CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 3:4

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.

CIRCUMCISION OF THE FEMALE
According to the following article, what some say is sauce for the gander, is
also sauce for the goose!  It appeared in "GP", Vol. XVIII, Number
3, p. 98, September 1958
Contributed by DYKS96A@prodigy.com (MR GEORGE HILL)

C. F. McDonald, M. D.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The infant clitoris is hidden, covered by the prepuce.  The midline raphe may
not open sufficiently in later life.  A variety of symptoms can develop,
attributable to accumulation and contamination of smegma.  In these
instances, the simple expedient of probing and cleansing can be rewarding.

When we were interns, 33 years ago, the staff room conversation one day came
around to the clitoris of the female infant.  As I remember the sum total of
knowledge of the subject among those present was zero. In the nursery I
learned something I had not learned from school or from books. Namely that
the infant clitoris is hidden.  The prepuce covers it at birth.  The midline
raphe invariably is intact.

When does the raphe open?  Throughout the years, in practice, I found that it
may remain intact even into late multiparous life.  Also, I have found that
when the raphe does not open, smegma accumulation can cause trouble.
 Moreover, if the raphe opens only a pinpoint, bacteria can enter to cause
contamination of the debris.  This then can cause symptoms.  If after about
two years of age, a little girl has not opened the raphe by exercises like
riding kiddy-bikes, or by self examination, or the raphe has not opened
spontaneously, there is usually found an area of irritation.  This is
especially so if a very small opening is present.  Then come the symptoms of
irritation, scratching, irritability, masturbation, frequency, and urgency.
 In adults the same conditions exist, with associated smegaliths that may
cause dyspareunia and frigidity.

If the male needs circumcision for cleanliness and hygiene, why not the
female?  I have operated on perhaps 40 patients who needed this attention.

Illustrative cases:

A youngster was suspected of having epilepsy.  At about two years of age she
was brought to my office and was left alone to play while I examined the
mother.  I noticed the child masturbating by rubbing back and forth in a
sitting position.  She finally toppled over in hyperventilation.  The
disorder disappeared with the simple expedient of a female circumcision and
the cleansing away of the irritants.

Adult women with three or four children have been seen whose chief complaint
was dyspareunia.  Examination revealed a rosary-like group of nodules under
the prepuce of a hidden clitoris.  Female circumcision was done.  Smegaliths
were cleared away.  Very thankful patients were the reward.  For the first
time in their lives sex ambition became normally satisfied.

Most of the persons have been children 2 to 10 years old who campalinde of
signs and symptoms that suggested cystitis.  Urine anyalses were usually
negative.

The mothers complained about the irritability of the children, their unusual
habits and sometimes their bedwetting.  When examination revealed the
presence of a hidden or partially hidden clitoris, it was a simple matter for
the doctor to effect return to normality.

The technique

The procedure is easy.  However it is so distressing to the patient that
general anesthesia should be used to avoid making an enemy for life.  A blunt
probe is inserted into the raphe and swung around the head of the clitoris.
 There is usually no bleeding, or at least very little.

The area is then cleansed of contaminated debris or of smegma that
occasionally is formed into stones of various sizes.  The raphe normally
should be open in early childhood.  It is seldom that the prepuce will
overgrow once it has been opened.  The mother should be carefully instructed
about teaching the child hygienic habits.  The signs and symptoms caused by
contaminated smegma, retained smegma or semagmaliths usually clear up when
the cause is removed.  The same reasons that apply for the circumcision of of
males are generally valid when considered for the female.
---------------------End of article

PARENTS MAGAZINE, FEBRUARY 1996
The February 1996 issue of Parents magazine features an article by Richard
Laliberte, entitled "The Circumcision Decision:  Parents are thinking twice
about this once routine procedure," on PP 67-70.  This is yet another attempt
at a "balanced" article, but completely devoid of the human rights issue and
the function of the foreskin.  Under the heading "proper car of the penis" is
the following:  

"Consult your pediatrician about when the foreskin can safely be retracted.
 Until then, simply bathe the penis with soap and water.  After separation,
you need to be sure to pull the foreskin back while bathing to clean the tip
of the penis underneath."

CIN reminds readers that the only person qualified to retract a foreskin is
the boy or man attached to the foreskin when he is good and ready.  One
should not retract a boy's foreskin against his will any more than one should
force open a girl's vagina.

SCREAM OF THE WEEK 
(Statements Documenting Infant Circumcision Pain)
Submitted by Johnny4444@aol.com

"...research reveals that the pain pathways are much  more advanced in
newborns than previously thought, and the physical response to pain is the
same for both newborns and adults....  Using the pain cry as an indicator,
some investigators have shown that newborns are actually more sensitive to
pain than older infants....  Babies not only feel the pain of circumcision
but they also seem to remember the pain."  ("New research shows infants do
feel pain at
damaging levels," San Francisco Examiner, Dec. 17, 1987) 
 
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION call NOCIRC, the National Organization of
Circumcision Information Resource Centers at (415) 488-9883, fax (415)
488-9660.  Ask about the resource provider nearest you.  For written
information, write NOCIRC, PO Box 2512, San Anselmo, CA 94979, with SASE
and/or donation if possible.

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