Loi Caitlin Medvin
I just want to talk to you about something that most people don't discuss, but could. It's called circumcision. First, though, I'd like you to think of your baby - how perfect he will be when he arrives earth-side. Think how each part is so tiny, whole and amazing that all you can do is smile in delight to touch and hold this incredible new human.
This sweet child - your baby - welcomed in your arms. It is such a life-changing and completing feeling. And your baby - think how he feels to be out of such a cramped space -- to be really touched, to use his new senses, to learn and explore. As parents, we want out children to feel safe in this big world as they grow. Our job - or one of them - is to protect them and make sure that they can experience all of the joys this world has to offer.
So why do so many parents let their innocent sons be brutally cut? How can we, who are supposed to protect -- and doctors, who are supposed to heal -- do such a traumatizing and painful thing to someone who has absolutely no say in the matter? Our poor babies, who trust instinctively and are totally dependent upon us for every little thing, come into the world and first experience this hurt. What a horrible welcome they receive..."So glad you are here, let me take you from your mommy and strap you down on a plastic board (the circumstraint board), force cold metal objects into your most sensitive, erogenous areas, stretch them out, crush them, and then cut them off".
They used to say, "Oh, babies don't feel pain" but that is so ridiculous! Of course they feel pain. And they may not remember consciously what happens to them just days after birth, but that first trauma is remembered subconsciously and stored in body. It's called somatic (body) memory, according to kinesiologists, and does affect later development.
Psychologically, there are effects as well. When the baby is taken away from the mother, it is his first major separation and first sexual experience (the baby becomes erect after the 5-minute scrub to clean him). Who do you think they he blames for this - who up until this point has been his matrix -his world (according to Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Magical Child)? The mother, of course, and then later, women in general (subconsciously, still). This makes for many issues later in life -- with males possibly identifying sex with pain and/or abandonment. Research shows that boys who have been circumcised have lower thresholds of pain for their entire lives.
It is also very frightening for the new baby. After being strapped down, half of his penis is forcibly cut away - what will become approximately 20 square inches of skin. This skin is healthy, functional tissue - full of erotogenic nerve endings that are stripped away. The foreskin also produces proteins that protect against bacteria and viruses and ensures the right temperature and ph value (Jonathan Hock).
Not only that, but there are some complications that can and have occurred from circumcising. Bleeding, infection, and sometimes urinary retention -which is very painful and can cause permanent damage to the kidneys (National Post online, Jan 17,01), not to mention even death (there have been court cases against the doctors who perform the circumcision).
There are also effects physically as the circumcised man ages. He gradually loses sensation in the head of his penis. It is meant to be covered by the foreskin, but without that protection, it becomes keratinized (calloused) and then desensitized. Without the foreskin, there is no gliding action (less natural lubrication), so the man must pull out further and push in with more force to be stimulated. This, of course, affects sexual relations for both men and women.
So, keeping the above in mind -- how circumcision hurts our new infants on so many different levels -- from the psychological to the physical and beyond -- and that both the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics state that male genital mutilation is "non-therapeutic" (meaning that there is no valid medical purpose) - no reason medically, in other words - WHY HURT YOUR PERFECT BABY?