CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 3:6

CIRCUMCISION INFORMATION NETWORK
Volume 3, Number 6, 8 February 1996
E-mail:  CircInfoNe@aol.com

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.

GENITAL MUTILATION FOR BOYS
Contributed by Chuck A., address withheld by request

I want to post my "story" for any who want to read  it, but I really worry
that I could hurt some person's feelings or cause pain to somebody who's
already suffered enough.  

It's true.  We are a strange lot.  I can be stupid, cruel and vicious.  I had
never intended to be hurtful, not to anybody.  For what it's worth, if you
have ever been on a psyche ward or suicidal because of your circumcision, you
are not alone.  The difference between you and me is that ...I have a .38
caliber hole in the upper right side of my chest (self-inflicted).  I guess
some of us may hurt more easily than others, or some of us have a lot of
trouble ever getting over what was done to us.  

For me the worst is I remember all of it as if it were yesterday -- I still
remember myself before they did it -- how I looked -- how I felt  -- my
little body, all perfect.  I was 3 -- wide awake -- and no anesthesia of any
kind was used.  My crime was "playing with myself in the bath".  I had been
warned, "play with if and we'll have to cut it off"  They really did.  I was
dropped off at the hospital.  Stripped, I was tied down to a sort of Y shaped
thing and the end of my penis was cut off, it took about 15 minutes.  I guess
I screamed for about three hours, then they whacked me around because I was
"scaring other kids."  I whimpered for a few days, then everything went numb.
 I stopped talking for about a year. No! my parents did it.  They did it on
purpose.  But there was a double standard, what I couldn't do to myself, any
drunken relative could do to me -- even a parent.

I hated that doctor.  I also hated our pediatrician and begged my parents to
let me go to another, but it wasn't like that in the late 1940s.  I hated him
because he molested all of his "boy" patients, under the guise of medical "
examination."  I mention this because I think I have no reason to keep a
secret about it.  I want the whole world to know just how happy I was when I
received a postcard (whilst in Vietnam -- alibi) announcing that he had been
stabbed 24 times and died a slow and horrible death.  Verification showed
that each of us received a similar postcard.  

I wonder which of us did it?
 
I tried to discuss the way I felt about circumcision and asked him how to
"put it back."  It seemed that  it was an appropriate time to ask him as he
was busy "examining" my state of "development" -- I was pretty well developed
for a boy that age.  Among other things he called me a "queer" (which was
untrue) and a "little cocksucker" (which wasn't my fault) and said some other
things would be absolutely devastating to any little boy that age --
especially when they came from a man who was very much in a position of power
authority over me.  I was a very angry little boy, as most sexually abused
children are, and on the way home I dropped over by his house and knocked the
two top front teeth out of his son.  The next day, I knocked one out of his
daughter.  I still regret that displaced aggression, but that's how I felt.  

After I had completed surgical reconstruction of my foreskin in the early
1970s (which only resulted in a very short little foreskin -- but one I was
so happy about you can't imagine) you can imagine the paranoia I felt for my
first annual physical.  That was big time paranoia -- I was sure that I'd be
"locked in a cage and fed through a hole in the top". I rehearsed what I was
going to say 1,000 times.  Maybe I was a pioneer, but for all those years
afterward, I thought I was a "nut" and a "freak" or worse.  I was called some
names in the 1970s that don't bear repeating among civilized men.

Sorry for venting some anger -- but I'm still angry.  I don't know what I'd
do if I didn't know that all of you others were out there.  It was real
"hell" to think I was all alone -- for all those years.  Thanks for being
there.  

DID YOU UNDERGO A CHILDHOOD CIRCUMCISION?
Contributed by DonMorgan@gnn.com (Donald Morgan)

I am looking for individuals who have undergone a circumcision during
childhood who would be willing to fill out a short survey form. 

The purpose of this survey is to gather specific information from persons who
have undergone a childhood circumcision (at an age when there was awareness
both before and after) in order to determine the extent of adverse
psychological and/or physical consequences, if any, in representative cases.
It is intended to eventually publish the the findings.

Identity of respondents is not of interest, and all information (other than
the resultant data) will be considered strictly confidential unless prior
permission has been obtained from specific individuals.

(Note: My interest in this subject arises from my own experience with a
childhood circumcision which resulted in numerous complications requiring
additional surgeries accompanied by lasting adverse consequences.)

If you fit the profile and would be willing to assist, please e-mail me
directly.

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

"The younger the child is, the closer he is to conception, the more open and
vulnerable that child is to hurt.  Newborn babies have that much more
feelings, more sensitivity, and are more vulnerable to pain than older
children."  (E. Michael Holden, MD [quoted], Circumcision:  The Painful
Dilemma, by Rosemary Romberg, Bergin & Garvey, 1985, p. 306) 
 
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.
Back to the News 1996 page.
The Circumcision Information and Resource Pages are a not-for-profit educational resource and library. IntactiWiki hosts this website but is not responsible for the content of this site. CIRP makes documents available without charge, for informational purposes only. The contents of this site are not intended to replace the professional medical or legal advice of a licensed practitioner.