MEDICAL FRAUD and the criminal assault
of boys
Victims of the ....
MERCHANTS OF MUTILATION
....tell their story
It was recently believed that only infant males suffered complications as a result of circumcision. However in a recent survey of adult males conducted by NOHARMM, the National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males, revealed a shocking and different picture. For the first time a survey of over 400 circumcised males drew a response of over 70% adult males, who were circumcised as infants or later in life, who revealed that they indeed suffer harmful effects such as prominent scarring, skin tone variance, skin tags and bridges, tight painful erection, and sexual dysfunction, was well as feelings of violation, mutilation or betrayal by parents.Some of the respondents exhibited extreme hostility over their circumcision. Several mentioned, not a day goes by...that they are not reminded of what was taken from them. Some men expressed rage, condemnation and various forms of ill-will toward their circumcisers. Many expressed a wish for revenge- to rob their circumcisers of a healthy body part. Some even recommended the death penalty for circumcisers. Many respondents asked the question, What should be done about doctors who circumcise the healthy foreskins of infants?" Anger was frequently expressed toward medical professionals. Many respondents circumcised as older children felt betrayed, raped, violated, or sexually abused by their parents. Many males asked how their mother could agree to let this happen.
Tim Hammond, the Survey Coordinator had this to say: "When you forcibly amputate any part of normal, healthy and functioning genitalia of either sex, is has effects upon normal, healthy, sexual and emotional functioning." Male victims are speaking out with the hope of sparing future generations a life of problems which many themselves have experienced.
The following is a few comments which males until now have preferred to bear in silence. Canadian males are expressing similar comments.
Our question is when will the rights of males be respected and this deplorable practice in North America end. When will the Merchants of Mutilation have the moral decency to end this travesty of justice? When will governments stop funding and legislate an end to genital mutilation which has no place in modern medicine . It males are to respect the rights of others, so must their rights be equally respected. Males have rights too!
A FEW QUOTES FROM HARM DOCUMENTATION SURVEYSTATEMENTS FROM THE HARM DOCUMENTATION SURVEY
Names and places confidential.
BORN IN 1951
"I feel that I've been mutilated and denied the functioning of my penis because of an unnecessary and ignorant procedure.
Skin on shaft too tight during erection
scar prominent and dark brown
Skin puckering in scar which is ragged
Sense of mutilation and consequent embarrassment
Glans losing sensitivity
Hair growing halfway up shaft.
Doctor should be sued in court...fined by law - licence revoked. Having foreskin restoration done."
BORN 1946
"My penis is unnatural this way! After spending some years stretching my shaft skin, I can recover my glans when soft. It is much more sensitive and comfortable this way. But I wonder how much more sensitive it would be if I were never mutilated in the first place. The sense of violation does not go away. No one should be permitted to attack someone else like this. If a man wants to have his own penis circumcised, that's his business, but only his business. Doctors should be fined by law - licence suspended and revoked."
BORN 1953
"Desensitization and physical exposure of glans. Shelter and protection of most sensitive part of my sexuality was stripped away! Constant, continual chafing and desensitization of glans. Physical symbol of my manhood was stripped away. Part of what made a man was the shelter naturally provided by my glans. Foreskin restoration has shown me that this center and prominence of my sexuality was intended to remain in it's own natural coverings. Doctor should be fined."
BORN 1966
"Unable to enjoy foreplay and sexual intercourse because my penis has no feeling...it's just plain dead. Sexual relations are difficult for me in both physical and mental ways. Physically, my penis has no feeling and I don't enjoy foreplay because my penis becomes red and sore from too much manipulation from my female partner. In addition, sexual intercourse is just as difficult and non-climactic. I enjoy no sensations on my shaft or glans, and the resulting orgasm (after painful thrusting) is both quick and very often painful. My penis curves to the right causing discomfort for my partner. Mentally, I feel ashamed and very, very upset that I'm not whole and intact as nature intended me to be. How can people keep hurting and ruining people's lives by continuing this deplorable practice or circumcision? My sexual life is indeed ruined! Doctors should have their licence revoked and be imprisoned. Have not sought help - embarrassed."
BORN 1956
"Circumcision is not normal and has done more to harm me and my life than you could ever know! I have never had much feeling in my penis because of circumcision. A woman would have oral sex with me and I would never reach orgasm. I never took gym in high school because of having to take showers. I felt so exposed. My glans which was supposed to be covered was out in plain view for the world to see. How degrading! My penis has two skin shades. The scar is much lighter than the shaft. The scar is the only place on my penis where I have feelings because severed nerve endings and it is very dull. I feel if I were normal, I would have more self confidence. I wish they left my body alone. God designed it to be a certain way. No man can improve on something God has created. Doctors should be sued, fined, license suspended, revoked, imprisoned and pay a severe penalty for child abuse. Doing foreskin restoration."
BORN 1954
"Taking away a part of my body without my permission. A violation of my body and rights." A law should prohibit circumcision and make it a decision of that person.
BORN 1953
"I was circumcised at birth, and from the time I can remember, I hated that fact. I didn't know the term for the operation for several years, but growing up, I know that something was missing, and I was uncomfortable about it. At 10 years, I hated not being like my Dad. Until I was a teenager, I resented my parents for allowing something like the amputation of part of my penis to happen to me. Finally, I asked my Dad why it was done. He responded, sadly that he had argued with the Doctor about it, but he insisted that it was "needed." I transferred my resentment to Doctors. I'm college educated, I hold a good job, but emotionally I would feel a lot more complete if I had my foreskin. I still feel traumatized at the thought of circumcision. I feel violated when I look at my own body. I am sickened at the thought of someone twenty times bigger than I was, ripping off one of the potentially most pleasurable parts of my body. I find it incredulous that anyone, especially Doctors, find it acceptable to amputate such a personal part of my body without my consent, and certainly with my protests. I am angry at the excuses people use to justify this horrible practice. Doctors should have their licence revoked and imprisoned."
BORN 1947
"The physical scar is hideous but the emotional scar equates to rape. For my first 10 years, I had an overwhelming terror of the doctor, even though I was very healthy and had never been hurt by the doctor except for circumcision. Too much skin was removed. I have painful erections - the circumcision scar gets so tight it feels like it might burst. During an erection skin from pubic area is drawn up onto the shaft making condoms very hard to wear - since they catch pubic hair that shouldn't be on my penis shaft. Urethra is always irritated - comes in contact with underwear and is held open and dries out -also can get contamination in. Doctors should be sued -fined - licence suspended."
BORN 1953
"A deep longing to be complete and intact. Sought help of a therapist. Doctors should be sued."
BORN 1933
"I've always felt my circumcision came out strange or badly and I'd be better of left intact. Physically, I've been aware my circumcision was probably different from others. More skin was left on the underside, and two actual holes exist through the skin on either side of the frenum. Another hole is on the top side, and the scar is ragged. As a child, the excess skin always caused me to have to pull it away from the shaft when hot or sweaty. Many of my friends growing up were not cut, and I always wished I'd been left with a foreskin too. My father was not circumcised and I feel my parents just went along with a fad."
BORN 1954
"The physical appearance of no foreskin and loss of sexual sensitivity - harm done. Have to be at the point of abuse. Pain to my penis to reach orgasm because it is so desensitized from circumcision. Also do not like the look of my circumcised penis. Tried foreskin restoration.
Doctors should be sued."
BORN 1950
"I am angry, bitter and depressed by being circumcised and I resent that it was done to me. I get depressed when I see an intact male naked. I get urinary tract infections even though I am circumcised. My glans gets dry and rough from always being exposed or uncovered. I do prefer to be intact as nature intended. It is best to leave nature alone. Have not sought help. Not a good time. Doctors should be fined and their licence suspended. Imprisoned."
BORN 1958
"I was circumcised at 6 months and this prevented me from bonding with my mother. I have reduced sensitivity. The mutilation and invasion of my body happened at a time in my life when I was developing a close bond with my mother. My penis was invaded and what was a pleasure to touch became a place of pain. I feared closeness because I believed that pain would follow. I feel a loss of pleasure and sensitivity in the glans and the shaft of my penis. Doctors should be fined and their licence suspended or they should be put on probation."
BORN 1958
"Scars still bleed to this day. Takes too long to reach orgasm due to desensitizing of head. I feel violated - that a part of my body was cut off for no good reason at all. In showers, I've seen other men who had their foreskins and look at them with envy. The scars from circumcision will bleed during sex. The head on my penis has become very desensitized. At age 13 I knew what it's like to have a foreskin. It felt a lot better to have one, both physically and emotionally. Bottom line is I want it back. My doctor took the easy way out and circumcised me instead of treating the infection I had. Doctor should be fined and his licence revoked. Have not sought help..fear of being embarrassed and ridiculed."
BORN 1962
"The foreskin wasn't cut evenly, causing my penis to pull too far to the right and I suffer rubbing abrasions from clothes, irritating the head of my penis to a point of redness and great discomfort. I have always suffered great irritation, redness to the meatus of my penis, due to a lack of foreskin for protection. This also has a profound effect of destroying your sensitivity to this area, a well as causing a greater chance for infection. Since I have started RECAP, I no longer suffer from clothing abrasions and live in greater comfort; moreover, I also have much more sensitivity, allowing me greater sexual satisfaction -thanks to NOCIRC and RECAP. Doctors should be sued and fined by law."
BORN 1930
"Left with a sense of impotence, powerless and a fear about the powers of those to hurt me grievously. I was circumcised when I was seven. I was not prepared at all for the surgery and it accompanied a tonsillectomy. I remember struggling against the anesthesia (ether) and being overpowered by a number of orderlies. Leaving my body and finally waking up feeling sick, in pain, and totally terrified about what they had done to my penis. There was no valid reason to do the procedure. My memory is that it was related to bedwetting or a foreskin that got stuck once in a while. This was probably the most damaging event in my life physiologically and emotionally. Doctors should be fined and have their licence suspended."
BORN 1950
"Circumcision is a barbaric mutilation that turned my penis into a dull numb instrument incapable of feeling anything but hard stimulation. I was circumcised so tightly that hair grows halfway out of my penis. I have absolutely no mobility of shaft skin. The glans is callused and numb to any subtle sensations. It was a barbaric mutilation that robbed me of the sexual sensations that I should be entitled to. It's radical malpractice and butchery. I resent not having a foreskin and feel like something is missing or that my penis is broken. Doctors who perform mindless circumcisions should be horsewhipped. Thank God for restoration procedures, but I will never be the same, just a poor substitute for the real thing. It won't work and function like the real thing."
BORN 1957
"The scarring on my penis has caused painful erections because it tears open and bleeds. I was cut too light. When I get an erection, the skin pulls so tightly it gets many small tears that it hurt like crazy. Any type of sexual activity tears it so bad it bleeds. My mutilation was explained to me at age five. My grandfather was not cut. Being that I was considered the odd one. This has bothered me all my life. Now I am ashamed to let my son, who is not cut, see my penis. One time when he did , he said it looked funny. It hurts me to know I was tortured and mutilated against my will at a time I could not defend myself. I had lost much of the feeling in my glans. Since I have been undergoing restoration, the amount of feeling that has returned is way beyond fabulous. I can't believe parents still allow their sons to be tortured and mutilated for no positive gain. I have seen three separate doctors. Doctors who circumcise should have their licence revoked."
BORN 1951
"I feel that I've been mutilated and denied the functioning of my penis because of an unnecessary and ignorant procedure.
Skin on shaft too tight during erection
Scar prominent and dark brown
Skin puckering in scar which is ragged
Sense of mutilation and consequent embarrassment
Glans losing sensitivity
Hair growing halfway up shaft.
Doctor should be sued in court...fined by law..licence revoked. Having foreskin restoration done."
Quoted from Awakenings, A Preliminary Poll of Circumcised Men Revealing the Long-term Harm and Healing Wounds of Infant Circumcision
Editor's note: Although these quotations have been taken from Harm Documentation of which the respondents have been predominately American. Males in Canada have related similar stories. All circumcised males have been harmed by circumcision. Many circumcised males do not know that - and refuse to believe or admit that they have been harmed by this destructive procedure.
SANTA FE, New Mexico. In the fall of 1992, a group of maternity nurses at St. Vincent Hospital sent a letter to hospital administrators explaining that they could no longer assist with infant circumcisions. The nurses cited the following reasons for their refusal to assist: Their reasons are given below.Neonatal circumcision is a violation of a newborn male's right to a whole, intact body.
There are no compelling medical reasons for amputation of the penile foreskin. Amputating the foreskin deprives the infant of a protective and sexually functional part of his body.
Circumcision is a surgical procedure with risks of complications, including bleeding, infection, and mutilation.
Neonatal circumcision is painful. Often, inadequate or no anesthetic is used. Post-operative pain management is rare.
Parental information on the subject is all too often incomplete or based on myths.
The infant is unable at this vulnerable age to state his own wishes or to protect himself.
Twenty-four of the approximately 30 nurses at St. Vincent Hospital who used to assist with infant circumcisions formed a group of professional conscientious objectors, including all of the Jewish maternity nurses. Since that time, additional nurses have joined the group as their awareness of the issue has evolved. In an April 4, 1994, letter to the editor of the American Journal of Nursing, nurses Betty Katz Sperlich and Mary Conant stated: "We struggled with the ethical dilemma of botched circumcisions and unconcerned physicians at our hospital. The more we educated ourselves, the more we came to the conclusion that every circumcision is a botch job, since it is an assault on a child's sexuality and a violation of a child's right to an intact body. We now focus our efforts on educating parents. How sweet it is to live our ethics. We encourage other nurses to join us."
The most overlooked fact is that it is illegal to perform non-therapeutic surgery on non-consenting individuals. Parents can only consent to medically necessary treatment. Those of us who respect the law and the rights of others demand from circumcisers answers to their blatant violation of male rights.
Are doctors who circumcise above the law and not required to practice in accordance with the medical code of ethics. "First, Do No Harm"?
Which section of the Charter of Rights and the Criminal Code states that males are not entitled to the same rights and protection as females?
How long will it take governments to acknowledge that males have rights too, and enforce the law?
RESOURCE MATERIALS
Awakenings, A Preliminary Poll of Circumcised Men Revealing the Long-Term Harm and Healing of Wounds of Infant Circumcision, NOHARMM, P.O. Box 460795, San Francisco, CA 94146