The WHOLE Network is proud to educate all members of the general public from every background about the functions of the foreskin and the benefits of not circumcising. On our website we provide literature and support specific to the Jewish community, Christians, Muslims, and Mormons. Now this coming April 17th through the 20th we’ll be heading to the American Atheists 2014 National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah to bring our message to the over 1,000 people attending. We'll be doing interviews and live broadcasts from the convention that you can watch online. 

But we need your help!

In order to attend this conference, we need to raise $1000. Here's how the costs break down:

$100 - Booth registration
$50   - Internet access at the booth 
           (so we can show Youtube videos)
$50   - Electricity for the booth
$400 - Travel expenses
$200 - Signs and banners (which can be reused at
            future events)
$200 - Printing educational leaflets and pamphlets
-----------
$1000 total


CLICK HERE to make a tax-deductable donation.



Atheists are natural allies to the intactivist cause. Here are quotes from notable atheists throughout the years:

Clinton Richard Dawkins, British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, author, atheist, vice president of the British Humanist Association, and a supporter of the Brights movement sounds off about circumcision on Twitter.

Christopher Eric Hitchens, British-American author, polemicist, antitheist, debater, and journalist debates Rabbi Harold Kushner on circumcision.

Penn Fraser Jillette is an American atheist, illusionist, comedian, musician, actor, and best-selling author known for his work with fellow magician Teller in the team Penn & Teller. Their television episode Circumcision is Bullsh*t has proven to be an invaluable tool for educating the masses about the harms of circumcision. 

Atheist, Dutch politician, and author, Ayaan Hirsi Ali was subjected to female circumcision as a girl. She shared her feelings on male genital cutting: "The foreskin is cut off the penis. That's a form of mutilation. You should leave the child as he is, as he comes out of the womb. He's finished, he's complete. You shouldn't take things off, especially when there's no medical reason. I think male circumcision is worse than an incision of a girl. With boys, a lot of skin is removed. The consequences can be worse for boys than for girls."

The WHOLE Network is 100% volunteer-run; none of us receives any compensation whatsoever for the time we dedicate to this cause. We are a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit charity, so your contributions are tax-deductable! We sincerely appreciate every donation and are thankful for your support.

Kristi Zorn LaHuis, mother of two intact sons, shares her thoughts about the lifelong impact of circumcision.

Someone unknowingly made a lifelong choice for me 42 years ago.

I am a mom of two boys and a wife of eleven years, who had something taken away from her by the hands, or signature, of my husband’s mother. What right did she have to have an intact husband for 45 years, and then take that right away from me? What right did she have to take away something that would have given us a more pleasurable experience together? She had no right, and she has no remorse.

It is hard enough to keep a marriage together when you have every tool in your arsenal, let alone someone thinking it is their right to rip part of it away.

I have kept my two boys, two and ten, safe and fully intact as they should be. It is not my choice to make. It is not a parental right. It is a human right. No thanks to the doctors who pushed circumcision on me for the extra income it generates. To those doctors that refuse to tell, or research the truth, I say shame on you. The Physician's Hippocratic Oath states: “I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.” Can any doctor that performs this painful and harmful surgery say that with complete confidence? First, do no harm.

I think now of my boys and their future partners. I have done this for you. I fight this fight every day for you.

There will come a day very soon when young doctors will stand up and say this procedure is wrong. It will come. What will happen on that day when parents realize they have altered their sons and their partners lives because doctors are not giving us the information we need? I would hate to be the mom who circumcised her son the week, day, or hour before the American Academy of Pediatrics finally admits wrong doing.

If it was not for my oldest son being born weighing only four pounds and being in the NICU for twelve days, he would have been cut just because the doctors said circumcision had its benefits. Shame on me for not doing one keystroke of research on the matter before making my “choice”. 

Now I am the person who will tell you that you don’t have to do it. I am now the person who will give you any and all information I can to anyone who will listen. Question the motivations of the medical professionals. They are neglecting to give one piece of information to parents about what a wonderful and perfect part of our boys they are ripping away, and then selling our son's functioning body part for medical research and cosmetic products. How can anyone claim informed consent when the foreskin's functions are not even discussed? I was asked in a hallway after an NST appointment, being shown two photos, which one I would prefer. Yes, you heard me right, in the hallway. How can I make an informed “choice”?

If your only argument is cleanliness stop washing your hair for a few days. If it is so much easier to shave your head, I welcome you. But know this… it will grow back. Your son’s penis will not. I have two intact boys. No care is needed. Do not try to retract or wash inside with soap. Do not let any medical professional retract the foreskin. They will try. I am not sure what the fascination of our medical professionals are with intact boys, but it happens every day. Keep your son within an arm’s length at all times during an exam, in case you encounter someone that does not know proper care of an intact penis. I know, I was there and had to stop it. The average age of a child who can retract his foreskin is 10.5 years. The separation of tissue to allow retraction sometimes occurs in infancy, sometimes in adulthood. The only person who should ever retract a boy’s foreskin is the boy himself.

What about the significant percentage of boys permanently injured, disfigured, or who have died due to this procedure? What if complications arise for your son due to this procedure, what will you say? “Well, it had to be done.” Or “What have we done?”

I am determined to change one mind. Will it be yours? 

Please share this information as you see fit to educate anyone who will listen. I am not a doctor, just a wife and mother. We know better now, now do better. Save our sons and question routine infant circumcision.



Photo credit: Picture This Photography & Design of Brimley, Michigan.

A collection of letters and interviews from unhappily circumcised men.

October 21, 2013
David E. Landers, MD
Trustee
Holy Name Hospital
Teaneck, New Jersey
 

Dear David E. Landers:

I was born a healthy baby boy on Christmas Day 1974 in Holy Name
Hospital. I weighed 5 lbs.,15 oz. You were the doctor who delivered me.

Without my consent and without my parents' informed consent, you performed a 19th century surgical operation on me that has no medical indication and is injurious to infants and children. This surgery is euphemistically referred to by the U.S. medical
profession as Routine Infant Circumcision.

Since you never bothered to see me again, I want to make you aware of the harm you caused me:
    • Amputation of over 50% of my foreskin and loss of its integral functions, namely:
        • Protection of the glans penis, an internal organ.
        • Coverage of the shaft of the elongated, erect penis.
        • Provision of most of the nerves for sexual response (the ridged bands on the 
          inner lining of the foreskin).
    • Amputation of my frenulum.
    • Scar on my penis.
    • Meatal Stenosis – The exposure of my unprotected glans penis to the ammonia in 
      urine soaked diapers may have been the cause. However, ischemia of the glans
      penis, caused by your possible severing of the frenular artery at circumcision,  may 
      be the etiologic factor. A surgical meatotomy, to open the urethra, was performed
      on me at age 5 to correct this circumcision complication. Recovery from this
      corrective surgery was painful and traumatic and left me with a urination problem
      (spraying) and a scar on the tip of my penis. The memory of this surgery and my 
      painful recovery still haunts me.
    • Loss of sexual sensitivity - 15+/- cell layer increase in thickness of surface of glans 
      penis due to keratinization.
    • Progressive loss of glans sensitivity.
    • Curving of my penis during erection, due to removal of too much foreskin.
    • Pubic hair on my penile shaft during erection, due to removal of too much foreskin.
    • Removal of too much skin for a comfortable erection.
     • Reduced size of my penis.

Psychologically, this harmful surgery caused me to have low body image throughout adolescence and early adulthood and to completely avoid relationships with women during that time period. I thank God I overcame these challenges, and in my 30s met and married a wonderful and supportive woman.

We now know that newborns feel pain even more acutely than adults do, and that many of the infants who stop crying during circumcision are actually in a state of traumatic shock. The procedure has significant complication rates of infection, hemorrhage and even death. Infant circumcision surgeries are all over the Internet. They are horrifying! How could you do this to the helpless newborn that I was?

Non-therapeutic infant male circumcision violates the rules of medical ethics and numerous provisions of law. Physicians who circumcise non-consenting infants and children should lose their licenses to practice medicine.

Unnecessary surgery on children is a serious ethical violation. With respect to ethics, you, David E. Landers, violated all seven Principles of the AMA Code of Ethics; violated a primary tenet of health care, First, Do No Harm; and violated the Golden Rule.

With respect to human rights, you, David E. Landers, violated my basic human right, the right to an intact body. You had no right to remove a healthy, normal part of my body without my express consent. You failed to obtain my informed consent. You violated the Nuremberg Code of Ethics, which regulates experimentation on humans.

Furthermore, you violated my family's religious beliefs. I am a practical Catholic, as are my parents. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church infant circumcision is nontherapeutic amputation and mutilation and therefore against the moral law. Catholics are required to respect bodily integrity. Lack of respect for bodily integrity is viewed as a violation of the Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.

I survived infant circumcision, but you, David E. Landers, had no right to cut me. In any context but the privileged space of “medical procedure”, what you did constitutes child sexual assault.

Sincerely,
Craig B. Adams

Jeffrey Leon Cowsert, R/A
(Address Removed)
September 2, 2012 

Dr. Andrew H Cserny
(Address Removed) 


Dear Dr. Cserny: 

I don’t know if you recall but you were my delivery doctor on July 4, 1971. Through the years we have bumped into one another and certainly have many ties through relatives and friends. While I don’t feel like I know you on a personal level, I have a very personal topic I would like to chat about with you. Following my birth, you agreed to or possibly promoted and performed a circumcision on me, amputating the foreskin from my genitals. While the results may very well match the expectations shown in a text book, I never wanted it to be done to me and insist my rights as a human being were severely violated. I also live with a moderate case of erectile dysfunction as a result of the parts
missing and function lost.  

I’m not sure if you are aware but several countries have stopped performing routine infant circumcision (RIC) and Germany actually put a ban on it several weeks ago. No surprise that the American Academy of Pediatrics chooses to be on the opposite extreme and are now trying to convince America that it is a good, healthy policy and should be done to all babies. They promote this based on inconclusive and bias reports from a small group of scientists in Africa claiming that circ will cure the world of HIV. Of course we know this will never be the case since Europe has 80% intact men and less cases of HIV than the US where 80% of men are circumcised. 

I have been spending great efforts to educate the public and medical community of the misinformation that is being published, the dangers to infants that are forced to endure the procedure, the loss that men battle as a result of it, the fact that infants and children have rights and should be allowed to make the choice for themselves. All the while, I have been dealing with my own anger over the psychological and physical damage it has caused me. I have discussed this with my mother, she regrets doing it to me and supports my stance that it is not right to force it on a baby or child. It should be left to the child to decide when he is of the age to consent. 

It is very tempting for me to include you in my feelings of anger and throw you into the pool of those who promote RIC. But, I don’t think it is fair for me to do this without ever discussing my feelings and beliefs with you – and leave you with a chance to explain why you did it, what you were taught about it, your knowledge of the history behind it and how you feel about several thousand intactivists trying to stop it. I could probably inform and teach you many things about it that you may have never known but it would be too much to include in a letter. I planned to call you but couldn’t find a phone listing.
Nothing would make me happier than to have you as an ally in the cause to end what I consider a crime. I realize you may not agree, but your opinion would be greatly valued. I do hope to hear back from you - phone, email or US postal are equally fine communication.  

Sincerely, 
Jeffrey L. Cowsert

Jeff Cowsert protests penile surgery performed on him without consent at the ACOG Conference in New Orleans. He warns doctors who cut children, "Your face and picture may end up on a sign."

Anthony Losquadro of Intaction.org describes finding and confronting the man who cut part of his penis off when he was an infant. Anthony was featured as Intact America's October 2013 Intactivist of the Month. 


Also be sure to check out: An Open Letter to Mohel Michael Henesch
http://www.thewholenetwork.org/14/post/2011/05/an-open-letter-to-mohel-michael-henesch.html

Dear Editors of Fit Pregnancy:

We were extremely disappointed with the content of your recent circumcision article. The only accurate information presented was the intact care recommendations added as an afterthought at the very end of the article.

For starters, anesthesia was recommended for what you stated was a "10-minute procedure". But anesthetic cannot take effect within that span of time, according to the American Society for Pain Management Nursing.

All of your "pros" for circumcision include prevention of issues that are easily prevented or managed in less invasive ways than surgical amputation. For example, why remove 50% of the mobile shaft skin from a person's penis for prevention of a urinary tract infection when a simple course of antibiotics will treat the problem just fine? Surgery is an absolute last resort only to be explored when all other options have been exhausted. Not to mention, little girls have much higher rates of UTIs than little boys, yet removal of genital tissue is not indicated for them. Don't boys deserve the same respect our daughters receive? 

In regards to STD and HIV prevention, safe sex including condoms will provide far better protection than circumcision ever could. There is even a 2012 study showing circumcision increases the rate of STD infection in sexually active males. And recent reports out of Africa show that circumcision has not helped to lower the rate of HIV as it was expected to.

You mentioned the American Academy of Pediatrics’ stance on circumcision. You  should note that the AAP's 2012 circumcision stance has been denounced by doctors around the world for its bias and inaccuracies in a very well cited academic paper published March of this year in The Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Your list of "cons" for circumcision is woefully inadequate. You forgot meatal stenosis, excessive scarring, skin bridges, adhesions, hairy shaft, curved/bent penis, a 4.5x higher rate of erectile dysfunction later on, possible loss of the glans or entire penis, and death. There are an estimated 117 baby boys who die annually in the United States from circumcision complications. Is there really any pro to circumcision that makes the possibility of death worth taking that risk?

In this entire article there is no consideration for what the boy would actually want for himself. Many men, upon learning about circumcision, are upset that the most sensitive part of their penis was removed in infancy without their consent or any actual medical need. Your son, like the vast majority of human males in this world, may actually want to keep his foreskin. We ask that you respect his right to make this highly personal decision for himself at the age of consent. Keep his body whole until then.
 
Sincerely,
The WHOLE Network's Board of Directors

Shared with author's permission.

I have a story to share. This is a story about my son. A curly red headed boy who gives the best hugs and has the most delightful giggle. A boy that is madly in love with his brothers and sisters. A boy that I know will forgive me and his daddy for the horrible choice we made on his behalf because that is the kind of heart he has. 

On a glorious autumn morning my sweet son was born into a family full of love in the peaceful surroundings of his parent’s bed. Quinn came into the world with much to say and introduced himself in a very boisterous way. The peace and tranquility ended on day 16 of his life. On that day, the tears and hurt began. 

My husband and I took Quinn to have his circumcision performed at the office of a recommended urologist. We naively believed that this was “just a routine procedure”. My husband filled out the paperwork while I nursed Quinn in the waiting room. We were called back and asked if we wanted to stay in the room while the doctor did the procedure. We both wanted to be there for him and I wanted to be able to nurse him for comfort right away. Quinn was strapped down and the doctor numbed his penis. He screamed in pain and I felt my stomach drop. A few minutes later the doctor did the cut and the nurse commented, “That’s a beauty.” The doctor invited my husband to take a look seemingly proud of what he had just done. We were told to put Vaseline dressings on at each diaper change and dismissed to go home. I again nursed my little man and then buckled him into the car seat. Quinn cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep from the intense stress of it all.

When we arrived home we were greeted by my mom and Quinn’s big brother and sister. We cuddled on the sofa for a little bit and then my mom took Quinn into my room to change his diaper before we sat down to dinner. I heard my mom yell for me in a frantic voice. I rushed in to see what was alarming her and was shocked to see Quinn had bled through his cloth diaper and the diaper cover. There was a lot of blood and it was still oozing out of the circumcision site. I yelled for my husband to call the doctor right away. It was now about 5:45 pm so when he called the doctor’s office no one answered. I insisted he keep trying and then attempted to call myself 3 times. When it became clear we would not get through to the doctor I called Quinn’s pediatrician. He instructed us to apply very firm pressure to his penis for 10 minutes and if the bleeding did not stop to go to the emergency room. After 10 minutes it was clear that this was not going to be enough to subside the bleeding. We jumped in the van and rushed to the emergency room. By the time we got to the ER Quinn had lost a lot more blood. I was holding him in the waiting room and my jeans were soaked with his blood, the blanket I had wrapped him in was soaked with blood, his little socks were soaked with blood. When we arrived they assessed the situation and asked us why we had not called the urologist. We informed them we could not reach him. My husband continued to hold firm pressure on Quinn’s penis while the ER staff decided what to do. They were able to contact the urologist and decided to use a liquid to try to stop the bleeding. The ER doctor told us it had a 50/50 chance of working. The bleeding slowed down for a few minutes and then picked up again. The bed and the towels on the bed became saturated with Quinn’s blood. My husband and a paramedic in training held pressure to Quinn’s penis while we waited for an ambulance to transfer us to the ER where the urologist who did this to Quinn had privileges. It seems we chose the wrong ER unknowingly since we were not told what to do in the event of an emergency. The urologist on call at the ER we originally went to refused to fix the mistake of another doctor. The ambulance crew arrived and was instructed that it was necessary to continue to apply pressure to Quinn’s penis to slow the bleeding. The EMT that would be sitting in the back of the ambulance with Quinn and me insisted that I buckle him into his car seat rather than hold him in my arms on the stretcher. Against my instincts I complied. When we got situated in the back of the ambulance the driver turned on the lights and began to drive quickly to the next ER. The EMT in the back said “You can kill all that.” At which time the driver turned off the lights and began driving the speed limit. Inside I was screaming “What? No, we need to get there quickly.” But, I thought the EMT knew best since he was the medical professional. I was sitting next to Quinn’s car seat and keeping a close eye on him. I commented that he was bleeding through the towels and the EMT came over to take a look then sat back down. A few minutes later I repeated that he was losing more blood and was answered with, “Mmm.” I then questioned why Quinn was looking so pale and why his lips were turning blue. The EMT responded “There could be a lot of reasons for that.” Again I dumbly trusted the medical professional. I assumed we were safe because we were in the back of an ambulance. During the 45 minute drive to the ER (which could have been less than 20 minutes had the driver left the lights on and gone fast) I continued to comment on Quinn’s blood loss and color. The EMT only checked the monitor for oxygen levels. When we finally arrived at the next ER the paramedic on duty there took one look at Quinn and said “His color is awful. We need to get an IV in this baby right away.” They put in the IV and placed an oxygen mask on my baby’s face. I was terrified. My husband and I were both sobbing and stood there holding onto one another and asking God to “Please spare our son. “ I looked down to see his car seat full of blood. We felt completely helpless and so guilty that our baby had to endure this. The urologist that had performed the circumcision came in and placed four sutures in Quinn’s penis. He had cut the frenula artery when performing the original surgery. The bleeding finally stopped. The ER staff then drew some blood to run Quinn’s hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. They came back low but not low enough to warrant a blood transfusion so we were monitored for a couple of hours then sent home. We were told to have the blood work done again the next day. I did not want to cause Quinn extra stress so I asked my midwife to please come to the house to take his blood rather than driving him back to the lab. She agreed and said she would drive the blood right to the hospital for testing. When she arrived, she checked his heart rate and breathing and drew the blood. She left and on the way to the hospital she called Quinn’s pediatrician to discuss his condition. She then called me and informed me that they both agreed that due to his rapid heart rate and breathing as well as his listless state that I needed to call 911 right away and go back to the ER with Quinn. I did just that and this time had an amazing ambulance crew. My midwife was at the ER waiting for us with the lab results that Quinn’s hemoglobin and hematocrit had dropped dramatically since the night before. The ER wanted to run their own test so Quinn was poked again. The results came back the same. We were then sent by ambulance to a hospital with a pediatric unit.

We were admitted to the hospital and spent 23 hours there being observed. His levels were checked at 5:00 am the next morning and were on the rise so he did not require a blood transfusion. We had to stay until 8:00pm that night because he was still very lethargic and nursing poorly. He lost 5 ounces and needed to show the doctors that he could eat well before we could go home. The next two weeks we had follow up appointments and more blood work to make sure Quinn’s hemoglobin and hematocrit
continued to rise. He has to take iron supplements until his levels are normal again. All of this because we believed the LIE that circumcision is “just a simple procedure.” During the time our son was meant to learn that his world is a safe and loving place, he had to endure needless pain. Please consider what happened to Quinn before you decide to have your son circumcised. I believe Quinn is alive today because my midwife let his cord pulse. He had that extra blood in his little body and it acted as his safety net. Our family was blessed with another son 15 months after Quinn’s birth. Ezra remains intact as will any future sons.

This article has been temporarily removed. We apologize for the inconvenience. Find more information about circumcision and HIV here: http://www.thewholenetwork.org/research-circumcision.html#myths

So your doctor has told you that not enough foreskin was removed during your son’s circumcision. A circumcision revision surgery or “recircumcision” has been recommended. As a parent, you love your son and you just want what’s best for him. You may be asking yourself, is this surgery really necessary? Warning: clicking hyperlinks in this article may take you to nude images. Please click carefully.

For many years, doctors were performing what is known as a "high and tight" circumcision. After the procedure, all of the baby's foreskin was gone and the glans fully exposed, leaving an end result that looked very much like a circumcised adult.

The problem though was that the removal of that much skin was causing complications. Children with high and tight circumcisions were growing up without having enough mobile penile skin to comfortably accommodate erections. So they were experiencing complications such as:

-tight painful erections, 
-penis wildly curving to one side,
-chafing and tearing of the circumcision scar tissue, and
-scrotal skin pulled up onto the shaft of the penis resulting in "hairy shaft".

All of these problems are the result of having too much skin being removed. After a circumcision revision surgery, a child may indeed look more “like daddy” but he is also subject to all of the above complications that come with having a tight circumcision. These complications not only lead to a great deal of discomfort for the circumcised man, but also for his sexual partner(s). Men experiencing these issues can find some relief from stretching the remaining skin using non-surgical foreskin restoration techniques. Foreskin restoration is painless but it is a slow, arduous process to undergo. 

Knowing what we now know about the complications of high and tight circumcisions, many doctors today are doing what is called a "loose circumcision", where more of the foreskin is left behind for the child to grow into. Sometimes initially this makes the child look like he isn't really circumcised, but with time and recession of the fat pad the child grows into the remaining tissue and eventually realizes the expected aesthetic effect of circumcision. 

Unfortunately not all doctors are aware of the shift towards the loose circumcision. Upon encountering a child with today’s loose circumcision, an uninformed doctor may pressure the child’s parents to "revise" something that requires no revision whatsoever. This is why we are seeing a sharp increase in circumcision revision surgeries at this time. Again, these surgeries are overwhelmingly unnecessary and are a result of doctors who are uninformed on this issue.

Risks Associated With Circumcision Revision Surgeries

Because circumcision revision surgery is strictly cosmetic (not medically needed for the health of the child), any complications of the surgery are 100% avoidable by simply not opting for the procedure. Learn more about the lifelong complications caused by circumcisions and circumcision revisions here (graphic):

-Gallery of Botched Circumcisions
-Stanford Complications of Circumcision
-Global Survey of Circumcision Harm: Photo Gallery of Damage
-Historical Medical Quotes on Circumcision: Circumcision Complications

In addition to complications of the circumcision surgery itself, there are also many concerns that go with use of general anesthesia in infants and children. "Examples of side effects are nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, dizziness, sore throat, shivering, aches and pains, discomfort during injection of drugs, and agitation upon awakening from anesthesia... Adverse effects... may include dental trauma, croup (swelling of the windpipe), allergic reactions to drugs or latex products, wheezing, vocal cord spasm or injury, regurgitation of stomach contents with subsequent aspiration pneumonia, injury to arteries, veins or nerves, alterations in blood pressure, and/or irregular heart rhythms. Death and brain damage are the most feared of all anesthetic risks, but fortunately these complications are extremely rare." (Source: Society for Pediatric Anesthesia)

Questionable Motives of Doctors Recommending Recirumcision

A recent study has revealed that surgical repairs are big business for hospitals. In 2010, an unnamed, nonprofit 12-hospital chain in the southern U.S. was paid more than double when treating surgical patients who had complications compared to those who only underwent the initial surgery. There is zero profit to be made in a child that requires no further surgical modification, however there is great profit to be made in convincing parents that their child needs further surgical modification to his penis after the initial circumcision. Which leads you to wonder: are medical professionals looking at your son's loose circumcision and seeing dollar signs?

Common Questions Regarding Loose Circumcision

My son’s foreskin is "growing back", covering the head of the penis, stuck, adhered. Won't he have problems if it's not removed?
A naturally intact boy’s foreskin is fused to the head of the penis the same way your fingernail is fused to your finger. Sometimes after a circumcision, the remaining foreskin will adhere back on to the glans in an attempt to heal itself, causing what are called penile adhesions. This is very common. In this situation, we advise parents to just leave the foreskin alone and only clean the outside of it, the same way you would care for an intact boy. Some doctors may insist that the foreskin needs to be removed altogether or at the very least ripped back. This is a harmful act, causing severe pain to the child, bleeding, possible infection, and scarring. Do not allow doctors or other medical professionals to rip the foreskin remnant back if it has readhered. The adhesions will likely break down on their own over time, as they would with an intact child. If they don’t, less invasive procedures can aid the process along. In most cases, surgery is not needed.

But my son doesn’t look circumcised. Won’t he wonder why he doesn't look like daddy?
Neonatal circumcision techniques and results vary greatly because each patient is different, each doctor is different, and there are different circumcision methods utilized. So it’s already likely that no two circumcisions are ever going to look exactly alike. Your son is more likely to notice differences in size or body hair than the appearance of the penis. If he does ask, you can easily explain that there’s nothing wrong, just that dad had a surgery that resulted in his penis looking different from son’s. 

What if other kids make fun of him for not looking circumcised?
Today, the circumcision rate in the United States is roughly 50/50. That means about half of your son’s classmates will be intact and about half of them will be circumcised, and among them all will have varying lengths of foreskin. Your son will not be the odd man out. If bullying is an issue, any incidents should be reported to school authorities so those doing the bullying can be dealt with accordingly. Surgery is not needed.

My doctor said the recircumcision needs to be done. If the doctor said so, he must need it. Right?
Not necessarily. Doctors are human; they do make mistakes. America doctors used to actually recommend cigarettes to their patients. Now it’s common knowledge that cigarettes make you sick and can kill you. Hindsight is always 20/20. That’s why we recommend getting second and third opinions before proceeding with an irreversible surgery. Here’s a list of doctors who may be able to help you.

I'm planning on getting my son circumcised. Should I request a loose circumcision? 
The male foreskin is a highly specialized organ with a number of protective and sexual functions. It is literally the most sensitive part of the penis. Knowing this, there is no such thing as having too little foreskin removed, but there is most certainly such a thing as having too much removed. In other words, the more foreskin a child is left with, the better. 

All circumcision surgeries include risk. Regardless of the amount of tissue removed, you might still be expected to encounter meatal stenosis, skin tags, skin bridges, excessive scarring, MRSA infections, even death as a complication of routine circumcision. For these reasons and others, many parents are choosing not to circumcise their infant sons noawadays. To learn more about circumcision, check out this article written by The WHOLE Network's founder about her own journey of discovery when she was pregnant with her first son. Then go to our website's library to continue your search.

On July 18, 2012, Russell Brand told Howard Stern exactly how he feels about circumcision and answered questions about his own intact penis on The Howard Stern Show. Read a transcript of the conversation and watch the video. 

Howard Stern: Are you circumcised Russell because a lot of British guys aren't. 

Russell Brand: No we don't do it in England. It's just more like, people don't worry about it. They just, they just let it go, that sort of thing. 

Howard Stern: I approve of that. Yeah I approve of that. I don't think God meant us to lose a part of our penis. 

Russell Brand: Yeah what's the point? It's a bit unfair, isn't it, to do that to babies? I mean, you're alive a little while, start chopping bits of his dick off. I don't think God cares about that. He's got a lot on.

Howard Stern: Do you have any trouble with your penis in terms of um, like they say the smegma and all this kind of stuff?

Russell Brand: No no no you've got to look after that fellow. No no he's in great shape, thank you very much for asking.

Howard Stern: Do any of these American girls freak out because you're uncircumcised? 

Russell Brand: They seem very grateful to be honest. 

Howard Stern: Really?

Russell Brand: Well yeah of course they do. They're havin' the time of their lives. They can't start complaining about religious ceremonies. They're in the throes of ecstasy!

 Just published in Haaretz in Israel.
 It is an amputation of a healthy, sensitive body part that is performed without specific medical need, and without the patient's consent.

By Victor S. Schonfeld

Germany's parliament may soon approve a law to protect religious circumcision, this to counteract a Cologne court ruling last June that pronounced the practice unlawful.

This is wrong - the German government should rethink. I say this as a Jewish parent from a proud rabbinic lineage, with relatives killed in the Holocaust; I say this as the maker of "It's a Boy!" - the 1995 British TV documentary that first broke the taboo on showing the hidden toll of circumcision. It demonstrated how a rite ingrained in Jewish and Muslim culture, and said to be divinely commanded, regularly results in acute suffering, injuries, mutilation and deaths.

The film triggered a furor in Britain by chronicling the near-death of a baby circumcised by a mohel, and I hoped this would start a phasing-out of the custom. Instead, at pulpits across the U.K., rabbis denounced "that film made by a self-hating Jew," and urged parents to ignore it.

Change in the community could not come on the strength of information alone; I saw that government involvement would be needed. It was especially disappointing because my Jewishness prizes dissent and open debate.

Now my 12-year-old daughter is looking forward to her bat mitzvah, and she hears that Israel's Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has declared circumcision is "the root of the Jewish soul." "An amputation done with no pain control?" she says. "Done outside of hospitals, by people who are not doctors? A religious ritual only for boys? How can this be the root of the Jewish soul in 2012?"

Sadly, I explain that there is enforced ignorance, as was the case when our family was pressured into having her older brother circumcised as an infant. Only after we witnessed his agony did we realize we'd been bullied into betraying our protective roles. I explain that injuries and near-deaths are hushed up, though each day hundreds of such incidents occur globally among those who practice the rite (as research by the British organization NORM-UK reveals ). I explain that fatalities are rarely spoken of, though each day brings three or four. And the lost children have sometimes been erased from Jewish family trees, as my film attests. That can be comprehended perhaps as a legacy of the Talmud, which instructs that a mother may cease offering babies for circumcision after three of her offspring have died from it.

I recall the TV documentary I made against corporal punishment of children, and how I applauded countries like Israel and Germany, which were among the first to outlaw such punishment. It appears to me wholly contradictory that those countries protect a tradition that routinely inflicts greater suffering and harm. And none should take a lead from America, where it's still legal for parents to hit children, where pediatricians profit from a sideline in circumcisions of boys of all backgrounds. The American Academy of Pediatrics, the profession's trade organization, has issued yet another equivocal statement recently, about a practice that is a money-spinner for some of its members.

The Cologne court was right to rule that circumcision is an assault on a child. It is an amputation of a healthy, sensitive body part that is performed without specific medical need, without the patient's consent. Elected leaders of conscience should not support a custom that so obviously infringes principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

In Israel, some young adults now choose to be tattooed with the Auschwitz numbers of their forbears. A moving tribute. But if a religious leader decided it was God's commandment that babies be tattooed, we'd halt that everywhere. Religious Jews manage without animal sacrifices, without polygamy, without a range of practices that enlightened rabbis found reasons to dispense with over the centuries.

Ironically, there was a time in Germany, long before the Nazi era, when some rabbinic leaders advocated abandoning circumcision; they termed it barbarism. Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism, refused to have his son circumcised.

Given present knowledge of the pain and complications caused, an absolute ban is logical. But a sudden ban could drive circumcision underground. The law now should require that circumcision is only performed by doctors, in hospitals, using effective anesthesia, after both parents have been fully apprised of the risks. This will substantially reduce the prevalence of the custom, and will reduce the casualty rate and the suffering. With phased steps toward abolition, proponents of religious circumcision may put up less of a fight as the practice gradually falls out of favor.

I think about this positively: For my daughter's generation and those following, shouldn't Jewish and Muslim identities embrace children's rights? Nonviolent welcoming ceremonies would be equally meaningful for baby girls and boys. A handful of rabbis in America and Germany have been pioneering "brit shalom" ceremonies. These celebrate the perfection present at the birth of all children. That's the true praise for a Creator, after all, rather than "corrective surgery" for every newborn boy.

Despite Wednesday's decision by the German cabinet to approve legislation that would protect circumcision, it's still not too late to reverse course. In a letter I've sent Chancellor Angela Merkel my message is simple: Please don't undo the opportunity for change created by your courageous Cologne judge. Jewish and Muslim children deserve protection from a hurtful, dangerous custom overdue for replacement. If it takes a court in 21st-century Germany to help us move beyond circumcision, I welcome that.

Filmmaker Victor Schonfeld's documentaries include "Loving Smacks," "Shattered Dreams: Picking Up the Pieces" and "The Animals Film." "It's a Boy!" is available from www.itsaboythefilm.com.

 http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/an-end-to-the-agony.premium-1.469576

-- American Rabbis Explain their Opposition to Circumcision.
Progressive Rabbis On Creating A Jewish Covenant Without Circumcision
Humanistic Judaism Increasingly Critical of Child Circumcision
Rabbi Nathan Segal * A Progressive Rabbi urges us to move to peaceful covenants.
Rabbi Jeffrey Falick: Eliminating The Cruelest Cut * The Vice President of the Association of Humanistic Rabbis writes on Intactivism.
Rabbi Jeffrey Falick: A Resource Guide To The "Intactivist" (No Circumcision) Movement *

Jewish Intactivist Media.
BeyondtheBris.com * Jewish Intactivist Articles & Opinions.
Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision * A Movie by Orthodox Intactivist, Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. *
Rabbis and other leaders who lead covenant without cutting ceremonies. *

Jewish Intactivist Groups.
Jews Against Circumcision * Jews For the Rights of the Child * Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective * Gonnen * Kahal * Af-Mila: An Israeli Jewish Intactivist Journal *
The Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation *

The Moral Problems of Circumcision & the Search for Jewish Alternatives.
Jewish Rationales for Abolishing Circumcision * by Jews Against Circumcision.
Eli Ungar-Sargon & Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the Ethical Problems of Circumcision * At the Manhattan Jewish Experience.
Eli Ungar-Sargon: Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews? * Published in the Jewish Daily Forward.
Hebrew Scholar Vadim Cherny: How Judaic is circumcision? * It’s not at all, he finds.
Circumcision Questions (letter from an intact Jew). * Published in the Northern California Jewish Bulletin.
Miriam Pollack: Circumcision: Identity, Gender, and Power * Originally published in Tikkun magazine.
Miriam Pollack: Circumcision : A Jewish Feminist Perspective * Published in Jewish Women Speak Out.
The Measure of His Grief by Lisa Braver Moss * A new book exploring Jewish intactivism
Jenny Goodman, MD: An Alternative Perspective * A Jewish doctor in the UK urges us to keep our sons intact.
A Jewish Case for Bris without Milah. *
Moshe Rothenberg: Being Rational About Circumcision and Jewish Observance *
Brit Milah: Inconsistent with Jewish Ethics? * Written by a Jewish parent. The Foreskin and Human Rights Law.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 1.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 2.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 3.

Leaders in the Jewish Movement to Abolish Circumcision

The Intactivist Movement Within Judaism. * Published on Saving Sons
Today’s Jews Reject Circumcision and Choose Peaceful Welcoming Covenants * An Intactivist Midwife.
Regretting Circumcision: Women’s Perspectives * Published on Dr. Ron Goldman’s site.
Progressive, Moral Jews speak out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors. * Intactivism and Human Rights.
The History of Circumcision: Leonard Glick , MD, PhD. explains how he came to write Marked In Your Flesh. *
American Jews Speak Out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors *
International Jews Also Favor Outlawing Circumcision of Minors *
Judaism, Human Rights and the History of Circumcision *

Peaceful Covenant Texts for Jewish Parents.
Worldwide list of Rabbis who lead covenant without cutting ceremonies *
Song for an Intact Jewish Boy’s Welcoming Ceremony *
Brit B'lee Milah Ceremony *
A Brit Shalom Ceremony *
Norm Cohen: A Brit B’lee Milah Ceremony *

Jewish Parents' Experiences Keeping their Sons Intact.
Dear Elijah: A Conservative Jewish Father's Letter to His Intact Son * Published on Peaceful Parenting.
Moshe Rothenberg: Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community? * Envisioning an Intactivist Judaism.
Michael Kimmel: The Kindest Un-Cut: Feminism, Judaism, and My Son's Foreskin * Published in Tikkun.
The Naming * Published on Very, Very Fine.
Stacey Greenberg: My Son: The Little Jew with a Foreskin * Published in Mothering Magazine.
Intact & Jewish * Published on the Natural Parents Network
Laura Shanley: A Jewish Woman Denounces Circumcision *

 A growing number of Jews are in favor of banning child circumcision. These Jews recognize a minor's right to their own body, a right that supersedes the rights of a parent to harm the body of a child in the name of religion.

The past century has been marked by the declaration and protection of universal human rights, as well as a marked increase in the quality of life, both in the United States and worldwide. With these improvements, higher expectations regarding a child’s right to bodily autonomy have become socially accepted and legally mandated. Many argue that since female children in the U.S. are protected by a 1996 law banning female circumcision, this law should be expanded to include the protection of male children as well.

There are a growing number of Jews who are becoming increasingly vocal in questioning both the ethics and the legality of circumcision. Jews in the Reform Judaism movement have already been advocating for an end to ritual circumcision during the past 180 years. Some forward-thinking Rabbis have created symbolic ceremonies to replace circumcision surgery. The Humanistic Jewish movement only does peaceful welcoming covenants. Already, more than 100 Rabbis from a wide range of Jewish denominations perform symbolic covenant rituals. More and more Jewish and Israeli parents, Rabbis, scholars, and thinkers have come to oppose circumcision.

What follows is a collection of statements from Jews who question the ethics and legality of forced under-age circumcision.

Jewish Americans Support Outlawing Child Circumcision

"I am a Jewish mother against circumcision and in support of passing Bill 1777. For years I was a certified childbirth educator and now a journalist and filmmaker. I continue to educate people that childbirth is a natural event rather than one filled with unnecessary drugs and other medical intervention, and circumcision is an unnatural event. These are two clear-cut examples of interfering with nature."
- Katherine Mora, Jewish Mother , Testimony before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the Judiciary

“In Massachusetts, two Jewish mothers testified in favor of a law making circumcision illegal. Moreover, several Jews and Jewish organizations throughout the country are backing a proposed national law against circumcision. Jewish groups such as Jews Against Circumcision and the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation have endorsed the proposed American MGM bill, which would rewrite the U.S. Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996 so that boys are also protected from genital mutilation.”
- Questioning circumcision, by Shani McManus and Sergio Carmona, Florida Jewish Journal, June 06, 2011

“Jewish baby boys are human and have rights too, and those rights are violently trampled by his (and my) religion, in the case of brit milah. We must all learn to take the blinders off and somehow stop this heinous practice -- yes, by a law, if necessary.
- Tina Kimmel, PhD, MSW, MPH, Director of NoCirc, East Bay Area
Letter to the Bay Citizen 

“I’d heard how my uncle had fainted during my bris and what a horrible event it was. This was the thing everyone would talk about at the Passover seder… The ban on circumcision that’s on the ballot in San Francisco is a triumph for intactivists… I'm totally for it. San Francisco has often lead the country in elevating our consciousness. It has already helped spread awareness of this human rights crime to other states and hopefully will lead people everywhere to be more compassionate, thoughtful and rational not only towards their own fragile newborn children but to other fellow men and women as well.”
- Jason Paige, Jewish Singer
Blood, Sweat & Tears Lead Singer Protests Infant Circumcision, by Rebecca Wald, J.D., BeyondTheBris.com, July 1, 2011

“The human right to body integrity would, in this instance, override their religious right.…non-fundamentalist Jews, who constitute a very large number of Reform, Conservative, and even some Orthodox Jews, believe that human ethics are an essential element in the Jewish tradition. …there is a Jewish tradition practiced by virtually all Jewish parents today that is morally wrong. This should give pause to any non-fundamentalist religious Jew, and it is a black eye for the liberal movements that they have not taken this issue more seriously. Perhaps a law prohibiting circumcision is just what these Jews need to start a serious discussion about the problem of brit milah.”
- Eli Ungar-Sargon, Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?, Forward, the Jewish Daily, May 20, 2011

“I happen to agree with you that foreskin removal should be illegal. It is a mutilation… I agree with you that men should not be circumcised. . . I don’t know where this circumcision came from, some people feel it’s a religious thing, it’s about health, it’s about cutting off the foreskin makes your penis less likely to get cancer. There’s been all kinds of myths. I think it’s nonsense. That if you’re born that way, it seems to me it’s a mutilation to cut it off. The same way in Africa they sometimes cut off a woman’s clitoris and they think that’s justified. I think our foreskins were cut off in order to desensitize us, and I think it was a bunch of religious nudnicks who decided they didn’t want us going around fornicating so they cut off some of our penis skin.”
- Howard Stern, Talk Radio Host
Howard Stern, Jewish Intactivist by Rebecca Wald, J.D., BeyondTheBris.com, March 31, 2011

"Laurie Evans, the Jewish director of New York's National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), told the Committee that under Jewish law, the son of a Jewish mother is Jewish, whether circumcised or not, and that despite great pressure she had kept her son intact. She said that many Jewish mothers confide to having been horrified by their boy's circumcision ceremony. She said that initially the ceremony involved removing only a small amount of foreskin, not all of it, and that several Jewish organizations recommend a peaceful birth ceremony instead. She urged the panel to watch a circumcision and raised the issue of botched circumcisions. The second Jewish mother to speak, Kathryn Mora, testified she had been devastated that her son was taken from her in the hospital and circumcised without her consent."
- Peter W. Adler, A Bird's Eye View of the Hearing On the Massachusetts Bill to Outlaw Genital Mutilation
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child Newsletter, Summer 2010

International Jews Also Favor Outlawing Child Circumcision

From Israel to the U.K., some Jews feel that circumcision surgery is an outdated tradition, and recognize that it violates many international laws.

“What about religious freedom? Certainly, the ability to freely practise one's religion remains a vital component of any liberal democracy. But should this trump an individual's right to their bodily integrity? And shouldn't such a principle be extended to all those who, by virtue of their age, are too young to decide on which body parts they would or would not like to keep?...
"Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights outlaws the kind of "harm" that circumcision can cause; article 14 forbids the discrimination that prevents baby boys from enjoying the same protection of their genitalia as baby girls. In the 21st century, it is time to remember that men, too, can be victims of unjust hegemonic systems tolerated in the name of tradition, culture or religion. If we oppose female genital mutilation, has the time not come for us also to oppose male genital mutiliation?"
- Neil Howard and Rebecca Steinfeld, Time to ban male circumcision?, Guardian UK, June 14, 2011
Rebecca Steinfeld, is a PhD. candidate at Oxford University and has served as an under-35 director and as an associate of the Board of Deputies for New West End Synagogue.

"In Europe today, human rights groups have mounted a grass roots campaign opposing circumcision, comparing it to the brutal mutilation of African women. The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights wants to outlaw Bris Milah. And an article published in the prestigious British Medical Journal (April 2000), written by obstetricians, gynecologists, and midwives from hospitals in France, claimed:
“The [African] women we interviewed considered their daughters’ mutilation and their sons’ circumcision to be similar. Male circumcision is also a form of genital mutilation because it involves removing a healthy part of an organ. How can we convince mothers that they should not mutilate their daughters while they continue to have their sons circumcised?”
A group of Israelis petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to outlaw circumcision on the grounds that it is criminal assault. Shockingly, this campaign even has adherents in Israel. In February 1998, a group of Israelis petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court to outlaw circumcision on the grounds that it is criminal assault. A joke? No. Case number 5780/98 is a real case, and the court has already held hearings.
Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, Executive Director of the Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation in Tel Aviv, says that a campaign is urgently needed to end Bris Milah. “Why are they discriminating against me as victim of Jewish male genital mutilation?” he decries. “Are my human rights, bodily integrity and suffering less important than those of African girls?!”
- Circumcision: Beautiful or Barbaric? by Rabbi Shraga Simmons.

"As a liberal Jewish woman, I agree 100 per cent with the German court’s decision [to ban circumcision].
Maimonides knew, centuries ago, that circumcision impacted men’s sex drive, making sex and masturbation more difficult and less pleasurable, in addition to leaving penises weaker. According to him, circumcision’s job is to cause pain to boys’ members in order to accomplish the objectives stated above; it’s not about any covenantal accord referred to in scripture at all.
It’s also interesting to note that the first people to be circumcised in the Torah are teens and adults capable of making the decision on their own terms, something that makes sense given a comment in the Talmud that somebody ready for circumcision is akin to a groom.
On first glance, they’re not similar at all, since eight-day-old infants are vulnerable and deserve to be protected from anything unnecessary that can hurt them and grooms are older, capable of independent decision-making.
However, if we return to the Scripture and think about everything in a marriage context, perhaps the similarity is this: if someone ready for circumcision is akin to a groom, he has to be capable of rational decision-making and ready to live with the consequences of his actions. Circumcision will always be a hotly debated topic but in the long run, it, like any genital surgery, deserves to be chosen by the people who have to live with its effect."
- Amy Soule, Hamilton, Circumcision of boys amounts to bodily harm, German court rules (June 27) The Spec.
Amy Soule is a volunteer cantor and a Bris Shalom celebrant in the Reform Judaism movement. She also wrote the essay Parshat Lech L'cha: Why Infant Circumcision in Judaism Isn't Kosher on the website Beyondthebris.com.

“It seems to me that for liberal Jews the choice comes down to this. Do we want to in some way circumscribe the sexual possibilities of our sons by performing a body modification when they are infants so as to bear witness to the covenant? Are there not other ways to bear witness? Are there not other ways to maintain our distinctiveness from the society around us? Despite having circumcised my two sons, the more I think about the issue, the more likely – were I a resident of San Francisco – I would support the referendum.”
- Sandford Borins, Ph.D., The Circumcision Referendum: A Liberal Jewish Perspective
Sandford Borins, Ph.D., is a professor of Management at the University of Toronto.

Jewish Intactivist Media.
BeyondtheBris.com
* Jewish Intactivist Articles & Opinions.
Cut: Slicing Through the Myths of Circumcision
* A Movie by Orthodox Intactivist, Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon
Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. *
Rabbis and other leaders who lead covenant without cutting ceremonies. *

Jewish Intactivist Groups.
Jews Against Circumcision * Jews For the Rights of the Child * Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective by Ron Goldman, PhD. *Gonnen * Kahal * Af-Mila: An Israeli Jewish Intactivist Journal *
The Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation *

Judaism, the Foreskin and Human Rights Law.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 1.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 2.
Jewish Questioning of Traditional Circumcision * Part 3.

The Moral Problems of Circumcision & the Search for Jewish Alternatives.
Jewish Rationales for Abolishing Circumcision
* by Jews Against Circumcision.
Eli Ungar-Sargon & Rabbi Shmuley Boteach on the Ethical Problems of Circumcision
* At the Manhattan Jewish Experience.
Eli Ungar-Sargon: Outlawing Circumcision: Good for the Jews?
* Published in the Jewish Daily Forward.
Hebrew Scholar Vadim Cherny: How Judaic is circumcision?
* It’s not at all, he finds.
Circumcision Questions (letter from an intact Jew).
* Published in the Northern California Jewish Bulletin.
Miriam Pollack: Circumcision: Identity, Gender, and Power
* Originally published in Tikkun magazine.
Miriam Pollack: Circumcision : A Jewish Feminist Perspective
* Published in Jewish Women Speak Out.
The Measure of His Grief by Lisa Braver Moss
* A new book exploring Jewish intactivism.
Lisa Braver Moss: The Jewish Roots of Anti-Circumcision Arguments *
Jenny Goodman, MD: An Alternative Perspective
* A Jewish doctor in the UK urges us to keep our sons intact.
A Progressive Case for Bris without Milah. *
Moshe Rothenberg: Being Rational About Circumcision and Jewish Observance *
Brit Milah: Inconsistent with Jewish Ethics?
* Written by a Jewish parent.

Leaders in the Jewish Movement to Abolish Circumcision.
Intact America: Profile of Orthodox Intactivist Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon *
Intact America: Profile of Jewish Intactivist Miriam Pollack *
Intact America: Profile of Jewish Scholar and Intactivist Leonard Glick, MD, PhD.
* A Jewish history of circumcision.
The Intactivist Movement Within Judaism.
* Published on Saving Sons.
Jewish mom: Circumcision spiritually wounds
* From a lecture by Miriam Pollack.
Today’s Jews Reject Circumcision and Choose Peaceful Welcoming Covenants *
An Intactivist Midwife.
Regretting Circumcision: Women’s Perspectives
* Published on Dr. Ron Goldman’s site.
Progressive, Moral Jews speak out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors.
* Intactivism and Human Rights.
The History of Circumcision: Leonard Glick , MD, PhD. explains how he came to write Marked In Your Flesh. *
American Jews Speak Out in Favor of Banning Circumcision on Minors *
International Jews Also Favor Outlawing Circumcision of Minors *
Judaism, Human Rights and the History of Circumcision *

Peaceful Covenant Texts for Jewish Parents.
Worldwide list of Rabbis who lead covenant without cutting ceremonies *
Song for an Intact Jewish Boy’s Welcoming Ceremony *
Brit B'lee Milah Ceremony *
A Brit Shalom Ceremony *
Norm Cohen: A Brit B’lee Milah Ceremony *

Jewish Parents' Experiences Keeping their Sons Intact.
Dear Elijah: A Conservative Jewish Father's Letter to His Intact Son
* Published on Peaceful Parenting.
Moshe Rothenberg: Ending Circumcision in the Jewish Community?
* Envisioning an Intactivist Judaism.
Laura Shanley: A Jewish Woman Denounces Circumcision
* A Childbirth educator chooses intact.
Michael Kimmel: The Kindest Un-Cut: Feminism, Judaism, and My Son's Foreskin
* Published in Tikkun.
The Naming
* Published on Very, Very Fine.
Stacey Greenberg: My Son: The Little Jew with a Foreskin
* Published in Mothering Magazine.
Intact & Jewish
* Published on the Natural Parents Network