The reply from nocirc, and below that, my reply back to them (cc'd to sex ed program)
Dear Amy,
Thank you for your letter, which certainly raises important issues. Clearly, you understand the normal child.
I hit the Reply All button, but the email would not go to the email address you gave for your son's school, so I had to remove the cc to send this to you.
May I suggest, as we begin this discussion, that the word "uncircumcised" be used rarely or not at all when speaking about a boy who has a normal, natural, intact, and whole penis. The term most commonly used today is "intact." The reason for this is because we have been calling intact boys "uncircumcised," making their penis seem abnormal to them. Circumcised is not the normal state, intact is, and the foreskin is not a birth defect. We don't call normal female genitalia "unclitoridectomized." The sooner we change the language, the sooner we'll do away with the unnecessary practice of non-therapeutic circumcision. This is especially important now that the rate of circumcision in the USA is less than 50%. The Centers for Disease Control says that the 2009 circumcision rate was 32.5%.
In addition, it's crucial to teach about foreskin retractability because many boys are having their foreskins prematurely retracted by healthcare professionals in a painful maneuver that causes extreme pain and damage (similar to tearing the fingernail from its bed). Most healthcare professionals in the USA don't yet understand that the average age for the foreskin to become retractile is 10.4 years. If the foreskin isn't retractile at the beginning of puberty, the hormones of puberty and the increased interest in the organ usually help make retractability possible. If a male still isn't retractile after age 18-22, gentle stretching techniques can be used to make the preputial orifice lax enough to accommodate the glans. Then, too, about 2% of males live their entire lives with a non-retractile foreskin without every having any difficulty.
NOCIRC's pamphlets 3 and 4 discuss circumcision and the normal penis. Pamphlet 4, answers the question:
"How do I care for my young son's intact penis?
"When a boy is old enough to bathe himself, he can wash his penis when he washes the rest of himself. Simple instructions may be helpful.
"1. Gently slip your foreskin back (if it is retractable),
"2. Rinse your glans and the inside fold of your foreskin with warm water.
"3. Slip your foreskin forward, back in place over your glans.
"At puberty, you can let your son know that with hormonal activity comes new responsibility, including genital hygiene."
It also answers your concern about redness:
"What causes my son's foreskin to be red?
"Sometimes the tip of the foreskin becomes reddened. This indicates that the foreskin is doing its job of protecting the glans and urinary meatus (the opening for the passage of urine and semen).
"When bacteria in feces react with urine, they produce ammonia that burns the skin and causes ammoniacal dermatitis, commonly known as diaper rash.
"Other causes of a reddened foreskin are:
*too much exposure to soiled diapers
*an imbalance of skin bacteria caused by:
* bubble baths
*highly chlorinated water (swimming pools, hot tubs)
*soap on the genitals
*laundry soap or detergent on clothing
*antibiotics (microbial flora can be restored by eating live-culture yogurt),
*concentrated urine caused by not drinking enough water.
"Drinking water, soaking in warm baths, and running around with bare bottoms help healing."
Now, I know this isn't totally appropriate for older boys but I wanted you to understand the why of a reddened foreskin. And, reading this pamphlet again to copy it for you here, I realize that I need to change it a bit. Rather than just eating live-culture yogurt when there is a yeast overgrowth, applying liquid Acidophilus culture or another probiotic to the foreskin six times a day will bring the foreskin back to health in three days or less. You can have the boy or young man cup his hand, pour a teaspoon or two of the liquid culture into it, dip his foreskin into the liquid, and let it drip dry. I call this "Bacterial Replacement Therapy." It's inexpensive, easy, and effective! By the way, I get more calls from parents during the summer because their son is taking swimming lessons or swimming in a highly chlorinated pool
several times a week. My advice is to use the Acidophilus culture therapy for three days--during which time, no bubble baths, no soap or shampoo in the bath, and no swimming. At the end of three days, when the foreskin is back to health, non-petroleum jelly can be applied to the foreskin as a barrier cream prior to swimming and then, after showering when the boy gets out of the pool, he can gently wipe the non-petroleum jelly off.
It sounds like your son's school is at least offering an open and frank discussion on the issues of genitals and sexuality, so important to youngsters and the adults they become! I would suggest two books as reference material for the teachers and for parents to read with their children or for the children to read on their own: The What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys and The What's Happening To My Body? Book for Girls, by Lynda Madaras. Be sure to get the latest editions because she edits them with each edition, and they continue to get better.
We live in a difficult time because the USA is moving from being a circumcising nation to becoming a non-circumcising nation. The only way this could happen is for people to become educated about the important structures and functions of the normal penis and the pain, trauma, and lifelong harmful consequences of cutting the genitals of all children--males, females, and intersex alike. It's not easy for those who were circumcised, so, we must remind those males that their parents and doctors did what they thought was best at the time, but now we know better. Fortunately, pleasure is pleasure, so many males don't even know what they're missing. However, the Number One complaint of circumcised males is premature ejaculation. Why? They have lost 20,000-70,000 highly specialized, erogenous nerve endings that encircle the opening of the foreskin and allow a male to know exactly what his penis is feeling and to ride the wave to orgasm. As CJ Fallier wrote, in 1979 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "...the fundamental biological sexual act becomes, for the circumcised male, simply the satisfaction of an urge and not the refined sexual experience it was meant to be." This is not easy information for a male to learn. Form cannot be altered without altering function. So, the mechanics of sex have to be altered to compensate for the loss, for both the male and female. (I can elaborate on this, if you're interested.) Open, frank discussion is crucial, not only with youngsters growing into adulthood but between partners when they engage sexually.
Boys who have been circumcised should also be told that, after puberty, they can engage in foreskin restoration, which will help them do two things, if they want. First, it will give them control over their own bodies again, able to regain what someone cut off without their permission, and it will recover the glans so that it will regain sensitivity. The USA has one of the highest sales of Viagra in the world because we've cut off the protective covering, with its thousands of specialized nerve endings, and denuded the glans, causing it to become dry, calloused, and desensitized. Recovering the glans causes it to regain its qualities as mucous membrane, making it moist and soft again.
In terms of lubrication, which you mentioned, circumcised males lost theirs when they lost their foreskins. Sadly, when a woman goes to the doctor and complains of chafing with intercourse, the doctor often says it's because she's too dry, when, in fact, it's because her partner is circumcised. The sales of sexual lubricants is much higher in circumcising countries.
These, of course, are all issues that must be addressed. Our other pamphlets are helpful in addressing the issue of premature retraction, preventing post-neonatal circumcision, the bioethics of circumcision, female genital mutilation, and more.
While excuses for circumcision exist, they are merely excuses, and circumcision has proven to protect against nothing. We can't cut enough off our bodies to protect ourselves from disease, but it would make more sense to snip breast buds of baby girls to keep the one in eight from getting breast cancer than it does to cut off foreskins of baby boys. In fact, the breast cancer rate of males is higher than the penile cancer rate, one of the excuses to circumcise. The majority of the world's males are intact without the dire results predicted by pro-circumcision doctors if boys are left intact. Circumcision is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry in the USA. Yet, no national or international medical association in the world recommends it. The question is: Do parents have a right to consent to the cutting off of normal body parts of their non-consenting minor child, or does the body belong to the baby and the adult that baby will become? Circumcision is not a medical issue, it is a human rights issue.
I am happy to help in any way I can to provide information to your son's school. We have a 20-minute educational video, which is on our website, that I can provide, if you or educators at your son's school would like to have a copy. Doctors, midwives, and childbirth educators say it's the most effective tool they've used to educate parents and to end to this anachronistic practice.
Sincerely,
Marilyn
Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN
Executive Director, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC)
Coordinator, International Symposia on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights
www.nocirc.org www.IntactAmerica.org
Dear Marilyn of NOCIRC,
(CC'd to OWL---Jessica of OWL, I understand you've been on vacation and I hope I don't confuse you if you read this email before the first one sent, but you can scroll down for the other emails and this will make more sense.)
Thank you for your response, and I agree I prefer the use of the word "intact" vs. "uncircumcised". I realize that you have an agenda to promote genital integrity, but I hope you can also realize, that at this sensitive age, we're not interested in influencing decisions about circumcision (that ship has sailed for the time being) or foreskin restoration, but in helping all boys feel comfortable with their genitals, regardless of of what their parents decided to do 12 to 15 years ago.
I will look for the The What's Happening to My Body? books, and I am glad that there is something that is for the 9-12 year old group, but I'm dealing with Jr. High and High school concerns, such as fitting in, looking like others in the locker room, will girls (or boys) be turned off by the appearance (of either state), retraction, and using a condom. Knowing that some males live their entire lives without retracting is invaluable information, and I hope that the people with OWL can use this information and fit it (as well as the correct "intact" vs. "uncircumcised" penis language) into their curricula. And as helpful as your pamphlets are to adults, I would still encourage you to look into publishing pamphlets geared towards a younger reader, that parents can give teachers to supplement their sex-ed curricula. Probably two, one dealing with hygiene and retraction alone, and another dealing with hygiene, retraction, and condom use for the older set.
Thank you,
Amy
Dear Amy,
Thank you for your letter, which certainly raises important issues. Clearly, you understand the normal child.
I hit the Reply All button, but the email would not go to the email address you gave for your son's school, so I had to remove the cc to send this to you.
May I suggest, as we begin this discussion, that the word "uncircumcised" be used rarely or not at all when speaking about a boy who has a normal, natural, intact, and whole penis. The term most commonly used today is "intact." The reason for this is because we have been calling intact boys "uncircumcised," making their penis seem abnormal to them. Circumcised is not the normal state, intact is, and the foreskin is not a birth defect. We don't call normal female genitalia "unclitoridectomized." The sooner we change the language, the sooner we'll do away with the unnecessary practice of non-therapeutic circumcision. This is especially important now that the rate of circumcision in the USA is less than 50%. The Centers for Disease Control says that the 2009 circumcision rate was 32.5%.
In addition, it's crucial to teach about foreskin retractability because many boys are having their foreskins prematurely retracted by healthcare professionals in a painful maneuver that causes extreme pain and damage (similar to tearing the fingernail from its bed). Most healthcare professionals in the USA don't yet understand that the average age for the foreskin to become retractile is 10.4 years. If the foreskin isn't retractile at the beginning of puberty, the hormones of puberty and the increased interest in the organ usually help make retractability possible. If a male still isn't retractile after age 18-22, gentle stretching techniques can be used to make the preputial orifice lax enough to accommodate the glans. Then, too, about 2% of males live their entire lives with a non-retractile foreskin without every having any difficulty.
NOCIRC's pamphlets 3 and 4 discuss circumcision and the normal penis. Pamphlet 4, answers the question:
"How do I care for my young son's intact penis?
"When a boy is old enough to bathe himself, he can wash his penis when he washes the rest of himself. Simple instructions may be helpful.
"1. Gently slip your foreskin back (if it is retractable),
"2. Rinse your glans and the inside fold of your foreskin with warm water.
"3. Slip your foreskin forward, back in place over your glans.
"At puberty, you can let your son know that with hormonal activity comes new responsibility, including genital hygiene."
It also answers your concern about redness:
"What causes my son's foreskin to be red?
"Sometimes the tip of the foreskin becomes reddened. This indicates that the foreskin is doing its job of protecting the glans and urinary meatus (the opening for the passage of urine and semen).
"When bacteria in feces react with urine, they produce ammonia that burns the skin and causes ammoniacal dermatitis, commonly known as diaper rash.
"Other causes of a reddened foreskin are:
*too much exposure to soiled diapers
*an imbalance of skin bacteria caused by:
* bubble baths
*highly chlorinated water (swimming pools, hot tubs)
*soap on the genitals
*laundry soap or detergent on clothing
*antibiotics (microbial flora can be restored by eating live-culture yogurt),
*concentrated urine caused by not drinking enough water.
"Drinking water, soaking in warm baths, and running around with bare bottoms help healing."
Now, I know this isn't totally appropriate for older boys but I wanted you to understand the why of a reddened foreskin. And, reading this pamphlet again to copy it for you here, I realize that I need to change it a bit. Rather than just eating live-culture yogurt when there is a yeast overgrowth, applying liquid Acidophilus culture or another probiotic to the foreskin six times a day will bring the foreskin back to health in three days or less. You can have the boy or young man cup his hand, pour a teaspoon or two of the liquid culture into it, dip his foreskin into the liquid, and let it drip dry. I call this "Bacterial Replacement Therapy." It's inexpensive, easy, and effective! By the way, I get more calls from parents during the summer because their son is taking swimming lessons or swimming in a highly chlorinated pool
several times a week. My advice is to use the Acidophilus culture therapy for three days--during which time, no bubble baths, no soap or shampoo in the bath, and no swimming. At the end of three days, when the foreskin is back to health, non-petroleum jelly can be applied to the foreskin as a barrier cream prior to swimming and then, after showering when the boy gets out of the pool, he can gently wipe the non-petroleum jelly off.
It sounds like your son's school is at least offering an open and frank discussion on the issues of genitals and sexuality, so important to youngsters and the adults they become! I would suggest two books as reference material for the teachers and for parents to read with their children or for the children to read on their own: The What's Happening to My Body? Book for Boys and The What's Happening To My Body? Book for Girls, by Lynda Madaras. Be sure to get the latest editions because she edits them with each edition, and they continue to get better.
We live in a difficult time because the USA is moving from being a circumcising nation to becoming a non-circumcising nation. The only way this could happen is for people to become educated about the important structures and functions of the normal penis and the pain, trauma, and lifelong harmful consequences of cutting the genitals of all children--males, females, and intersex alike. It's not easy for those who were circumcised, so, we must remind those males that their parents and doctors did what they thought was best at the time, but now we know better. Fortunately, pleasure is pleasure, so many males don't even know what they're missing. However, the Number One complaint of circumcised males is premature ejaculation. Why? They have lost 20,000-70,000 highly specialized, erogenous nerve endings that encircle the opening of the foreskin and allow a male to know exactly what his penis is feeling and to ride the wave to orgasm. As CJ Fallier wrote, in 1979 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "...the fundamental biological sexual act becomes, for the circumcised male, simply the satisfaction of an urge and not the refined sexual experience it was meant to be." This is not easy information for a male to learn. Form cannot be altered without altering function. So, the mechanics of sex have to be altered to compensate for the loss, for both the male and female. (I can elaborate on this, if you're interested.) Open, frank discussion is crucial, not only with youngsters growing into adulthood but between partners when they engage sexually.
Boys who have been circumcised should also be told that, after puberty, they can engage in foreskin restoration, which will help them do two things, if they want. First, it will give them control over their own bodies again, able to regain what someone cut off without their permission, and it will recover the glans so that it will regain sensitivity. The USA has one of the highest sales of Viagra in the world because we've cut off the protective covering, with its thousands of specialized nerve endings, and denuded the glans, causing it to become dry, calloused, and desensitized. Recovering the glans causes it to regain its qualities as mucous membrane, making it moist and soft again.
In terms of lubrication, which you mentioned, circumcised males lost theirs when they lost their foreskins. Sadly, when a woman goes to the doctor and complains of chafing with intercourse, the doctor often says it's because she's too dry, when, in fact, it's because her partner is circumcised. The sales of sexual lubricants is much higher in circumcising countries.
These, of course, are all issues that must be addressed. Our other pamphlets are helpful in addressing the issue of premature retraction, preventing post-neonatal circumcision, the bioethics of circumcision, female genital mutilation, and more.
While excuses for circumcision exist, they are merely excuses, and circumcision has proven to protect against nothing. We can't cut enough off our bodies to protect ourselves from disease, but it would make more sense to snip breast buds of baby girls to keep the one in eight from getting breast cancer than it does to cut off foreskins of baby boys. In fact, the breast cancer rate of males is higher than the penile cancer rate, one of the excuses to circumcise. The majority of the world's males are intact without the dire results predicted by pro-circumcision doctors if boys are left intact. Circumcision is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry in the USA. Yet, no national or international medical association in the world recommends it. The question is: Do parents have a right to consent to the cutting off of normal body parts of their non-consenting minor child, or does the body belong to the baby and the adult that baby will become? Circumcision is not a medical issue, it is a human rights issue.
I am happy to help in any way I can to provide information to your son's school. We have a 20-minute educational video, which is on our website, that I can provide, if you or educators at your son's school would like to have a copy. Doctors, midwives, and childbirth educators say it's the most effective tool they've used to educate parents and to end to this anachronistic practice.
Sincerely,
Marilyn
Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN
Executive Director, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC)
Coordinator, International Symposia on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights
www.nocirc.org www.IntactAmerica.org
Dear Marilyn of NOCIRC,
(CC'd to OWL---Jessica of OWL, I understand you've been on vacation and I hope I don't confuse you if you read this email before the first one sent, but you can scroll down for the other emails and this will make more sense.)
Thank you for your response, and I agree I prefer the use of the word "intact" vs. "uncircumcised". I realize that you have an agenda to promote genital integrity, but I hope you can also realize, that at this sensitive age, we're not interested in influencing decisions about circumcision (that ship has sailed for the time being) or foreskin restoration, but in helping all boys feel comfortable with their genitals, regardless of of what their parents decided to do 12 to 15 years ago.
I will look for the The What's Happening to My Body? books, and I am glad that there is something that is for the 9-12 year old group, but I'm dealing with Jr. High and High school concerns, such as fitting in, looking like others in the locker room, will girls (or boys) be turned off by the appearance (of either state), retraction, and using a condom. Knowing that some males live their entire lives without retracting is invaluable information, and I hope that the people with OWL can use this information and fit it (as well as the correct "intact" vs. "uncircumcised" penis language) into their curricula. And as helpful as your pamphlets are to adults, I would still encourage you to look into publishing pamphlets geared towards a younger reader, that parents can give teachers to supplement their sex-ed curricula. Probably two, one dealing with hygiene and retraction alone, and another dealing with hygiene, retraction, and condom use for the older set.
Thank you,
Amy
Thank you for your hard work and your letter writing, on my (and my son's) behalf 
