1860 "In cases of masturbation we must, I believe, break the habit by inducing such a condition of the parts as will cause too much local suffering to allow of the practice to be continued. For this purpose, if the prepuce is long, we may circumcise the male patient with present and probably with future advantages; the operation, too, should not be performed under chloroform, so that the pain experienced may be associated with the habit we wish to eradicate."
On An Injurious Habit Occasionally Met with in Infancy and Early Childhood, Athol A. W. Johnson. The Lancet, vol. 1 (7 April 1860): pp. 344-345.
My Comments:
There are many, related and unrelated to the medical community, who claim the baby doesn't feel pain during circumcision. The truth of the matter is that there is no way that a foreskin or clitoris (same organ, mind you) can be removed and the patient feel no pain. In fact, this is more than pain. The most highly sensitive area of the body; the most nerve-dense organ is being coldly and cruely sliced. There is a reason those babies let out those ungodly screams like they let out at no other time in their lives. There is a reason their hearts race at such a speed that they border on exploding and the baby goes into shock (which is why you'll hear parents say "my baby didn't cry" of course not.. he was on the verge of a coma).
The above quote proves solidly that they feel pain. That was the entire point of the circumcision! They realized (unlike modern medicine) that the foreskin gave great pleasure. In fact, the removal of the foreskin also removes 70% of the sensation in the penis (not to mention all the health functions it provides.) And to subject the child to this intense pain was supposed to teach him a lesson. It was supposed to make him remember a horrible torturous experience.
I want to share with all of you an event that drew me into intactivism...
ReplyDeleteBack in 1996, I began an OB/GYN hospital clinical as a student nurse. One day, I was enlisted to attend a 'routine circumcision.' I did not realize how much that event would shatter the very foundation of a career choice made in ignorance. I appeared in the doorway of the circ room and saw the little newborn boy to whom I was 'assigned' for the day. 20 years old and not having kids of my own, I did not anticipate the lurching sensation that gripped my heart. Laying strapped down to a table, so small and new....pure and innocent...trusting...all alone...no defenses..., I walked toward the baby and wanted to grab him off the table and shelter him..to tell him that nobody would hurt him..
In walked the doctor...loud..obnoxious..joking with his assistant...as if he was about to perform a 10 minute oil change..not once did he talk to this little baby. Rather, he reached for his cold metal instruments..and then reached out for his object of mutilation...this sweet newborn's perfect unharmed penis. As I recall the screams of pain and terror.. his small lungs barely able to keep up with the cries..I turned in horror as I saw the doctor forcefully pull his foreskin around a metal object. Then came the knife..cut...cut..cut..
I stood next to the baby and said..you're almost done sweety..almost done...
There..done. Then came the words..as that son-of-a-bitch dangled the foreskin in midair.."anybody care to go fishing?"
My tongue lodged in my throat..I felt like I was about to vomit. I restrained myself..and my duty was to then take the infant back to the nursery for 'observation.' Here is where I realized I couldn't do it. I could not be a part of such a cold, sterile, out-of-touch medical model...Rather than observing, I cradled the infant...I held him and whispered comforting words as if he were my own...I'll never forget those new little eyes watch me as if in a haze...he knew I cared about him...he knew he was safe in my arms..he knew that I was going to take him to his mommy...but, deep in his little heart, at some level, I know he wondered where his mommy was.....while he lay there mutilated in what was supposed to be a safe and welcoming environment. I made a note in the chart and then caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror...my chest and face had broken out in purple splotches. My next thought? I can't do this...I refuse to do this...this is NOT for me. I took the baby to his mother..who was complaining about 'some pain' she was experiencing...I never addressed her pain because I left to go to my locker..I grabbed my belongings..and hoped that my rejection of this 'medical system' could serve as some type of redemption for the violation of that newborn that I cradled in my arms that day. The next day, I withdrew from nursing school...and never looked back.
This makes a person wish that there was an education class for parents or that people not be allowed to have boys without first learning these things. This left me and my daughter in tears.
ReplyDeleteMy son was circ'd. At the time I was 19 and it was 1987. I didn't know one thing from another and circ'ing was routine.
They brought me my crying baby 15minutes before leaving the hospital. They showed me how to care for this bloody raw stump they called the "circumcised area". When I saw that I swore that never again.. even if I had 10 more boys.. would I do that to another baby. I didn't know all of the medical and emotional facts that I do now.. but I knew that something was not right about this cruelty.
In tears. And so glad that I have this forum to refer family members to who question my convictions.
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