While many billboards on the side of the road often go unnoticed, there is one in Galveston, Texas, that is generating quite a bit of buzz. Nestled between advertisements for local businesses, the billboard warns against the negative effects of circumcision, and addresses an issue that many dads across the U.S. feel very strongly about, The Galveston County Daily News reports.
The billboard is emblazoned with the words, "Circumcision: unnecessary, painful and risky, causes lifelong sexual harm," and refers to an anti-circumcision group, Intact America. The organization claims it's not behind the advertisement, but it is in support of its message.
"Our mission is to do away with forced, unconsented circumcision of children," Georganne Chapin, executive director of the group, told the news source. "The United States is interesting in that we’re one of the only countries in the world that does this."
Although there have been several studies in recent months that have sought to indicate the health benefits of the procedure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has yet to come out in support of one position or another.
The concerns seem to be heard by the general public, however. According to the CDC, the circumcision rate was down to 32 percent 2009, a steep drop from the 56 percent rate in 2006.
This is great. I was circumcised at birth and I hate it. I think all children should be able to grow up with their whole sex organ. I wish my parents had seen a billboard like this. Maybe I would be intact. Instead, I was cut and I am having to restore my foreskin to regain some of what I lost. The more I restore, the more I realize that infant circumcision is not in the best interest of any child.
The AAP wanted evidence to support circumcision, so they found it. They did not find it in Germany though (6x lower HIV infection rate than in the US). Instead they went to the 3rd-world in Africa.
I am ashamed of the medical institutions in this country. Add circumcision to the long list of stupid medical policies and treatments. It wasn’t long ago that America had female circumcision (yes we did). We also had routine hysterectomies, tonsillectomies, over-prescription or antibiotics, under-prescription of pro-biotics…. Yet we still honor the “doctor knows best” ideology.
The rest of the modern world has discovered the barbarity of this practice. Circumcision makes sex more difficult for the woman. It causes more rubbing, and the loss of male sensitivity means the man must move more aggressively during sex. Circumcision is not only an assault on the man, it harms women too.
Live on in ignorance America.
Dads, please think twice, three times, a hundred times, before you let someone permanently remove one of the most sensitive parts of your little boy’s body. My circumcised husband has serious sexual problems due to lack of sensitivity. He’s had everything checked out, is perfectly healthy otherwise, the desire is certainly there but we can rarely have more than a few minutes together before he loses it. Do you want to risk this for your son? But don’t take my word for it: study the facts, they are easy to find.
States where Medicaid no longer covers circumcision have seen their circ rates drop gradually to as low as 11% and 12%, falling across ethnic groups and income levels, and even with private insurance, which in some states also no longer covers circumcision. There has been no big public outcry and intact has become the normal. There is no evidence of increased medical problems among the growing population of intact young males. It may be time for other states, and private insurance too, to stop paying for all medically unneccesary circumcisions. Nothing bad is happening in 18 states where circ rates have fallen, some to very low levels, and increasingly there, people just don’t do it anymore anyways by choice.