Break out the angry e-mails - Circ on Deliver Me

[DklovesMkandJK]

:

I just started watching this show and like(d) it for the most part. It's about 3 OBs and the women they treat on the Discovery Health Channel. They had mentioned circ before as in 'I have to do a circ today" but that was the most I'd heard until today. (I DVR'ed the episode so I'm not sure when it premiered)


In a piece called 'the first cut is the deepest':
This family handed over their newborn to the OB for his circ. The father tells the baby 'no matter how badly it hurts you won't remember, I promise and I speak from experience. ha ha ha ha" Then the mother tells the OB don't hurt him as she hands him off and the OB says 'don't worry it only lasts a minute, and he'll be a new man!'

They then SHOW PARTS OF THE CIRC! They baby is strapped down (but of course wrapped enough so you can't see the restraint there is some appliance on his poor penis. The babe is crying and the father is saying things like the worst is over, etc while the OB gives the father a lot of credit for coming to the baby's circ because she was 'too traumatized to see her son's' :Puke Then she says she'd done and proclaims his new penis 'beautiful' before warning the dad about bleeding, scabs and pus (sounds beautiful to me.....)

I am so beyond disgusted. It's one thing to mention it but to show parts of this poor baby mutilated is beyond acceptable to me.

Below is the link to send a message to the discovery health channel. Please, please, if you don't mind take a minute to send a message to Discovery Health and mention how unacceptable this is.

Thanks,

Dena
http://extweb.discovery.com/viewerrelations

Jun 10, 10:00 pm

(60 minutes) Deliver Me
Expecting the Unexpected
TV-PG, CC

40 year-old Nina is still coping with the trauma of two miscarriages, most likely caused by a chromosomal abnormality. Nina anxiously anticipates the birth of her second daughter as she continues to pray that nothing goes wrong.

This was the episode - how in g-d's name does a circ get a PG rating?

[Changed]

I saw that. It was really horrible. I've given up on that show. It's full of self righteous women with BAD advice.

[latinalonestar]

I hate how medical that show makes birth seem. I don't get the channel, but I have seen the ads for it on tlc and those were enough to turn me off. I will be writing and email.

[GoodMomma]

How sad! Well maybe something good will come out of it? Seeing how a circ is done, definately would've changed my mind!

[DklovesMkandJK]

Originally Posted by GoodMomma

How sad! Well maybe something good will come out of it? Seeing how a circ is done, definately would've changed my mind!

Unfortuately the OB was all 'it's so quick' 'just a little snip' and 'he won't remember it' so I doubt any good will come out of this garbage.

[Belle]

I saw that too. It was nauseating. It made me angry that the dad was telling his son how "brave" he was. Presumably because the baby had gone into shock.

There was also a mom with a "big" baby. She was talking with the OB about often he was eating. The OB said she probably wasn't making enough milk and it was okay to start giving the baby formula.

[splash]

I saw that one a few months ago...and the nurse joking with the parents, "Gonna go make a man out of him, eh?" Yeah... a man.

[4Blessings]

I'm not surprised. I couldn't believe how many c-sections were performed on the two episodes I caught a few weeks ago. Including an OB who wanted an elective c-section because she "likes to be in control"!

I won't watch the show again.

[hipmummy]

I wrote in. Sorry I did it very quickly.

Her is what I wrote; (NAk so there wer typos ARghhh way to sound educated)
I was very digusted to see a circumcision on your program Deliver me. It is a very risky cosmetic procedure that SHOULD NEVER be promoted or shown on tv and should never be shown on a show with a PG rating. The AAP does not rec. circ for many reasons ie. PAIN and risk of infection. NOt to mention it is genital mutilation that leaves a scare for life. Please edit this from the rebroadcast. Thank you the mother of a "beautiful" INTACT boy.

[mamabadger]

Originally Posted by splash

I saw that one a few months ago...and the nurse joking with the parents, "Gonna go make a man out of him, eh?"

Unless something goes wrong with the procedure. Then we'll make a woman out of him.

[minkajane]

Originally Posted by mamabadger

Unless something goes wrong with the procedure. Then we'll make a woman out of him.

Just ask David Reimer.

[Friday13th]

I got to the point in the show where I realized they were going to show the circ and I got all nauseous and panic-y in my hurry to change the channel. I didn't like the doctors to begin with but that really made me want to vomit. The blithe attitude about mutilating this perfect new little person....ugh. Now I'm all angry again.

[hipmummy]

Here is Discovery Channels Generic Response to my letter
Dear Viewer:
Dear Viewer:

Thank you for contacting Discovery Communication, LLC. We appreciate your
correspondence and for taking the time to share your thoughts and concerns
with us. Given the issues you raised, we have forwarded your comments to
our program management and executives. Feedback about our shows is
encouraged and this will help them plan for future programs. It is these
types of comments that contribute to creating change and improving
programming.

Our networks present viewers with a window to the world and expose people
to a wide variety of issues. While not all viewers will agree with the
perspective of every program, we allow our viewers to draw their own
conclusions about what they see.

Again, thank you for contacting Discovery Communication, LLC.

Sincerely,

Viewer Relations
Discovery Communication, LLC

[fruitful womb]

Originally Posted by minkajane

Just ask David Reimer.

:
y'k, David Reimer committed suicide in 2004, right?

[Fi.]

Yep :\. His twin too I believe.

[DklovesMkandJK]

I got the same BS e-mail except mine also had the line:

"By their nature, documentaries express the view of the filmmaker."

blech

[leila1213]

I could not even imagine this show having anything good to say about any of the principles MDC'ers hold dear. I practically wince when the promos come on. I wouldn't have the stomach to watch it. I don't think taking the gory parts of a circ out of it would really make it that much better.

[luckysam]

Hugs mama.
I think it's important these kind of mainstream shows portray more diversity of thought and practice and I am glad letter are being sent.

I know that circumcision is one of the things many people feel strongly about, and I have so much respect for the concern and respect that I understand to be behind it. I guess for me, how we are communicating is as important or more so than what we are trying to say, as I think our tone is heard, and then the message.

Personally, I don't advocate anything without researching it, but I think what is right is different for everyone, and we as people seem more open to change when we feel we are heard and respected. Our respect and understanding seems to better open the door to change and understanding on both "sides" of the issues than our anger does.

Truthfully I don't believe in "sides", maybe because I am not on any "side":
I have been breastfeeding six years, three of them tandem and we nursed through the pg too, but after much research and talking, my husband and I had our four boys all circumcised. We believe in natural healing and we also take medicine, we do not home school but believe what the kids learn at home is just as important, and the time we spend with them more so.

It seems natural that when we are trying to effect a change, we are innately outside of the mainstream. In trying to make our voices a part of general society though, we tend to identify ourselves with the struggle more than with the goal of unity.

I think it's natural to need those we know who can empathize with our struggles and important to seek that community. It does seem though that the more we define ourselves as extreme the further our goal of affecting change from general society gets. The judging we received that caused us to want to affect change comes from us. And people feel the alienation and anger we felt rather than being able to hear the message we are trying to teach.

I have always felt a little weird on here, knowing I do not live all the principles so many express here, specifically in regards to the issue circumcision. Yet so much that is talked about on here pertains to me and our lives, and I have learned so much from Mothering Magazine in particular, it was actually responsible for a greater empowerment of my feelings on natural and home birth.

Anyway, I am glad you wrote and got a response, even though it was a little generic. I think it's important to put all sorts of options and views out there, I just think it's important not to judge others for living them.

Hugs mamas.

[hipumpkins]

I don't think a soft tone takes seriously the issue of mutilatingbaby boys. Circ is not a lifestyle choice..it is not akin to not breastfeeding or giving your kids lollipops full of HFCS...it is genital mutilation of infants.

If you saw a female circ on TV would you use your kind tone to try and change the minds of the doctors...no you shout it from the rooftops.."LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

I'm glad I never saw or even heard of that show.

[ChristaN]

Originally Posted by luckysam

Personally, I don't advocate anything without researching it, but I think what is right is different for everyone, and we as people seem more open to change when we feel we are heard and respected. ...
after much research and talking, my husband and I had our four boys all circumcised.

I can see that this thread is heading toward closure already. Debating circumcision as a parental choice is not allowable in this forum. That said, I do appreciate the civility of your post and I imagine it would be difficult to post on the CAC forum at all with the views you hold in regard to circumcision of male infants.

I, obviously, do not agree with you on this one and I do think that there are areas where everyone has their own path. I am vegan and married to an omnivore, for instance. I must admit that circumcision of infants, whether they be male or female, is not an area where I believe it is valid to hold that there are different paths for different people. May I ask what in your research led you to believe that this was the correct choice for your sons?