Don't Retract Pack

Plastibell Infant Circumcision


The Plastibell comes in six sizes to fit over the glans of various baby boys' penises at birth. The most common size used is 1.3cm in diameter, followed by 1.2cm. Larger sizes of 1.5 and 1.7cm are used infrequently.


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PREFACE: At Peaceful Parenting we take a strong position against all forms of violence or aggression against children and babies. Images included here are for professional education only, and may not be suitable for the workplace. The purpose in sharing is to bring about a more informed population of decision makers, and to take steps toward a more peace filled world for all. 




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It is terribly troubling that a lot of parents are told that the Plastibell form of circumcision is "less painful" or "less traumatic" for a newborn. For this surgery, a Plastibell is used rather than a Gomco Clamp or Mogen Clamp. "Plastibell" may sound like a more inviting tool to use on a highly sensitive penis than "Clamp." The reality, however, is that all forms of genital cutting are equally excruciating for a newborn. All forms amputate the purposeful prepuce organ which serves many important functions in infancy, childhood, and adulthood. If you are considering having your baby circumcised using the Plastibell method, here are medical professionals carrying out the surgery so you are able to know what is involved and make an informed decision.

Note that the first video was made by a pro-cutting doctor and his assistant. The baby's screaming is muted and words are placed on the screen describing what is being done. Not all of the information is entirely accurate -- NO health or medical organization in the entire world recommends circumcision on infants.

In addition, no health or medical organization in the world recommends that anyone other than the young boy himself 'mess with' his foreskin. While the average age of retraction is 10.6 years of age, sometimes this natural retraction does not occur until the hormones of puberty naturally loosen the prepuce. The problems that have arisen for a minority of intact babies, boys, or men, in the U.S. occur because someone forcibly retracted or attempted to 'clean' between their foreskin and penis glans (head) before it was retracting fully on its own. This is the same as if we pulled back the fingernails of a newborn baby to 'clean' between their fingernails and fingers, or if we scrubbed out the area between the eyelids and eyeballs. The prepuce is tightly adhered to the glans (head) of the penis. There is zero cleaning care needed for an intact baby boy. The prepuce is a self-cleaning, self-sustaining, remarkable and necessary organ when it is left alone on the body of a child.


Steps of Plastibell circumcision when performed by a medical professional.






Additional video examples of Plastibell circumcision surgery:



For promotion of his practice, this Australian physician (who profits on the sale of circumcision surgery) uses a large amount of anesthesia - both topically before injection, and local anesthesia in three locations, pressing deep into the penile tissues to reach the dorsal nerve running to the base of the frenulum. He also waits adequate amount of time for the anesthesia to kick in. Rarely is this practice (either the heavy amount of anesthesia, placement, or time in waiting for it to take effect) carried through as such in the United States or Canada. This video is a rare one in which the baby has adequate local anesthesia to dull the pain of the surgery, and the process - the amputation of the prepuce by Plastibell - can be seen clearly. Unfortunately, the physician fails to discuss the monumental pain that will ensue when this local anesthesia wears off, or all the many purposes of the prepuce organ that have now been forever removed from this baby. Anesthesia is counter-indicated for newborns by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is one reason the majority of hospitals conducting genital cutting do not utilize it in their newborn circumcision surgeries. Another reason, as one U.S. physician recently stated is because, "I can get the job done much faster without having to wait 10 minutes for anesthesia to kick in."



Aside from the Plastibell, the Gomco is the other most commonly performed method of circumcision in the United States. When a parent decides against keeping their child intact, one of these two methods of circumcision surgery will almost always take place in the North America. As a result, we include one example of the Gomco here, and further information can be found at this resource pagehttp://www.drmomma.org/2011/01/neonatal-circumcision-video-for.html




Related Reading:

For additional information on the prepuce (foreskin), circumcision and intact care, see: Are You Fully Informed?

Three most common forms of infant circumcision in the United States 2000-2016.
Today the Mogen is rarely used due to number of glans amputation cases.

Text from the Plastibell US Patent issued in 1955





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61 comments:

  1. Gloria, I sense the heat has been turned up in this battle. I smell desperation coming from the American medical community which sees this horrible transgression of human rights as merely a billable procedure and an endless supply of fibroblasts to be sold to the biotech industry to make skin grafts and wrinkle creams.

    As RIC continues to fall out of favor in the US, no wonder there's been such a recent push to export the practice to Africa.

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  2. I saw a similar video when I was pregnant with our first child who was a boy. After hearing the poor baby scream, I knew there was no way I could put him through such an ordeal. I told my husband about how the surgery was done and that, at the time (almost 5 years ago), there was no pain medication during the procedure. We agreed to leave our son intact. We now have 2 boys and neither were subjected to this... While I typically try to put information out to let parents make their own decisions, this is an issue that makes me heart skip beats. How can you hear that sound, that desperate cry for help from your newborn, and still think this is okay? It just breaks my heart that this is still "the norm" and that people look at my kids funny and think they are "dirty." It's amazing how rampant ignorance can be sometimes. *sigh*

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    1. I don't have kids (yet), and already know just based on those cries and screams that I will advocate for NO circumcision! Unbelievable! I totally agree with your post -- how can anyone want to put their newborn through such a procedure, esp. when it's not medically necessary and likely actually an UNhealthy choice to make?!

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  3. I'm bawling right now. Maybe it's the mommy guilt. Maybe it's the realization that my son actually experienced this and I had no clue. 8 years ago when my son was born, I trusted my uneducated husband and the doctors to make this decision for me. As my child grew it was very apparent his penis was "not normal." They did not cut enough foreskin off, but caused scarring and he now has a thick "ring" of foreskin just past the head of his penis. Because of his problems, I did research. My other two sons are intact, I only wish I'd known more when my oldest was born and not trusted that the doctors knew what was best.

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  4. This is one of the most disturbing videos I have EVER seen. Any doctor who saw such a horrendous act -- all these many years -- and had the UNMITIGATED GALL to still pretend that neonates "do not feel pain" had better hope to God that there is no retribution in the afterlife. What ignorance laced with sadism. Unbelievable. "First, do no harm".

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    Replies
    1. Maybe, there needs to be retribution in this life. Men have sued and won over dick-docking. However, unfortunately, violent opposition may be needed. When doctors (and yes uncaring parents) face physical harm in retribution, then maybe society will wake up.

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  5. My husband & I chose not to circumcise our son. Why? Because we did not, and do not, believe we have the right to make such an alteration to his body. That is something for him to decide for himself, if he would even want to in the first place, when he is older. We are merely the custodians of our son's body, not its owner.

    Parents need to put themselves in their children's place and imagine what it would be like to be tied down against your will, and have your genitals cut at with inadequate, or no, anesthesia at all. How can people subject a newborn infant to such a painful, inhumane practice and defend it? Especially when it would be assault if it was done, without their consent, to an adult.

    I think about circumcision this way... If I wouldn't want some one to mutilate and permanently damage my genitals, then why would my son want that done to him?

    Just because it seems "everyone" is circumcising their sons doesn't make it the right thing to do!!! I believe that the nontherapeutic use of circumcision on male minors should be against the law. Just as it is against the law to circumcise female minors. Circumcision is not a parental right.

    I feel a deep sorrow for any parent that has found out too late the truth about circumcision and the harm it causes, but I feel the most for the child that has no real choice but to submit to & survive through an experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

    10 out of 10 babies oppose circumcision. Shouldn't you?

    For more info about circumcision go to:

    www.jewsagainstcircumcision.com
    www.mothersagainstcirc.org
    www.circumcision.org
    www.noharmm.org
    www.nocirc.org
    www.cirp.org

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  6. One of the horrific complications of using the Plastibell method is having the ring slide down the shaft which strangulates blood flow. When not caught in time it can cause serious damage. The erect penis can have an Hour Glass shape because shaft skin is scarred at the slipped ring site thus not allowing for full expansion. Accompanied to this is usually a stitched area below this scarred skin ring where they cut open for the drainage tube. If you ever see an Hour Glass erect penis, now you'll know why.

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  7. I recently found out I was pregnant. We're unsure if it's a girl or boy but my husband and I have been talking about pro's and con's to getting this "painless" precedure done. I watched that video and I cried! My first born was thankfully a girl and if this baby is a boy I will NOT let any person talk me into this AWFUL procedure! Thank you for putting this out there. This has answered all of my questions! And if anyone has a problem with my decision I will send them your way! Everyone should see that video! That's awful! I don't understand how they can say he isn't in pain!!! Poor little guy...

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  8. Some doctors always try to market some "new" device that "doesn't hurt."

    Well, parents must be informed that circumcision is more than 1,000 years old. Don't you know that? There is nothing "new" about circumcision.

    This "new and safe" plasti-crap doesn't make mutilation any better. It wouldn't make FGM any better to perform it in "painless way" with a plastic spoon instead of a glass shard. Not even if they used anaesthetic in a hospital setting, by a trained "professional."

    People praise the plastibell. They've either never seen it, or weren't present. They have to cut the foreskin to fit the bell over the glans. Don't be fooled by the lie that "they never cut."

    Click on the link and check out plastibell flubs at the bottom.

    http://circumstitions.com/Restric/Botched7ex.html

    Heh-heh... "oops?"

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  9. my goodness
    that was almost too painful for me as a mother to watch
    Never before have i been more glad that i refused to let my son go through that.
    how calmly he states the risks of hemorrhage and infection, and injury to the penis.. like those arent worth worrying about!!!
    im slowly educating my family, day by day about why i was right to leave my son intact. Thank the Lord i have a supportive pediatrician who calmly told me (and my mother) that there was "No Medical Reason" i needed to , and therefore it was fine that id left him intact
    if only all docs were supportive!

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  10. It should be MANDATORY that in order to sign the form to give consent, parents should HAVE to watch these videos first. If I had known better I would not have circ'ed my first two. My 3rd is not. DO NOT DO IT! You will have NO REGRETS because you are not doing anything permanent. I have to live with such regret everyday. And it is horrible to know I put my son's through this.

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    1. I agree 100%! I don't have any kids yet, but if I have a son, he is never going to be circumcised. Not even if someone paid me a million bucks and told me that they could do the procedure 100% pain free.
      I go to a urologist for a neurogenic bladder and I don't know how many times I have been sitting in the exam room, and next door, hearing a poor infant screaming bloody murder because of being circumcised.

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  11. @ Ejoey01 Are you sure the ring they left around your sons penis wasn't the frenulum? He's supposed to have that.

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  12. Thank God for Dr. Dean Edel. When I was a teenager he was on our local news with a health minute. He once described how there was absolutely no reason to have a baby circumcised and that uncircumcised is more pleasurable for the woman etc. This stuck in my mind and when I had my first born, a son, years later I remembered him and what he had said. I researched circumcision further since my husband was and had his first son done and said NO WAY! So all my son's are and will be intact!

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  13. my brother did NOT want his son circumsized because of these things and the mother did. well while they were still in the hospital, she sent him out on an errand, and while he was gone her family got the doctor and got it done anyway. he's a lot nicer than me. he said the doctors told him they stuck a glove in sugar and gave it to his son and then did it and he barely cried. no anger. honestly i woulda had to be escorted out if it were MY boy.

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  14. This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. I can not watch more than the first few moments. I feel so overwhelmed that a baby, or anyone for that matter would be restrained in such a manner while such a procedure was done. This has to stop.

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  15. the plastibell is not a new device. My mum refused to be privy to this mutilation during the early 80's while working as a pediatric nurse. In fact it was her constantly relaying the screams she heard from these poor little boys that made me not even consider doing this to my son.

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  16. 7 Years ago I made the uneducated decision to have my baby boy circumcised. My husband was in Iraq but in no way opposed. Its the "thing to do". No questions. Well, a few weeks later I noticed a lump and took him to the pediatrician. She horrified us and told us it may be a cyst. As it would turn out, it was the amputated foreskin. It was growing back. Over the next few weeks, it grew completely back. Foolishly we took him to a urologist to have it redone(per pediatrician orders). We were so naive:'(. We consulted with the urologist, who told us outright it was cosmetic only and unnecessary. Me and my husband were uneasy hearing we would put our baby through major surgery for looks! We decided to do it anyway so he could "look like daddy". Ugh=/ That night he went to sleep as usual (I was up all night) 2 hours before we were set to leave for the hospital, we noticed he was warm. He had a 101 fever. The surgery was off...to my relief! We took him to the pediatrician who checked him out and even did blood work. Lo and behold, not a thing wrong with him!! I knew it was a sign! 7 Years later, he remains the same. We are expecting again again, and now we know better. Intact all the way!!!

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  17. That poor baby could just has well have been a cadaver cat on the table. I cannot believe there was no attempt to soothe the child, no anesthetic, no caring words or actions at all by anyone. The doctor simply ran through the procedure as if there was not a living being under the drape. Disgusting. Criminal. Inhumane.

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  18. This is sick why for any reason ,other than medical reasons, would you do that to anyone let alone a infant. What do people think its there for????

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  19. I almost threw up watching that, knowing that I put my baby through the trauma of circumcision. He didnt have his done like that though, and he was numbed prior to the procedure. I left the choice up to his father. My son had the foreskin pulled up and cut and he was done. There was no device or string or stitches. They told me I could come and see it being done and hold him as soon as it was over. I stayed in my room and waited for him to come back. The look on his face when he came back... He looked so mad at me. He was fine as soon as I started nursing him though.

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  20. Today we made the decision to canceled my son's surgery and I just watched this video I AM SO GLAD that we are living him intact ! I can't believe that this is so normal to people, babies feel pain just like we do! I am looking at my little guy and i feel like I saved him from this non sense .
    Thanks for posting this video!

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  21. PAIN: Nelson Mandela* said his circumcision pain was blinding white light of electrical fire that burned throughout all his veins.
    (*Xhosa tribe where the boy must eat his foreskin that his father hands to him)

    There absolutely no way to prevent all pain as there are many nerve pathways that go to the penis. Of the anesthetics out there consider these two medical studies:
    http://cpj.sagepub.com/content/25/8/412.abstract Neonatal Cortisol Response to Circumcision with Anesthesia
    (circumcision with local dorsal penile nerve block doesn't work.)
    http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2810%2961303-7/fulltext Oral sucrose as an analgesic drug for procedural pain in newborn infants: a randomised controlled trial

    A mother comments on her son's circumcision:
    http://bit.ly/ZDEfA Imagine having penile wounding that must be torn apart everyday for a year.

    2 men tell the pain of circumcision:
    http://bit.ly/mMoZR PAIN: 3,928 island villagers males&females all ages forced circ'd into Islam by Muslim clerics.

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  22. Wow. I watched that silently, for about 3 seconds before I had to stop it. Like a horror movie come to life. I felt so ill. I felt traumatized. I felt helpless. I want to cry. I want to run through the screen and rescue those helpless boys. But, I can't and it makes me so compelled to want to change this for other boys. When I tell others how I feel about it, I weep. I have never felt so motivated about somethign in my life - and I don't know why. My son is intact. I never imagined doing anythign like this to him, but I also never realized how many boys (and girls) have to go through something so in-human - such a horror to me. Tell me what I can do to stop it?

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  23. How to stop it! Be Forward and Brave.

    I send out bi-weekly links to various circumcision articles, mostly from drmomma.org, to all my contacts on facebook.

    When I give baby shower gifts, assuming it is BEFORE BIRTH, I wrap the present in my homemade breastfeed, cosleep, AP, anti-circumcision, baby-wear wrapping paper (acquired by downloading images found on google search and making a mosaic). I give as a part of the gift a page of links and phone numbers to local breastfeeding resources as well as a page of links and "gentle" information on reasons to stay intact and suggest they view the surgery before making a decision.

    On my email, I have an automated signature link about circumcision, with a strongly worded male genital mutilation title, in bold and red.

    I have on my voicemail, although shortened and to the point and less intense than I would like it to be, a blurp about how "no med org in the world recommends Circumcision. We don't cut baby girls so why do we mutilate our baby boys? Take your whole baby home, stop circumcision".

    I have purchased bumper stickers and placed on every side of my car and requested numerous of the free ones from TLChugger to add when received.

    I have flyers that I place into my car windows when in parking lots.

    I have a flyer affixed to the front of the Tricycle of my Daughter when we are out strolling about.

    Soon, should I find cheaper T-shirts or Iron On Decals (which can also be self made and the Iron On materials purchased at any craft store and your home printer can be used create them downloading jpg images from google Images OR make T-shirts from those drug store Kodak Photo Kiosks)

    I have made 3 * 4 inch laminated cards that I have sewn onto the back of my sling, very visible to all that are behind me in the checkout line. I have the same ones also on the tail of my sling in front.

    I print flyers, and drop them off in every restroom that I go to. I keep them in my sling pocket for quick and easy access. These, I have the "gentle" anti-circumcision cards so that if/when I see a pregnant mom, I hand it over to her. (use the draft setting setting of your printer to save ink, ink is expensive)

    Every bulletin board at every coffee house, bar, or colleges, laundromats, and parks, I place a flyer.

    Be active in those "online pregnant websites" and post informative information frequently. I tend to be headstrong, in your face, perhaps aggressive in my stance and views. Others, perhaps, can bring a gentle approach that I just don't have the patience for.

    Not every day, but about once a week, I "troll" for local websites from terminex to roofing to accountants and lawyers, sending requests to their online "contact me" buttons with a call me request. Then, the phone call forces them to listen to my voicemail. When they call a second time, I simply say I have found another person for the job. It is funny, a local drug store called me about my refill and they called like 15 times in 30 minutes, either hanging up on my voicemail intro or having all their colleagues listen to it, I don't know which. this has happened now several times.

    I have faced a few criticims and a few looks. Each day, it gets easier to handle them. If you were asked to cut your daughter and you knew better, you would let those looks roll of your back. So, think about those baby boys as the potential husband of your baby girl one day, and know what you are doing for him ... you are doing for your daughter as well as for your future grandchildren.

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  24. I would like to note that my son is not intact. My husband is intact, and has always found it annoying and a hygene issue. We both thought long and hard about our decision. We waited until our son was 2 weeks old and went to a pedi-moyle to have the procedure done in his office. We were both present with the baby during the procedure, it was very calm and intimate. I can honestly say that I don't think he felt a thing. He was injected with numbing medicine, and the whole ordeal took less than a minute. He cried for all of maybe 10 seconds. I administered baby tylenol once afterwards, and he has never shown any signs of distress since.
    I try my hardest to be a 'natural' mama. I labored for 27 hours with no meds, and in the end needed an emergency C-section. I cloth diaper my son, I will breastfeed him until he is at least 24 months. We enjoy our family bed. In fact, my son is 15 months old and has never been sick- no fever, no cold, no vaccines, not even with teething. He is honestly the happiest, healthiest, most relaxed baby I have ever known- and smart as a whip! I just wanted to lend a different perspective, maybe from someone who is married to a man who wished that he was circumsized & is at peace with her son not being in tact. I have watched the videos, yes, they are disturbing. But witnessing it first hand I can say that my experience was not like that. I am not for it, or against it. I don't know if we had another boy someday, if we would chose to keep him intact. But for us, it has been a good experience. I feel for all those that have had a different experience. I don't feel it is for everyone.
    In speaking with the men in my life however, it is rare that I come across a man that is NOT happy about his circumcision. In fact, I have not found one yet.
    Again, I know this post will not be the popular one, but wanted to lend a different perspective. Thanks for listening :)

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    1. Hygiene issues? Its called soap and water. Your husband's poor hygiene was no excuse to circ your soon. Your husband found foreskin annoying? Why? Because he had poor hygiene? Did your son find it annoying before you made the decision to cut off HIS foreskin?

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  25. Another... What Can I do?

    Put a mini sticker onto your driver's license. And, on your credit card. Each time a clerk in a store must verify your id, they have a sign to read. (be sure to glue/stick the corner only for easy access to the necessary information)

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  26. Omg i'm crying I just watched the first video I couldn't even bear to watch the who's thing. I can't believe I did this to my son. My poor baby boy I had no idea. My dad and my brothers and my husband all have it. I'm so sorry. I can't believe I did it. I didn't even think about it. We breastfed and cosleep and cloth diaper. I'm such a horrible mother to have done that to my baby (he's 4 now and just asked me about it so I looked it up) he was my first and he got the worst of everything... I have a daughter and we didn't vax her (but we vaxed my son) and now this if I ever have another son I won't cut him. But there is nothing I can do to take back cutting him or vaxing him. I love my son mor than anything in the world. I don't know what to do... He's only 4 and I've already screwed him up.

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    1. you're not a bad mother. I agree you probably didn't make the right decision, but that doesn't mean you're a bad mother. You can explain to your son when he's older what you did and apologize to him, and continue to love and care for him. Bad mothers', in my opinion, are the ones who don't apologize to their sons for what they did and just take it like it's no big deal they permanently mutilated their sons for life.

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    2. Completely agree with the last Anon -- no one is a 'bad mother' for making mistakes. The problem comes when we are not able to admit to these mistakes and apologize to those impacted. There is a huge difference between these two groups of parents - and the way their children grow to respond to them as well.

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  27. To the last Anon - you aren't alone. I shared part of our story that is linked here with others - http://www.drmomma.org/2010/05/i-circumcised-my-son-healing-from.html - it isn't a lot, but in the process I know that we've helped to spare others from the same mistake we made. Maybe you can one day do the same and some healing will come from it.

    We can't change the past, but now that we know better, we can do better, and from here on out it matters more. :)

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  28. Once again, thank you. I found your blog originally while looking for info about not vaxing. I was ambivilant towards circumcision - it didn't agree with my religious beliefs (I'm Pagan), but my husband is a Christian and we agreed to do this parenting thing together. Then I found your article "He Didn't Cry: Babies in Shock" and it changed everything. Your information for Christians and changed my husband's mind. So any boys we have will be completely intact.

    As for this...I couldn't watch the whole first video, let alone the others. How can that doctor talk as if nothing is wrong, pausing as he explains what he's doing. How can you hear that coughing cry and not KNOW that you are causing anguish? I'm so disgusted with any doctor who performs this and thinks there is nothing wrong with it. Once again, I'm thankful for the information you've put out there. (and I have you on a list of my favorite blogs on my blog ^__^)

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  29. OMG that poor baby!!!! I never had an opinion on this even when I found out I was pregnant, I was having a girl. And then I saw a botched circ on my friend son :( that poor baby screamed and cried and it it looked so painful. I started doing research on the practice and am appalled!!! What kind of sadistic "doctor" would do this?! It's like the education system is giving out licenses to all the sick fucks that want to brutalize helpless babies!!!!! This is disgusting! I now know that I would NEVER get my sons circed!! I AM ALL IN FOR LEAVING FUTURE SONS INTACT!!!!!!

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  30. I couldn't get past the retraction, the screams... oh my I feel sick. I have a daughter but I already told my husband no way if we have a boy.

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  31. @ Liana When 1 parent wants to circumcise and the other doesn't and because it only takes 1 parent to consent, this means the boy has only 1 in 4 chances of keeping his foreskin. Changes to these consent requirements need to be changed for the boy's benefit.

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    1. boy I sure am glad that where I am located the doctor will not perform circumcision unless both parents are aggreed

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  32. i am a muslim paediatric surgen and i am against newborn circumcissions for many reasons. as you know we have to forcefully retract a virgin prepuce and its a very painful procedure. while i was working in dubai and i told that i will not do this crime , they said i am antisemetic. i also do circumcission for older children under general anesthesia and a caudal block to prevent post operative pain . i had a son i did his circumcission when he is six yr old , i explained the procedure and took his consent and we did it all care

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  33. This post was from the very day I found out I was pregnant w/ my son. While I never read this particular article before now, I give you thanks Dr. Momma, that my son is whole.

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  34. A six year old cannot provide informed consent. Age of consent is 18.

    Circumcising a child under proper anesthetic with or without his consent is sitll an attack on his person and completely unethical. Let your children decide for themselves once they have reached age of majority, don't force your religious practices on them.

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  35. I read this article 2 days before giving birth to my son-- we left him INTACT- thank you so much. I am sickened to the point of tears for all the men/women who get hoodwinked in the hospitals after giving birth. They just casually slid the circumcision consent form across the table and asked me to sign with NO explanation--they assumed I would sign. OMG, the horror these boys face is incredibly wrong. Hospitals need to provide education on this topic. Ever parent needs to KNOW there is NO MEDICAL REASON TO CIRCUMCISE THEIR SONS. My heart truly breaks, I cry holding my son knowing that this could have happened to HIM. Keep getting the word out, the truth needs to be told! We are going to have my husbands foreskin restored, as well.

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  36. I didn't have to watch the videos because my husband and I were in the room when we circumcised our son. My husband is circumcised and we thought it was the right thing to do. Let me tell you the anguish we felt as parents as the shot they gave our infant son did not numb him and they began the procedure. The sugar water on the pacifier did nothing to quiet his screams. I sobbed the entire 15 minutes of the torture we put our son through. Of course there were complications afterward. The pediatrician did not take enough of the foreskin off so it kept re-attaching and she told us to keep ripping it back. I did it once and then never again. I think if more parents witnessed such an appalling procedure on any child there would scarcely be any circumcisions done anymore. Thank you for posting the videos, I'm sure they are just as horrific as my son's procedure but I could never watch another circumcision again.

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  37. Speaking of exporting circumcision and harvesting foreskins from Africa now comes (pro-cutting) press attacks on African communities who at first embraced circ. are now turning their backs knowing now they have been lied to and are calling it colonialism. I agree. More plundering of Africa and its people.

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  38. I can't even finish watching the video...want to fly through the computer screen and pick up that poor sobbing child. Thank goodness all of my sons are intact.

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  39. I chose not to watch the videos because I have enough anxiety-attacks as it is when I hear babies sobbing their little hearts out when in pain or need that is being ignored and I can imagine just from reading the article and the comments how awful it could be.

    I honestly CANNOT understand how this is a common practise in a major, influential , "educated", powerful, modern western country! It is an appalling procedure and it is unfathomable to me that doctors are authorised to carry it out - and that they are happy to do it!

    Anyone in their right mind, without having to see a video of a newborn screaming in pain, should be able to comprehend the fact that cutting an attached piece of skin from any part of their delicate body, let alone from a highly sensitive organ filled with nerves and nerve-endings, is going to cause a severe amount of pain and will continue to cause pain, and possible problems, afterwards. Would you consent to letting a doctor cut away the foreskin from your 19 year old child? From your teenager? from your husband? I doubt it. A lot of things horrify me in this world and somehow this is one of the worst things out there - probably because it is an brutal act of cruelty consciously and deliberately committed against a helpless, tiny little child who has just been ushered into this world, by the people who are supposed to be caring for him/her. Surely a doctor's oath to "Do No Harm" prevents this procedure from even being within their realm of treatments?!

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  40. It is probably worth pointing out that here in the UK, it isn't even discussed as hospitals and midwives assume that babies WILL NOT be circumcised! You would have to really have to fight or have a compelling argument in order to persuade your doctor that your child needed to be cut if he was otherwise a healthy child. Most healthcare professionals in the UK agree that the risks associated with routine circumcision, such as infection and excessive bleeding, outweigh any potential benefits, of which there are few. The majority of Primary Care Trusts (areas of funding for hospitals in the UK) do not fund routine circumcision or circumcision that is carried out for religious reasons. Funding can only be provided if a circumcision is to be used to treat one of a small number of medical conditions that may require it. However, even in such cases, circumcision is usually regarded as a "treatment of last resort", when all other treatment options have failed.

    For anyone who is interested, these conditions are:

    paraphimosis – a condition where the foreskin gets trapped under the tip of the penis

    severe cases of phimosis – a tight foreskin that can't be retracted

    recurrent balanoposthitis – inflammation of the tip of the penis and foreskin

    balanitis xerotica obliterans – an uncommon condition causing hardening and inflammation of the tip of the penis

    There will be a few others, but these are the main ones that can crop up in - mostly older - children, rarely.)

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  41. In my previous comment, I meant to write "from your 9 year old child?" (not 19)

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  42. It is probably worth pointing out that here in the UK, it isn't even discussed as hospitals and midwives assume that babies WILL NOT be circumcised! You would have to really have to fight or have a compelling argument in order to persuade your doctor that your child needed to be cut if he was otherwise a healthy child. Most healthcare professionals in the UK agree that the risks associated with routine circumcision, such as infection and excessive bleeding, outweigh any potential benefits, of which there are few. The majority of Primary Care Trusts (areas of funding for hospitals in the UK) do not fund routine circumcision or circumcision that is carried out for religious reasons. Funding can only be provided if a circumcision is to be used to treat one of a small number of medical conditions that may require it. However, even in such cases, circumcision is usually regarded as a "treatment of last resort", when all other treatment options have failed.

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  43. I just couldn't watch it!!! Started the first one and felt so sick that I had to turn it off before he did his bell thing- it is dreadful - I can't believe anybody would allow this to happen to their dear baby !!!!!

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  44. I didn't watch the videos because I couldn't get myself to.

    Two questions:

    1: how come female circumcision is also referred to as genital mutilation, but male circumcision is not?

    2. how come we tend to regard our civilsation superior to those where females are genitally mutilated?

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  45. Sick ... I would never put my baby to go through that! so sad, God please help all these little babies and Parents that are mislead.

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  46. The plastibell got stuck on my sons penis and did not 'pop' off like it was supposed to and therefore had to be surgically removed. He has a permanent large scar on his penis. After that experience, I then decided to do more research on my own. Unfortunately that was something I should have done in the first place but i later had another son who is whole and beautiful. And as brothers, neither of them look at each other and think they're 'different.'

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  47. I got my son circ'd because his father wanted it done. I regret it with every inch of my being. He wasn't able to be circ'd at birth & after him being intact for 3 months I saw no point. I sobbed as soon as he left the room & sobbed for hours during & after the procedure. I heard his screams/cries.

    Once done it can't be undone, if they want it done later it can be.

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  48. One day, I have to tell my son just how very sorry I am for putting him through this. Ugh.

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  49. Oh my God, these videos are so barbaric and horrifying that I feel ill and filled with sobs, despite writing on this issue and seeing these in the past when I first became an activist- SHAME on the medical, mental health and so-called humans services field, political groups, human rights organizations, feminist (so-called "gender-equality") organizations and so-called social justice movements for being apathetic, silent and falsely ignorant to this legalized rape, torture and mutilation of under age boys! Ending this egregious practice must be THE TOP priority of all of the above groups!

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  50. 18 seconds....that's how long I made it into the first video without freaking out and wanting to vomit. I'm still shaken up about those 18 seconds. This is at least the 3rd attempt to watch a circumcision video---I just can't do it.

    Thankfully my husband (who had never researched it) said he wanted our son left intact. I agreed and then researched it and agreed even more. I can't imagine doing that to my precious baby boy. I hate that so many of you had doctors who lied to you. :(

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  51. I really can't believe that this barbaric practice is seen as normal, when in other parts of the civilised world its only ever done in extreme circumstances for medical necessity and with good anesthesia and pain control. All I can say is thank GOD I live in the UK where this is never just done for the sake of it, where all of our young uncircumcised boys grow up to be normal healthy Men without the need for something which people 'think' is normal to do. I feel so sorry for all those parents who have put their babies through this believeing they were doing the right thing. Leave what God gave them well alone, It's there for a reason.

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  52. i cant believe was considering this now im keeping him intact

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  53. I can't believe this is supposed to be the least cruel method. How is it considered animal abuse and illegal in some places of the U.S. to crop a dog's ears and tail by tying them off but this isn't?

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  54. Say NO to non-consensual genital mutilation.

    HIS BODY, HIS CHOICE. Or does that rule only apply to females?

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