60 Minutes segment raises concerns that male circumcision is child sexual abuse

The Nine Network’s ‘60 Minutes’ program has tackled the issue of routine infant circumcision again (Sunday March 3rd, 2013). Participants in the segment included former Tasmanian Commissioner for Children, Paul Mason, who made the point that circumcision ‘is child abuse, it’s sexual abuse’ and Elwyn Moir, who highlighted the negative impacts that being subjected to genital cutting as an infant have had on his (and many other men’s) life. Presenting a pro-circumcision opinion (which directly contradicted the stance of Australia’s peak medical bodies) was Brian Morris. 60 Minutes has aired several segments on this issue in the past. Do you think that this latest installment sufficiently took into account the mounting evidence against infant circumcision as an ethical ‘surgical’ procedure?

Click on the link below to see a preview of the segment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_AHvKiKas8

Circumcision and foreskin restoration hit the mainstream media in Australia

The related issues of male circumcision and foreskin restoration have hit the headlines in mainstream Australian media outlets today (October 2^nd, 2012). Multicultural public broadcaster SBS will use its current affairs program ‘Insight’ as the venue for an open forum on circumcision tonight at 8.30pm. In addition, News Limited’s online opinion page ‘The Punch’ today published a new testimonial from an Australian man, which once again highlights the impact that infant circumcision has on men once they reach adulthood, as well as the role that the ‘tried and true’ process of foreskin restoration can play in helping those affected to reverse some of the damage.

Click the link below to read the complete article:

‘I was circumcised and I want my foreskin back!’

Despair, embarrassment, grief and survival: A personal account of the impact of infant circumcision

In this extremely personal post, an Australian man talks about the impact that circumcision has had on his life. He wishes to remain anonymous but he hopes that sharing his story will have two main impacts. He hopes that expectant parents who read his story will think long and hard before they subject any male offspring to genital cutting. He also hopes that adolescent and adult males who have been negatively affected by circumcision will read his story and be reassured that they are not alone in their experience.

Here is ‘Richard’s’ story:

The first time I ever saw an intact (uncircumcised) penis was in the change rooms at Primary School. I remember thinking ‘that’s weird, I don’t look like that’. I had no idea why he looked different, I just thought that maybe he looked different because he was from England. All the Australian boys looked the same as I did. I didn’t really think much more about it until I was around 8 or 9 when, for reasons unknown, I asked my mother what circumcision meant. I think the word ‘circumcision’ got mentioned on television. She didn’t really explain it very well. All she said was, ‘you know what Chris (the intact boy who lived next door) looks like…that’s because he hasn’t been circumcised’. I didn’t really think very much about it at the time. Shortly after that, I remember my father saying to me ‘you are circumcised, just like your dad’. I said to him ‘why daddy?’ and his response was ‘oh, just because it is nice and neat’. Once again, I didn’t really think that much about it at the time but my world was about to come crashing down around me.

Like most of us, my sexual awareness really kicked in around the time that I reached puberty. I had been having something resembling sexual relations with another boy since we were around six years old. I remember him saying to me ‘we are poofs you know’. I had heard the word ‘poof’ before and knew what it meant but that was the first time I had considered the idea that the word ‘poof’ applied to me. Having sexual contact with another boy seemed like the most natural thing in the world to me and I couldn’t reconcile my identity (or behaviour) with the negative connotations which I knew that the word ‘poof’ was associated with.

At around this time I became racked with guilt and confusion…but much worse was to come. Not long after all of that , for whatever reason, I really inspected my penis for the first time and the grim reality hit me instantly. I suddenly realised what had happened to me. I suddenly realised what circumcision really meant. I had a dark band of scar tissue that went all the way around the shaft of my penis and there was also a ‘gap’: a second band of much lighter ‘depressed’ scar tissue. I was instantly devastated, instantly enraged and my whole outlook on the world suddenly changed. Many years later (thanks to the internet) I discovered that the second band of ‘depressed’ scar tissue had been caused by an ‘improper closure’. The wound had not been stitched together tightly enough and had to be re-sutured. I almost certainly suffered severe blood loss and I probably went into shock.

Almost overnight, my whole personality changed. I became extremely depressed and I became anti-social. Looking back at it now, I think that I had something akin to a mental break-down. I became increasingly dependant on alcohol and cannabis, in order to maintain something that resembled happiness. I had been an outstanding student in Primary School but over the next couple of years my academic results went badly downhill, to the point where I began failing subjects. I became an introvert. My childhood friends fell by the wayside and the small group of friends that I had made at High School couldn’t understand why it appeared that I was sabotaging myself so badly. I remember one of them saying to me, ‘you are smart, you are funny and you are a good-looking guy, so why are you behaving like such a twat?’

There was no way that I could provide an honest response to that question at the time.

My faith and trust in my fellow human beings had evaporated. I had become wracked with despair, embarrassment and grief and I hated myself. Instead of going on to complete High School and studying law at university, as I had always intended to do, I dropped out and became a full-on ‘party animal’. I took loads of drugs. I didn’t recognise it at the time but I had gone into self-preservation mode. I tried to ‘do the right thing’ and stay employed but I couldn’t. I had developed a severe anxiety disorder. I couldn’t even do the basic things in life properly. I couldn’t feed myself properly. I couldn’t keep my clothes or my house clean. I actually couldn’t do anything properly.

During those dark years, my negative self-image also resulted in me avoiding having sex, even though I really desired it. I suppose my homosexuality complicated the situation at the time. I feared that any male partner would see my penis and reject me. Eventually, a guy came along who I really liked. We had built up a good friendship and so I thought I could trust him. I was wrong. When we got naked I noticed that he had an intact (and I must add rather large) penis. When he saw my penis his behaviour changed immediately. He kept staring at it and wouldn’t touch it. At that point, I put my clothes back on and walked home. After that experience, I didn’t even attempt to have sex for over ten years and when I eventually did so, I felt the need to be in absolute control of the situation…in order to avoid a repeat of my previous humiliation.

The good news is this: my quality of life has improved somewhat over the last few years. To some extent, distraction ended up being a positive factor. At the age of thirty I finally made it to university and completed an Honours Degree in International Relations. That achievement (and the recognition from others that it created) has helped me realise that there is more to my existence and my identity than just my status as a circumcised man.

On a different level, the internet has been a great resource for me. All of a sudden and ‘out of the blue’, I realised that I was not alone. I discovered that there is an international ‘brotherhood’ of circumcised men whose life experiences have been as traumatic as my own. I also discovered that there are a large number of intact men (and also some women) who empathise with me and respect me for who I am. These people do not judge. These people inspire. These people are my friends. I no longer perceive myself as being just a victim. I now perceive myself as being a survivor.

So here I am: a 50 year old man who feels that he has been through hell (which is pretty weird considering that I am an atheist) and lived to tell the story. I now believe that my quality of life will continue to improve, even if it means sometimes taking two steps forward and one step back. I no longer judge myself in the way that I once did. In the end though, I know that I will always have to live with the burden of something that occurred in only a short few minutes of my life and which was imposed upon me without my consent.

Anyone who reads this post will probably sense that I retain some self pity. They are right…but I now use at least some of my emotional energy help to prevent as many boys as possible from experiencing problems similar to my own, as a result of their being circumcised as an infant.

I work for progress and I live in hope.

Channel Ten set to open a ‘Can of Worms’ about circumcision

Channel Ten’s popular ‘dilemma’ program ‘Can of Worms’ will return to our television screens on Monday, August 20^th, with a new host, former panelist on ‘The Circle’,  Chrissie Swan. One of the questions it will ask its panel and studio audience is ‘Should circumcision be banned?’.

In the lead-up to the show’s re-launch, Ten posted this question on the  ‘Can of Worms’  Facebook page and received more than 550 responses. There were many well informed contributions to the debate but, sadly, there were also many other responses which provided clear evidence that much more public education is required on this issue.

Some of the respondents referred to alleged ‘health problems’ that might occur as a result of not having a boy circumcised, however no ‘peak’ medical authority in the world recommends the practice as a valid means of mitigating such concerns. Others spoke of the need for ‘parental rights’ to be paramount in such a discussion. They appeared to be oblivious of the need for infants (who are, of course, unable to consent) to be protected from life-long damage being inflicted upon them as a consequence of the ill-informed beliefs (or religious convictions) of their legal guardians, and/or their medical practitioners.

Hopefully, when the relevant episode of ‘Can of Worms’ goes to air, Channel Ten will provide its viewers with every opportunity to have their say and, more importantly, to educate themselves about this important human rights issue.

Image courtesy of dspruitt / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Understanding ‘phimosis’: truth, lies and appropriate responses

In the 21^st Century, thankfully, most male babies leave Australasian hospitals with their genitals intact (uncircumcised). They are, however, still not assured of reaching adulthood (the age of consent) without being subjected to genital cutting practices. The most common ‘reason’ cited for the circumcision of post-infant boys is a diagnosis of ‘phimosis’. The predominant (traditional) view has been that having a foreskin which cannot be retracted is a medical condition which requires treatment, however modern, rational perspectives suggest that a tight foreskin is simply a natural variation of the norm, which hardly ever requires surgical intervention and, in the cases where such intervention may be required, any decision can (and should) almost always be left for the individual to make once they have reached the age of consent.

In recent times, accurate information about normal penile anatomy has become more readily available. The majority of new parents now learn that the foreskin is ‘fused’ to the glans (head) of the penis and that it remains this way for a number of years, sometimes until well after the onset of puberty. This makes a diagnosis of phimosis extremely problematic, especially in younger children. Despite this, (whether as a consequence of ignorance, or simply due to ‘taking the easy way out’), there are still some doctors in Australia and New Zealand who employ ‘radical prepucectomy’ (circumcision) as a front-line ‘treatment’ for a tight foreskin. In fact, in 2003, an Australian study provided clear evidence that nearly all of the circumcisions being performed upon minors as a consequence of a diagnosis of phimosis were unnecessary. It would appear then, that better education of physicians, and perhaps parents, with regard to foreskin development and management is still required.

In recent years, misconceptions about penile anatomy and health have been rightly refuted. Most health care professionals (and parents) now understand that no attempt to retract the foreskin should be made during a child’s formative years, especially given the well-documented protective functions that it serves. It is now broadly recognised that forcibly retracting the foreskin causes damage to the structure, including tearing, which can lead to a narrowing of the preputial sphincter and therefore ‘phimosis’.

Difficulty in urination is the most commonly cited indicator of phimosis in infants and young children. Inflammation or infections of the penis/foreskin have also been cited as indicators of phimosis, however these symptoms are rare, usually minor and generally resolve themselves without the need for surgical intervention. In either of these instances, caution and a conservative approach should be paramount. New parents are understandably worried if they notice that their young son ‘sprays’ urine, or has ‘ballooning’ of the foreskin when he urinates. In the absence of any sign of severe or lingering infection, those concerns are generally unfounded. The situation will almost always resolve itself as the child grows and therefore, the most appropriate front-line treatment is no treatment at all.

In cases where persistent symptoms of inflammation or infection are noticed, they are most commonly caused by external exposure to chemicals, including soaps and detergents (such as those contained in ‘bubble bath’ formulas) and highly chlorinated water. Halting exposure to these compounds is therefore the most appropriate front-line treatment in such situations. Regular changing of nappies is also important in order to prevent infections caused by exposure to fecal matter, as is good hydration, since dehydration can lead to the release of overly concentrated (acidic) urine.

There is some controversy over the role of anti-biotics and ‘pro-biotics’ in the resolution of infections resulting from a tight foreskin. Some experts use topical anti-biotic ointments in these situations, whilst others avoid them and believe that the infection can be treated by the ingestion of natural yoghurt, in order to correct the balance of microbial flora in the area.

Once a child reaches the point of ‘genital awareness’ (usually in the years just before the onset of puberty), they are in a position to have input into decisions that are made about their own sexual health. It is important to note that many boys reach adulthood and beyond without perceiving or experiencing any problems associated with having a foreskin that does not retract, however some teenagers do discover that they encounter difficulty with masturbation or pain/discomfort during sexual intercourse as a consequence of having a tight foreskin. Obviously, many teens in such a situation will feel embarrassed about discussing it with their parents or a doctor and will look to the internet for information. Sadly, in the past, accurate and helpful information on this issue has been difficult to find. Part of the aim of the publication of this article is to provide such a resource.

The simplest and most non-invasive method of resolving a tight foreskin in older children (and adults) is ‘manual stretching’. There are several methods of manual stretching that have been shown to be highly effective. One of the most popular methods requires no ‘devices’ or ‘equipment’ and is therefore completely cost free. All that is required is for the individual to adopt a daily routine in which the foreskin is pulled back as far as it can be without causing pain. Great care must be taken in the early stages of this process, to ensure that the foreskin is not retracted behind the glans prematurely, because doing so can result in so-called ‘paraphimosis’, a condition in which the foreskin becomes trapped and cuts off blood supply to the end of the penis. Patience is paramount. This process is most effective when repeated several times a day and often achieves good results within just a few weeks.

Some individuals have become creative and developed their own home made ‘equipment’, such as soft plastic rings or tubes, with which they gently stretch the foreskin. In many ways these manual stretching methods resemble the stretching of earlobes undertaken by many young people these days, in which increasingly larger ring-like jewellery is used to increase the size of the hole created by the initial piercing.

In the rare cases where specific forms of Balanitis have been positively diagnosed, the topical application of a steroidal ointment such as Betamethasone can provide good results. These ointments replicate the release of hormones that occurs during puberty which usually cause a natural dilation of the foreskin.

Profit-driven corporations are very good at identifying public demand for ‘goods and services’ and it is therefore hardly surprising that websites promoting products such as ‘Glansie’ and ‘Novoglan’ have recently started to appear on the internet. These products may well be effective in resolving concerns created by having a tight foreskin, however they may not necessarily be any more effective than the options referred to above and certainly incur a greater cost.

If the methods explored above do not have the desired impact, there is at least one surgical alternative to circumcision that can be considered. ‘Preputioplasty’ is a procedure that involves one or more incisions being made in the preputial sphincter, which are then sutured (stitched) to close the wound. Although preputioplasty is surgically invasive, it is certainly preferable to circumcision, since no bodily tissue is removed. A recently published study confirmed that preputioplasty provides a good outcome for the majority of boys who undergo the procedure.

Given all of the available evidence, surgical intervention in the form of circumcision, is almost never required to ‘resolve’ the issue of a tight foreskin in males of any age and, as such, it should be regard as a solution of last resort. Furthermore, the available evidence suggests that, in the overwhelming majority of cases, males should be allowed to reach the age of consent without being subjected to surgical intervention. Whatever course of action they decide to take once they reach the age of consent is a matter for them and them alone.