CIN (Circumcision Information Network) 3:26

CIRCUMCISION INFORMATION NETWORK
Volume 3, Number 26, 16 July 1996
E-mail:  CircInfoNe@aol.com

The purpose of this weekly 1000-word 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.

WHOSE BODY, WHOSE RIGHTS?
Contributed by albfie@p3.net (Al Fields)

The 19th. Annual International Philadelphia Film Festival will be held on the
weekend of 20-21 July. It has been announced "Whose Body, Whose Rights?" is
an award finalist, and will be shown Sunday evening, July 21st., at 20:30.
 Lawrence Dillon, the director of the video, plans to be present at the
showing.  Admission to view this category of films is $5.

The Festival will be held at the Afro-American Historical and Cultural
Museum, 6th. and Arch (Near Strawbridge & Clothier, and Chinatown).

CIRCUMCISION DAMAGE HITS HOME
Contributed by [name deleted by request -- CIRP]

Hi, and thank you (God bless you, too) for having devoted the kind of effort
I just witnessed on your page.  I'm realizing this morning that there is a
wealth of information out there, and for the last seven and a half years of
my son's life I thought there was none.

I've had a pretty hard time.  In particular, my son was, I guess, from what
I've been told, partially circumcised and the skin reattached around the
glans.  This causes build up and painful abcesses.  Every doctor I've seen
here in NYC is pro-circumcision, they all are trying to slam us back in the
hospital to "do it damn right this time."

Thankfully I have not; and although I was an ignorant 26 year old child of
Italian immigrants who allowed this to be done in the first place, that's not
what I am now.

I am seeking to find a sanctuary in the form of a doctor who can successfully
separate the skin without causing more unnecessary mutilation.  It's risky
business: even the ones who claim to be anti on the issue want to do surgery
and remove the precious skin.

I am willing to go to the ends of the earth, spend as much as it takes, do
whatever it takes.  I don't know who to trust.  I would sell my house, do
whatever it takes.

I am also willing to engage with an attorney and allow my son to sue me for
what I allowed to be done to him.  I have done a lot of research, but it
pales in comparison to what I just saw on your site.  I will separately
contact some of the other references you gave.

Any pointing to right directions would be greatly appreciated.

R.N. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS TO INFANT CIRCUMCISION:  A MODEL FOR NURSE
EMPOWERMENT
An article by Betty Katz Sperlich, Mary Conant, and Frederick Hodges,
published in "REVOLUTION:  The Journal of Nurse Empowerment."
Part 2 of a multi-part series
Contributed by typist dyks96a@prodigy.com (George Hill)

In October, 1992, we declared ourselves conscientious objectors to
circumcision and submitted a formal statement to the physicians, hospital
administration, and staff, announcing our refusal to assist any further with
the procedure.  Other nurses came forward to join us and, in the end, a total
of 24 maternal-child nurses - nearly 50 percent of the staff, including every
Jewish nurse - declared themselves conscientious objectors and agreed to our
position statement.  It read as follows:

Neonatal circumcision is a violation of a newborn males right to a whole
(intact) body.

There are no compelling medical reasons for amputating the penile foreskin.
 Indeed, amputating the foreskin deprives the infant of a protective and
sexually functional part of his body.

Circumcision is a surgical procedure with risks of complications, including
bleeding, infection, and mutilation.

Neonatal circumcision is painful.  Often, inadequate or no anesthesia is
used.  Post operative pain management is rare.

Parental information is too often incomplete or base on myths.

The infant is unable, at this vulnerable stage to protect himself.

Our conscientious-objector stance attracted media attention across the
country.  In February. 1993, at a local press conference, we welcomed the
opportunity to clarify our position and initiate a dialogue with the
community.

Because we wanted to have an open debate at our hospital about the issues of
circumcision, we organized an education conference on May 8, 1993.  Most of
the physicians on St. Vincent's staff boycotted the conference and we learned
later that some of them had asked the hospital's CEO to fire us.

STUPID QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Contributed by mancom@ix.netcom.com (Michael J. Manzo).
"None of my three boys was circumcised, although Dad was.  This was my
husband's decision; but, as CCO (chief cleaning officer) it was I who had to
pull back the foreskin of slippery preschoolers in the tub and make sure they
were passably clean."
Mary Amoroso, in the Sunday Bergen Record, 2 June 1996, in her article on P
L-10 entitled "Congratulations, it's a boy; what about circumcision?"
CIN note:  The only person authorized to retract a foreskin is the person
attached to it, when he is good and ready.  Do parents pry open their little
girls' vaginas to make sure they're clean?

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.  For further internet information, contact the
Doctors Opposing Circumcision Web site at
http://weber.u.washington.edu/~gcd/DOC.  For an up-to-date, and mostly
complete archive of the CIN the URL is http://www.cirp.org/CIRP/news/cin/.
Back to the News 1996 page.
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