Subject: Re: Pro-circ delusions (was Re: Pritchard, Sessions vested interest in continuing Routine Circumcision?

From: [email-masked] (Don Morgan)
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 20:48:03 GMT

On 13 Jul 1996 22:48:56 -0400, [email-masked]
([email-masked]) wrote:

>We could take a census. There just might be comparable numbers of 
>disgruntled circ victims and people who would feel threatened by a
>ban on circumcision.

Yes, we could take a census. If we excluded Jews and Muslims, and
considered only so-called medical circumcision, I would put my
money on it that there are many more disgruntled victims of
circumcision than there are people who would feel threatened by a
ban which prohibited circumcision except in cases of medical
necessity.

Other than those cultures where circumcision is practiced for
religious reasons (or as a coming of age ceremony), the rest of
the world gets along quite well without it. No reason is seen to
routinely remove part of a little boy's penis--except in the U.S.
Even counting the mostly circumcised male populations in the
U.S., Israel, and the Muslim countries, 85% of the world's males
are intact (i.e., "uncircumcised"). 

The extent of the practice here in the U.S. is seen as curious
and perverse by non-Americans, non-Muslims and non-Jews. I have
had correspondence from several Brits, for example, who can
hardly believe that the U.S., a so-called civilized country,
continues the practice, making it the norm, when in every other
English-speaking country in the world, circumcision is no longer
in favor. 

The U.S. is absolutely alone in the entire world in continuing
the practice of nonreligious circumcision to the extent that it
does. Rates are falling, however, and in some areas of the
country (e.g., California) circumcision is no longer the norm. 

It is only a matter of time that nonreligious circumcision will
be seen for what it is: a relic of the Victorian mentality which
saw masturbation as a practice so harmful that it had to be
stopped in any way possible and circumcision as the first step in
the cure.

The introduction of circumcision in the 19th century was an
attempt to prevent what was seen at the time as child sex
(self-)abuse.

  "By about 1880 the individual... might wish[to]... tie, chain,
  or infibulate sexually active children... to adorn them with
  grotesque appliances, encase them in plaster, leather, or
  rubber, to frighten or even castrate them... masturbation
  insanity was now real enough--it was affecting the medical
  profession."
(B. Berkeley, quoted from _Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma_, by
Rosemary Romberg, Bergin & Garvey Publisher, Inc, S. Hadley MA,
USA, 1985, ISBN 089789-073-6)

Dr. E.J. Spratling, who promoted this surgery by telling his
colleagues that "...circumcision is undoubtedly the physician's
closest friend and ally..." prescribed in 1895 the method of
circumcision as it is practiced in hospitals today.

  "To obtain the best results one must cut away enough skin and
  mucous membrane to rather put it on the stretch when erections
  come later. There must be no play in the skin after the wound
  has thoroughly healed, but it must fit tightly over the penis,
  for should there be any play the patient will be found to
  readily resume his practice not begrudging the time and extra
  energy required to produce the orgasm... We may not be sure
  that we have done away with the possibility of masturbation,
  but we may feel confident that we have limited it to within the
  danger lines."
(E.J. Spratling, MD. Medical Record, Masturbation in the Adult,
vol. 48, no. 13, September 28, 1895, pp. 442-443.)

Here is an example of what another sexaphobic American doctor had
to say about masturbation in 1903:

  "It (self abuse) lays the foundation for consumption, paralysis
  and heart disease. It weakens the memory, makes a boy careless,
  negligent and listless. It even makes many lose their minds;
  others, when grown, commit suicide.... Don't think it does no
  harm to your boy because he does not suffer now, for the
  effects of this vice come on so slowly that the victim is often
  very near death before you realize that he has done himself
  harm. It is worthy of note that many eminent physicians now
  advocate the custom of circumcision..."
(Mary R. Melendy, MD, The Ideal Woman - For Maidens, Wives and
Mothers, 1903.)

  "A remedy for masturbation which is almost always successful in
  small boys is circumcision. The operation should be performed
  by a surgeon without administering an anesthetic, as the brief
  pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon
  the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of
  punishment. In females, the author has found the application of
  pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of
  allaying the abnormal excitement."
(John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., "Treatment for Self-Abuse and its
Effects," Plain Fact for Old and Young. Burlington, Iowa: F.
Segner & Co. (1888). P. 295)