CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 2:15

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.

RETRACTING PEDIATRICIANS
From the Summer 1995 issue of The Compleat Mother

I brought my five month old son Brendan to his pediatrician for a routine
examination.  While the doctor was examining him, he mumbled something
about "it" being a little tight.  I foolishly assumed he meant Brendan's
diaper was too tight.  The doctor gave Brendan his shots and we went home. 

When we got home I brought him upstairs to change him.  Immediately I
noticed blood on his diaper.  At first I thought his diaper must have
rubbed against his leg where he got his shot, but it seemed to be too much
blood.  That is when I saw his penis.  My husband and I have done a lot of
research and decided not to have Brendan circumcised.  I looked at the
head of his penis and knew immediately the doctor had retracted his
foreskin. 

When we made the decision not to circumcise Brendan, I had to be told not
to retract his foreskin.  But never in a million years did I think I would
have to tell a pediatrician who has been working for over thirty years
that he should not retract a baby boy's foreskin. 

The real slap in the face came when I called the pediatrician.  He told me
I was making a big deal over nothing and that he knew what I was doing. 
When he realized he was not not calming me down one bit with his
"reassuring" words, he reluctantly told me to bring Brendan back in. 
(Office hours were over and I truly feel my phone call was a great
inconvenience.) I did not bring Brendan back in and he is now my FORMER
pediatrician. 

We took my son to the emergency room that afternoon. We bathed him
frequently and applied bacitracin.  The redness disappeared and he seems
to have healed. The problem now is we will not know for many years if
Brendan is truly healed.  I had planned to sue the doctor, if only to get
the money back for an emergency room visit AND to teach him a lesson, but
I am told that in New Jersey I cannot sue unless there is permanent
damage.  Of course I don't want to be permanently damaged, but I feel
because of this law the pediatrician really got away with hurting my son. 
The worst part is that he doesn't ever believe he did anything wrong.  I
have reported him to the New Jersey Board of Medical Examiners. 

People have to be educated about unnecessary procedures like circumcision
and until it becomes an antiquated practice in this country, doctors need
to be educated about the care of the "intact" penis.  Ann Kingsley, New
Jersey

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NURSES OF ST. VINCENT
The New Times, February, 1995, Seattle, Washington, by Cat Saunders 
[Fifth of a five-part series.  The first part was Saunders' own view of
circumcision as a human rights issue.  The second through fourth parts
were of the interview itself.]

A group of nurses from St. Vincent' s Hospital in Santa Fe, New
Mexico...have organized to stop circumcision.  In this interview, I spoke
with four of the nurses who were in Seattle recently.  As you read their
stories, open your heart.  Let your feelings come, for only if we all feel
the horror of circumcision can we stop it.  Together we can stop it now... 

Cat:  What do you all see in your dreams, in terms of how circumcision
will end? Do you think parents will always have the right to treat their
children like property and allow them to be cut? 

Mary:  No.  I think there are a lot of factors converging on circumcision
to make it go away.  For one thing, insurance companies are starting to
refuse to pay for it, because it's more understood now that there is no
medical reason to support it. 

In England, when their health plan quit paying for circumcision in the
1950's the rate went down to less than one percent.  In our country,
Congresswoman Pat Schroeder has a law before Congress now to outlaw female
genital mutilation here.  People in the anti-circumcision movement have
been corresponding with her, and she's realizing that boys must also be
legally protected.  I think it also helps that more and more information
is getting out about the function of the foreskin. 

Betty:  The foreskin is a very erogenous part of a man's body.  It also
helps keep the head of the penis moist and lubricated during sex. 

Cat:  Most people don't know that.  We've talked a lot about how we're
expected to be "reasonable" when talking about circumcision, so people
don't feel threatened.  But don't you ever want to run screaming down the
street? 

Mary:  Absolutely.  I want to throw my body in front of the door to the
circ room and tell the parents, "You're not going to do that to your
baby!" It makes me wonder why I haven't done that yet? It's the old
accomplice thing, you know:  "If you're an accomplice, then you're an
enabler." It's really heavy.  Not only that, but the people who are still
doing it want us to "respect" them.  Are they really thinking what they're
asking of us? They're baby torturers! How can I respect them? 

Five of "The Nurses of St Vincent's" were in Seattle last November, on
Veteran's Day, to speak and to demonstrate against the Circumstraint, the
restraining board used for circumcision.  The four nurses interviewed here
were:  Mary Conant, Betty Katz Sperlich, Mary-Rose Booker, and Carol
Alley. 

The interviewer, Cat Stevens, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice
in Seattle.  She can be reached at (206) 781-1361. 

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