You know what's so odd Suz? I went to Philadelphia to protest at the ACOG convention... and the VAST majority of OBs who stopped to chat- stated that THE ONLY reason why they do circumcisions is because "it's what the parent's want" Over and over, for 3 days, I listed to OBs whine to me like little helpless babies that they are victims of the cultural pressure of parents who want circumcisions on their sons.
I heard it at least 150 times.
They told me that I was WRONG to go protest THEM because they were not at the ROOT of the PROBLEM... YOU ARE.
They had the nerve to tell me that it was MY JOB to educate YOU... It is MY JOB to tell you that circumcision is a provincial rite that uninformed people do to their kids with no medical value. That circumcision is the mark of the uneducated masses.
150 Obstetrician circumcisers told me that they don't want to do it- but it's people like YOU who keep this going... this disgusting cycle where all males are supposed to be mutilated to match the males who were mutilated in the past and the males who will be mutilated on into the future... it's your defiant refusal to update your sexist opinion of the normal male body that keeps this going.
Regardless if I agreed with their argument (oh those poor helpless vulnerable little Obs) I thought I would tell you what they asked me to tell you. They don't respect you. They talked about parents who want circumcisions with disdain... but they will allow you to believe what you want because they are making money off violating your child's body and they don't care because no one is holding them accountable for their breach of medical ethics..
Then, two weeks later I went to the International CAPPA convention, I spoke with many midwives, doulas, childbirth educators and lactation consultants. In speaking with about 75 people at length, there was ONE (only ONE!!!) disjointed confused woman who was visibly agitated at the idea that a man has a right to his physical integrity. She shook her head and repeated "It doesn't matter" over and over, she was utterly unable to grasp basic concepts we were presenting*.... but her 3 friends were all very much against circumcision and were eager to collect any information they could in order that they could be MORE EFFECTIVE in undoing the brainwashing that people like you who believe in circumcision have accepted. There were two other women who were Jewish who were interested in learning more about the arguments against circumcision, and although they personally were not agaisnt it, they only had a religious idea that was holding them toward it.
The theme at the CAPPA conference was the SAME... "It's the parents who want it- we all KNOW it is WRONG... but they already have their minds made up... we are helpless to stop them.. they insist, they refuse to listen... they are adamant... they can't face the reality of what it is they are doing to their child... if they knew better they wouldn't do it... but I CAN't get them to listen!!"
In the month of May I heard over 200 childbirth professionals say to me that circumcision is ONLY done because parents want to do it.
So why is it that you have such a desire to turn your son's penis inside out?
What is it about that that makes you feel so... civilized and educated? What makes your "inside out penis culture" so great that we Americans who are not a part of it are missing out on? Huh? What did I miss? When I grew up I obviously missed the genital mutilation cultural indoctrination... because somehow I never got the compulsion that you did. When did it happen to you? How did you get to be so ENLIGHTENED?
Was it some little Texas girls in 5th grade who never even saw a penis except for the one girl who was in the know because she was molested? Did your grandmother give birth tied to a bed and drugged with scopalimine (
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache...ep+labor&hl=en) decide that the medical interventions of HER DAY were the be all and end all of what is supposed to happen from now on in the family? ... or was it from the caliber of people, Nobel prize winners even, who signed the Ashley Montague petition? (oh and in case you don't know... they were all against circumcision... I have yet to see the fanatastic list of intellectuals who would like to publicly proclaim their penchant FOR male mutilation in a cultural advancement petition to perfect the flawed male form... maybe you will be the first?)
Where did you learn that circumcision was so great? Where could we go to get the great education on mutilation that you did?
You don't agree with the "basic Premise" so what is the premise that you DO agree with? That all males are inherently flawed and need surgical correction in order to fit in your high society? Where do males who have not been surgicly modified fit into your cultural picture? Second class?