Susan Morgan Taylor, MA
Somatic Sex Therapist for Couples

Circumcision
Harms Boys and Men

Circumcision in America

The routine practice of circumcision on baby boys in the United States has become a cultural norm whose benefit and purpose is seldom questioned.

Citing sanitation and health benefits to the upholding of ancient religious beliefs, proponents of the practice defend it's necessity. But for those who oppose the practice, a different story emerges.

Through their eyes we are shown a practice that is not supported by scientific fact but rather held up by outdated and often misinformed moral and cultural beliefs, raising questions about human rights, the right to pleasure, and the role of consent.

No matter where you stand on the issue, would it be reasonable to suggest that you owe it to yourself and to your society to dig a little deeper and get the FULL picture?

And could it be possible that both men and women (and our society as a whole) lose more than we realize by perpetuation of this practice?

We cannot go back.

And nobody is “wrong” for making the choice they made based on what they thought was best and true at the time.But I believe that we must look forward to the future we want to create. And to do that we MUST re-examine the foundation upon which our past choices were made.

The Truth about Circumcision

There is a deep sadness in my soul for this particular topic.  It is not so much a grief forbidden as it is perhaps a grief forgotten (or denied) both individually by the men who are victims of it, as well as collectively by the very society in which we live: by those who wish to explain it away as being necessary for “sanitation” or as nothing more than a “harmless medical procedure”. 

This practice, called circumcision, is not only extremely painful as it is performed without the use of anesthesia on newborn baby boys, but it is also performed without the sovereign consent of the individual to whom it is happening--(for how can an infant give consent?). 

While I have respect for your doctor or your friend who may have told you that the removal of a baby boy’s foreskin is necessary to help keep the penis “clean” I implore you to please go forth and educate yourself further on this topic. 

A foreskin is no more difficult to clean than a vulva and yet we do not go about removing the labia of infant girls.  What we know now about trauma is that “the body keeps the score”. 

Such early trauma to the most sacred and holy part of a man’s body temple no doubt has far and wide reaching implications which we have not even yet begun to understand. 

The saving hope here however is that there is a method to heal this trauma and to perhaps help men and our society regain what has unwittingly been lost. 

The link below will take you to a free online video course I recently stumbled upon from the Intimacy Institute about healing the wound of circumcision. 

If you only watch the first video, you will already be more educated and better informed on this topic than 90% of the population.  I was amazed to learn in the last video of the series that it is possible to restore some of the lost foreskin!

One adult man shows a self-massage technique he has been using to partially restore his own foreskin-- and thus restoring the source of some of the lost pleasure and sensitivity, which most men likely never realize they have lost due to infant circumcision.

Thank goodness for the people educating us about this topic and for doing this incredible work with men! 

Here is the link to access the free video course: https://intimacy-institute.teachable.com/p/circumcision

American Circumcision the Documentary

About the Film

Circumcision is the most common surgery in America, yet America is the only industrialized country in the world to routinely practice non-religious infant circumcision. Why does America continue to cut the genitals of its newborn baby males when most of the world does not?

American Circumcision explores both sides of the circumcision debate, including the growing Intactivist movement (intact + activist), which believes all human beings have a right to keep the body they were born with intact.

This is the first documentary of its scale to comprehensively explore this cutting edge issue, which involves sex, politics, and religion, all in the most personal way possible. 

Watch American Circumcision Documentary trailer here: https://youtu.be/6Qf5nG8WRCE  Or search for the full episode on Netflix or Youtube.