How can I get support & guidance?
Everyone has a responsibility to inform themselves before making a decision related to circumcision. We can also help people get support and information if you contact us directly.
New Parents
New Mothers or Grandmothers
- There is a parents' guide page with more details here.
- Mothers need to know what the procedure entails, it's not just a little snip, it's very intense and painful for the baby.
- Times are changing even though this was the status quo before.
- Address the icky connotation.
- No health benefit now or later.
- Some mothers regret and feel guilt.
- Mothers have a special role to protect one's baby, follow your instincts, it can always be done later.
- Don't retract foreskin or allow anyone to, including doctors.
New Fathers or Grandfathers
- There is a parents' guide page with more details here.
- It's ok to choose something different for your son than you have. In fact, don't you want to give your boy a better life than what you had?
- Since the loss creates loss, just like loss of any body part.
- Baby boy does not have to look like you.
- No health benefits, just harms.
- Address the concern of looks or attractiveness or mating.
New Christian Parents
- It is not part of Christian teachings, faith, traditions, or anything.
- Jesus is the founder of Christianity (Jesus "Christ"). He came along after the Old Testament, when the Jews were circumcising and he said you don't have to do it anymore, which is why the New Testament, which is what Christians follow, does not say you should do circumcision.
- It's part of Jewish tradition, and Christians respect Jews, but it's not part of Christianity.
New Jewish Parents
- Times are changing, many modern families choose the rites they follow instead of wholesale adoption of them.
- Judaism is about questioning things.
- Put baby's well-being before family's feelings.
- You can still be true to Jewish faith and heritage without circumcision.
- Alternative to Brit Shalom is Brit (naming ceremony).
New Muslim Parents
- Times are changing, many modern families choose the rites they follow instead of wholesale adoption of them.
- Anyway, it's not in the Quran, just a tradition.
- Brutal experience in childhood 4-8 years old - boys report "worst day of their life".
- Put baby's well-being before family's feelings.
- You can still be true to Muslim faith without circumcision, it's about your relationship with Allah.
Immigrant Parents
- It's not important to becoming more Americanized.
- History in America is strange (this is one thing that America "got wrong" while the rest of the world "got it right") and times are changing anyway, fewer Americans are getting circumcised and it is decreasing.
- Modern educated Americans don't do it.
Healthcare Providers
Physicians
- Medical practices change over time as new things are discovered. It's a new discovery now that so many people are reporting adverse events [this is a term from pharma - it might be applicable here too and might be a term doctors respond to], and there is new research on infant pain. It's ok to change your mind and practices as you gain new knowledge.
- Learn about the role of the foreskin in the human body.
- Learn about Physicians who abstain, contact them.
- Learn about adult men who complain of harm.
- Why is stopping you from abstaining - confront your own bias - your own problem-free circumcision does not mean it is necessarily a good thing for everyone else, or that you have the right to do it to any human being without their consent.
- This is a guide to changing to abstaining.
- You don't have the right based on human rights.
- Protect yourself against future litigation by stopping now.
- Download info sheets to post in your office get Brochures to put in your waiting room to teach parents.
- If you are suffering regret, you can heal by getting involved in activism, helping others.
Nurses
- Physician and Nurse voices who abstain, contact them.
- Nurses are on the vanguard of change in this area.
- This is a guide to changing to abstaining.
- You don't have the right based on human rights.
- You can heal by getting involved in activism, helping others.
Midwives and Doulas
- HCP voices who abstain, contact them.
- Midwives and doulas are on the vanguard of change in this area.
- You don't have the right based on human rights - it's not the mother's right.
- This is a guide to changing to abstaining.
- You can heal by getting involved in activism, helping others.
- Download info sheets or get brochures from us to distribute to teach parents xyz.
Medical Students
- Medical students are in a special position to consider circumcision because they are at the start of their careers and are in a learning mode, inquiry and questioning is normal to them.
- Learn about your options to opt out of circumcisions for your career.
- Physician voices who abstain.
- History of circumcision.
- You can decide before your career starts to abstain - guide to conscientious abstention.
- Protect yourself from future litigation.
- Medical students are the hope for change.
Hospital Administrators & Risk Managers
- Lawyers who recommend against.
- Ethicists who recommend against.
- Other hospitals who are not doing it anymore.
- Physician voices who abstain.
- Legal arguments against circumcision, non-medically necessary procedure being solicited.
- Protect your organization against future litigation, it's coming, so act earlier than later.
- Don't solicit, #1, consider not offering it, #2.
- Download info sheets or get brochures from us to post in the hospital or distribute to staff, to teach parents xyz.
Policy Makers
Judges, Attorneys, Legislators, Public-Policy-Makers
- Most legislators, judges, and attorneys in America are circumcised men or have intimate partners who are circumcised men, which is why lawsuits and laws have not yet made many inroads - bias. It's very hard to admit that one has been violated oneself - easier to deny it.
- Learn about men who complain of harm from their infant circumcision.
- Beware and confront your own bias as a circumcised man or an intimate partner of a circumcised man - just because it doesn't bother you does not mean that it should have been done to you or that it harms others.
- It is not a rite of passage, it is not a part of manhood. It belongs in the past - it is painful, harmful, unnecessary.
- It is similar to female circumcision, which was banned in the US in 1996. Boys deserve equal protections under Title IV - legal argument.
- Human rights argument - bodily integrity & gender equality.
- People who have suffered will be demanding that the practice end in the future, lawsuits and legislation will be needed.
Journalists & Writers
Journalists & Writers
- Journalists are very important because they 'translate" complex information to the public and this is an issue that is new to the public understanding because it's been an accepted practice for so long. There are many accepted practices that we realize over time we don't want as a society, such as the beating of children for discipline, child labor, and many other practices, where it simply takes time for our society to realize it is harmful and needs to change. Journalists are so important as agents of making our society better through distributing information and clearing up myths.
- Simple description of Intact America and the circumcision debate website.
- Names and title of leadership.
- Quotes journalists can use.
- Put anything in here you might want to put for journalists who are not yet "converted".
- Link to the Intact America website.
Personally Affected
Circumcised Men
- Some men have good lives circumcised and report no problems, but just because you feel this way doesn't mean other men don't suffer problems. Be open-minded to realize that your experience is not necessarily universal.
- Some men report problems, pain, suffering, anger, frustration, etc.
- Find others like you, get support here.
- You can heal by helping others here.
- Get therapy to figure out how to heal and talk to parents, etc.
- How to talk to your parents instead of keeping feelings repressed, express feelings, get answers for why they did it.
- There is reconstructive surgery.
Circumcised Women
- Female circumcision was outlawed in the US in 1996, but women who came from other countries may have suffered it. It is well-understood in the US that this is harmful and unacceptable.
- Male circumcision is similarly brutal, which is not really well-understood.
- Women and girls can get help here, find others like them, get information here and resources.
- Get therapy to heal from your emotional and physical trauma.
- You can heal by helping others here.
Parents Suffering Regret & Guilt
- Mothers especially suffer great guilt in some cases because they feel responsible as the protector of the child and that they have failed their main responsibility.
- Fathers can suffer guilt as well for the same reasons, lorem ipsum dolor.
- There are others like you, read about them here, connect to them.
- Get therapy to heal from your emotional trauma.
- You can heal by getting involved in activism, helping others.
Supporters & Donors
Supporters, Donors, Intactivists
- We need YOU! Supporters are really important because they provide the energy behind change. You can help in 2 important ways - by speaking and writing about it and also by donating money so that activist organizations can do it.
- Activists in this area are called "Intactivists" because they advocate for an intact body, an intact penis. "Intact" means that no part was removed or modified or mutilated.
- Learn about Intact America, history, accomplishments, and goals, and plans. We have made a lot of progress and we have big plans and a lot of energy to move forward as well.
- Get support and give support there as well. The best way to heal from your own suffering is to connect to others and help others.