My father, Rev. George Soutar, was a very heart centered United Church minister in Northern Ontario, Canada. He pushed to ban circumcision all his life starting in 1949. He cultivated doctors in the congregation to support the ban. Several sympathetic pediatricians were in his congregation in the 1960s. When he learned that a woman was pregnant in the church he arranged for the couple to have a meeting with him about childbirth. He connected them with a doctor who would not recommend circumcision. There are no health benefits since washing beats amputation always! In his own words, having been born in Scotland, “This is a barbaric, English practice”!
This is something that has haunted me all my life, because my Dad was present in the operating room when I was born. Normally only the doctors and nurses were allowed in the little Kirkland Lake, Ontario hospital during operations and childbirth in 1949. He strong armed his way between me and the doctor and said “No one is touching my son” and so I escaped the mutilation! It was a standard practice so it must have taken some courage to stop the surgeon. But the surgeon was in my Dad’s church and had to respect “the Reverend”! I am forever grateful.
Circumcision is an extremely brutal process that results in removing many nerve endings associated with sexual pleasure. You have to wonder if this came about due to Puritanical influences in the 1880s. Disapproval of masturbation may have been part of it. My heart hurts when I even think about the subject. It’s a “Crime Against Humanity”!
The article below covers the history of circumcision from Victorian time to the present. In Victorian times it was mainly promoted to discourage masturbation. The article also summarizes many scientific studies of the tissue of the foreskin, showing that in fact considerable pleasure is associated with the tissue that is removed by circumcision.
( https://mosaicscience.com/story/troubled-history-foreskin/ )
Why are male babies still tortured brutally in many countries? Circumcision is a barbaric practice that needs to end. The pain, with no anaesthetic, is so extreme that some babies have seizures. Psychology Today Magazine speaks of circumcision and the psychological damage that causes symptoms later in life. There is strong evidence of a PTSD effect that for some men makes it difficult to be heart centered. Pain sensitivity for life is a side effect for some. I have wondered if some autism in males is triggered by the seizure level pain of circumcision?
Click below to read about circumcision in PsychologyToday, Sept. 25, 2011:
( https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201109/circumcision-ethics-and-economics )
This excellent article from the Huffington Post points out that it is a widespread practice in the USA which is supported by USA medical associations because of pressures from doctors who perform the surgery. They do not want to lose income.
In Canadian Medicine it is no longer recommended or supported. A clear advantage of socialized medicine is not just cheaper medicine, it leads to more “heart centered medical practices” that reduce suffering by avoiding unnecessary surgeries. If you are in the USA please don’t take your doctor’s advice on this issue. If you watch a video you will be horrified at the practice … be warned it is incredibly brutal. (I am not posting a video because it gave me nightmares for a week.)
Danish doctors want circumcision banned as an illegal practice. Denmark has been in the lead on humanitarian issues for a century. This Huffington post article shows the Danish view:
New Jewish Movement Against Circumcision
Within Jewish circles in Israel there is a growing community of compassionate parents who choose not to circumcise. See the article from an Israeli magazine below:
The puritanical attitudes in this part of the world are still allowing male genital mutilation! The practice has come to an end in Socialized Canadian Medicine but the fight is not over.
What can you do? The information in the links above gives ample proof that this cruel practice should be abandoned. If you have friends who are about to have a baby, be bold enough to discuss circumcision. Give them the informative links above. Most importantly let’s get the subject “out of the closet”. Until people talk freely about circumcision this cruel and heartless practice will not just disappear.
I’m going to the gay pride parade next year on the anti-circumcision float. My dad would be proud of me for carrying on the fight against this barbaric practice. You also can be an educator, helping eliminate this cruel practice. By simply sharing this article you will be helping to prevent babies from suffering worldwide!
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Ian Faulkner of Vancouver Island is known as a “crazy eccentric inventor” by his friends and neighbors because he does not own a car, has supported his family for 40 years by inventing electronic products, and has dozens of unusual hobbies. He is a Sufi, Buddhist, Christian, and Taoist spiritual explorer using meditation, psychedelics, bodywork, and ecstatic dance. Ian’s professional skills include electronic engineering, Trager massage, intimacy education, web journalism, and scientific research for product development. He has many hobbies including beekeeping, alternative medicine, photography, rock collecting, astronomy, mushroom study, jewelry making, dancing, yoga, and meditation. He is active on Facebook and maintains many web sites which are showcased on the landing page.
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Couldn’t agree more, and lots of doctors agree. Two national medical organizations (Sweden and Germany) have called for infant male circumcision to be banned, and two others (Denmark and the Netherlands) have said they’d support a ban if they didn’t think it would drive the practice underground.
“Routine” circumcision *is* banned in public hospitals in Australia (almost all the men responsible for this policy will be circumcised themselves, as the male circumcision rate in Australia in 1950 was about 90%).
Completely agree and hope that as soon as possible this is fought with as much vigour as female genital mutilation is. There are hundreds of reported cases of babies no longer crying for, cuddling up to mother or breastfeeding from the mother after circumcision has taken place. There’s some evidence all pain that occurs to an infant they subconsciously ‘blame’ on the mother and that it can actually distance them from healthy female relationships later in life never really understanding why due to this trauma so early in life. Interesting to note in many African nations the word for female genital mutilation or ‘cutting’ and male circumcision are one and the same so should perhaps have the same horrific light shone on these barbaric practises. Manipulating someone’s body without their consent is never okay.