Inspired by the “Me Too” movement, I would like to voice my own victim’s impact statement.
For years, I have written to legislators, the courts, and to other “rights” organizations about the genital slicing that was forced on me shortly after my birth. I have written to tell them that cutting the genitals of little boys is exactly the kind of age and sex discrimination they pretend to be against. I have been ridiculed, ignored, and “thrown under the bus.” “MeToo” never answered my letters. My letters to politicians and to Human Rights Campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Amnesty International all have been met with silence. I had thought they supported all humans equally, but it seems I was wrong.
Do boys like me have 13th Amendment protections? Tissues excised from my private parts and those of millions of other similarly situated and objectified infants not only violated laws prohibiting involuntary tissue/organ “donations” (made without consent), but rather than discard the “unusable” tissues, doctors and hospitals used the prepuces (including mine), and profits have been made on male penile “spare parts.” When do we “donors” share in those profits?
Why am I not protected under the 14th Amendment to the U.S Constitution, which states “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall… deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”? Am I not a person?
Why am I categorically excluded from equal treatment under 18 USC, Section 116, which prohibits genital mutilation – but only of girls?
Apparently, for boys the Constitution means nothing. It’s not about the excuses (or intent), but the lifelong impact. Even though I am a male (born a boy), I am a person.
I support, respect and appreciate all the work Intact America is doing. If our legislators and bureaucrats were as heroic and hardworking as you are, we’d all be happy.
—James W
Interested in lending your voice? Send an email to [email protected], giving us a brief summary of what you would like to write about, and we will get back to you.
