Kathleen's Story

When I was seven years old I saw my newborn cousin's bandaged penis during a diaper change. I was shocked to see such a thing and my mother nonchalantly explained to me that he had been ‘circumcised’.

My first sex partners had been cut as infants, though at the time I had never seen many penises and could not tell if they were or not at first. The first time I saw a naturally whole penis I was confused because it appeared to have no head, though now I know that it appeared this way because the penis was not erect or retracted.

When I met my spouse I didn’t notice right away that he was intact. He taught me alot about how the penis is suppose to function I was surprised that he didn’t spit on his hands or use lotion to pleasure himself, and that he could climax just by me simply fondling his foreskin over the head of his penis. I noticed that his foreskin provides a nice gliding action and with him I as able to experience sex the way nature intended.

We now have a son and he is whole. During pregnancy I read books about natural childbirth and midwifery. One book, Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin, contained a section about the nature of the infants penis. I learned that a baby boy's foreskin is actually fused to the head of the penis at birth and retracts slowly over the years, typically by puberty.

I will always be so grateful that I learned all I needed to know in order to protect my son from this penis cutting cycle. Despite all that I knew at that point I didn’t feel strongly about speaking out against circumcision.

I knew that other parents were allowing for their sons' circumcisions but didn’t give it much thought until I attended a pharmacy tech course. During the reproductive system module we were given a glossary list and among the words were ‘circumcision’ I knew enough that I felt strongly enough about it that as a definition for the word I put, ‘the unnecessary removal of the foreskin’ the instructor marked me correct though she was in favor of male circumcision but strongly opposed to female circumcision (aka FGM female genital mutilation). This I realized after she showed us a video on youtube of a male infant being strapped to a circumstraint and having his penis cut. It was horrendous. She then showed us another video about the genital cutting of females in Africa and most of the other females became very vocal and outraged at that point. I asked them, "Why is it wrong to do to a female but not wrong to do to a male?" I shared some information with her and she said she would ‘google’ it This was a turning point for me.

I researched the topic of circumcision further and I’m convinced that the more one knows about the history of it and the functions of the male prepuce (foreskin) the easier it is to be totally against it and see through the smokescreen. I decided that someone should be talking about this…what has been done to baby boys here in America is no different than what is done to females in Africa. I was so happy to learn that many people have been fighting for genital integrity of all people all over the world and I use facebook to find like minded people and do what ever I can to join them. All this has led me to this point where I share my story in hopes of helping others see what circumcision really is. It’s a violation of human rights to forcibly and non therapeutically cut and forever alter someone else’s genitals/body. Religious rights of the parents/elders should not trump the rights of the individual/child who doesn’t/can’t consent . One's religious/cultural beliefs and cosmetic/sexual preferences should end where another persons body begins. Many people agree, including many doctors and Jews. Many of the people speaking out about and working to eradicate genital mutilation worldwide include doctors who refuse to perform it, parents who regret their child's circumcision, people who resent having been cut without their knowledge/consent, people who suffer sexual dysfunction as a result of being cut/mutilated and want to ensure protection of future generations to a whole intact body as nature intended and Jews who believe that genital cutting has no place in modern Judaism.

Many myths are still being spread to perpetuate the genital mutilation practices. Let’s educate ourselves and start a new tradition of wholeness for all people worldwide. There is no excuse and thanks to the Internet the information is at our fingertips. Start by researching the functions and purpose of the prepuce and the history of circumcision.

~Kathleen P., USA