Almost everywhere I turn news is positive and I have a lot of optimism about intactivism in the great year of 2009!
First off, even in my day to day life I encounter so much more awareness about the unnecessary nature of routine infant circumcision than I ever have. I can't even begin to tell you how much different this is from the way it was even at this decade's start. Intactivists nationwide and beyond are doing a good job of getting the message out there, and virtually everyone seems to have heard that circ isn't necessary, or seen a TV news report with that message, or heard it on the radio, or on the web, or from a childbirth instructor. It's very refreshing, let me tell you, since I began my work (in the humble capacity that it is compared to so many of you) in the Midwest of all places, in the heart of the Reagan years, when it truly seemed like NO ONE else had a clue that baby boys didn't come into the world with a cut-on-the-dotted line notice on their foreskins.
Secondly today I did one of my bi-annual cruising of the web with the word "circumcision" in my browser, just to see what came up, and from what I saw it was a landslide when it came to the number of anti as opposed to pro circ websites out there! I saw nothing new at all as far as sites put out by the pro-circ camps, and lots and lots from those who think as we do on this topic. That made me happy! The whole "tone" to the internet's content concerning circumcision has taken a shift toward enlightenment, and it seems to be happening faster than ever.
Third, my own project of re-focusing how I invest my energies in the fight against RIC has me enthused as I haven't been in years. Lemme explain... Some of you might recall that a few weeks back I posted about my letter (with pamphlets and links to pro-intact websites) to a famous US governor, whose daughter had a little boy. Well, that was all part of my campaign to focus on the more famous people in our society, hopefully making them aware of what we intactivists already know. Why? Well, I have a friend who is involved in a sect (let's term it that) with a sort of underground motto that "one famous convert is worth a thousand who aren't" and while I don't agree with this sect's teachings or belong to it, I do think they're onto something with that slogan. Think of how much publicity and how many people might hear an anti-circumcision statement by some Hollywood (or sports or politics or music) A-lister. This person could do more in thirty well-informed seconds with a coast-to-coast audience than you or I might in a whole year of diligent, quiet intactivism. For this reason I've been mailing celebrities literally dozens of letters a week with NOCIRC info in them, in the hope these nice little packages just might reach the notice of those to whom they're sent.
Hey, no one can accuse we intactivists of not being optimists, huh?
So as I sit here on a misty January evening, I can tell all of you from the bottom of my heart that I sincerely think 2009 is going to be a great time in our struggle.
Thanks for all that you've done! We're winning!
First off, even in my day to day life I encounter so much more awareness about the unnecessary nature of routine infant circumcision than I ever have. I can't even begin to tell you how much different this is from the way it was even at this decade's start. Intactivists nationwide and beyond are doing a good job of getting the message out there, and virtually everyone seems to have heard that circ isn't necessary, or seen a TV news report with that message, or heard it on the radio, or on the web, or from a childbirth instructor. It's very refreshing, let me tell you, since I began my work (in the humble capacity that it is compared to so many of you) in the Midwest of all places, in the heart of the Reagan years, when it truly seemed like NO ONE else had a clue that baby boys didn't come into the world with a cut-on-the-dotted line notice on their foreskins.
Secondly today I did one of my bi-annual cruising of the web with the word "circumcision" in my browser, just to see what came up, and from what I saw it was a landslide when it came to the number of anti as opposed to pro circ websites out there! I saw nothing new at all as far as sites put out by the pro-circ camps, and lots and lots from those who think as we do on this topic. That made me happy! The whole "tone" to the internet's content concerning circumcision has taken a shift toward enlightenment, and it seems to be happening faster than ever.
Third, my own project of re-focusing how I invest my energies in the fight against RIC has me enthused as I haven't been in years. Lemme explain... Some of you might recall that a few weeks back I posted about my letter (with pamphlets and links to pro-intact websites) to a famous US governor, whose daughter had a little boy. Well, that was all part of my campaign to focus on the more famous people in our society, hopefully making them aware of what we intactivists already know. Why? Well, I have a friend who is involved in a sect (let's term it that) with a sort of underground motto that "one famous convert is worth a thousand who aren't" and while I don't agree with this sect's teachings or belong to it, I do think they're onto something with that slogan. Think of how much publicity and how many people might hear an anti-circumcision statement by some Hollywood (or sports or politics or music) A-lister. This person could do more in thirty well-informed seconds with a coast-to-coast audience than you or I might in a whole year of diligent, quiet intactivism. For this reason I've been mailing celebrities literally dozens of letters a week with NOCIRC info in them, in the hope these nice little packages just might reach the notice of those to whom they're sent.
Hey, no one can accuse we intactivists of not being optimists, huh?
So as I sit here on a misty January evening, I can tell all of you from the bottom of my heart that I sincerely think 2009 is going to be a great time in our struggle.
Thanks for all that you've done! We're winning!
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: this is the ribbon Mothering uses for genital integrity, among other things.
