Where Is My Foreskin?
KONCHOK.PENDAY
Pediatrician's wife, American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Conference
Hyatt-Regency Hotel, Chicago, April 14, 1996 Said:
"Millions of Jews were murdered during the Holocaust
because circumcision marked them as Jews! This must
never happen again! Everyone should be circumcised!"
Where Is My Foreskin?
The Case Against Circumcision
http://www.sexuallymutilatedchild.org/fleiss.htm
Paul M. Fleiss, MD
Excerpt:
* Protection: Just as the eyelids protect the eyes, the foreskin
protects the glans and keeps its surface soft, moist, and sensitive. It
also maintains optimal warmth, pH balance, and cleanliness. The glans
itself contains no sebaceous glands--glands that produce the sebum, or
oil, that moisturizes our skin.[11] The foreskin produces the sebum that
maintains proper health of the surface of the glans.
START:
Western countries have no tradition of circumcision. In antiquity, the
expansion of the Greek and Roman Empires brought Westerners into contact
with the peoples of the Middle East, some ofwhom marked their children
with circumcision and other sexual mutilations. To protect these
children, the Greeks and Romans passed laws forbidding circumcision.[1]
Over the centuries, the Catholic Church has passed many similar
laws.[2,3] The traditional Westernresponse to circumcision has been
revulsion and indignation.
Circumcision started in America during the masturbation hysteria of the
Victorian Era, when a few American doctors circumcised boys to punish
them for masturbating. Victorian doctors knew verywell that circumcision
denudes, desensitizes, and disables the penis. Nevertheless, they were
soon claiming that circumcision curedepilepsy, convulsions, paralysis,
elephantiasis, tuberculosis, eczema,bed-wetting, hip-joint disease,
fecal incontinence, rectal prolapse,wet dreams, hernia, headaches,
nervousness, hysteria, poor eyesight,idiocy, mental retardation, and
insanity.[4]
In fact, no procedure in the history of medicine has beenclaimed to cure
and prevent more diseases than circumcision. As late as the 1970s,
leading American medical textbooks still advocatedroutine circumcision
as a way to prevent masturbation.[5] The antisexual motivations behind
an operation that entails cutting offpart of the penis are obvious.
The radical practice of routinely circumcising babies did notbegin until
the Cold War era. This institutionalization of what amounted to
compulsory circumcision was part of the same movement thatpathologized
and medicalized birth and actively discouraged breastfeeding.
Private-sector, corporate-run hospitals institutionalized routine
circumcision without ever consulting the American people. There was no
public debate or referendum. It was only in the 1970s that a series of
lawsuits forced hospitals to obtain parental consent to perform this
contraindicated but highly profitable surgery. Circumcisers responded by
inventing new "medical" reasons for circumcision in an attempt to scare
parents into consenting.
Today the reasons given for circumcision have been updated to play on
contemporary fears and anxieties; but one day they, too, will be
considered irrational. Now that such current excuses as the claim that
this procedure prevents cancer and sexually transmitted diseases have
been thoroughly discredited, circumcisers will undoubtedly invent new
ones. But if circumcisers were really motivated by purely
medicalconsiderations, the procedure would have died out long ago, along
withleeching, skull-drilling, and castration. The fact that it has
notsuggests that the compulsion to circumcise came first, the
"reasons,"later.
Millions of years of evolution have fashioned the human bodyinto a model
of refinement, elegance, and efficiency, with every part having a
function and purpose. Evolution has determined that mammals' genitals
should be sheathed in a protective, responsive, multipurposeforeskin.
Every normal human being is born with a foreskin. Infemales, it protects
the glans of the clitoris; in males, it protectsthe glans of the penis.
Thus, the foreskin is an essential part of human sexual anatomy.
Parents should enjoy the arrival of a new child with as few worries as
possible. The birth of a son in the US, however, is often fraught with
anxiety and confusion. Most parents are pressured to hand their baby
sons over to a stranger, who, behind closed doors,straps babies down and
cuts their foreskins off. The billion-dollar-a-year circumcision
industry has bombarded Americans with confusing rhetoric and calculated
scare tactics.
Information about the foreskin itself is almost always missing from
discussions about circumcision. The mass circumcision campaigns of the
past few decades have resulted in pandemic ignorance about this
remarkable structure and its versatile role in human sexuality.Ignorance
and false information about the foreskin are the rule inAmerican medical
literature, education, and practice. Most American medical textbooks
depict the human penis, without explanation, as circumcised, as if it
were so by nature.
What Is the Foreskin?
The foreskin is a uniquely specialized, sensitive, functional organ of
touch. No other part of the body serves the same purpose. Asa modified
extension of the penile shaft skin, the foreskin covers and usually
extends beyond the glans before folding under itself and finding its
circumferential point of attachment just behind the corona(the rim of
the glans). The foreskin is, therefore, a double-layered organ. Its true
length is twice the length of its external fold,comprising 80 percent or
more of the penile skin covering,[6] or at least 25 percent of the
flaccid penis's length.
The foreskin contains a rich concentration of blood vessels and nerve
endings. It is lined with the peripenic muscle sheet, a smooth muscle
layer with longitudinal fibers. These muscle fibers are whorled, forming
a kind of sphincter that ensures optimum protection of the urinary tract
from contaminants of all kinds.
Like the under surface of the eyelids or the inside of the cheek, the
under surface of the foreskin consists of mucous membrane.It is divided
into two distinct zones: the soft mucosa and the ridge dmucosa. The soft
mucosa lies against the glans penis and containsectopic sebaceous glands
that secrete emollients, lubricants, andprotective antibodies. Similar
glands are found in the eyelids and mouth.
Adjacent to the soft mucosa and just behind the lips of the foreskin is
the ridged mucosa. This exquisitely sensitive structure consists of
tightly pleated concentric bands, like the elastic band sat the top of a
sock. These expandable pleats allow the foreskin lipsto open and roll
back, exposing the glans. The ridged mucosa gives the foreskin its
characteristic taper.
On the underside of the glans, the foreskin's point of attachment is
advanced toward the meat us (urethral opening) and forms a band like
ligament called the frenulum. It is identical to the frenulum that
secures the tongue to the floor of the mouth. The foreskin's frenulum
holds it in place over the glans, and, in conjunction with the smooth
muscle fibers, helps return the retracted foreskin to its usual forward
position over the glans.
Retraction of the Foreskin
At birth, the foreskin is usually attached to the glans, very much as a
fingernail is attached to a finger. By puberty, the penis will usually
have completed its development, and the foreskin will have separated
from the glans.[8] This separation occurs in its own time; there is no
set age by which the foreskin and glans must be separated. One wise
doctor described the process thus, "The foreskin therefore can be
likened to a rosebud which remains closed and muzzled. Like a rosebud,
it will only blossom when the time is right.No one opens a rosebud to
make it blossom."[9]
Even if the glans and foreskin separate naturally in infancy,the
foreskin lips can normally dilate only enough to allow the passage of
urine. This ideal feature protects the glans from premature exposure to
the external environment.
The penis develops naturally throughout childhood. Eventually,the child
will, on his own, make the wondrous discovery that his foreskin will
retract. There is no reason for parents, physicians, or other caregivers
to manipulate a child's penis. The only person to retract a child's
foreskin should be the child himself, when he has discovered that his
foreskin is ready to retract.
Parents should be wary of anyone who tries to retract their child's
foreskin, and especially wary of anyone who wants to cut it off. Human
foreskins are in great demand for any number of commercial enterprises,
and the marketing of purloined baby foreskins is a multi
million-dollar-a-year industry. Pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies
use human foreskins as research material. Corporations suchas Advanced
Tissue Sciences, Organo genesis, and BioSurface Technology use human
foreskins as the raw materials for a type of breath able bandage.
What Are the Foreskin's Functions?
The foreskin has numerous protective, sensory, and sexual functions.
* Protection: Just as the eyelids protect the eyes, the foreskin
protects the glans and keeps its surface soft, moist, and sensitive. It
also maintains optimal warmth, pH balance, and cleanliness. The glans
itself contains no sebaceous glands--glands that produce the sebum, or
oil, that moisturizes our skin.[11] The foreskin produces the sebum that
maintains proper health of the surface of the glans.
* Immunological Defense: The mucous membranes that line allbody orifices
are the body's first line of immunological defense.Glands in the
foreskin produce antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as
lysozyme.[12] Lysozyme is also found in tears and mother's milk.
Specialized epithelial Langerhans cells, an immune system component,
abound in the foreskin's outer surface. Plasma cells in the foreskin's
mucosal lining secrete immunoglobulins, antibodies that defend against
infections.
* Erogenous Sensitivity: The foreskin is as sensitive as the fingertips
or the lips of the mouth. It contains a richer variety and greater
concentration of specialized nerve receptors than any other part of the
penis.[15] These specialized nerve endings can discernmotion, subtle
changes in temperature, and fine gradations oftexture.[16, 17, 18, 19,
20, 21, 22, 23]
* Coverage during Erection: As it becomes erect, the penile shaft
becomes thicker and longer. The double-layered foreskin provides the
skin necessary to accommodate the expanded organ and to allow the penile
skin to glide freely, smoothly, and pleasurably overthe shaft and glans.
* Self-Stimulating Sexual Functions: The foreskin's double-layered
sheath enables the penile shaft skin to glide back and forth over the
penile shaft. The foreskin can normally be slipped allthe way, or almost
all the way, back to the base of the penis, and also slipped forward
beyond the glans. This wide range of motion isthe mechanism by which the
penis and the orgasmic triggers in the foreskin, frenulum, and glans are
stimulated.
* Sexual Functions in Intercourse: One of the foreskin's functions is to
facilitate smooth, gentle movement between the mucosal surfaces of the
two partners during intercourse. The foreskin enablesthe penis to slip
in and out of the vagina nonabrasively inside its own slick sheath of
self-lubricating, movable skin. The female isthus stimulated by moving
pressure rather than by friction only, as when the male's foreskin is
missing.
The foreskin fosters intimacy between the two partners byenveloping the
glans and maintaining it as an internal organ. The sexual experience is
enhanced when the foreskin slips back to allowthe male's internal organ,
the glans, to meet the female's internalorgan, the cervix--a moment of
supreme intimacy and beauty.
The foreskin may have functions not yet recognized or understood.
Scientists in Europe recently detected estrogen receptorsin its basal
epidermal cells.[24] Researchers at the University of Manchester found
that the human foreskin has apocrine glands.[25]These specialized glands
produce pheromones, nature's chemical messengers. Further studies are
needed to fully understand these features of the foreskin and the role
they play.
Care of the Foreskin
The natural penis requires no special care. A child's foreskin, like his
eyelids, is self-cleansing. For the same reason itis inadvisable to lift
the eyelids and wash the eyeballs, it isinadvisable to retract a child's
foreskin and wash the glans.Immersion in plain water during the bath is
all that is needed to keep the intact penis clean.[26]
The white emollient under the child's foreskin is called smegma. Smegma
is probably the most misunderstood, most unjustifiably maligned
substance in nature. Smegma is clean, not dirty, and is beneficial and
necessary. It moisturizes the glans and keeps it smooth, soft, and
supple. Its antibacterial and antiviral properties keep the penis clean
and healthy. All mammals produce smegma. Thomas J. Ritter, MD,
underscored its importance when he commented, "The animal kingdom would
probably cease to exist without smegma."[27]
Studies suggest that it is best not to use soap on the glansor
foreskin's inner fold.[23] Forcibly retracting and washing a baby's
foreskin destroys the beneficial bacterial flora that protect the penis
from harmful germs and can lead to irritation and infection.The best way
to care for a child's intact penis is to leave it alone.After puberty,
males can gently rinse their glans and foreskin with warm water,
according to their own self-determined needs.
How Common Is Circumcision?
Circumcision is almost unheard of in Europe, South America,and
non-Muslim Asia. In fact, only 10 to 15 percent of men throughout the
world are circumcised. The vast majority of whom are Muslim.[29]The
neonatal circumcision rate in the western US has now fallen to34.2
percent.[30] This relatively diminished rate may surpriseAmerican men
born during the era when nearly 90 percent of baby boyswere circumcised
automatically, with or without their parents'consent.
How Does Circumcision Harm?
The "medical" debate about the "potential health benefits"
ofcircumcision rarely addresses its real effects.
* Circumcision denudes: Depending on the amount of skin cutoff,
circumcision robs a male of as much as 80 percent or more of his penile
skin. Depending on the foreskin's length, cutting it off makes the penis
as much as 25 percent or more shorter. Careful anatomical investigations
have shown that circumcision cuts off more than 3 feetof veins,
arteries, and capillaries, 240 feet of nerves, and more than20,000 nerve
endings.[31]The foreskin's muscles, glands, mucous membrane, and
epithelial tissue are destroyed, as well.
* Circumcision desensitizes: Circumcision desensitizes thepenis
radically. Foreskin amputation means severing the rich nerve network and
all the nerve receptors in the foreskin itself.Circumcision almost
always damages or destroys the frenulum. The loss of the protective
foreskin desensitizes the glans. Because the membrane covering the
permanently externalized glans is now subjected to constant abrasion and
irritation, it keratinizes, becoming dry and tough. The nerve endings in
the glans, which in the intact penis arejust beneath the surface of the
mucous membrane, are now buried bysuccessive layers of keratinization.
The denuded glans takes on a dull, grayish, sclerotic appearance.
* Circumcision disables: The amputation of so much penile skin
permanently immobilizes whatever skin remains, preventing it from
gliding freely over the shaft and glans. This loss of mobility destroys
the mechanism by which the glans is normally stimulated.When the
circumcised penis becomes erect, the immobilized remaining skin is
stretched, sometimes so tightly that not enough skin is left to cover
the erect shaft. Hair-bearing skin from the groin and scrotum is often
pulled onto the shaft, where hair is not normally found. The surgically
externalized mucous membrane of the glans hasno sebaceous glands.
Without the protection and emollients of theforeskin, it dries out,
making it susceptible to cracking andbleeding.
* Circumcision disfigures: Circumcision alters the appearance of the
penis drastically. It permanently externalizes the glans,normally an
internal organ. Circumcision leaves a large circumferential surgical
scar on the penile shaft. Because circumcision usually necessitates
tearing the foreskin from the glans, pieces ofthe glans may be torn off,
too, leaving it pitted and scarred. Shreds of foreskin may adhere to the
raw glans, forming tags and bridges of dangling, displaced skin.[32]
Depending on the amount of skin cut off and how the scar forms, the
circumcised penis may be permanently twisted, or curve orbow during
erection.[33] The contraction of the scar tissue may pull the shaft into
the abdomen, in effect shortening the penis or buryingit completely.[34]
* Circumcision disrupts circulation: Circumcision interrupts the normal
circulation of blood throughout the penile skin system and glans. The
blood flowing into major penile arteries is obstructed bythe line of
scar tissue at the point of incision, creating backflowinstead of
feeding the branches and capillary networks beyond thescar. Deprived of
blood, the meatus may contract and scarify,obstructing the flow of
urine.[35] This condition, known as meatalstenosis, often requires
corrective surgery. Meatal stenosis is foundalmost exclusively among
boys who have been circumcised.
Circumcision also severs the lymph vessels, interrupting thecirculation
of lymph and sometimes causing lymphedema, a painful,disfiguring
condition in which the remaining skin of the penis swells with trapped
lymph fluid.
* Circumcision harms the developing brain: Recent studies published in
leading medical journals have reported that circumcision has long
lasting detrimental effects on the developing brain,[36]adversely
altering the brain's perception centers. Circumcised boys have a lower
pain threshold than girls or intact boys.[37]Developmental neuro
psychologist Dr. James Prescott suggests that circumcision can cause
deeper and more disturbing levels ofneurological damage, as well. [38, 39]
* Circumcision is unhygienic and unhealthy: One of the most common myths
about circumcision is that it makes the penis cleaner and easier to take
care of. This is not true. Eyes without eyelids would not be cleaner;
neither would a penis without its foreskin. The artificially
externalized glans and meatus of the circumcised penis are constantly
exposed to abrasion and dirt, making the circumcised penis, in fact,
more unclean. The loss of the protective foreskinl eaves the urinary
tract vulnerable to invasion by bacterial and viral pathogens.
The circumcision wound is larger than most people imagine. Itis not just
the circular point of union between the outer and inner layers of the
remaining skin. Before a baby is circumcised, his foreskin must be torn
from his glans, literally skinning it alive.This creates a large open
area of raw, bleeding flesh, covered at best with a layer of undeveloped
proto mucosa. Germs can easily enter the damaged tissue and bloodstream
through the raw glans and, even more easily, through the incision itself.
Even after the wound has healed, the externalized glans andmeatus are
still forced into constant unnatural contact with urine,feces,
chemically treated diapers, and other contaminants.
Female partners of circumcised men do not report a lower rate of
cervical cancer,[40] nor does circumcision prevent penile cancer.[41] A
recent study shows that the penile cancer rate is higher in the US than
in Denmark, where circumcision, except among Middle Eastern immigrant
workers, is almost unheard of.[42] Indeed,researchers should investigate
the possibility that circumcision has actually increased the rate of
these diseases.
Circumcision does not prevent acquisition or transmission of sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs). In fact, the US has both the highest
percentage of sexually active circumcised males in the Western world and
the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases,including AIDS.
Rigorously controlled prospective studies show that circumcised American
men are at a greater risk for bacterial and viralSTDs, especially
gonorrhea,[43] non gonoccal urethritis,[44] human papilloma virus,[45]
herpes simplex virus type 2,[46] and chlamydia.[47]
* Circumcision is always risky: Circumcision always carries the risk of
serious, even tragic, consequences. Its surgical complication rate is
one in 500.[48] These complications include uncontrollable bleeding and
fatal infections.[49] There are many published case reports of gangrene
following circumcision.[50]Pathogenic bacteria such as staphylococcus,
proteus, pseudomonas,other coli forms, and even tuberculosis can cause
infections leading to death.[51, 52] These organisms enter the wound
because it provide seasy entry, not because the child is predisposed to
infection.
Medical journals have published numerous accounts of babieswho have had
part or all of their glans cut off while they were being circumcised.[53
54 55] Other fully conscious, unanesthetized babies have had their
entire penis burned off with an electrocautery gun.[56,57,58] The
September 1989 Journal of Urology published an account offour such
cases.[59] The article described the sex-change operation as"feminizing
genitoplasty," performed on these babies in an attempt to change them
into girls. The March 1997 Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent
Medicinedescribed one young person's horror on learning that "she" had
been born a normal male, but that a circumciser had burned his penis off
when he was a baby.[60] Many other similar cases have been
documented[61,62] Infant circumcision has a reported deathrate of one in
500,000.[63,64]
* Circumcision harms mothers: Scientific studies have consistently shown
that circumcision disrupts a child's behavioral development. Studies
performed at the University of Colorado School of Medicine showed that
circumcision is followed by prolonged,unrestful non-REM (rapid eye
movement) sleep.[65] In response to thelengthy bombardment of their
neural pathways with unbearable pain, thecircumcised babies withdrew
into a kind of semi coma that lasted daysor even weeks.
Numerous other studies have proven that circumcision disruptsthe
mother-infant bond during the crucial period after birth. Research has
also shown that circumcision disrupts feeding patterns. In a study at
the Washington University School of Medicine, most babies would not
nurse right after they were circumcised, and those who did would not
look into their mothers' eyes.[66]
* Circumcision violates patients' and human rights: No one has the right
to cut off any part of someone else's genitals without that person's
competent, fully informed consent. Since it is the infant who must bear
the consequences, circumcision violates his legal rights both to refuse
treatment and to seek alternative treatment. In 1995,the American
Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Bioethics stated that only a
competent patient can give patient consent or informed consent.[67] An
infant is obviously too young to consent to anything.He must be
protected from anyone who would take advantage of his defenselessness.
The concept of informed parental permission allows for medical
interventions in situations of clear and immediate medical necessity
only, such as disease, trauma, or deformity. The human penis in its
normal, uncircumcised state satisfies none of these requirements.
Physicians have a duty to refuse to perform circumcision. They also must
educate parents who, out of ignorance or misguidance,request this
surgery for their sons. The healthcare professional's obligation is to
protect the interests of the child. It is unethicalin the extreme to
force upon a child an amputation he almost certainlywould never have
chosen for himself.
Common Sense
To be intact, as nature intended, is best. The vast majority of males
who are given the choice value their wholeness and keep their foreskins,
for the same reason they keep their other organs of perception. Parents
in Europe and non-Muslim Asia never have forcedtheir boys to be
circumcised. It would no more occur to them to cutoff part of their
boys' penises than it would to cut off part of theirears. Respecting a
child's right to keep his genitals intact isnormal and natural. It is
conservative in the best sense of the word.
A circumcised father who has mixed feelings about his intact newborn son
may require gentle, compassionate psychological counseling to help him
come to terms with his loss and to overcome his anxieties about normal
male genitalia. In such cases, the mother should steadfastly protect her
child, inviting her husband to share this protective role and helping
him diffuse his negative feelings. Most parents want what is best for
their baby. Wise parents listen to their hearts and trust their instinct
to protect their baby from harm. The experience of the ages has shown
that babies thrive best in a trusting atmosphere of love, gentleness,
respect, acceptance, nurturing, and intimacy. Cutting off a baby's
foreskin shatters this trust.
Circumcision wounds and harms the baby and the person the baby will
become. Parents who respect their son's wholeness are bequeathing to him
his birthright--his body, perfect and beautiful in its entirety.
Paul M. Fleiss, MD, MPH, is assistant clinical professor of pediatricsat
the University of Southern California Medical Center. He is the author
of numerous scientific articles published in leading nationaland
international medical journals.
Notes
1. T. J. Ritter and G. C. Denniston, Say No to Circumcision: 40
Compelling Reasons, 2nd ed. (Aptos, CA Hourglass 1996), 6-20.
2. "Incipit Libellus De Ecclesiasticis Disciplinis et Religione
Christiana Collectus. Liber II.XC, XCI" in Patrologiae Cursus Completus,
vol. 132 (Paris: Apud Garnier Fratres, Editores et J. P. Migne
Successores, 1880), 301-302.
3. S. Grayzel, The Church and the Jews in the Xllth Century, vol. 2, ed.
K. R. Stow (Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1989), 246-247.
4. See Note 10, 17-40.
5. M. E Camphor "The Male Genital Tract and the Female Urethra," in
Urology, eds. M. E. Campbell and J. H. Harrison, vol. 2, 3rd ed.
(Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1970), 1836.
6. See photographic series: J. A. Erickson, "Three Zones of Penile
Skin." In M. M. Lander, "The Human Prepuce," in G. C. Denniston and M.
E. Milos, eds., Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy (New York: Plenum
Press, 1997), 79-81.
7. M. Davenport, "Problems with the Penis and Prepuce: Natural History
of the Foreskin" (photograph 1), British Medical Journal 312 (1996):
299-301.
8. J. Oster, "Further Fate of the Foreskin," Archives of Disease in
Childhood 43 (1968): 200-203.
9. H. L. Tan, "Foreskin Fallacies and Phimosis," Annals of the Academy
of Medicine, Singapore 14 (1985): 626-630.
10. F. A. Hodges, "Short History of the Institutionalization of
Involuntary Sexual Mutilation in the United States" in G. C. Denniston
and M. E. Milos, eds., Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy (New York:
Plenum Press, 1997), 35.
11. A B. Hyman and M. H. Brownstein, "Tyson's 'Glands": Ectopic
Sebaceous Glands and Papillomatosis Penis," Archives of Dermatology 99
(1969): 31-37.
12. A. Ahmed and A. W. Jones, "Apocrine Cystadenoma: A Report of Two
Cases Occurring on the Prepuce, "British Journal of Demmatology 81
(1969): 899-901.
13. G. N. Weiss et al., "The Distribution and Density of Langerhans
Cells in the Human Prepuce: Site of a Diminished Immune Response?"
Israel Journal of Medical Sciences 29 (1993): 42-43.
14. P. J. Flower et al., "An Immunopathologic Study of the Bovine
Prepuce," Veterinary Pathology 20 (1983): 189-202.
15. Z. Halata and B. L. Munger, "The Neuroanatomical Basis for the
Protopathic Sensibility of the Human Glans Penis," Brain Research 371
(1986): 205-230.
16. J. R. Taylor et al., "The Prepuce: Specialized Mucosa of the Penis
and Its Loss to Circumcision," British Journal of Urology 77 (1996):
291-295.
17. H. C. Bazett et al., "Depth, Distribution and Probable
Identification in the Prepuce of Sensory End-Organs Concerned in
Sensations of Temperature and Touch; Themometic Conductivity," Archives
of Neurology and Psychiatry 27 (1932): 489-517.
18. D. Ohmori, "Ueber die Entwicklung der Innervation der
Genitalapparate als Peripheren Aufnahmeapparat der Genitalen Reflexe,"
Zeitschriht fuer Anatomie and Entwicklungspeschichte 70 (1924): 347-410.
19. A. De Girolamo and A. Cecio, "Contributo alla Conoscenza
dell'innervazione Sensitiva del Prepuzio Nell'uomo," Bollettino delta
Societa Italiana de Biologia Sperimentak 44 (1968): 1521-1522.
20. A. S. Dogiel, "Die Nervenendigungen in der Haut der aeusseren
Genitalorgane des Menschen," Archiv fuer Mikroskopische Anatomie 41
(1893): 585-612.
21. A. Bourlond and R. K. Winkelmann, "L'innervation du Prepuce chez le
Nouveau-ne," Archives Beiges de Demmatologie et de Syphiligraphie 21
(1965): 139-153.
22. R. K. Winkelmann, "The Erogenous Zones: Their Nerve Supply and Its
Significance," Proceedings of the Staff Meetings of the Mayo Clinic 34
(1959): 39-47.
23. R. K. Winkelmann, "The Cutaneous Innervation of Human Newborn
Prepuce," Journal of Investigative Demtotology 26 (1956): 53-67.
24. R. Hausmann et al., "The Forensic Value of the Immunohistochemical
Detection of Estrogen Receptors in Vaginal Epithelium," International
Journal of Legal Medicine 109 (1996): 10-30.
25. See Note 12.
26. American Academy of Pediatrics, Newboms: Care of the Uncircumcised
Penis Guidelines for Parents (Elk Grove Village, IL: American Academy of
Pediatrics, 1994).
27. See Note 1.
28. See Note 1.
29. S. A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Jehovah, His Cousin Allah, and Sexual
Mutilations," in Sexual Mutilations A Human Tragedy, eds. G. C.
Denniston and M. F. Milos (New York: Plenum Press, 1997), 41-62.
30. National Center for Health Statistics of the United States
Department of Health and Human Services, 1994.
31. See Note 17.
32. G. I Klauber and J. Boyle, "Preputial Skin-Bridging: Complication of
Circumcision," Urology 3 (1974): 722-723.
33. J. P. Gearhart, "Complications of Pediatric Circumcision," in
Urologic Complications, Medical and Surgical, Adult and Pediatric, ed.
E. E. Marshall (Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1986), 387-396.
34. R. D. Talarico and J. E. Jasaitis, "Concealed Penis: A Complication
of Neonatal Circumcision," Journal of Urology 110 (1973): 732-733.
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PERMALINK: http://net-prophet.net/blog/?p=1636
My Name
How Appropriate: Your Source Has Been SNIPPED!
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A government, of Israel, by Israel, and, for: Israel.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. The light shineth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not. The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
My Name
Hey! Glad your link is back up.
Wanted to let you know that, we passed on the information you
posted to the birthing center in the labor and delivery dept.
of the local hospital.
They no longer perform male genital mutilation there, period.
If one insists on having it done, you'll have to have it done
on an out-patient basis, "cash only" payment accepted! No plastic!
(Sounds kind of like an under-handed, "under the table"
dirty business practice to me. Suitable, I suppose, it being
the bloody under-handed "dirty business" that it is to do that
to someone who can't stand-up for themselves and say: No!
Bloody painful too, with a lot of downsides, as you or anyone
who has read the article well knows! All, argue against it!)
The doctors there will STRONGLY RECOMMEND AGAINST IT too, to everyone!
And, only do it upon ones ignorant insistance! Too bad, they
don't hold out and refuse to do it. Morality triumphing over ...
The nurses in that section of the hospital dept. exhibited an
intense interest in the information presented in the artcle
by Paul M. Fleiss, MD. Everyone agrees that: The fact that,
the new-born male refuses to even LOOK at his mother,
if he will even suckle her at all for his necessary sustenance,
should be most revealing to any new mothers to be!
Of course: Any sane father is already opposed to genital mutilation.
One can't even imagine the man who is passed the "age of consent"
who would choose it of his own free-will and volition for himself
without the idiocy of some religion or insanity being pre-placed.
Hopefully, we will have saved some fore-skins from moses,
judaism and ignorant "religious" "Christians"! Thought you
might appreciate getting some positive feedback on your post.
Thanks be to: You! For passing along the VALUABLE information.
Everyone should be informed!