CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 1:7

Introduction
This weekly bulletin is a project of CIN, the Circumcision Information Network (formerly CIN CompuBulletin). The purpose of this weekly bulletin is to educate the public about and to protect children and other non-consenting persons from genital mutilation. Readers are encouraged to copy and redistribute it, and to contribute written material.
--Rich Angell, Editor.

CIN COMPUBULLETIN SO FAR
This is the seventh issue of the CIN CompuBulletin.  Here's how it works.
Editor Rich Angell of Palo Alto, CA writes up a report then E-mails
it to Al Fields in Pennsylvania, who then gives it the widest
distribution he can on internet.  So far, the response has been
very positive.  We've received responses from Australia, Singapore,
Canada and other places.  Some of the correspondence we've received
will appear in future CIN CompuBulletins.
 
HO HUM, ANOTHER CIRCUMCISION DEATH
The Independent of England, 9 July 1994.
A FAMILY doctor who killed a nine-year-old boy by giving
him a massive overdose of a pain-killing drug during a
circumcision operation, was given a one-year suspended jail
sentence yesterday.  Dr. Mahbubul Alam, 59, of Handsworth Wood,
Birmingham, admitted the manslaughter in July 1991 of Raju Miah,
of Smethwick, who died in hospital six days after being given
diamorphine (heroin).
Timothy Barnes QC, for the prosecution, told Stafford Crown Court
that the boy was taken for the operation by his grandfather.  Dr. Alam,
who had performed four circumcisions that day, administered 10mg
of diamorphine, "five to six times the appropriate dose."
Mr. Barnes said:  "Raju was given 10mg of diamorphine,
which sedates the brain and also tends to depress breathing.
After the operation the boy was still unconscious and when he
was driven back to the family home, Dr. Alam tried to arouse
him by sprinkling water on his face and lightly smacking his
face." He said shortly after the doctor left, the boy's condition
worsened and he was taken by ambulance to hospital.  After six days,
he was certified brain dead and the life-support machine was
switched off. Mr. Barnes said the cause of death was narcotic
poisoning.  "The choice of drug was wholly inappropriate and on
a boy of his age was grossly negligent, he said.
 Mr. Justice Buckley said:  "I only hope Raju's family can find it
in their hearts that sending Dr. Alam to prison...would serve no
public interest and do nothing good for the memory of Raju."
 
Editor's note:  1) Death directly or indirectly as a result of
circumcision is not unusual.  2) Why not send Dr. Alam to prison?  If I
gave a child heroine and mutilated his genitals, wouldn't I go to prison? 
Are doctors above the law? 
 
NEW YORK NOHARMM MEETING REPORT
On Tuesday evening, 12 July 1994, (as announced in last week's
CompuBulletin), NOHARMM-NYC held it's first meeting.  Attendance
was higher than expected and arrangements are being made to find a
larger place for the next meeting. A few women attended, as well as men,
and spoke out against infant circumcision. Several Jewish men were also
in attendance and were very supportive of the goals of NOHARMM. Possible
sites for a fall 'action' were discussed.  Also present were
representatives from NOHARMM-PHILADELPHIA and NOHARMM-NEW JERSEY.
NOHARMM is open to all men and it's purpose is for men to
educate and speak out against routine infant circumcision. For more
information about NOHARMM-NYC, contact: NOHARMM, P.O. Box 107
Cooper Sta, New York, NY  10003-1222.
For more information about NOHARMM-PHILADELPHIA, contact: Jim Peron
(610) 357-2792.  Al Fields report.
 
CIRCUMCISION VIOLENCE
Ken Derifield, currently living in West Virginia, has this to say
about the correlation between male circumcision and violence
against females in America (edited down):
 
1.  The intense pain and trauma of infant circumcision changes brain
chemistry and imprints the brain for a lifetime.  The infant perceives
the mother (female) to be responsible as she is perceived as the
only one able to protect or harm him.
 
2.  Research has disclosed that discomfort from the circumcision
interferes with many newborn boys' breastfeeding.  Researchers now
say that breast milk contains a large quantity of a hormone that
aids in the development of the newborn's brain and sexual
organs.  Circumcision trauma precludes many infant
boys from obtaining this hormone in breast milk.
 
3.  There is bonding impairment of the mother and infant due to mother
perceived or blamed as complicit for the earlier pain and trauma.
 
4.  The subconscious remembers the terrible abuse and there is a lack of
trust, either a fear or an anger of women in general that the male does
not consciously understand.  Such men will do one of three things
in their relationships with women.  They will be physically and/or
sexually aggressive, they will be passively aggressive, or they will
withdraw and be forever pleasing the woman and very subservient because
they don't want to be hurt again.  In all cases, the issue of distrust
and hyper-vigilance is evident.
 
5.  Most circumcised males do not understand why they feel the way
they do and perceive that they are somehow incomplete, but haven't
the slightest clue of what they may be missing--physically, sexually,
mentally or spiritually. The subconscious tells them that it is
the females' fault, the one whocaused the intense pain earlier, that
whatever may be lacking was caused by women.
 
6.  A male has a much more difficult time becoming a protective, caring,
giving, replenishing "man" when a very significant part of his manhood
was forcibly chopped off in an act of partial castration.
 
7.  In societies where circumcision has been practiced for centuries,
the females have been in a subservient role and completely controlled
and socially isolated.  Whenever that role was not accepted and
practiced by a woman, violence against her was the solution by the
male in that society. Violence in general is much more profuse in
such societies.
 
8.  In primitive societies studied recently, only the cultures
which practice circumcision are considered violent by western standards.
 
9.  In intact (non-circumcised) Western Europe, with similar economic
andsocial conditions, women in the work place and women more
economically and politically independent and mobile than ever before
(like women in the U.S.), acts of this type of violence are much less
common.

BABY WATCHING
There is a documentary by Desmond Morris of England called
"Baby Watching" which you won't want to miss.  It compares and
contrasts the gentle home (water) birth and the violent hospital
birth, actually showing live births in progress.  It stresses the
importance of breast-feeding, and calls circumcision what it
is--mutilation.  It shows all intact babies and is positive throughout.
The next showing will be 9 August on the Learning
Channel (cable) at 22:00 EDT, then repeated at 1:00 the
morning of 10 August.

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