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Circumcision overview by intaction.org

Circumcision prevalence with Intaction : 1920: Shocked by the influx of immigrants from Southern & Eastern Europe, white upper class Americans have a crisis of cultural identity. They seek circumcision as a means of distinguishing themselves from poor immigrants that they perceived to be racially inferior, dirty, vulgar, & with disease carrying uncut penises. Circumcision elevated to a status symbol. D.L. Gollaher, (Phd, Harvard University), JOURNAL OF SOCIAL HISTORY, Volume 28, Number 1: Pages 5 – 36

Studies have reported that 117 babies die every year from circumcision or complications arising from it. [Bollinger, Thymos: Journal of Boyhood Studies 2010 ]. Additionally the traumatic stress from circumcision impacts the baby’s developing brain, inflicting psychological trauma. The strong pain signals impact the newly forming neural connections in the brain. Babies enduring this pain also suffer from PTSD. Physically circumcision destroys the functions that the foreskin performs during sex–it is one of the most touch-sensitive parts of the penis, and removing it drastically changes the dynamics of sex. People claiming that circumcision is safe and harmless is just an illusion for them to defend the decision they have likely made.

Circumcision Overview: Circumcision is a surgical removal of the natural foreskin from the penis. The foreskin covers the head of the glans penis. This removal of the foreskin is one of the most common surgeries done to baby boys – in America. This hospital operation is typically done within one or two days after birth. Left undisturbed, that foreskin will grow into 15 square inches in the adult male. Therefore the decision to circumcise a baby is a serious consideration for parents to make. The procedure rates have been dropping in America. Most medical groups have stated there is no clear cut benefit, and the surgery is very painful to a baby. For many of the Jewish or Muslim faith, cutting and removal of the foreskin is an ancient religious act of faith, sacrifice, or covenant. Find extra details about circumcision.

The sense of inadequacy, feelings of victimization, and violent sexual fantasies experienced during this boy’s adolescence were found to be both consciously and unconsciously linked to his experience with losing part of his penis (Kennedy, 1986). In a study examining the psychological effects of circumcision on boys between four and seven years of age, Cansever (1965) used psychological testing to measure boys’ level of distress. The results of the study indicated that circumcision was perceived as an aggressive attack on the body that left children feeling damaged and mutilated (Cansever, 1968). Cansever (1968) also noted that these boys experienced changes in body image (with many feeling smaller and incomplete), feelings of inadequacy and helplessness, as well as a tendency to withdraw psychologically.

Intaction was founded in 2010 out of the strong concern that the American “fee for service” medical and insurance business, its trade associations, PACS, and lobbyists, “the medical industry complex,” were intent on escalating their promotion of infant circumcision. Hospitals, insurance companies, and doctors profit from circumcisions. However Americans were starting to challenge the conventional wisdom of circumcising their sons. Seventeen states dropped Medicaid coverage for infant circumcision, deeming it unnecessary and cosmetic. The medical industry complex and its surrogates responded by launching a counterattack to prevent this threat to their income streams and maintain the status quo they built over many decades. (The most conspicuous evidence of this effort culminated in the 2012 AAP Circumcision Policy Statement – which blatantly stated three times, “Financing Newborn Male recommendation: newborn male circumcision warrant(s) third-party (insurance) reimbursement of the procedure.”) See additional details on https://intaction.org/.