scarification ceremony. High education levels and a natural aesthetic are also prompting questioning among younger Jews.


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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/us-jewish-parents-question-circumcision 
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SMEGMA IS BENEFICIAL - NOT BAD.

SMEGMA IS BENEFICIAL NOT BAD
AND CLEANING IS EASY.

Many parents and doctors are misinformed and sometimes boys intact are inspected and probed. Overly aggressive cleaning -- attempts to retract -- and invasive inspections (apparently expecting the worst) -- all can cause problems, including the infections circumcision is meant to avoid.

Little boys intact need not ever be subjected to humiliating inspections. For some odd reason, our society is extremely paranoid and obsessed over the idea that the foreskin is difficult to clean. This is not at all true. It is very simple. All any little boy has to do is gently pull back the skin, rinse in clean water and let the foreskin fall back into place.         My intact son is 5. Before I wash his hair, I tell him to clean ‘his surprise’ as he calls it. Just as I have to push him into taking a bath in the first place, I may have to prod him a few times to clean himself. I do have to brush his teeth for him, but cleaning an intact penis is so simple, any boy can and should do it without assistance from anyone.         “Isn’t it insulting to the average male’s intelligence to think that surgery is preferable because he can’t be entrusted with washing his genitals when somehow he manages to brush his teeth, clean his ears and blow his nose?”

Obviously, all penises, circumcised or not, require cleaning.
Circumcision does not guarantee a problem free penis.
Many people are unaware of the fact that one purpose of the foreskin is to prevent infection during the diaper period as well as throughout life.
Circumcised infants are more likely to experience an infection of the raw wound from exposure to human waste.

Males who have been improperly circumcised (which is not all that uncommon) can have problems effectively cleaning themselves. Debris can become embedded in the exposed and toughened glans. This can cause irritation, and if not cleaned sufficiently, an obvious infection.

 Regarding the issue of ‘dreaded smegma:’
“Comparatively little is formed in childhood. A noticeable increase occurs during adolescence, with its great acceleration of penis growth. “Smegma lubricates the cavity between the foreskin of the penis and the glans, thus allowing smooth movement between them during intercourse.

The adult stage follows with its period of maximal sexual activity.
Sexual intercourse becomes a regular feature of life and the function of smegma for lubrication assumes its full value. Middle age follows with a decline in amount until there is a virtual absence of the substance in old age."
 It is my understanding that all circumcisions do not end the production of smegma.
Women also produce smegma, quite a bit more than men actually. Smegma is not dirt.

Interestingly, in ancient Greek, smegma means ‘soap.’
Smegma is a combination of natural glans lubrication and discarded cells. The production of smegma is part of the process of cellular regeneration. It is natural and healthy.  “Remember that it is stale and accumulated smegma that is a source of ill health for the penis.   Freshly formed smegma, washed away regularly and constantly replenishing itself, is a wholesome lubricant - making for ease in erection and smoothness in sexual intercourse.”

 

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http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/inspect.htm 

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PENIS SIZE AND SEXUAL SATISFACTION.

Penis Size and Sexual Satisfaction.

• Does Penis Size Matter?
• Women & Sexual Satisfaction.
• Penis Width and Penis Length.
• Male Anxiety About Penis Size.

 

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http://menshealth.about.com/od/sexualhealth/a/sex_satisfactio.htm 

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EVIDENCE THE FORESKIN PROTECTS AGAINST HIV.

Summary of Evidence that the Foreskin and Lysozyme may protect against HIV Infection.

~By George Hill~

This file contains a summary of the evidence that the foreskin and the sub-preputial wetness under the foreskin (prepuce) may protect against human immunodeficiency virus.

Lysozyme is an enzyme with anti-bacterial action that is found in body fluids.
(An enzyme is a protein or conjugated protein produced by a living organism and functions as a biochemical catalyst.)
Lysozyme breaks down cell walls and kills bacteria.

Prakash and others reported in 1983 that sub-preputial wetness contains lysozyme and Lee-Huang finds lysozyme in human urine. Lee-Huang et al. report that lysozyme is also an effective agent for killing HIV in vitro.

Laumann et al. report that about 77 percent of adult American males are circumcised.
Thus, these circumcised males have no sub-preputial wetness and no lysozyme protection. Laumann finds that circumcised men are slightly more likely to have both a bacterial and a viral STD in their lifetime.

World Health Organization data show that the incidence of HIV infection in the United States is four or more times greater than in any other advanced industrial nation.
Other advanced nations either do not circumcise males or have a very low incidence of circumcision compared to the United States.

Chao reports that a circumcised husband is a risk factor for HIV infection amongst pregnant women in Rwanda.
Grosskurth et al. find a higher incidence of HIV infection in circumcised men in Tanzania.

The high incidence of HIV in the United States and its correlation with the high rate of circumcision has been noted by Storms and Nicoll. Furthermore, Tanne reports a general epidemic of STD, including chlamydia and HIV, in the United States.

Moreover, Fleiss and others report that the increased friction and more vigorous and prolonged thrusting required to achieve orgasm with a circumcised penis may be more likely to cause "breaks, tears, microfissures, abrasions, and lacerations through which HIV in semen can enter the receiving partner's bloodstream."

More research is needed to verify the protective effect of lysozyme and the foreskin in vivo.

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http://foreskin.org/lysozyme.htm 
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MUTILATIONS OF THE SEXUAL ORGANS.

Mutilations of the sexual organs
are more ethnically important than any.

They have played a great part in human history, and still have much significance in many countries.
Their antiquity is undoubtedly great, and nearly all originate with the idea of initiation into full sexual life.
The most important, circumcision, has been transformed into a religious rite.

Infibulation (Lat. fibula, a clasp), or the attaching a ring, clasp, or buckle to the sexual organs, in females through the labia majora, in males through the prepuce, was an operation to preserve chastity very commonly practised in antiquity.
At Rome it was in use; Strabo says it was prevalent in Arabia and in Egypt, and it is still native to those regions (Lane, Modern Egyptians, i. 73; Arabic Lexicon, s.v. "hafada").
Niebuhr heard that it was practised on both shores of the Persian Gulf and at Bagdad (Description de l'Arabie, p. 70).
It is common in Africa (see Sir H. H. Johnston, Kilimanjaro Expedition, 1886), but is there often replaced by an operation which consists in stitching the labia majora together when the girl is four or five years old.

Castration is practised in the East to supply guards for harems, and was employed in Italy until the time of Pope Leo XIII. to provide "soprani" for the papal choir; it has also been voluntarily submitted to from religious motives (see Eunuch).
The operation has, however, been resorted to for other purposes.

Thus in Africa it is said to have been used as a means of annihilating conquered tribes.
The Hottentots and Bushmen, too, have the curious custom of removing one testicle when a boy is eight or nine years old, in the belief that this partial emasculation renders the victim fleeter of foot for the chase.

The most dreadful of these mutilations is that practised by certain Australian tribes on their boys.
It consists of cutting open and leaving exposed the whole length of the urethral canal and thus rendering sexual intercourse impossible.
According to some authorities it is hatred of the white man and dread of slavery which are the reasons of this racial suicide.
Among the Dyaks and in many of the Melanesian islands curious modes of ornamentation of the organs (such as the kalang) prevail, which are in the nature of mutilations.  

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http://www.theodora.com/encyclopedia/m2/mutilation.html 
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