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NEWS - RESEARCH & RESOURCES NEWS:    2024 September Genital Modifications in Prepubescent Minors: When May Clinicians Ethically Proceed? Published by the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), Article | Announcement | Read more at GALDEF. 2024 August CALL FOR PAPERS: The Journal of Bodies & Sexualities seeks contributions for a special issue on circumcision and anti-circumcision around the globe. This Special Issue takes a “global” approach to the questions of the foreskin, circumcision, anti-circumcision, and foreskin restoration; pushing to analyze what these questions tell us about local and regional masculinities. Abstract submission deadline Novembr 1, 2024. Final manuscript deadline: Feburay 1, 2025. Read more: PDF What counts as mutilation—and who should decide? Disrupting received wisdom on genital cutting and modification in the Global North and South. BD Earp, J Abdulcadiur, A Shahvisi. Culture, Health & Sexuality. 2024 | PDF Ever wondered about Filipino circumcision (tuli)? Filipino experience of ritual male circumcision: Knowledge and insights for anti-circumcision advocacy. (Romeo B. Lee, 2006) | PDF Beyond the snip: Filipino male circumcision tradition stands strong. (Rommel Rebollido, 2023) | Arguments against male circumcision. (Lois Englebrecht, 2021) | Foreskin restoration being done in PH, says doctor. (Frank Cimatu, 2018) | PDF Filipino "tuli" ritual (graphic images) | NOHARMM.org 2024 February Tim Hammond Genital Autonomy Advocacy Archives established at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. The Finding Aid lists decades of materials documenting the history of Hammond's involvement with social change movements, ranging from historical photographs, audio recordings, videos, correspondence, conference papers, and media interviews to educational brochures, t-shirts, buttons, bumper decals and protest signs from 1971 to 2023, with new contributions planned on an annual basis. Materials will be available to researchers and historians through in-person visits, with online access from anywhere in the world expected to be available during Summer 2024. Finding Aid 2023 November WAS2023 Report. Tim Hammond's foreskin restorer survey presentation and report from the World Association for Sexual Health (Antalya, Türkiye). Video Presentation | Written Report 2023 September Help Circumcision Sufferers and Foreskin Restorers be heard at WAS2023 (foreskin restorer survey findings to be presented). Go Fund Me campaign (deadline 31 October) Break the Circumcision Taboo & End Male Genital Mutilation Luke Storey Podcast with Eric Clopper 2023 June Survey Data Shows The Foreskin Regeneration Market is Over 200 Billion Dollars. Hegemon Media 2023 May Video presentations for the 11th annual commemoration of the Worldwide Day of Genital Autonomy (WWDOGA). YouTube | WWDOGA website 2023 April Comment: Foreskin restorers: insights into motivations, successes, challenges and experiences with medical and mental health professionals. Mokken SE, Özer M, Timmermans FW. International Journal of Impotence Research | View ‘Male circumcision’ and ‘female genital mutilation’: why parents choose the procedures and the case for gender bias in medical nomenclature. JL Nuzzo. International Journal of Human Rights. 2023:1-24 | PDF 2023 March A landmark survey of almost 1800 foreskin restorers from 60 nations was published in the International Journal of Impotence Research. Foreskin restorers: insights into motivations, successes, challenges, and experiences with medical and mental health professionals – An abridged summary of key findings. Hammond T, Sardi L, Jellison W, et al | View Is circumcision still appropriate for today? A Jewish/Muslim Dialogue | YouTube 2023 February The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement officially expired in 2017. Most policy statements issued by the AAP expire automatically after 5 years unless renewed, reaffirmed or superceded by a new statement. A couple of dedicated individuals had to remind the AAP to update its relevant webpages to reflect the expired status of that policy. In January the AAP changed the status of the policy to 'Expired'. It remains to be seen what this means for doctors, hospitals and private clinics who continue to promote circumcision by referring to this now expired policy. Expired 2012 Circumcision Policy Statement on AAP website / PDF   |   Expired 2012 Male Circumcision Technical Report on AAP website / PDF From the activist archives: US health insurers knowingly pay for medically unnecessary newborn circumcision. Some even openly concede that it's a social custom and pay for it anyway, just to please plan members and to stay competitive. These were the findings from a 1994 NOHARMM investigative project. The situation likely remains unchanged in 2023. PDF Consumers in the 1990s succeeded in lobbying state legislatures to de-list Medicaid funding of newborn circumcision. A 2004 article by North Carolina resident Amber Craig describes the process that she and others followed to protect children and help save tax payer dollars from being spent on this medically unnecessary surgery. PDF 2022 September From the medical archives: Circumcision in America in 1998: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Charges of American Physicians. (1999, Chris Fletcher, MD) An analysis of the accuracy of the presentation of the human penis in anatomical source materials. (2004, Gary Harryman) Mirror page added to this site for the groundbreaking 1995 video documentary 'Whose Body, Whose Rights? 2022 August New legal website launches: Genital Autonomy Legal Defense and Education Fund Is Circumcision "Necessary" in Islam? (Journal of Religion and Health) PDF Two Jewish brothers on Swiss TV: Ephraim's and Manasseh's foreskin was cut off and they suffer from it (German with English captions) 2022 July From the legal archives (1989): The First Circumcision Case by R. Morris* | Circumcision: Legal & Constitutional Issues by C. Bonner & M. Kinane * Historic Adam London case (1985). Hospital Sued in Circumcision (SF Chronicle) | Marin Judge Kills Suit over Circumcision (SF Chronicle) Petition of Writ | Petition Table of Contents | Petition Introduction Circumcision of boys, not a small cut (Arte/Franco-German TV, English subtitles-broadcast 23 July 2022) | view from this website Rethinking the Circumcision Part 1: Gary Shteyngart & Max Buckler (Ep. 31 Podcast-July 27-excellent, nuanced discussion) | listen from this website 2022 June Exposing the TRUTH about Medical Circumcision Informed Consent (Intaction) Video | Donate Genital Cutting as Gender Oppression: Time to Revisit the WHO Paradigm Brian D. Earp Chopped: Exposing the Colonial and Scientifically Dubious Circumcision of 23 Million African Men (2019) The African Exponent 2022 May Worldwide Day of Genital Autonomy/10th Anniversary - May 7, 2022: Website | Full playlist of international video presentatiions (YouTube) Recommended from WWDOGA 2021: Circumcision in Medicine and Islamic Culture & Religion by Dr. Mohamed Fahmy The Genital Autonomy Movement responds to antisemitism: Statement Opposing Antisemitism in the Genital Autonomy Movement Standing Together Against Antisemitism  R. Wald Refuting “Jewish Fragility” & Why Antisemitism Harms the Genital Autonomy (GA) Movement  R. McAllister "The Abuse of Jewish Fragility": a Case Study in How to Undermine the Cause of Genital Autonomy through Jewish Scapegoating and the Use of Classic Antisemitic Tropes   D . Balashinsky An Elephant in the Genital Autonomy Movement   R. McAllister How to Deradicalize a Movement    E. Ungar-Sargon   Shared Issue, Different Ideas. Children's Justice is Not Intactivism    Hegemon Media/B. Marotta 2022 March INGOCGA issues report on male circumcision as a human rights violation. News release | Report (PDF) Clemens Setz on his circumcision. Der Spiegel (in German) | English PDF AAP circumcision brochures recognize "negative effects on self-esteem and sexuality" of female circumcision but not male. 1995 brochure | 1999 brochure | 2017 brochure 2022 February: Circumcision of boys: Thousands of children are circumcised in Germany for no reason. NOZ | PDF Is the NHS carrying out thousands of unnecessary circumcisions on teenage boys? New report shows irreversible surgery is carried out 10,000 times per year Daily Mail | PDF Bloodstained Men push to not circumcise infant boys seen as anti-semitic by some, child protection by others. The Gazette | Enhanced PDF FOIA Request Sheds New Light on the AAP's Motivations: A 2012 policy statement sought to reverse falling circumcision rates, and new data shows that it worked. Circumcision Is A Fraud | PDF Being Honest about the Bris: A Jewish Call for Greater Integrity Evolve | PDF 2022 January: Removal of the Foreskin: More than a Cut Manasseh and Ehpraim Seidenberg call for a rethinking. Mannschaft. PDF Newly published. Circumcision is a Fraud: The Coming Legal Reckoning. Peter W.Adler, MA, JD. Available as Paperback or Kindle at Amazon 2021 December: "Bris" Means "Covenant," not "Circumcision" - Judaism Unbound Episode 303 Podcast | listen from this website Circumcision and its Jewish Alternatives - Judaism Unbound Episode 304 Podcast | listen from this website "Is Circumcision Healthy?" Excellent, clear and concise 15-minute parental education video "Defending an inclusive right to genital and bodily integrity for children." Int J Impot Res. PDF | Link 2021 November: Jay Mjinga on African Circumcision and Kenyan Politics - Brendon Marotta podcast. Listen 2021 September: Article "The men who want to end circumcision in America", from a 2018 issue of The Advocate (U.S. national gay news magazine). PDF 2021 June: How Circumcision affects Trans Women. Discussion from the 9th annual Worldwide Day of Genital Auonomy/WWDOGA. Video | more info on WWDOGA Intersex interventions (including genital cutting): The common ground shared with male circumcision. Discussion from the 9th annual Worldwide Day of Genital Autonomy/WWDOGA. Video | more info on WWDOGA Ethicist Brian D. Earp discusses genital autonomy (male, female, intersex, trans). Published Articles | Video Playlist 2021 May: Circumcision Campaigns: African Opposition and Human Rights (report to the United Nations) PDF These facts about circumcision from a Seattle attorney may astonish you Blog Post World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy (May 07) A campaign day to promote genital autonomy, especially of infants, initiated by the German "Facharbeitskreis Beschneidungsbetroffener im MOGiS e.V.". Since 2013, it is celebrated on each 7 May in many countries. This date has been chosen because on May 7, 2012, the District Court of Cologne (Germany) judged for the first time in Germany, that the circumcision of male children is an assault. WWDOGA 2021 April: Foreign Interference? Evidence points at US and Israeli meddling in Danish circumcision debate (Copenhagen Post) From the archives: 1995 letter to John A. Erickson "Infant Circumcision: The Perfect Crime" PDF PSYCHOLOGISTS SEEKING MEN WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED CIRCUMCISION DISTRESS Men who have experienced circumcision-related emotional distress are invited to complete a brief confidential survey.  To participate you must be an U.S. resident who has not attended therapy to address this concern.  This survey is part of a larger study which aims to offer guidance to therapists so they can be better equipped to help this population.  Your opinions are very valuable to our profession and we greatly appreciate your consideration.  For more information and to complete the survey please follow this link. The survey is open for the month of April 2021. 2021 March: Circumcision Trauma / video playlist by Ronald Goldman, PhD. Link The harm of circumcision, as discussed in video "Jews Against Circumcision". Video link Carter Steinhoff and His Mother Discuss Circumcision – Emotional Relationship Conversation. Podcast | Article (U.K.) 2021 February: Open Letter published from a Jewish American to Danish Prime Minister about Circumcision Law. Danish | English Landmark Circumcision Legal Action Filed Against American Academy of Pediatrics Alleging Fraud. Website | Podcast Raw video interviews of individuals from the YouTube "Circumcision Harms" docu-series. Link 2020 November: New study reinforces the suspicion of permanent, pervasive psychological consequences of early male circumcision. Link | PDF 2020 November: Is Circumcision a Fraud? (P.Adler/R.VanHowe/T.Wisdom/F.Daase) Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy (Fall 2020) Link | PDF 2020 November: Groundbreaking survey finds U.S. doctors, nurses, and midwives actively solicit moms to have their sons circumcised. Read more 2020 November: Newly published book, Circumcision Scar. One man's lifelong struggle with recurring nightmares leads him to discover repressed memories of his neonatal circumcision. A compelling narrative about medical and religious oppression of children, parallels with LGBT history, a journey toward foreskin restoration, and how Christian American doctors forced a nation into denial about male anatomy. Buy | Alt: www.CircumcisionScar.com "...a powerful and moving narrative of suffering and recuperation. This unflinching memoir could be a valuable resource for readers researching the negative effects of circumcision." - BookLife Reviews "Jackson's honesty provides a new way of looking at a practice that is rarely discussed. In the end, this intriguing subject is not only brought to light, but also done so in an impassioned way." - Kirkus Reviews 2020 November: Historical archive document uploaded. Awakenings: Revealing the Long-Term Harm and Healing the Wounds of Infant Circumcision (1994). Self-published report of findings from the first-known circumcision harm documentation survey, eventually published as 'A Preliminary Poll of Men Circumcised in Infancy or Childhood' in BJU International (1999). PDF: Table of Contents | Full Report 2020 October: Recently uploaded... 'The Importance of Genital Mutilations to Gender Power Politics' by Egyptian scholar Seham Abd el Salam. Read (also recommended is Seham Abd el Salam's previously published paper 'Male Genital Mutilation (Circumcision): A Feminist Study of a Muted Gender Issue'. Read) 2020 September: Intact America calls for Child Genital Cutting (CGC) to be classified as an Adverse Childhood Experience, and be added to the ACE questionnaire administered by psychologists and social workers seeking to assess their clients' source(s) of trauma and prevent or ameliorate negative consequences. How to help Journal article published. A New Tuskegee? Unethical Human Experiementation and Western neocolonialism in the mass circumcision of African men. Developing World Bioethics. Read 2020 June: Current Critiques of WHO Policy on Female Genital Mutilation. Brian D. Earp and Sara Johnsdotter. International Journal of Impotence Research. article 2020 May: Compilation page created for published articles by ethicist Brian D. Earp on male, female and intersex childhood genital cutting and genital autonomy. link Normal and Abnormal Prepuce (M. Fahmy, MD). In-depth scientific research into the anatomy, functions, development and care of the male and female prepuce and treament of conditions affecting them. Written for medical professionals. Buy Full Textbook (US$153 hardcover)   Textbook Summary 2020 May/June: Tim Hammond interviews ethicist Brian D. Earp in article about the intersectionality between childhood genital cutting and issues of concern to the LGBTQI community.   Part 1 (May/p.22-25): Web / PDF     Part 2 (June/p.22-24): Web / PDF     Combined PDF 2020 Jan: An Analysis of Bailis, Moreton and Morris' critique of Hammond and Carmack's Long-Term Adverse Outcomes to Men from Newborn Circumcision article 2019 June: Complications in Male Circumcision (M. Fahmy, MD) contains textbook chapters documenting male circumcision complications that also validate findings from the Global Survey of Circumcision Harm. Buy Full Textbook (US$103-130)   View Table of Contents and Chapters 10, 11 and 15 (graphic photos) 2019 Apr: 'My son killed himself after circumcision.' "It happens more frequently than people realise" -- UK charity 15 Square 2019 Mar: Circumcision sufferers and their families reveal the harm that circumcision caused them; callous cutting advocates invoke 'ritual' and 'identity'. BBC Inside Out about Male Circumcision 2018 Aug: New documentary exposes genital cutting of boys in Uganda. Read more and watch 'The Bamasaba Cut' 2018 Mar: Comments by Tim Hammond and Dr. Mark Reiss (to the Sept 2017 article by Bossio & Pukall regarding attitudes about one's circumcision) were published in Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2018 Jan: Understanding the psychological harm of male circumcision: Workshop at Keele University to enable counsellors to recognise specific symptoms not always acknowledged by the client and others, and to help professionals provide an appropriate response. Details and registration NOTE: This event was rescheduled from October 2017. 2017 Oct: Understanding the psychological harm of male circumcision: Workshop at Keele University to enable counsellors to recognise specific symptoms not always acknowledged by the client and others, and to help professionals provide an appropriate response. Details and registration NOTE: This event has been rescheduled to 16 January 2018. Gender, Genital Alteration, and Beliefs About Bodily Harm video of a presentation by ethicist Brian D. Earp at the 23rd Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health in Prague, Czech Republic. 2017 Sep: Attitude Toward One's Circumcision Status Is More Important than Actual Circumcision Status for Men's Body Image and Sexual Functioning. This study by Canadian researchers J. Bossio and C. Pukall was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. The findings reveal the existence of a subpopulation of men subjected to nontherapeutic circumcision as children who experience various levels of distress. The findings validate a 1999 survey by Hammond as well as the subpopulation of men that responded to Hammond's second survey that is reported on this website, which was published by the International Journal of Human Rights in 2017. Hammond and Reiss responded to that study in Antecedents of Emotional Distress and Sexual Dissatisfaction in Circumcised Men: Previous Findings and Future Directions—Comment on Bossio and Pukall (2017). 2017 May: Health related and sexual consequences of non-therapeutic male circumcision in children. Presentation by Dr. Morten Frisch at the World Association for Sexual Health Congress. video 2017 Mar: Long-term adverse outcomes from neonatal circumcision in a survey of 1,008 men: an overview of health and human rights implications. Hammond & Carmack, International Journal of Human Rights. View Abstract | Download PDF 2016 Dec: Male circumcision greatly increases risk of urinary problems read more Dr. Adrienne Carmack discusses facts, myths and harms of circumcision hear podcast Danish Doctors’ Group Wants to End Circumcision for Boys read more [followup U.K.radio program here mentions the Global Survey] Millennial Men Rush to Restore Their Foreskins, ‘Feel Whole Again’ video here 2016 Nov: Canada's Children's Health & Human Rights Partnership has launched a harm survey (until 30 April 2017) for men circumcised in Canada read more 2016 Sep: Male circumcision and male suicide: is there a link? read more The harm of the U.S. and W.H.O. led 'Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision' program in Africa (PDF) 2016 Jul: Intactivist Jonathon Conte (1981-2016) speaks about circumcision harm Tim Hammond presents Global Survey of Circumcision Harm findings at the International Conference on Men's Issues - London, England video here 2016 Jan: Circumcision-Your Son's First Shared Sexual Experience, Marilyn Milos, R.N. explains (1994) video here 2015 Sep: Canadian Research Confirms Dissatisfaction in Circumcised Men (esp. Ch. 5) paper here 2015 May: Tim Hammond presents Global Survey of Circumcision Harm findings at the International Genital Autonomy Conference (Frankfurt, Germany) video here 2014 Oct: Dr. Morten Frisch discusses damage caused by infant circumcision (Christiansborg, Denmark) YouTube video here2016 Sep 14: "Healing the Wounds of Circumcision" (six week support group - Vancouver, Canada) view flyer "Lost" Causes: Agenda Vetting in Global Issue Networks and the Shaping of Human Security by Charli Carpenter. His Body, His Choice chapter discusses obstacles to getting infant male circumcision recognized at the international level as a human rights violation. 2014 May: Why Denmark must carry the courage of its convictions on circumcision (Copenhagen Post) 2014 Feb: Female genital mutilation and male circumcision: Time to end the double standard [Practical Ethics, Univ of Oxford] Jewish Intactivists Increasingly Vocal in Israel   Excellent! 2014 Jan: Circumcision Divide between Denmark and Israel (Copenhagen Post) 2013 Dec: Foregen announces its first achievement in foreskin regeneration OPINION 2014 Sep 8: Why it's Rational to Say Circumicsion is Worse than FGM RESEARCH & RESOURCES Researchers and the academically inclined may want to examine recent published research on natural penile anatomy, foreskin physiology, harm caused by circumcision, specious claims of circumcision for HIV reduction, and policies of world medical associations that are beginning to recognize the human rights implications of circumcising unconsenting children. If you know of other related research that we should post here, please contact us to suggest it. Relevant Research AIDS/HIV Claims Books Medical Association Statements Websites Members of the general public wanting to know more about the benefits and functions of the foreskin and the inherent harm of childhood circumcision, will find these videos helpful in explaining these issues in visual terms. Whose Body, Whose Rights? Cut: Slicing through the Myths (Jewish perspective) Circumcision: The Whole Story (as told by an M.D.) Members of the news media can delve further into the circumcision debate and stay better informed through these sites. Intact News News-media organization connecting all facets of the genital integrity movement CircLeaks Learn about those who fund, promote, and profit from circumcision Attorneys for the Rights of the Child Learn how infant circumcision violates a child's basic human rights and why doctors can be sued if they admit it's not medically necessary Healing Resources for men seeking to overcome the physical, sexual or psychological consequences of circumcision. Counseling Emotional/psychological support for men dealing with the damaging effects of circumcision. Restoration Videos & Devices Learn about foreskin restoration and available devices. NORM Groups Connect with and learn from other men pursuing foreskin restoration.  ARTICLES     pull-quotes in italics [Programmer comments in brackets] False beliefs predict increased circumcision satisfaction in a sample of US American men (Earp, Sardi & Jellison /2018 - article PDF) These findings provide tentative support for the hypothesis that the lack of harm reported by many circumcised men, like the lack of harm reported by their female counterparts in societies that practice FGC, may be related to holding inaccurate beliefs concerning unaltered genitalia and the consequences of childhood genital modification. Male Circumcision Grief: Effective and Ineffective Therapeutic Approaches (Watson & Golden /2017 - article PDF) Cultural circumcision has been an under recognised cause of male body-loss grief. Male circumcision grief is now being more commonly expressed. ...We found that therapists were reluctant to accept that the grief was real, were unaware of foreskin functions, denied circumcision had physical or psychological sequelae and minimized patient grief using humor, cultural aesthetics, controversial health benefits, sexism, and an erroneous understanding of penile anatomy and sexual function. Girls and Boys as Victims: Asymmetries and dynamics in European public discourses on genital modifications in children (Johnsdotter /2017 - article PDF) Sooner or later, European societies need to respond to the following questions, which, in reality, are one and the same question formulated from different perspectives: - Why should girls not enjoy the same opportunities as boys to be incorporated into cultural and religious communities through a ritual involving minor cutting of their genitals? - Why should boys not have the same legal protection as girls against non-medically motivated alterations of their genitals? Circumcision, sexual experience and harm (Earp & Darby /2017 - article PDF) We also highlight some of the inconsistencies in the current legal treatment of male versus female forms of nontherapeutic childhood genital alteration, and suggest that problematically gendered assumptions about the sexual body may play a role in bringing about and sustaining such inconsistencies. Attitudes about one’s circumcision status is more important than actual circumcision status for men’s body image and sexual functioning (Bossio & Pukall /2017 - article PDF) [T]his study was among the first to empirically document a sample of men who experience distress over their circumcision status. ...Men who were circumcised as adults or intact men reported higher satisfaction with their status than those who were circumcised neonatally or in childhood. ...Furthermore, these findings demonstrate the possible deleterious consequences to men’s sexuality (e.g. body image, sexual functioning) that may arise from negative attitudes toward their own circumcision status. Male Circumcision decreases penile sensitivity as measured in a large cohort (Bronselaer, et al /2013 - article PDF) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23374102 This study confirms the importance of the foreskin for penile sensitivity, overall sexual satisfaction, and penile functioning. Furthermore, this study shows that a higher percentage of circumcised men experience discomfort or pain and unusual sensations as compared with the uncircumcised population. Before circumcision without medical indication, adult men, and parents considering circumcision of their sons, should be informed of the importance of the foreskin in male sexuality. Study links circumcision to personality disorder and erectile dysfunction (Bollinger, Van Howe /2011 - article PDF) http://intactnews.org/node/131/1316710012/study-links-circumcision-personality-trait-disorder Circumcised men are 60% more likely to suffer from alexithymia, the inability to process emotions, and have a 4.5 times greater chance of suffering from erectile dysfunction than intact men. Psychologists counseling alexithymic patients should investigate the patient’s childhood and neonatal history for possible traumatic events, including circumcision. Another study also found a high incidence of alexithymia in patients with erectile dysfunction, and went on to surmise that alexithymia contributed to the origin of the dysfunction. Infant circumcision is a confounder for research studies in general and might be skewing gender studies. Controlling for circumcision status is key in gender studies say the authors of one study, who effectively argued that what some researchers are measuring as gender differences is really an aftermath of circumcision experiences Male circumcision and sexual function in men and women: a survey-based, cross-sectional study in Denmark (Frisch, et al/2011) link here Circumcision was associated with frequent orgasm difficulties in Danish men and with a range of frequent sexual difficulties in women, notably orgasm difficulties, dyspareunia and a sense of incomplete sexual needs fulfilment. Thorough examination of these matters in areas where male circumcision is more common is warranted. related news story at Science Nordic Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult penis (Sorrells, et al/2007) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06685.x/pdf The fine-touch sensitivity of 19 locations on the penis was measured using Semmes-Weinstein monofilament touch-test sensory evaluators to create a penile sensitivity map. ...Locations 2–5 and 13–16 were measured only in uncircumcised men because these locations are ablated by circumcision. When compared to the most sensitive area of the circumcised penis, several locations on the uncircumcised penis (the rim of the preputial orifice, dorsal and ventral, the frenulum near the ridged band, and the frenulum at the muco-cutaneous junction) that are missing from the circumcised penis were significantly more sensitive. The glans of the circumcised penis is less sensitive to fine touch than the glans of the uncircumcised penis. The transitional region from the external to the internal prepuce is the most sensitive region of the uncircumcised penis and more sensitive than the most sensitive region of the circumcised penis. Circumcision ablates the most sensitive parts of the penis. The effect of male circumcision on sexuality (Kim & Pang/2006) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1464-410X.2006.06646.x/pdf There was a decrease in masturbatory pleasure and sexual enjoyment after circumcision, indicating that adult circumcision adversely affects sexual function in many men, possibly because of complications of the surgery and a loss of nerve endings. My Painful Journey: A Retired Jewish Physician’s Acknowledgement of Circumcision Trauma Leads Him to Activism (Reiss /2004 - article PDF) All men circumcised in infancy have been traumatized, but it is difficult to convince adult men of this fact. It almost takes a revelation, an epiphany, a leap of insight to close the gap of ignorance, fear, and repressed trauma, to enable us to come to realize and admit the harm of our own circumcision. I was fortunate enough to have been given that insight. The Prepuce: Anatomy, Physiology, Innervation, Immunology and Sexual Function (Cold & Taylor/1999) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.0830s1034.x/pdf The complex anatomy and function of the prepuce, along with the fused prepuce/glans penile mucosa in the immature penis, dictates that neonatal circumcision be strictly avoided, as recommended by the Australasian Paediatric surgeons, Canadian Paediatric Society, and a paediatric urology textbook. Removal of normal genital anatomy in children and infants should be deferred until the individual can make an informed decision. Anatomy and Histology of the Penile and Clitoral Prepuce in Primates: An Evolutionary Perspective of the Specialised Sensory Tissue of the External Genitalia (Cold & McGrath/1999) http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/cold-mcgrath/ The prepuce provides a complete or partial covering of the glans clitoridis or penis. For over a hundred years, anatomical research has confirmed that both the penile and clitoral prepuce are richly innervated, specific erogenous tissue with specialised encapsulated (corpuscular) sensory receptors, such as Meissner's corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, genital corpuscles, Krause end bulbs, Ruffini corpuscles, and mucocutaneous corpuscles. These receptors transmit sensations of fine touch, pressure, proprioception, and temperature. Although Taddio's work suggests a central nervous system change, it is unclear whether circumcision alters sexual behaviour by central nervous system changes, local sensory alterations of the external genitalia or a combination of both central and peripheral nervous system changes. [Survey Programmer: see hypotheses below by Immerman & Mackey] The reproductive advantages provided by the prepuce during the last 65 million years should not be taken lightly. The results of this study demonstrate that the human prepuce is not "vestigial" but is, in fact, an evolutionary advancement over the prepuce of other primates. Alteration in penile sensitivity most likely explains the sexual behaviour alteration associated with circumcision. [Survey Programmer: see similar findings below by Hammond and by Laumann] A Preliminary Poll of Men Circumcised in Infancy or Childhood (Hammond/1999) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1464-410x.1999.0830s1085.x/pdf An estimated 650 million males and 100 million females living today were genitally altered as children. Annually, 13 million boys and 2 million girls in developing and developed nations undergo customs of genital cutting. Uncritical acceptance of circumcision in youth may fade as the person becomes better informed. Without appropriate research into outcomes, presumptions of beneficial or even benign results from childhood circumcision are unjustified. Respondents reported wide-ranging physical consequences from their circumcisions. Among the most significant were prominent scarring (33%), insufficient penile skin for a comfortable erection (27%), erectile curvature from uneven skin loss (16%), pain and bleeding upon erection/manipulation (17%), painful skin bridges (12%), other, e.g., beveling deformities of the glans, meatal stenosis, recurrent non-specific urethritis (20%). The reported sexual consequences included: progressive sensory deficit in the preputial remnant and glans (61%), causing sexual dysfunction (erectile problems, ejaculatory difficulties and/or anorgasmia); extraordinary stimulation required for orgasm (40%), with many respondents reporting that vaginal sex offered inadequate stimulation for pleasure and/or orgasm; and sexual dysfunction resulting from emotional distress. [Survey Programmer: this perhaps explains the earlier similar findings by Laumann] Anxiety, depression and sexual problems relate to the magnitude and type of loss. All respondents described emotional suffering after realizing they had been dispossessed of an irreplaceable part of their body. Some revealed violent attitudes toward their circumciser and/or suicidal/homicidal feelings. These potent views...are a reminder of how assaults on male genitalia reflect misandry, the origins of which are found in society and religion. Religion can be a powerful influence in suppressing knowledge, and in promoting denial of sexual functioning and the consequences of circumcision. Perhaps like no other surgery, circumcision produces patients who later invest time, money and effort to 'undo' the effects. Respondents may not currently represent the average male circumcised in childhood, but they may be a vanguard. Surveys of body image consistently reveal significant dissatisfaction with circumcision. One report suggested that 20% of circumcised men were dissatisfied with their condition, while 18% of them would rather not have been circumcised. A Proposed Relationship Between Circumcision and Neural Reorganization (Immerman & Mackey/1998) http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/immerman1/ It is hypothesized that circumcision reorganizes the male's sensory somato-cortex to raise the threshold of sexual excitability/distraction. This threshold shift thereby allows the young men of a social group (a) to be slightly more tractable in executing corporate activities beneficial to the community and (b) to be slightly more restrained sexually and more cooperative in the pair bond. Sensation is localized within the brain. If circumcision affects the sensory pathways of the brain, then the implication should be strong that subsequent sexual sensations will also be affected. Studies on the triangulation of the foreskin, the central nervous system, and circumcision have yet to be conducted or, at least, are not easily located. Nonetheless, inferential evidence is available. It appears that any sensory deprivation of a system can also lead to cortical changes. ...The earlier in the male's life the circumcision occurs, the more impact the ablation would be expected to have on his nervous system and, hence, his behavioral tendencies. Thus, we argue here that removal of an individual's foreskin has consequences in that person's brain. The argument put forward by this thesis is that imaging of the brain via positron emission tomography (PET) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could detect differences in the somato-sensory cortex when it receives stimuli from the genitalia of circumcised men compared with similar cortical areas of uncircumcised men. These differences ought to be structural as well as functional. [Survey Programmer: see our comments under the 1997 Immerman & Mackey article below] A Biocultural Analysis of Circumcision (Immerman & Mackey/1997) http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/immerman2/ Neurological data suggest that early lesions of the prepuce/foreskin tissues would generate a reorganization/atrophy of the brain circuitry. This re-organization/atrophy, in turn, is suggested to lower sexual excitability. Epithelial data indicate that keratinization of the more exposed glans penis would lower the sensibility, hence sexual excitability of the circumcised males' genitalia. In addition, circumcision removes the foreskin-prepuce which by secreting smegma, would also minimize any pheromonic qualities which the smegma may generate. Inferential data support the hypothesis that a practical consequence of circumcision, complementary to any religious-symbolic function, is to make a circumcised male less excitable and distractible, and, hence, more amenable to his group's authority figures. [Survey Programmer: If these hypotheses were to be scientifically proven as suggested in the authors' 1998 article, say through dissection of the brains of circumcised and intact corpses, or by PET or MRI scans of brain activity during sexual stimulation of living circumcised and intact males, this may substantiate the increasingly held belief about the earliest anti-sexual motivations for circumcision, at least among Jews, Moslems and some African, Aboriginal and other tribes. Those anti-sexual motivations resurfaced under the guise of 'medicine' during the Victorian Era among 'modern' English-speaking nations of the West. Today's practice of medicalized non-religious circumcision is the progeny of those earlier sex-negative beliefs. With the original intent long-forgotten, the practice finds current acceptance under the guise of medicine, religion and social conformity. Perhaps just as male rape of females is not about sex but about individual power and violence, forced circumcision of male minors can be viewed as being less about health and spirituality than about the dynamics of male group power and control.] Circumcision in the United States: Prevalence, Prophylactic Effects, and Sexual Practice (Laumann/1997) http://www.cirp.org/library/general/laumann/ NHSLS data indicate that circumcised men engage in a somewhat more elaborated set of sexual practices than do men who are not circumcised. For each of the practices examined, lifetime experience of various forms of oral and anal sex and masturbation frequency in the past year, circumcised men engaged in these behaviors at greater rates. The difference between circumcised men was greatest for masturbation - ironically, a practice that circumcision was once thought to limit. A total of 47% of circumcised men reported masturbating at least once a month vs 34% for their uncircumcised peers. [Survey Programmer: Results from this Global Survey of Circumcision Harm, and the earlier work of Hammond, indicate that significant percentages of circumcised survey respondents report needing more stimulation to achieve orgasm and are less satisfied after orgasm, which leads them to seek sex more frequently (compulsivity and/or promiscuity). This could explain why Laumann's subjects appeared to be less satisfied with traditional vaginal intercourse and needed to find more stimulative and more frequent means of seeking sexual satisfaction (oral sex/anal sex/masturbation). Circumcised women have been found to exhibit similar compensatory behaviours and alternative sexual practices - see Sexual Effects at Wikipedia. Circumcision imposed on unconsenting males may even have a link (as yet unstudied) to increased satyriasis and "violent concupiscence" (rape) that the 13th Century Jewish philosopher Maimonides claimed circumcision would allegedly 'diminish'.]. The prepuce: Specialized mucosa of the penis and its loss to circumcision (Taylor/1996) http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/ The prepuce provides a large and important platform for several nerves and nerve endings. The innervation of the outer skin of the prepuce is impressive; its sensitivity to light touch and pain are similar to that of the skin of the penis as a whole. The glans, by contrast, is insensitive to light touch, heat, cold and, as far as the authors are aware, to pin-prick. Le Gros Clark noted that the glans penis is one of the few areas on the body that enjoys nothing beyond primitive sensory modalities. ...the 'ridged band' with its unique structure, tactile corpuscles and other nerves, is primarily sensory tissue and that it cooperates with other components of the prepuce. In this model, the 'smooth' mucosa and true skin of the adult prepuce act together to allow the 'ridged band' to move from a forward to a 'deployed' position on the shaft of the penis. In short, the prepuce should be considered a structural and functional unit made up of more and less specialized parts. Complications of Circumcision (Williams & Kapila/1993) http://www.cirp.org/library/complications/williams-kapila/ Some authors have reported a complication rate as low as 0.06 per cent, while at the other extreme rates of up to 55 per cent have been quoted. This reflects the differing and varying diagnostic criteria employed; a realistic figure is 2-10 per cent. Although haemorrhage and sepsis are the main causes of morbidity, the variety of complications is enormous. The literature abounds with reports of morbidity and even death as a result of circumcision. The Universality of Incest (DeMause/1991) http://www.psychohistory.com/htm/06a1_incest.html The mutilation of children's genitals is such a important need in humans that whole religions and state systems have been founded upon the practice. Yet when scholars attempt to explain why almost everyone since the beginning of recorded history has massively assaulted the genitals of their children, they assiduously deny that it is a sexual perversion or that those who do it ever mean any harm to the children. There is hardly an imaginable form of genital assault that is not regularly performed on children. Girls' genitals are tattooed, cut off, sewn up, burned off, and ripped open with the fingers. Boys' genitals are pierced by objects, sewn up, burned, cut off, flayed, "gashed open [so that] wedges of flesh are removed." Maimonides Part III, Ch. 49 [13th Century Jewish rabbi; perhaps the first written hypothesis of the intentional damaged inflicted by circumcision] http://www.cirp.org/library/cultural/maimonides/ and http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/jewish.htm  The bodily pain caused to that member is the real purpose of circumcision. None of the activities necessary for the preservation of the individual is harmed thereby, nor is procreation rendered impossible, but violent concupiscence and lust that goes beyond what is needed are diminished. The fact that circumcision weakens the faculty of sexual excitement and sometimes perhaps diminishes the pleasure is indubitable. For if at birth this member has been made to bleed and has had its covering taken away from it, it must indubitably be weakened. The Sages, may their memory be blessed , have explicitly stated: It is hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him. In my opinion this is the strongest of the reasons for circumcision.  BOOKS   Normal and Abnormal Prepuce (In-depth scientific research into the anatomy, functions, development and care of the male and female prepuce and treament of conditions affecting them. Written for medical professionals.) Mohamed A Baky Fahmy, MD (2020)   Complications in Male Circumcision (Reveals surgical, aesthetic and ethical considerations. Written for medical professionals.) Mohamed A Baky Fahmy, MD (2019)   "Lost" Causes: Agenda Vetting in Global Issue Networks and the Shaping of Human Security (His Body, His Choice chapter discusses obstacles to getting infant male circumcision recognized at the international level as a human rights violation) Charli Carpenter (2014)   Unspeakable Mutilations: Circumcised Men Speak Out Lindsay Watson (2014)   Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma Ronald Goldman, PhD (1997)   Presentations from the many International Symposia on Circumcision and Genital Integrity Plenum Publishing (2010) (if the link doesn't bring you to the Symposia books, go to www.springer.com, type 'circumcision' in the search box and click GO.)   Sex As Nature Intended It (reveals the effects of male circumcision on female sexual experience) Kristen O'Hara (2011) Circumcision Exposed: Rethinking a Medical and Cultural Tradition (PDF download) Billy Ray Boyd (1998)    STATEMENTS OF WORLD LEGAL & MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS A growing number of world legal and medical associations recognize the human rights implications of - and the need for a higher standard of medical ethics related to - circumcision of unconsenting children. No U.S. medical association is yet on board [Feb 2012]. Denmark's chapter of Save the Children, the world's largest independent children's rights organization, issued a strong condemnation of infant circumcision (February 11, 2014) https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1549200_273560646134430_63028508_n.jpg Circumcision Divide between Denmark and Israel (Copenhagen Post January 24, 2014) http://cphpost.dk/news/circumcision-divide-between-denmark-and-israel.8440.html In two fresh statements, Danish doctors express deep concern over ritual circumcision of boys. The Danish Society of Family Physicians, whose 3,000 members include two thirds of all general practitioners in Denmark, announced in December that circumcision of underage boys with no proper medical indication is nothing short of mutilation. In a separate statement, the overarching Danish Medical Association recommended earlier this week that non-therapeutic male circumcision should wait until the boy or young man is old enough to provide informed consent. An editorial in Jyllands-Posten, the second largest national newspaper in Denmark, urged the Danish government yesterday to ban ritual circumcision of underage boys, and a result poll among readers of BT, another large national newspaper, showed that 87 percent of well over 26,000 votes were in favour of such a ban. A 2012 report from the International NGO Council on Violence Against Children clearly states (pages 21 and 22) that the circumcision of boys constitutes a "gross violation of their rights." Direct Link to Report: https://www.crin.org/docs/InCo_Report_15Oct.pdf or here: German court declares religious circumcision illegal assault [translated excerpts from Financial Times/Deutschland, 25 June 2012] http://www.ftd.de/politik/deutschland/:illegale-prozedur-gericht-stellt-religioese-beschneidung-unter-strafe/70054618.html A judgment by the Regional Court of Köln (Cologne) refers to a widespread medical procedure carried out for religious reasons: The circumcision of boys now has to be regarded as assault. Whoever circumcises boys for religious reasons is liable to prosecution for assault. ...Neither the parents nor the right to freedom of religion guaranteed in the Constitution can justify this procedure, the court reasoned in its ruling. For decades, doctors in Germany had acted in a legal gray area if they cut boys for purely religious reasons when it was not a medical necessity. Until now, they could claim not to have had any knowledge of the criminality of religious circumcisions.  ...With the Cologne verdict this possibility is now gone. "The verdict is very important, especially for doctors, because they now have legal certainty for the first time," states Holm Putzke of the University of Passau. ..."The court has - unlike many politicians - not been deterred by the fear of being criticized as anti-Semitic and anti-religious," praised Putzke. "This decision could not only shape future law, but in the best case scenario could lead among the concerned religions to a shift in consciousness to respect fundamental rights of children.” ... The district court evaluated it now as a "serious and irreversible impairment of physical integrity." Swedish Paediatric Society/Svenska barnläkarföreningen, BLF [19 February 2012]: Swedish docs in circumcision protest "We consider it to be an assault on these boys," Staffan Janson, chairman of BLF's committee for ethical issues and childrens' rights. After discussing the matter for several years, BLF has now concluded that the procedure ought to be banned on the grounds that the children are unable to form a decision in the matter. "It's a mutilation of a child unable to decide for himself." Royal Australian College of Physicians [October 2010]: says the foreskin has functions, including protection and sexual sensation. It does not recommend circumcision to prevent HIV, recognizes doctors may conscientiously object to circumcision, and says parents should be told they can wait until the child can decide for himself, saying, “The potential harms include contravention of individual rights, loss of choice, loss of function, procedure and psychological complications.” Royal Dutch Medical Association/KNMG [May 2010 - Position Paper and Press Release]: Position paper on circumcision calls for a “powerful policy of deterrence,” claiming it is an infringement of a child’s right to bodily integrity and personal autonomy, that its risks are underplayed, and that rejecting FGM while allowing MGM is ethically inconsistent. The official standpoint of KNMG and other related medical/scientific organisations is that ‘non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors is a violation of children’s rights to autonomy and physical integrity’. They urge doctors ‘to actively and insistently inform parents who are considering the procedure of the absence of medical benefits and the danger of complications’. ‘The rule is: do not operate on healthy children’, says Arie Nieuwenhuijzen Kruseman, chairman of the KNMG. ‘The reason for the adoption of an official standpoint regarding this matter is the increasing emphasis on the protection of children’s rights. Contrary to popular belief, circumcision can also cause complications - bleeding, infection, urethral stricture and panic attacks are particularly common. Full or partial penile amputations have also been reported as a consequence of complications'. South African Children’s Rights Act [1 April 2010]: Amendments went into effect making circumcision for frivolous reasons more difficult, requiring informed consent of both parents and the boy, if he is old enough, and the signature of the circumciser to be kept on record until the boy is 21—old enough to sue if he is not satisfied with the outcome. College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia/Canada [September 2009 - Position Paper]: “The College is issuing this guide...in light of evidence based medicine and contemporary principles in ethics, law and human rights...[R]outine infant male circumcision, i.e., routine removal of normal tissue in a healthy infant, is not recommended...proxy consent by parents is now being questioned. ...Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an infant has rights that include security of person, life, freedom and bodily integrity. Routine male circumcision is an unnecessary and irreversible procedure. Therefore many consider it to be “unwarranted mutilating surgery”. Tasmanian Law Reform Institute/Australia [June 2009]: found criminal and civil law lacked certainty, and circumcision may abuse the rights of a child. Their paper, “Non-Therapeutic Male Circumcision,” states, “Even if a court considers the physical loss following circumcision negligible, the social and psychological effects of a wrong decision can be devastating” and circumcision might be considered assault or a wounding. “There is uncertainty whether  parental consent...is sufficient to allow a circumciser to legally perform the procedure.” South African Medical Association [4 February 2005]: Letter to Nocirc of South Africa (NOCIRC-SA), signed by Professor Ed Coetzee, Chairperson of the SAMA Education, Science and Technology Committee, stating: “After lengthy DISCUSSION on the matter, the Committee RESOLVED that it be conveyed to NOCIRC-SA that, from a medical viewpoint, there is no medical justification for routine circumcision in males and children.”  WEBSITES Classifications of Male and Female Genital Mutilation ["circumcision" is only one form of male genital mutilation in the world] http://www.circinfo.org/FGMclassification.html AIDS & HIV CLAIMS Learn how methodologically flawed "junk" science was used by circumcision advocates to lobby the World Health Organization (WHO) to endorse mass circumcision campaigns in Africa, funded by foundations of former president Bill Clinton and Bill Gates. Circumcision has little relevance to HIV prevention in developed Western nations and is a dangerous threat to the health of millions of African men and women and to the rights of children. HIV and Circumcision: Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (Adler and Svoboda) writes letter that National Coalition For Men sends to Gates Foundation (National Coalition for Men, July 16, 2014) read letter here Circumcision as AIDS Prevention? When Bad Science Kills (Intact America, May 26, 2012) Earlier this week, blogger and intactivist Andrew Sullivan posted a short piece titled Circumcision Spreads HIV? on his blog, the Daily Beast. Sullivan’s post is brief, but his message is critically important: the “African studies” being used as “evidence” to promote circumcision as HIV prevention are bogus, and the promotion of circumcision will actually increase HIV deaths. Sullivan cites an excellent new article by Oxford University’s Brian Earp, titled A fatal irony: Why the “circumcision solution” to the AIDS epidemic in Africa will increase transmission of HIV.  Earp calls the pro-circumcision camp’s African trials “bad science at its most dangerous.” (read more) Denied, withheld, and uncollected evidence and unethical research cloud what really happened during three key trials of circumcision to protect men (Don't Get Stuck with HIV, February 2012) http://dontgetstuck.wordpress.com/ Response from Doctors Opposing Circumcision to the African circumcision campaign (January 2012) Even if one were to accept the conclusions of the African Random Controlled Trials (and the statistical sleights-of-hand suggest wariness), that does not necessarily make Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) good epidemiology. There is a melancholy list of contraindications which transcend computer modeling: • Risk avoidance by circumcised men who will now feel ‘invulnerable’ and will avoid condoms. This is especially true where the men feel a western ‘surgery’ confers extra immunity over tribal rituals. Example: Experts are also concerned men who get circumcised will mistakenly think they are immune to HIV. That was the case for Samson Agalo, a bicycle taxi operator from Kisumu, Kenya, who recently had a circumcision — and has been having sex with multiple partners ever since. "After going for the cut, you don't need condoms," he said. [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35407224/ns/health-aids/t/circumcision-ring-cuts-aids-risk-africa/#.TwkmnlauSSo] • That trend, already identified, endangers millions of women and may even worsen the epidemic. • VMMC will inevitably ensnare minors. In no world culture is MC entirely voluntary, that is, for consenting adults only. VMMC has always been a stalking horse for unconsented infant circumcision. • In cultures which value displays of masculine bravery, MC will veer toward the gruesome rather than stay within clinical standards. South Korea is an example of this phenomenon. • The initial clinical standards will soon decline in village settings where even clean water is a luxury. Indeed one of the unaccounted for factors in the RCT’s is the vector of iatogenic transmission via contaminated medical equipment. • Once introduced, MC will prove difficult to eradicate when an HIV immunization is eventually found, as genital mutilations are self-replicating and self-sustaining. They need no reason other than, “They did it to me.” The Cut always become Cutters. • An AIDS vaccine has already been found -in HAART- which reduces infection rates to near zero between discordant partners. HAART will surely prove less expensive than huge VMMC campaigns in the long run. • VMMC will firmly plant the notion that amputations are the preferred solution to disease processes, a giant step backwards in both human rights and medical science. • VMMC will slow attempts to control FGC, female genital cutting, and may introduce FGC, unbidden, where it is now unknown. Blaming female mucosal tissue is a small step away from VMMC. • VMMC may pit tribe against tribe. In Kenya, the Luo (the tribe of Barack Obama’s father), do not engage in MC. But the Kikuyu, who blame the Luo for HIV /AIDS at the urging of researchers, do so. This has led to kidnapping and forced MC of the Luo. This will surely escalate in multiple cultures across Africa, creating a fertile ground for regional conflicts.                 John V. Geisheker, J.D., LL.M. - Executive Director, General Counsel - DoctorsOpposingCircumcision.org - Seattle, WA 28,000,000 African men to be coerced by U.N. to make 'the cut' (A Voice for Men, January 2012) http://www.avoiceformen.com/featured/28000000-african-men-to-be-coerced-by-u-n-to-make-the-cut/ Australia/New Zealand Reject Circumcision as HIV Prevention (Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 2011) http://www.circinfo.org/Circumcision_HIV_control_Australia.html How the circumcision solution in Africa will increase HIV infections (Journal of Public Health in Africa, 2011) http://www.publichealthinafrica.org/index.php/jphia/article/view/jphia.2011.e4/html_9 It is not hard to see that circumcision is either inadequate (otherwise there would be no need for the continued use of condoms) or redundant (as condoms provide nearly complete protection).The argument that men don’t want to use condoms needs to be addressed with more attractive condom options and further education that sex without a condom and without a foreskin is potentially fatal, while sex with a condom and a foreskin is safe. No nuance is needed. Offering less effective alternatives can only lead to higher rates of infection. Rather than wasting resources on circumcision,which is less effective, more expensive, and more invasive, focusing on iatrogenic sources and secondary prevention should be the priority, since it provides the most impact for the resources expended. Sub-Saharan African randomized clinical trials into male circumcision and HIV transmission: Medical, Legal and Ethical Concerns (Journal of Law and Medicine, 2011) http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/23477339/1441224426/name/JLM_boyle_hill.pdf What then should we think of researchers who...misinterpret their results, report their results selectively, cite the literature selectively, and draw unjustified conclusions? Male circumcision is not the HIV 'vaccine' we have been waiting for! (Future Medicine, 2008) http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/full/10.2217/17469600.2.3.193 Campaigns to promote safe-sex behaviors have been shown to accomplish a high rate of infection reduction, without the surgical risks and complications of circumcision, and at a much lower cost. For the health community to rush to recommend a program based on incomplete evidence is both premature and ill-advised. It misleads the public by promoting false hope from uncertain conclusions and might ultimately aggravate the problem by altering people’s behavioral patterns and exposing them and their partners to new or expanded risks. Given these problems, circumcision of adults, and especially of children, by coercion or by false hope, raises human rights concerns. Langerin is a natural barrier to HIV-1 transmission by Langerhans cells (Nature Medicine, 2007) http://www.circumcisionandhiv.com/files/de_Witte_2007.pdf HIV-1 captured by Langerin was internalized into Birbeck granules and degraded. Langerin inhibited LC infection and this mechanism kept LCs refractory to HIV-1 transmission; inhibition of Langerin allowed LC infection and subsequent HIV-1 transmission. Notably, LCs also inhibited T-cell infection by viral clearance through Langerin. Thus Langerin is a natural barrier to HIV-1 infection, and strategies to combat infection must enhance, preserve or, at the very least, not interfere with Langerin expression and function. [Webmaster note: Male and female genitalia are rich in Langerhans cells (LC). Rather than facilitate HIV infection, LC attract and destroy HIV. Male circumcision removes these important disease-fighting cells. Research used for promotion of circumcision was conducted on severed ('dead') foreskins and only showed HIV being attracted to LC in those foreskins. Therefore, they fail to account for how the LC in intact ('living') foreskins defends the body. Even if excising LC-rich genital tissue were an effective HIV prevention strategy, should public health intervention strategies not also include surgical removal of vulnerable female genital tissues?] Scientist Denounces Flawed Studies Used by CDC to Promote Circumcision (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGjsAxldvtM Circumcision and HIV Infection http://www.cirp.org/library/disease/HIV/ HIV Statement by Doctors Opposing Circumcision http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/for-professionals/alleged-medical-benefits/hivaids/

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