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This website is intended as a resource for men who wanted to document their harm from circumcision done in infancy or childhood, as well as for
parents - medical professionals - ethicists - religious leaders - attorneys - child protection advocates - human rights campaigners - legislators - and the media
"Singly, a man's report of circumcision harm is dismissed as anecdotal.
Collectively, these reports are proof that circumcision damages boys and the men they become.
Except for some African nations where children of both sexes are subjected to genital cutting,
circumcision harm is actual, concrete and particularized to unconsenting males in many parts of the world."
Tim Hammond - Curriculum Vitae - Survey ProgrammerSKIP below to "Introduction to the Problem"
U P D A T E S
2020 November: New study reinforces the suspicion of permanent, pervasive psychological consequences of early male circumcision. Link | PDF
2020 November: Is Circumcision a Fraud? (P.Adler/R.VanHowe/T.Wisdom/F.Daase) Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy (Fall 2020) Link | PDF
2020 November: Groundbreaking survey finds U.S. doctors, nurses, and midwives actively solicit moms to have their sons circumcised. Read more
2020 November: Newly published book, Circumcision Scar.
One man's lifelong struggle with recurring nightmares leads him to discover repressed memories of his neonatal circumcision. A compelling narrative about medical and religious oppression of children, parallels with LGBT history, a journey toward foreskin restoration, and how Christian American doctors forced a nation into denial about male anatomy.
Buy | Alt: www.CircumcisionScar.com
"...a powerful and moving narrative of suffering and recuperation. This unflinching memoir could be a valuable resource for readers researching the negative effects of circumcision."
- BookLife Reviews
"Jackson's honesty provides a new way of looking at a practice that is rarely discussed. In the end, this intriguing subject is not only brought to light, but also done so in an impassioned way."
- Kirkus Reviews
2020 November: Historical archive document uploaded. Awakenings: Revealing the Long-Term Harm and Healing the Wounds of Infant Circumcision (1994). Self-published report of findings from the first-known circumcision harm documentation survey, eventually published as 'A Preliminary Poll of Men Circumcised in Infancy or Childhood' in BJU International (1999). PDF: Table of Contents | Full Report
2020 October: Recently uploaded... 'The Importance of Genital Mutilations to Gender Power Politics' by Egyptian scholar Seham Abd el Salam. Read (also recommended is Seham Abd el Salam's previously published paper 'Male Genital Mutilation (Circumcision): A Feminist Study of a Muted Gender Issue'. Read)
2020 September: Intact America calls for Child Genital Cutting (CGC) to be classified as an Adverse Childhood Experience, and be added to the ACE questionnaire administered by psychologists and social workers seeking to assess their clients' source(s) of trauma and prevent or ameliorate negative consequences. Learn more how you can help
2020 September: Journal article published. A New Tuskegee? Unethical Human Experiementation and Western neocolonialism in the mass circumcision of African men. Developing World Bioethics. Read
2020 June: Current Critiques of WHO Policy on Female Genital Mutilation. Brian D. Earp and Sara Johnsdotter. International Journal of Impotence Research. article
2020 May: Normal and Abnormal Prepuce (M. Fahmy, MD) In-depth scientific research into the anatomy, functions, development and care of the male and female prepuce and treament of conditions affecting them. Written for medical professionals. Buy Full Textbook (US$153 hardcover) Textbook Summary
2020 May: Compilation page created for published articles by ethicist Brian D. Earp on male, female and intersex childhood genital cutting and genital autonomy. link
2020 May/June: Tim Hammond interviews ethicist Brian D. Earp in article about the intersectionality between childhood genital cutting and issues of concern to the LGBTQI community. Part One (May, p.22-25): Web / PDF Part Two (June, p.22-24): Web / PDF
2020 March: Survey on circumcision and psychological harm. Participation closed August 2020
Intaction.org is assisting two practicing psychologists seeking to interview men who have discussed circumcision related distress with their therapist. They hope to better understand what was helpful and not helpful about your therapeutic experiences so they can offer guidance to the professional community. Presently, no guidance is available and they anticipate more men to present with this concern in coming years.
Dr. Patrick O’Connor is very much aware of the issues surrounding circumcision and is sensitive to your concerns. All communication during these interviews is confidential.
2020 January: An Analysis of Bailis, Moreton and Morris' critique of Hammond and Carmack's Long-Term Adverse Outcomes to Men from Newborn Circumcision article
2019 June: Complications in Male Circumcision (M. Fahmy, MD) contains textbook chapters documenting male circumcision complications that also validate findings from the Global Survey of Circumcision Harm.
Buy Full Textbook (US$103-130) View Table of Contents and Chapters 10, 11 and 15 (graphic photos)2019 April: 'My son killed himself after circumcision.' "It happens more frequently than people realise." article
2019 March: BBC Inside Out about Male Circumcision. Circumcision sufferers and their families reveal the harm that circumcision caused them; while callous cutting advocates invoke 'ritual' and 'identity'. video
2018 August: New documentary exposes genital cutting of boys in Uganda. 'The Bamasaba Cut' Read more and watch
2018 March: Response by Tim Hammond and Dr. Mark Reiss (to the Sept 2017 article by Bossio & Pukall regarding attitudes about one's circumcision) were published in Archives of Sexual Behavior.
2018 January: Understanding the psychological harm of male circumcision
Circumcision damage is often trivialised and goes unrecognised by health care professionals, family and friends, and sometimes by the individual himself. Research has shown that symptoms of PTSD are often present in circumcised men, sometimes lifelong. It can present as, or trigger, a multitude of other psychological conditions, such as OCD, agoraphobia or depression. The aim of this workshop at Keele University (Keele, U.K.) is to enable counsellors to recognise specific symptoms not always acknowledged by the client and others, and to help professionals provide an appropriate response. Details and registration
2017 May: Circumcision - A Sexual Harm? video of address titled "Gender, Genital Alteration and Beliefs about Bodily Harm" by Brian D. Earp at the 23rd Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health (Prague).
2017 May: Health related and sexual consequences of non-therapeutic male circumcision in children. Presentation by Dr. Morten Frisch at the World Association for Sexual Health Congress. video
2017 March: Survey results published by the International Journal of Human Rights.
"Long-term adverse outcomes from neonatal circumcision in a survey of 1,008 men: an overview of health and human rights implications" See Results tab2016 July: Findings from the Global Survey of Circumcision Harm
Presentation by Tim Hammond at the International Conference on Men's Issues (London, England). video2016 May: Prominent San Francisco Intactivist Commits Suicide. article
2015 May: Review of Findings from the Global Survey of Circumcision Harm
Presentation by Tim Hammond at the Myths & Multiple Standards conference (Frankfurt, Germany). video2015 March: Young man's anguish over circumcision ends in suicide. The Death of Kevin Cagle. article
2014 February: Results from the Global Survey of Circumcision Harm are quoted in
Unspeakable
Mutilations
Circumcised Men Speak Out
I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E P R O B L E M
The Global Survey of Circumcision Harm (GSCH) was launched in June 2011 because the medical community has never investigated the long-term adverse physical, sexual, emotional or psychological consequences of infant/childhood circumcision on the health of adult men. In March 2017 survey results were published in the International Journal of Human Rights.
Documenting this long-term harm is impeded by:
widespread ignorance among men, including doctors, about complete penile anatomy and the functions and benefits of the foreskin;
lack of familiarity with how to identify circumcision damage;
lack of appropriate opportunities to document these adverse consequences;
the fact that the U.S. medical community does not collect any statistics on the number of botched circumcisions or deaths, let alone the long-term adverse outcomes to men. This was revealed in 1985 by Edward Wallerstein, author of Circumcision: An American Health Fallacy, at the 10 minute mark of this 15-minute television interview [IE browsers: up to 2 minutes load time]
denial among victims and circumcisers (many of whom are victims themselves) that damage has occurred, as in these video interviews with circumcised women and men whose genitals were cut as young children and this debate between Essayist Christopher Hitchens and Rabbi Kushner.
the medical community's unethical preying upon parental fears about health in order to promote a needless surgery from which it profits, as explained in this interview with the director of Doctors Opposing Circumcision.
individual physicians who obscure the harm of circumcision by portraying it as 'health promotion' thereby asking the public to suspend common sense, demonstrated by this interview of Dr. Lisa Masterson by talk show host Craig Ferguson.
To understand the scope of the problem of male genital cutting today, please visit:
This survey in 2011-2012 was a grassroots, all-volunteer effort to provide an online self-report and documentation method for any male who considered himself harmed by childhood genital cutting imposed on him without his informed consent.
Until the medical community investigates these consequences, the internet remains an alternate venue offering these men the comfort level they require to document such harm.
While the survey of course does not claim to represent all circumcised men, most of the physical damage from a "proper" circumcision revealed by our respondents is universal among all men circumcised in infancy or childhood, whether or not they realize or admit to it.
It is hoped that documenting such consequences and making the results publicly accessible will provide a starting point for dialogue about the long-term adverse consequences of male genital cutting. It is hoped that this harm will be investigated by medical communities and taken seriously by the societies where customs of male childhood genital cutting occur.
WHAT YOU WILL FIND AT THIS WEBSITE
Survey Custom Reports On 21 September 2012 the survey was closed to new respondents.
Please visit the Results tab to learn more about the findings.
Order a report based on custom parameters that includes filters such as age, country/state/province of birth or residence, religion, type of harm, etc. No longer available
Results Donate View the most recent statistical results of the survey.
If you believe the public must be made more aware of circumcision harm, you can donate to defray costs of hosting/promoting this survey, and publishing the results for public benefit.
Gallery Promote Compare photos of natural intact male genitals to photos of damage uploaded by our survey respondents.
Help to promote wider participation by men who know they've been harmed by childhood circumcision by publicizing the survey.
Testimony More Research Many respondents submitted video testimony of their harm for posting to this site. Visit the Testimonies tab to hear how childhood genital cutting has affected men physically, sexually, emotionally and/or psychologically.
Published research on natural penile anatomy, foreskin physiology, circumcision damage, harm done to men by specious claims of circumcision for HIV reduction, and world medical association statements on circumcision and human rights.
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