And does something being "normal" make it "right?"
I ran across this video on YouTube that addresses precisely these questions, and OMG, it is so close to hitting the nail on the head on circumcision and its entrenchment in American (and really any other circumcising) culture.
The video speaks in general terms, but it is THIS CLOSE, THIS CLOSE, to mentioning circumcision, but it doesn't.
This is why I think this is an excellent, thought-provoking video that needs to be shared in any space where male infant circumcision is being discussed.
The video is by one Teal Swan, and it's about how horrific things can be normalized.
I will embed the video, as well as post a link to what is almost a near perfect transcription of it below.
Check out this excerpt from it:
"If somebody takes a knife and cuts you open, it doesn't matter if that's something that fourteen people experience, or one person experiences, you've still got a wound and you're still bleeding. Just because something is normal does not make it right or good. And just because something was or is the norm, does not mean the negative impact of it somehow doesn't exist."
OMFG, HOW many people need to hear this.
Readers, share this video, and use it as a tool when talking about circumcision and how "normal" it is.
Mutua Kuthuka, father of two boys who died post-circumcision
I'm not going to say much in this one. All I'm going to do is repost this article about two boys who died last week after botched traditional circumcisions in Africa.
All I want to say is, those who say "you can't compare male and female circumcision" are either ignorant or pretend to be, and they need to shut up and stop spreading deliberate and demonstrable lies.
Male and female circumcision aren't "similar"; they're identical.
One and the same.
They BOTH need to stop, and they need to stop now.
I will copy/paste the article and the link below.
On
Wednesday morning last week, 12 boys between the ages of five and eight
assembled at a homestead in Lundi village in Mwingi East, Kitui County,
ready to undergo circumcision.
The
boys, all under the grip of fear, were to be circumcised using a razor
blade by a 70-year-old woman. The woman is said to be an experienced
traditional circumciser and is revered among members of the Kavonokya
sect.
The
sect, which has its base in parts of Mwingi and Kitui South, is
notorious for disregarding conventional medicine. Its members do not
visit hospitals. Whenever one of them falls sick, the members congregate
in their secretive conclaves for prayers. At times the prayers are
endless. Many members have died as a result.
In the event of death, they hurriedly and secretly bury the dead and later dismiss it as an unavoidable will of God.
Armed
with nothing more than razor blades and egged on by the fathers of the
boys who were pinning the young ones down, the circumciser moved from
one boy to another, casually cutting off the foreskin.
After
the cut, the boys would be tossed onto a waiting party that would
bandage their private parts with pieces of clothes to stop the bleeding.
Unlike in hospitals, this callous ritual had no drugs to lessen the pain.
And
then something tragic happened. Two of the boys developed excessive
bleeding after being cut. They were immediately carted away and taken to
a secret house where sect members began their ritual prayers.
The sect members continued praying, jumping up and down and clutching firmly onto bibles, as the boys’ lives slowly ebbed away.
From
Wednesday to Friday, the two boys aged five and seven lay on a bed, and
bled endlessly. Late on Friday, with no other intervention except for
the prayers characterised by intense beating of drums, singing and
violent stomping of feet, the condition of the two siblings
deteriorated. They died, one after the other.
“Ijumaa ndio walilemewa zaidi,” their father, Mutua Kithuka said, revealing that the bleeding never stopped.
“The
younger one died at 6pm and the other one around 10pm. They would vomit
every time they were given something to eat,” said an emotionless
Kithuka, a staunch Kavonokya adherent who describes himself as the
paragon of faith and who says going to hospital is out of question for
his family.
Falls sick
“It
is true we did not take them to hospital because I am saved and
according to the scriptures, we are not allowed to go to hospital. If
one falls sick, you invite the church elders to pray and the sick is
healed by faith. God gives and God takes away, it is His will,” Kithuka
said.
He said his sons had never stepped foot in hospital since they were born but were in ‘perfect’ health.
Mwingi
East police boss Joseph Yakan confirmed Kithuka was arrested yesterday
while the traditional circumciser was arrested on Friday. They are being
held at Ukasi Police Station and will be arraigned today.
Mui
chief Paul Musyimi said he learnt of the matter after the boys had
already died. “We are warning the sect members not to circumcise their
sons at home. Stern action will be taken against those who go against
this directive,” Musyimi said.
The two bodies have been preserved at Mwingi Level IV Hospital mortuary.
I seriously hate writing these kinds of blog posts where I have to announce, yet again, another circumcision mishap that didn't make the news. Charlatan doctors that continue to reap profit from male infant genital mutilation will continue to say circumcision is "harmless" because "research" will continue saying it is, because doctors and hospitals aren't required to report such mishaps, so they won't make the statistics used to write these "studies."
What is it going to take for people to see male infant circumcision for the needless genital mutilation that it is and demand this practice stop?
Scrolling down my Facebook news feed, I see this:
This was posted on August 13th, so I'm seeing this late. That was over 10 days ago. There hasn't been an update since.
Did this child die?
We won't know.
Parents were probably advised not to post the rest of this story on Facebook.
How many times do I have to say it?
The risks of male infant circumcision include infection, partial or full ablation, hemorrhage or even death.
Without medical or clinical indication, doctors have no business performing surgery on a healthy newborn, let alone be offering parents any kind of "choice."
Under any other circumstance, reaping profit from non-medical surgery on healthy, non-consenting individuals constitutes medical fraud.
Given that male infant circumcision is elective cosmetic surgery, any risk above 0 is unconscionable.
What is it going to take until this practice is banned and doctors that continue to do this be tried as the mutilators they are?
Unless there is a compelling medical reason, male infant circumcision is genital mutilation.
Those who continue to do this are charlatans, and those doctors whose infant patients died as a direct result of this needless mutilation are guilty of manslaughter.
What is it going to take?
How many more ruined lives and murder victims?
This needs to end NOW.
List of Deaths and Complications Documented on This Blog:
I'm not going to say much about this; the problem should be immediately obvious.
Apparently there is a clinical trial to see how much or whether or not music eases the pain of male infant circumcision.
Is nobody going to talk about the ethics of an experiment to measure the effect of music on the pain of an elective cosmetic surgery on healthy, non-consenting infants?
Where is the human rights abuse outcry?
I mean, what would be the reaction of human rights groups if the subjects of the experiment were female?
What would people think of a "clinical trial" to measure the effects of this or that administered on a crying baby girl as she was being circumcised?
And this wouldn't be the first experiment of its kind.
I'm a little late in the game when it comes to reporting this, but as they say, "Better late than never."
Your blogger is busy with life and he somehow wishes he could be both an intactivist and supporting himself financially... Oh well... The best I can do is support other more important, more prominent intactivists...
On May 1st, 2018, Eric Clopper performed a play called Sex and Circumcision: An American Love Story at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre, where he staged the world's ultimate take-down of male infant circumcision as both a medical and religious ritual.
For this, Clopper was immediately placed on leave pending "a full review of the May 1 performance and events leading up to it."
Harvard suspended Clopper for 2 months for a supposed "investigation," during which Harvard’s student news paper, The Crimson, published 5 libelous articles against him, and refused to publish his letter to the editor.
In addition, to having solicited claims against him and eliminated his position, Harvard colluded with the sound company that handled Clopper’s show to obtain intimate footage of his, which they then showed to senior administrators, his boss, his friends and colleagues.
In essence, Harvard University, The Crimson and Baystate Sound colluded in a smear campaign against Clopper.
But why would anyone want to do this?
The answer is clear:
Officials at Harvard and their accomplices would like to cancel Eric Clopper because his message and take-down of male infant circumcision is solid, and they have vested interest in protecting male infant circumcision and those who perpetuate it.
That is the tactic and strategy of people who have no logical leg to stand on; cancel and silence.
So solid and irrefutable is Clopper's message, that the only chance people who want to silence him have is to disenfranchise him by attacking his character and plaguing him with financial ruin and shame.
That same year, Clopper set out to play David to Harvard's Goliath, setting up a GoFundMe to cover litigation expenses.
And now, it seems, Eric Clopper is finally armed and ready to fight.
On July 27, 2020 this year, he posted the following video on YouTube:
He says:
“My attorneys and I have officially filed suit against Harvard and other parties for the violation of my Constitutional Rights and other claims in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts.
If you'd like to support my and my attorney's legal efforts, and to get a copy of the pleadings, you can go to my site, subscribe for updates if you'd like, donate to our effort if you can, and there are various ways to get in touch with me if you'd like : https://www.clopper.com/harvard-lawsuit”
I am going to be relatively quiet in the immediate future, but in the coming months and year, I will have many updates on this and other issues.
Clopper fights a three-way fight:
First and foremost, he fights to defend his reputation, since officials at Harvard, The Crimson and Baystate Sound colluded to attack his character.
Second, he fights to be heard, as the university's actions are a clear affront to his and others' Freedom of Speech, and their clear and express wish is to silence him.
And third, he fights for truth and raising awareness as to what is happening in hospitals across the United States; the gross and deliberate violation of basic human rights of healthy, non-consenting individuals in the name of pseudoscience and religion.
