fbpx

How COVID-19 Can Help Break the Circumcision Cycle

The United States is now the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, and our medical resources are stretched thin. There is a shortage of health care professionals to care for the thousands of terribly ill COVID-19 patients who have flooded our hospitals, which is why the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams asked health care providers to cancel or postpone all adult elective procedures to avoid overwhelming hospital systems. The Surgeon General warned that every elective surgery could spread this deadly virus within a facility. Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, after a few weeks’ realization that the pandemic is going to be with us for a long time, hospitals are resuming elective surgeries, with little discussion about the principles or priorities that underlay the Surgeon General’s recommendations.

That said, his guidance did not go far enough. In particular, it failed to address the fact that many elective procedures for minors could and should also be evaluated as to their need. A glaring example of a surgery that is not just a non-priority during a pandemic but utterly useless at any time is – ironically – also the most commonly performed pediatric surgery in America. Newborn circumcision treats no illness and could be completely abandoned with only positive benefits for children and for the nation’s health overall. Of course, this procedure is sold by physicians and nurses to parents, who “elect” to cut their baby boy’s genitals, and the patient is given no choice; if he were, I suspect he’d opt to forgo the surgery and remain intact. (One of my favorite bumper stickers of all times says: 10 Out of 10 Babies Say NO to Circumcision!)

Boys who are circumcised spend, on average, an extra six hours in the hospital, increasing the risk that they and their mothers will be exposed to COVID-19 and other infections. It is just appalling to me that doctors and hospitals engage in cutting the genitals of infants, even when the risks associated with the pandemic are so apparent.

Yet, it’s clear from the reports I have seen that doctors and nurses continue to press parents to circumcise their newborn boys, and that it even extends to cases where the mother is COVID-19-positive! In early April, the American Academy of Pediatrics published its “Initial Guidance: Management of Infants Born to Mothers with COVID-19,” which specifically states, “Well newborns should receive all indicated care, including circumcision if requested.”

What the guidance does not say, but should, is that the American Academy of Pediatrics itself has always stated that there is not sufficient scientific evidence to recommend routine newborn circumcision. To that, we add that circumcision is a harmful intervention that no professional medical society recommends, that it is performed on patients who are not sick, and that it robs babies of an essential erogenous part of their natural penis.

Intact America has launched a petition drive to demand that the Surgeon General tell hospitals to stop performing male child circumcisions at this critical time. Nationwide, doctors perform 3,000 newborn circumcisions each day, or more than one million unnecessary surgeries every year. Each day, the procedure consumes 6,000 surgical masks, 6,000 pairs of protective gloves, and other supplies that could be better used to protect frontline health care workers from COVID-19 and to treat sick patients.

We have also contacted nearly 20,000 administrators and clinicians from thousands of hospitals around the country requesting that they stop all newborn circumcisions. Health care professionals need to understand that cutting newborn genitals both wastes precious resources and increases the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by babies and their mothers.

COVID-19 has brought pain and suffering to millions in the United States, and the U.S. health care system will be forever changed by this pandemic. One would hope that both experts and the general public will begin to accept that it’s necessary to prioritize our overall use of medical resources to ensure that supplies, equipment and personnel are available – and equitably accessible – for when they are truly needed. Fortunately, more and more Americans are ready to accept the wisdom that intactivists have advocated for years: suspend routine newborn circumcisions and keep all children whole, as nature intended.

We can use this pandemic as an impetus to stop cutting boys’ genitals—just as we refuse to allow cutting the genitals of girls. We can break the circumcision habit, and thus move closer to a consensus that keeping a boy intact (“uncircumcised”) is the normal and desirable thing to do. In his book, “The Tipping Point,” Malcolm Gladwell, explains the concept: “The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.”

We look forward to watching the flames. Help us by signing our petition today.

Memes & Infographics

Intact America has created hundreds of graphics over the past ten years. Social media is a great and inexpensive way to spread our message and reach a tipping point. Here are our most popular and informative memes,1 Memes are units of self-replicating cultural...

Your “Voices”

Intact America’s “Voices” series consists of stories, anecdotes, narratives, and biographies from people whose lives have intersected with male child genital cutting (a.k.a. circumcision).

Media Outreach

Intact America’s media strategy is to persuade the public to see that child genital cutting is unwarranted, unethical, and harmful. We use a multitude of media, including print, television, radio, blogs, podcasts, mobile billboards, and press releases as our...

Do You Know: Your voice is needed?

Each year, the month of June marks the national celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride in the United States. This year’s Pride celebration in New York City is anticipated to be the largest ever, in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

Despite how far the LGBTQ+ rights movement has come since the 60s — and the triumph of marriage equality in 2015 — this social change movement is far from over. So often you’ll hear stories from LGBTQ+ people recounting experiences of “hiding” themselves from others or, worse, hiding any trauma they may be carrying.

What’s unique about the Pride celebration is that it empowers millions of people to take a public stand, to be vocal, and to claim their identity. The importance of standing up for those who don’t have a voice, to proclaim the right to bodily autonomy and to healthy sexual futures are just some of the reasons why the LGBTQ+ community embraces the intactivist message — and why Intact America supports Pride.

We understand how powerful and influential a voice can be, especially when lent to a righteous and moral social change movement. This understanding is what motivated the Intact America team to launch our Voices” series last year.

Just recently, the BBC published an account about a young, intact man who took his own life after being circumcised. Part of what makes this story so tragic is that his family and friends were unaware of his circumcision, and of his suffering.

In the weeks following the article’s publication, men started to comment publicly, sharing their own circumcision experiences.

For some, this was their first time opening-up about their struggles; many said that even their intimate partners don’t know the feelings they’re harboring.

Unfortunately, this paradox is common. So many circumcised American men … and so many others aren’t able to share their feelings about having had their genitals cut when they were children.

If you’re reading this and feel that child genital cutting has negatively impacted your personal life, or your sex life, you are not alone. Every day 3,000 baby boys have their genitals cut in the United States.

Your own experience with child genital cutting is unique to you, but these stories share a common theme. What we want our community to know is that there’s power in your story — power to encourage, power to educate, power to heal, power to influence, power to mobilize — but that power is relinquished once you refuse share it.

We cannot hope to change the way America thinks about child genital cutting — about circumcision — if we’re unwilling to talk about why a change is needed in the first place. Our allies in the LGBTQ+ community would have never claimed their rights if they hadn’t spoken out — loudly.

“Hiding” from our circumcision experience(s)…

• gives this abhorrent practice the appearance of normality/compliance.

• is unhealthy and prevents the healing of emotional trauma.

• will not help the intactivist movement to reach the tipping point.

Without your support and your voice, the intactivist movement will languish. Take pride in your identity and your beliefs. Use the power of your story, the power of your voice.

(If you or someone you know is feeling depressed or suicidal please seek emergency care, consult a licensed therapist, or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255)

Do You Know: Americans are changing their attitudes on circumcision?

In 2014, Intact America commissioned a national survey that asked (among many other questions) respondents; “Should baby boys be kept intact?” {the word “intact” was explained.} Only 10 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative, i.e., “Yes, baby boys should be kept intact.” In 2018, we asked the same question in a second national survey; fully 14 percent said yes, baby boys should be kept intact.

When Intact America was founded a decade ago, our expressed goal was “To Change the Way America Thinks about Circumcision.” The results of our surveys show that Intact America and the intactivist movement are moving public opinion in the right direction.

Many of you have read about our “Tipping Point” strategy. The strategy comes from decades of research about successful social change movements Put simply, a “tipping point” is:

an event or a stage (as in a social movement) where a critical mass of people accepts a new idea or alternative to the previous status quo.

Thus, for circumcision, the new idea/alternative to the status quo is the belief that the intact male body is normal and desirable, and that keeping a baby intact is also normal and desirable.

Social change experts know that behavior follows beliefs – not the other way around. People stop drinking sugary drinks after they hear about other tasty less-sugary alternatives that are growing in popularity.

That’s why the messages Intact America employs are designed to change public opinion, and popularize the foreskin and the intact male body. Here are some examples:

  • Three-quarters of men in the world are intact and have no problems with their foreskins.
  • The foreskin provides protection, lubrication and pleasure to a man and his sexual partner.
  • The intact penis requires no special care.
Our messages are working! Funds permitting (a reliable national survey costs $7,000-$10,000 to implement), Intact America will survey the public to measure progress toward the tipping point. In the meantime, we’ll continue to promote foreskin-positive messages so that every American begins to see the foreskin as normal and natural, and believe that keeping a baby boy intact is the natural thing to do.