How do you educate?

[hipumpkins]

I don't mean the pregnant mom who is your friend and you find a way to get her the info but I mean randomly. Do you have bumper stickers , buttons a link on your email?
If you wear your intactavist pride...do people ask you about it?

I want to change the world...oh wait I think I only have to change this country. (Oh good now it isn't as daunting a task.)

Anyway...I can't get arrested b/c my kids are too little to have a mom i jail but maybe later.
What else can I do to get the information out there?

[titania8]

i have a link on my email, and one on my siggy online (not here yet tough). i should get a button or car magnet.

[Microsoap]

I have a bumper sticker on my car ("Do Your Son A FAVOR: Leave Him WHOLE. Don't Circumcise"), a bright yellow t-shirt (front: "It's a foreskin! Not a birth defect..." back: "End Genital Mutilation"), on my front door window (screen door), is a 6"x3" sign (http://www.jewsagainstcircumcision.org/sticker1.gif) and I got the button ("Foreskin Is Not A Birth Defect!") I wear proudly (!!!) on my jacket.

- I've seen people read my t-shirt and even distracted a late-teens doughnut shop worker who I was trying to give my order to!

- I don't think I've had any response on my bumper sticker, though my car goes all over the city!

- People who come to my door see the sign and I'm proud to have it there.

- While I feel less like a conspicuous billboard wearing my button, it's a little too soon to gauge how effective it is.

[vaughnmama]

Hey I have a great idea spread the word!

At least I think it is great!...I do the same things to promote my home biz, but it would work beautifully here...You can have business cards, bookmarks, magnets, postcards, anything really, printed up with whatever facts you want about circ and a quick list of resources...then leave them where ever you think they might catch someone's eye and make a difference at an opportune time.

For example; I'm thinking of getting bookmarks or business cards printed up and then sticking them in the middle of all the parenting/baby books and mags at the library (or even retail stores.) And maybe leaving a stack on a counter top "randomly." You can get postcards printed and stick them inside the magazines at pediatrician & OB doctors offices. When I go to the park, or shopping, or parking structures, or anywhere, I carry a stack of magnets about my biz with me so that I can just slap it on anything metal that I come across. I'm going to do this now about circumcision/intactness too! (Think bathroom doors, pop machines, swing sets, grocery store shelves, & anywhere that people have to stand in line.)

You can get business cards and some other things for free at vistaprint.com, you just pay shipping, so it will take a little investment.

Also, I just ordered 100 pamphlets from NoCirc (for $25) to carry in my purse, so if the topic ever comes up when speaking to someone in person, I can hand them something to more to read.

You could also have a sign created for your car window, so that it would be bigger and more visible than a bumper sticker. I think those cost around $40.

I could use any tips for the best and most convincing facts to include on a bookmark or postcard. And the websites or resources that you all love the most. Or if any of you know of an organization that already prints up these types of things, let me know.

[orangedaisies]

so which one did you choose?

I printed out the "Answers to your questions about Infant Circumcision". I've handed a couple out and had positive responses. Apparently my local NOCIRC got a complaint when I left 3 of them in my old OB group's waiting room. I guess I'd better go leave some more huh!

I had a great conversation with a woman from Estonia, due with DS #2 in a couple of weeks. Her first was born in Estonia and she was rather shocked to find out that its common practice here. Although she already knew everything about the foreskin, I was able to give her the words to use at the hospital like "retraction"..since you don't just run across that in English class!

She said she's going to the hospital with marked diapers etc...

It seems to me there are so many opportunities to educate...oy ...especially here in Indiana.

[gridley13]

I have a license plate frame and 2 tshirts.

I bring it up whenever I think it is appropriate... like last week in knitting group. An older woman was comparing things that are so different these days about baby stuff. I said, "Oh I know! I am always amazed at how high the circ rate used to be and how they used to think it was so beneficial... and didn't use anesthesia.. well actually, they STILL don't always use it!" She replied that she recalls never even being asked back then, they just did it.

I also have tried 3 times to encourage people to write to tv shows and radio shows that might be a good forum for the topic, though I never get much response for some reason. Sorry, I don't know how to make a link word..
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=673836

eta: I also print out the pamphlets and they sometimes mysteriously fall out of my purse in the middle of a store. It is really wierd. Especially in the maternity clothing sections.

[ShaggyDaddy]

in my experience the easiest conversation starter is "Watch out cause at the hospital they hand you a stack of papers to sign and one is the circumcision consent form, so make sure you don't sign anything without reading it or your son will end up hurt.

It simply assumes an intact plan, and if they do plan on circing, it immediatly brings the conversation to "what reason could you have to circ" instead of "What reason could you have to leave intact"

It is a subtle but powerful conversational tool to assume the other person agrees with you from the onset of the conversation.