Whole For The Holidays

Swiped this image from HERE.

So I'm not sure why, exactly, but it seems to me that this time of year there are a lot of babies being born.  Maybe it's the spring mating season thing?  I don't know, and I don't pretend to really care why.  The thing I do care about is that during the "holiday season", we're all ready wracked with enough insanity, before we add to it the babies.  

With every pregnancy announcement and upcoming birth, those of us who call ourselves "intactivists" just get STRESSED RIGHT FREAKIN' OUT.  I swear, I have an ulcer.

Nothing says "Happy Holidays" like knowing that people you've spoken to about circumcision a dozen times (at LEAST) over the last several months, very likely just had their newly born son circumcised.  And it's not as though they didn't know the facts.  If they ignored the sea of information I gave them, the decision to cut him would have been completely based on the husband's insecurity with his own genitals.  ("What's wrong with being circumcised?  I'm circumcised!  And my son will be too!")

What really GETS to me about this time of year when it comes to circumcision is that these adults are thinking of all of the super cute little outfits they're going to buy for their son.  They're thinking of the gifts that they'll have for him under the tree.  And they'll be spending two months flipping through flyers and websites, looking for that perfect gift for themselves.  'Tis the season for giving (and receiving), right?

I have this "crazy" idea.  How about instead of worrying about which Christmas sweater you're going to buy your son, you just leave your him with the foreskin his body was meant to have, and call it even.  It'll save you $24.99, and save him a lifetime of living with your idea of what his genitals "should" look like.

How about you just forgo the circumstraint, the tearing, the screaming, the trauma... 

How about you just love your son for the person he is, without thinking that his penis was made so horribly wrong that it must be "fixed" before he goes home from the hospital because, *GASP*, what if someone was to see it intact?!  The HORROR!!!

How about this holiday season, you leave your son's penis alone.  Give him the gift of a whole, intact body. Your son's "package" came perfectly wrapped, exactly as it was designed to be. It's a gift that keeps on giving all throughout his life, and one that he'll never grow out of.  (Which is more than I can say about that ugly sweater...)

Christmas sweater...see what I mean?!
(Swiped image from HERE.)

If you need more information, here are some links.  

www.WholeNetwork.org
www.Dr.Momma.org
www.SavingSons.org
www.4Eric.org
www.IntactAmerica.org
www.CIRP.org
www.NoCirc.org
www.circumcision.org


Also, if you have any questions and need someone to talk to, please, email me, chewygranolamomma@yahoo.ca
or send me a message via my Facebook page.  (LINK HERE.)

The World Needs To See This

As much as I wish this wasn't the way it is, it just is.  Television doesn't show circumcision the way it needs to be seen.  It doesn't show it for what it is.  This video really needs to be seen by everyone.  Maybe it would make it sink in a bit more...make people understand why they think the way they do about circumcision.  It's been treated as a joke, and it's SO not a joke.

My hope is that one day people will be overwhelmed with facts, and no longer be able to ignore them.

And I have a dream.  I dream that one day we won't have to even discuss this, because it'll just be common knowledge that circumcision is a violation of a child's human rights...and all people, regardless of age, gender, race, or religion, have rights and should be protected from genital cutting.  All people have the right to genital autonomy.  ALL people.

I dream of a world that knows our children are born perfect exactly the way they are, and don't need to be "fixed" by mutilating their bodies without their consent, and most often, as they scream for help only to be ignored.

I dream of a world where mothers will follow their instinct to protect their young, and never ever ignore that to please an adult.

I dream that one day I will be able to be excited when I hear of people having a son, instead of feeling this horrible dread...did I tell them enough information?  Did they listen?  Are they going to ignore the facts and listen to the lies and old wives tales they've been told?

I dream of a world where babies aren't strapped down to a table and have their foreskin clamped, torn, and then cut away, when they should instead be safe in the arms of their loved ones being told just how perfect they are.

I believe that all dreams can come true, and that a few small voices can make a big difference.  We need to stand together and fight for the rights of the people who are unable to say NO, but who deserve to live their lives with their WHOLE body, perfect and complete, as they were designed.  The inability to say no does not mean yes.

Babies are born perfect.  Lets keep them that way.

I want to warn you, this is graphic.  But it needs to be seen.  Circumcision is graphic, and is a reality for millions of baby boys every year.  If these tiny newly born babies are forced to live it, it's only fair that adults are forced to see it for what it really is.

Baby Boys Make My Stomach Ache

You know, before I became an intactivist a parent, I used to see babies and just oogle over them.  Oh, I'm telling you, the sweet face of a newborn baby was just enough to bring me to tears.  I just thought they were the most amazing creatures that have ever been created.  Well, I still feel that way when I see them, only now...now I cringe when I see a baby boy.  And I hate it. 

I hate looking at these precious babies and worrying about whether or not their parents were educated before they brought their son home.  I hate worrying that the little angel in front of me was strapped down to a circumstraint board and had his genitals torn and clamped and cut off of him while his screams for help were ignored.
I hate knowing that at least where I come from, only about 50-60% of baby boys make it home with all of their parts.  I hate knowing that even when their parents are told the truth, they are so often more worried about proving their son will be "just fine", and worry more about their own false opinions (like he "should look like daddy") than they do the FACTS.  They argue with me about truths...though their "truths" are far from fact.  They are generations of mis-information.  And their son pays the price for their inability to put HIS needs before their own.

The truth is that a baby boy with an intact penis is MUCH easier to care for than one with a huge, gaping, open wound on his freshly peeled penis.  All I had to do with my son was wipe the outside of it.  I can manage to wash my own hands, and washing his penis was 1/10th of that amount of work.  I didn't have to continuously peel back the raw skin and apply Vaseline on it.  I didn't have to worry that my son would bleed to death when I pulled the bandage off.  I didn't have to worry that when I woke up in the morning, my son would have filled his diaper with enough blood to kill him.  And I didn't have to worry about hearing that scream...that horrible screeching cry that they make every time feces or urine burn that raw area in their diaper.

The truth is that baby boys with an intact penis will grow up to have better sex than any of their cut peers.

The truth is that cutting a piece off of your child's penis doesn't somehow give it super powers.  It doesn't prevent STDs or HIV.  Only abstinence or condoms can do that.


The truth is that a father and son share DNA.  They don't need matching penises to be father and son, and a REAL man will want his son to have something he never had the chance to have.  And he'll protect him, not force the same fate on his precious baby boy.

I hate knowing that even after they've done it to one son, so many people still defend what was very clearly the wrong choice.  I hate knowing that they ignored that instinct to protect their infant, and I know we all have it!  I hate that someone let them do it in the first place, and then to allow it to happen again...makes me sick to my stomach.

I understand all too well that our first children are kind of guinea pigs for the rest to follow.  We do our best with them, but have very limited amounts of experience.  That lack of experience leads us to do things that later on, after more children, we look back on and think "what the hell was I doing?!" 

I also understand that sometimes people don't even THINK to look into circumcision, and when they do, it's very common to just ask other people they know that have boys what they did.  And if the people they asked about it had a son who was cut, chances are if they never looked into it further, theirs will be too.  Because we all think that someone with a child older than ours will know better than we do.  Sadly, that's not often the case.

I try to hope for the best...hope that every little boy I see has been saved...that someone took the time to put themselves out there and tell their parents the truth.  I hope that the fear of being told to mind their own business wasn't so scary that someone who knew the facts failed to speak up.  I hope that the little guy has been given the opportunity to live his life with every part of his genitals, that he might go on to then protect HIS children, and his grandchildren.

If it wasn't for hope, I'd have to stop looking at babies altogether.  Because the thought of those little wonders being strapped down and mutilated...it's just too much for me.