men/Survivors speak out
Read testimonies from those who know the harms of circumcision firsthand.
#mendocomplain
#iamnotthankful
Without His Foreskin
"It wasn't until I had my second son in my late 20s that I started to look into the effects of circumcision and began to realize why I was having so many issues."
I Am Your Husband (Tracy Wicklund, Regret Father)
"I know it’s hard to take advice from people you don’t know, but I am different. Although we have never met, I am your husband. I am him in 18 months because 18 months ago, I was where he is now. Don’t believe me? I can prove it."
I Stopped Hiding
"I bullied and convinced my wife to cut our oldest child without any factual reasons. As soon as I witnessed my oldest get cut, I immediately knew I had made a bad decision."
It's Time to Understand (YWB)
"Hi Mom and Dad! It’s your 21-year-old son! The son you cried over when you first saw him exposed to the light of the world. The son you lovingly cared for as he grew out of infancy, watching him gain independence, make mature decisions, and turn into the handsome man you see when you close your eyes and picture him smiling."
This IS Genital Mutilation (YWB)
"I want you to understand exactly what you did to me. You're a doctor, and you've literally amputated parts from my genitals, so I am going to assume that you don't need to be spared any details. You took too much. You didn't leave me with enough skin to cover my penile shaft. The result was that my earliest memories of experiencing erections as a child are memories of severe, prolonged pain."
Filed Suit Against USA for “Circumcision” (and other posts by John Adkison)
”I was born in a Naval hospital. Legally, this makes my complaint different than those that were born in a civilian situation. In the military, people don't operate as autonomously as they do otherwise. Thus, I see the action as one taken by the military as an entity unto itself vs. one taken by an individual.”
From a Circumcised Son
"If you are reading this, odds are you had your son circumcised, and later found out how terrible and damaging the procedure truly is. Unfortunately, the harm does not end when the surgical procedure is over. Circumcision continues to harm people their entire lives. While there is no way to take back the damage done, there are ways to help decrease future damage, both physically and mentally."
Circumcision: The Untold American Story (YWB)
"People don’t really understand what it’s like to be circumcised and not want to be. It makes you feel completely helpless. I wake up every day and go to sleep every night knowing that I’m missing part of my body. I have to come to terms with the fact that part of me was cut off and that I had absolutely no way to speak out or defend myself. It makes me feel so powerless, so vulnerable."
Meet James Ketter (YWB)
"When I hear men brag about their penis, and claim, “I'm cut, and I'm fine,” I laugh, because I know the truth. The more insecure you are about your penis, the more you lie and claim everything is fine. Everything is fantastic, “I am so very very happy happy with my cock!” It is a lie, and an evasion. I know. I used to be the King of Denial. I used to say those very same things. It takes a VERY brave man to admit his penis is less than it should be. I would have walked into burning buildings, or into a war zone without blinking, but to admit my penis was flawed was something I didn't have courage enough to admit. It took restoring my foreskin to finally make me admit out loud what had been wrong for so very long. Now I brave insults and ridicule for spreading education about the abomination that is genital cutting."
They Gave Their Consent
"I’m sitting, unable to sleep, in a darkened room at three in the morning wondering how I am going to write about this subject. You know the one. It’s that subject nobody talks about, mentioned occasionally in hushed tones while parents’ faces glow with excitement for the new life that is about to see this world for the very first time."
A Fractured Soul (YWB)
"What is the first thought or feeling that crosses your mind when reading the word circumcision? Most people are quick to crack a joke or brush it off. But what if I told you that word means absolute hell for some people?"
Bloodstained men
One Man's Letter (YWB)
"I doubt you will remember me but when I was an infant you violated my rights and mutilated my body. I am writing you this letter to make you fully aware of the atrocities that you have committed and my feelings about them. When I was a newborn infant you held me down and cut my foreskin off of my penis. You performed an unnecessary cosmetic surgery on my body without my consent and without any way for me to defend myself. I am extremely upset over what you did to my body."
A Personal Account of Adult Circumcision
"The first impressions resulting from the circumcision itself was a feeling of discomfort. Now that my glans remained uncovered the whole time, I could feel it rub against my underwear, which was not pleasant."
Male Circumcision Leads to a Bad Sex Life (Science Nordic)
"If a man is circumcised, he faces an increased risk of experiencing delayed orgasm, and his female partner has an increased risk of not feeling sexually fulfilled. This is the clear-cut conclusion of a new Danish research article, which has received international attention."red that right. If we don’t have freedom and control and choice over our own bodies, then how can we say we are free? Why do you treat infants like objects and not like people?"
Men's Testimonies (YWB)
A compilation of men's comments on being circumcised. (If you would like your story added here, please contact us.)
Unspeakable Mutilations: Circumcised Men Speak Out (Book)
"Circumcision of male infants and boys is a cultural practice that persists within some African, Pacific, Southern Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, and, as a medicalized ritual, in some Anglophone societies, especially the United States."
Images of Botched Circumcisions on Adult Males (Circumstitions)
IMAGES. "A skin-bridge is formed when the raw remnant where the foreskin was cut attaches to the raw surface of the glans and heals that way. This happens after the doctor has lost interest in the case and the mother, who has been told her son's circumcised penis is now "low maintenance" and has no idea what it is "supposed" to look like, does not notice that anything is the matter."
Images of Botched Circumcisions on Adult Males II (Circumcision Harm)
IMAGES. "Images here reveal both routine and extraordinary damage from circumcision in infancy or childhood (physical damage only). It does not account for adverse sexual, emotional/psychological, spiritual or self-esteem outcomes from the physical damage. While the extremes of male and female genital cutting may differ in the effects upon individuals, one common denominator is the fact that no matter how "serious" or "minor" the public may perceive the differences..."
A Human Rights Issue (Dr. Kenneth Zatz)
"This is a debate about how far do parents’ rights extend over onto the body of their child. Whatever one thinks about the benefits of this procedure, it is a procedure. It is a surgery performed with little or no anesthesia on a helpless, restrained infant. It hurts…a lot. It takes the better part of a week to heal. It alters the appearance of the baby’s penis forever."
Time for U.S. Parents to Reconsider the Acceptability of Infant Male Circumcision (Dr. Frisch)
"Do the benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks? What many Americans are not aware of, however, is the fact that the United States is not just unusual, but actually unique among developed nations in finding such widespread medical support for infant male circumcision..."
Dr. Sears and the Decision to Circumcise or Not (Dr. Sears)
"Making the decision to circumcise is one that many parents face. There are many misconceptions and out-of-date information that parents may read. Here is a summary of the pertinent issues that you should consider when making this decision..."
Pediatric Urologist Comments on Neonatal Circumcision (HNB) Dr. M. David Gibbons
"In my practice, as a pediatric urologist, I manage the complications of neonatal circumcision. For example, in a two year period, I was referred >275 newborns and toddlers with complications of neonatal circumcision. None of these were ‘revisions’ because of appearance, which I do not do. 45% required corrective surgery (minor as well as major, especially for amputative injury), whereupon some could be treated locally without surgery."
Circumcision and the Code of Ethics (Dr. Denniston)
"In Canada, the rates of circumcision paid for by all provincial and territorial health agencies have declined from 44% in 1975 to 4% in 1995. In the United States, there has been a marked decline in circumcision, but the procedure still is done with considerable frequency..."
The Case Against Circumcision (Dr. Paul Fleiss)
"Circumcision started in America during the masturbation hysteria of the Victorian Era, when a few American doctors circumcised boys to punish them for masturbating."
Dr. Dean Edell Statement on Circumcision (Dr. Dean Edell)
"I have had a long and vociferous opposition to the practice of routine male circumcision. While many parents in the 60s, in their zeal to return to nature, abandoned the practice, it was 15 years ago that the birth of my fourth son prompted my rethinking of the issue (my first three sons were circumcised)."
The Wedge (YWB)
"You and your wife get along pretty well. I mean, you wouldn't have married her in the first place if that weren't the case, right? But there's one topic here in America that seems to drive a wedge between husband and wife that rocks at least one of you to the core. That wedge? Circumcision."
Boys and Girls Alike (Aeon)
"I try not to talk about my research at dinner parties. I’ll say ‘medical ethics’ if pressed, which will sometimes trigger an unwelcome follow-up: ‘But what about medical ethics? That’s a pretty big field.’ ‘I study lots of things,’ I’ll say – and that’s true, I do. ‘But I focus on medically unnecessary surgeries performed on children.’"
Why I Didn't Choose Circumcision (Huffington Post)
"I'm a bit depressed. Our midwife gave me a book about circumcision. I've started the book and can't put it down. I'm not sure that I'll ever fully recover. The book tells me that the foreskin is like an eyelid protecting the sensitive mucous membrane underneath. Circumcision removes this protective skin, so the skin underneath keratinizes, meaning it hardens and desensitizes, like a callus."
We Don't Like Our Genitals (Wiener Zeitung)
"Foreskins. Hockey. God. Anne Frank. It has been a long time since Shalom Auslander considered anything too sacred to take on. Even in the world of contemporary American literature, a scene that has always had its share of unique characters, Auslander stands out. Hailed by the "New York Times Book Review" as a 'virtuoso humorist'..."
Why Are We Still Circumcising Our Boys? (Good Men Project)
"Whether it was God, Mother Nature, or Darwin, the skin that we brutally cut or cauterize away is there for a purpose, a purpose that has been forgotten."
The Male Perspective (Baby Center)
"As a man who greatly resents what was taken from me with genital cutting, I appreciate you asking for our opinion. I understand that this may feel like just another one of those choices that parents make for their children. But, this decision to cut your son's genitals will be his reality for the rest of his life."
Fathers and Sons (Personal Blog)
"But we as men have a duty to protect not just ourselves, but our children. That was when my delusions ended: when I had a son. For the first time I had to really truly think about why my penis looks the way it does and whether I wanted to have part of my son's penis cut off as well. Needless to say my wife and I decided that was NOT going to happen."
Circumcision. I Did Not Consent and I'm Speaking Out. (Peaceful Papa)
"I always hear the argument: 'I never hear guys complain about being circumcised.' Well, I’m here to tell you that you can no longer use this argument. Men complain. And often. Besides, how often do you approach strangers and ask if they are happy with their circumcision (or lack thereof)? My guess is never."
Uncommon Sense from a Common Dad (The Whole Network)
"Do you remember what you wanted to do with your life as a child? Most of us can clearly recall that memory, as can I. My dad asked me the familiar question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Looking back at it now, maybe becoming a mad scientist was a little unrealistic. However, I remember my father’s response better than the daydreams of glowing chemistry beakers. He told me, 'Just be a better man than me and be happy.'”
Men Do Complain (Men Do Complain)
"Men circumcised as children (and therefore without their consent) often complain about their condition. Non-therapeutic genital cutting has significant physical and psychological consequences and has no proven benefits. Men who complain about having been circumcised without their informed consent are consistently treated as having something wrong with them rather than being treated as having had something wrong done to them."
Videos by Men
In these heartbreaking videos you will see not men speaking out, but newborn babies. Their voices are ignored.
In these educational videos you will see men who have broken through cultural conditioning speak out against male genital cutting.
In these humorous videos you will see men address this atrocity by getting people to laugh while simultaneously getting them to think.