Woman Heads Effort to Stop Circumcision

Marilyn Milos, 69, of Forest Knolls was a nurse at Marin General Hospital in 1979 when she witnessed her first circumcision. The experience changed her life. After researching the procedure, she became convinced it was not only unnecessary but harmful. She says she was later fired from her job for sharing her opinions with patients and has spent the last 30 years crusading against circumcision as founder of the nonprofit National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers.

Q: What do you remember about that first circumcision?

A: As we walked into the nursery, the baby was strapped down to a plastic board. I called it "the rack" when I worked there. The baby was pulling against the restraints. Then the doctor started to cut and that baby let out a scream I've never heard come out of the mouth of a human, ever, and it became louder and louder. My bottom chin began to quiver and then tears poured over my eyes, and the doctor looked at my face and said, "There is no medical reason for doing this."

Q: How did your supervisors at Marin General react when you started questioning circumcision?

A: They told me to keep my mouth shut because a couple of patients were upset that I'd told them what was going to happen to their babies. I said, "Well, the baby's a patient. No one is more upset than he is." It was my job as a nurse that when parents signed that consent form that they were truly informed.

Q: What is so important about the foreskin?

A: It covers and protects the urinary meatus so the urinary tract maintains its sterility, and it's the skin that accommodates the full erection. Circumcision is one of the reasons that men complain of tight erections, painful erections and curvature of the penis.

Q: Does circumcision reduce male sexual pleasure?

A: Well, if you cut off 20,000 to 70,000 highly erogenous, specialized nerve endings, what would your guess be? All those nerve endings are the accelerator that allows a man to ride the wave to orgasm the way a woman does. Without them, the accelerator is replaced with an off/on switch; "Oops honey sorry, it's because I'm so sensitive." It's not because you're so sensitive. It's because somebody did this to you. Somebody removed your accelerator. Men should be so pissed off about this.

Q: What is the long-term effect of the glans' exposure?

A: Initially, premature ejaculation occurs because there is no control. Later the denuded glans becomes dry, hardened and calloused. By their mid-40s, men are saying, "The head of my penis is numb. There is no sensation there."

Richard Halstead can be reached at rhalstead@marinij.com

Great New Resource

Be informed before you make a choice for your child that cannot be taken back.

http://www.circinfosite.com/

More on last post...

This comment was left in response to my last post. I thought it was really insightful and summed up a lot I wasn't able to put on paper. Thanks Mark Lyndon (email - ml66uk2@yahoo.com) for taking your time to share your thoughts with my blog readers.

The studies which allegedly show a reduction in HIV among circumcised men are indeed highly questionable. Not one of them was finished, despite the protective affect appearing to decline well below the oft-reported 65%, and several of the subjects disappearing. The fact that one study described circumcision as "comparable to a vaccine of high efficacy" seems to show clear bias. They appear to have been seeking a certain result. One has to wonder how many of the people promoting circumcision in Africa are themselves circumcised.

Other epidemiological studies have shown no correlation between HIV and circumcision, but rather with the numbers of sex workers, or the prevalence of "dry sex".

The two continents with the highest rates of AIDS are the same two continents with the highest rates of male circumcision. Rwanda has almost double the rate of HIV in circed men than intact men, yet they've just started a nationwide circumcision campaign. Other countries where circumcised men are *more* likely to be HIV+ are Cameroon, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, and Tanzania. That's seven countries where men are more likely to be HIV+ if they've been circumcised.

Cameroon: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR163/16chapitre16.pdf table 16.9, p17 (4.1% v 1.1%)
Ghana: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR152/13Chapter13.pdf table 13.9 (1.6% v 1.4%)
Lesotho: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR171/12Chapter12.pdf table 12.9 (22.8% v 15.2%)
Malawi: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR175/FR-175-MW04.pdf table 12.6, p257 (13.2% v 9.5%)
Rwanda: http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR183/15Chapter15.pdf , table 15.11 (3.5% v 2.1%)
Swaziland http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/FR202/FR202.pdf table 14.10 (21.8% v 19.5%)


Something is very wrong here. These people aren't interested in fighting HIV, but in promoting circumcision (or sometimes anything-but-condoms), and their actions will cost lives not save them.

If you read those reports btw, the level of knowledge about HIV is quite frightening. In Malawi for instance, only 57% know that condoms protect against HIV/AIDS, and only 68% know that limiting sexual partners protects against HIV/AIDS. There are people who haven't even heard of condoms. It just seems really misguided to be hailing male circumcision as the way forward. It would help if some of the aid donors didn't refuse to fund condom education, or work that involves talking to prostitutes. There are African prostitutes that sleep with 20-50 men a day, and some of them say that hardly any of the men use a condom. If anyone really cares about men, women, and children dying in Africa, surely they'd be focussing on education about safe sex rather than surgery that offers limited protection at best, and runs a high risk of risk compensatory behaviour.

Circumcised male virgins are more likely to be HIV+ than intact male virgins, as the operation sometimes infects men. The latest news is that circumcised HIV+ men appear more likely to transmit the virus to women than intact HIV+ men (even after the healing period is over). Eight additional women appear to have been infected during that study, solely because their husbands were circumcised. This is not the first time that HIV in women has been linked to partner circumcision.

ABC (Abstinence, Being Faithful, Condoms) works against HIV. Circumcision appears not to. Remember that circumcision won't make any difference unless someone is having unsafe sex with an HIV+ partner.

Female circumcision seems to protect against HIV too btw, but we wouldn't investigate cutting off women's labia, and then start promoting that. http://www.ias-2005.org/planner/Abstracts.aspx?AID=3138

For a good summary of the case against promoting circumcision in Africa, see this link:
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/info/HIVStatement.

Human Rights Group Denounces Latest Circumcision Promotion as a Dangerous Distraction in the HIV Battle

In response to the launch of a new website, www.malecircumcision.org, by Family Health International, WHO, UNAIDS, and AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition to promote male circumcision as a prevention for HIV, the International Coalition for Genital Integrity (ICGI) issues a renewed warning to the world health community that male circumcision is the wrong approach to curb the HIV epidemic in Africa and elsewhere.

West Lafayette, IN (PRWEB) February 26, 2009 -- In response to the launch of a new website, www.malecircumcision.org, by Family Health International, WHO, UNAIDS, and AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition to promote male circumcision as a prevention for HIV, the International Coalition for Genital Integrity (ICGI) issues a renewed warning to the world health community that male circumcision is the wrong approach to curb the HIV epidemic in Africa and elsewhere.

“We are gravely concerned that the push for mass circumcision in Africa will have detrimental consequences, including placing women at greater risk of HIV transmission, creating a false sense of security in circumcised males, and leading to increased risk-compensation behaviors such as no longer using using condoms. Circumcision campaigns will result in huge numbers of circumcision complications. This will severely strain the already burdened healthcare infrastructure,” says Dr. John Travis, MD, MPH, and ICGI advisor. “Furthermore, these campaigns will cause the re-direction of money that could be better spent on more effective HIV prevention strategies such as condom distribution and education campaigns.”

The recent push for male circumcision has resulted primarily from three studies on adult males in Africa that showed a decrease in HIV in circumcised males during the study period. The studies were conducted in a highly controlled and medicalized environment, were terminated early, were not double blind, and condoms and other safe sex practices were heavily promoted. Consequently, it is unsure if their results were from the surgery, wearing condoms, education, or some other factor. There is no evidence these studies can be extrapolated to the general population. The results of these studies have since been contradicted by other studies from Africa and in the Americas.

“Obviously, the world is desperate for any solution that might help stem the HIV crisis. Unfortunately, circumcision is being treating like popping a pill. This is surgery. It carries the risk of major surgical complications. Male circumcision is not the answer to the HIV crisis,” warns Travis. “We find it especially troubling that infant circumcision is also being promoted. This is a severe human rights violation. To surgically remove a part of an infant’s body for a possible benefit, if any, 15–20 years from now when he becomes sexually active, is simply wrong—especially when there are more effective methods available.”

For more information on why male circumcision is a dangerous distraction in the battle to fight, health policy leaders and other concerned individuals can go to www.icgi.org/aids or www.circumcisionandhiv.com to learn more.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/02/prweb2178774.htm

Facing Circumcision

Eight physicians describe their experiences with infant male circumcision. From the documentary film "Facing Circumcision" by Cheron Bayna.

Cut

I am adding this movie to my library wishlist. Looks very informative.



http://www.cutthefilm.com/Cut_Website/Home.html

NOCIRC Video

This video put out by NOCIRC is an awesome resource. All expectant parents should watch it.

60 Minutes Australia Circumcision Segment

For those of you that know me well, you know how opposed I am to RIC (Routine Infant Circumcision). I cannot wait for the day when RIC is outlawed just as FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is here in the states. I believe if more parents knew and truly understood what happens and what is lost with RIC, they would not sit by and allow this to happen to their innocent baby boys.

For more info on circumcision, check out:

http://www.nocirc.org/

http://www.hyphen.bravehost.com/3reasons.html

http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/circumcision/against-circumcision.html

http://circumcisionquotes.com/description.html

Circumcision, Trauma and Your Newborn Baby Boy

If you were in his place, would you really want amputation to be among your first experiences of your new life in America?



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Uneccesary trauma isn't the only reason to allow him to keep his entire body he was born with, so please consider these additional concisely-written reasons: http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com/5-bc/64-no-to-circumcision.htm

Here is a mainstream news article on involuntary genital reduction surgery and trauma. However, please note, that even if it could be done with zero pain, it is still the amputation of a healthy functional body part from a non-consenting member of our society. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9712/23/circumcision.anesthetic/