Discouraged

[sanity rules]

I have to admit, in the nearly quarter-century I have been active in battling RIC, I can't remember ever being this down. The current climate of thought regarding circumcision has never before been so discouraging. I've always felt we were making some headway toward progress but right now I see major backsets coming. I'm sure we'll all continue to fight the good fight but I think we're going to have to do it from a position of where we were twenty years ago, when for a time our message was truly getting out there. It's as if in one sudden step society has turned its back on sanity and misinformation has taken control.

Sorry, I guess you can tell I'm really down tonight.

[tutucrazy]

I'll admit to being discouraged myself.

[eepster]

This is to a fair degree backlash against the progress we are making. It is a sign of the progress we make, that so many feel a need to fight back.

[glongley]

Yes, the insanity is palpable, the opposition seemingly more powerful, and the stakes are higher than ever before. It is what it is, and we have to capitalize on it. It may be ugly but at least the fight is out in the open. The word intactivist is now in the media's vocabulary, Intact America is getting interviewed for newspapers and TV. And people are more outraged than ever and motivated to write, speak, and show up to put their weight behind this. Even as there is more insanity in some places, there is more sanity in others. SOcial change is messy. This is bigger than we are. We are right, and we will get there. Keep the faith, and keep your shoulder to the wheel.



Gilllian

[Fellow Traveler]

I would add that the issue is so much better known and out lets for discussion and distribution of information isn't monopolized anymore. This is a good thing for us.

[RiverSky]

Yeah, me, too, but I just continue to put anti-circ stuff on my Facebook page and yeah, I'm off to order a bumper sticker or two for my car...

[fruitful womb]

Originally Posted by glongley

Yes, the insanity is palpable, the opposition seemingly more powerful, and the stakes are higher than ever before. It is what it is, and we have to capitalize on it. It may be ugly but at least the fight is out in the open. The word intactivist is now in the media's vocabulary, Intact America is getting interviewed for newspapers and TV. And people are more outraged than ever and motivated to write, speak, and show up to put their weight behind this. Even as there is more insanity in some places, there is more sanity in others. SOcial change is messy. This is bigger than we are. We are right, and we will get there. Keep the faith, and keep your shoulder to the wheel.



Gilllian

This was helpful, thanks Gillian.

I guess I'm a bit torn up by the weight of our media. Those who puppet our culture have a circ bias and well...

It just dawned on me that after telling myself I'll not let the circ media propaganda upset me, I truly am upset. I just flooded my fb with info and had someone ask me "Whats with the circ stuff?" They usually don't say anything...

[PuppyFluffer]

What's with the circ stuff.....Let's see.....the measue of a people is how they treat their most innocent. That's what's with the circ stuff. Think about it.

[pdx.mothernurture]

I'm feeling the same way; the CDC thing is obscene.

[13Sandals]

I did just read this here http://www.chicagotribune.com/health...3982803.story:

"Infant circumcision rates have fallen over the last several decades, and in 2006, the most recent year for which the government had data, just more than half of baby boys were circumcised."

Last time I was here, the CDC hadn't released data since 2004. So we are right now at 50%? If so, maybe this is better than we thought. No matter what the CDC does now, in 20 years, 50% of the adult male population will be intact, not 20%. Things are changing...but it does make me ill to think that the fence- sitters will opt for circumcision if CDC recommends. How anyone places any trust in that organization is beyond me.

[Fellow Traveler]

I also thought I should add that the whloe circumcision/HIV thing has been churning for more than two years. Yet when ever I look at blogs and comments on this issue I still see alot of support for the cause; disproportionally more support than not. Often I think it's incearsing not decreasing. So while the rates of intact boys may slow I think the overall trend will continue. More and more this is being written and cast in a human rights eye by bloggers and even officials in some countries. See the racp statement for example. We just have to keep pushing we will get here.

[Dev]

Hang in there ALL you dear Lovely intactivist friends:

Like you all and others with common sense and respect for others’ autonomy, I am appalled by the CDC’s efforts to recommend the circumcision of infant boys in the U.S. At first I suspected such pro-circ. coverage would eventually lead to an increase in infant circumcision in our country, but now believe it will “wake up the giant.” More unknowledgeable and culturally blind citizens with Finally start to examine the debate a bit closer and come to realize the absurdity of the century old circumcision experiment on our nation’s infant boys. I recall a quote from Mohandas Gandhi that I saw several yrs. ago on an intactivist website, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” We are finally at the middle ground of the Fighting stage!

Our movement to protect and defend the genital integrity rights of ALL children needs to hear these insane and irrational arguments favoring the genital cutting of our infant boys. Rest assured, we have an entire generation of young adults who are mostly all internet literate and will do more research and question the establishment in much more greater numbers than the previous generations. Also, in the years to come, I predict that more and more circumcised men will come forward and make it loud and clear to the medical establishment that they have been harmed by circumcision and they want it to stop so other men don't have to live with the adverse consequences.

The year 2015 will mark the 18th anniversary of the USA's federal Female Genital Mutilation Act (the ban on female cutting took effect in March 1997). This will be an important time for Circumcised males in our country since adult circed. males will make claims under the equal protection clause of our constitution (14th amendment). The pro-circ. medical establishment already know this, which is a primary reason they have to fight back with a defense that infant baby circs. is somehow "medically necessary" to protect the health and livilihood of our nations males from the "prepuce curse" they mistakenly are all born with!

[hakunangovi]

Hang in there - We will eventualy win this. At least it is out in the open and people are talking about it, so there is a lot more "awareness" than in previous generations when the whole subject was barely whispered about. Many will take what they read at face value, but many more will have their curiosity aroused and make the effort to find out just what all the hoopla is about. They are the ones most likely to see RIC for the farce it is.

[Ron_Low]

Wow,
I'm more optimistic than I have been in a long time. Thanks to this CDC nonsense, more people than ever know what we mean by intactness, because Intact America is getting mentioned in just about every write-up. I see anti-circ comments far outnumbering and roundly out-thinking pro-cutting remarks everywhere the issue is up for debate.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by Dev

I recall a quote from Mohandas Gandhi that I saw several yrs. ago on an intactivist website, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” We are finally at the middle ground of the Fighting stage!

Yes, I think this is right on the mark.

[jessjgh1]

Originally Posted by Ron_Low

Wow,
I'm more optimistic than I have been in a long time. Thanks to this CDC nonsense, more people than ever know what we mean by intactness, because Intact America is getting mentioned in just about every write-up. I see anti-circ comments far outnumbering and roundly out-thinking pro-cutting remarks everywhere the issue is up for debate.

Good point worth repeating, even if I have felt discouraged. I keep trying to remember the positive things that are happening amid all the

Jessica

[Galatea]

It is actually getting better. Everyone has heard now that many people choose not to circumcise. Even the most mainstream friends have told me that they know that circumcising is a violation of the baby's rights! Even 6 years ago when I was pg with my first, there was actual debate on the internet... now everywhere I go on the internet, the intactivists have won and the pro-circs look foolish and uneducated. All of our success has inspired this backlash b/c the pro-circs know they are failing. Look at the comments section of any of these articles - no credible person argues for circumcision. Don't lose faith!