Friday, March 05, 2010

Georganne Chapin on Fox News


This Fox News media clip is anything but 'fair and balanced' when myths are flashed upon the screen during the discussion and the chair mocks the MGM Bill with her inflection, rolling eyes, and facial expressions. But I guess we've learned what to expect from pop media and Georganne did an excellent job, as always.

I do believe it would benefit the cause if one of the numerous Jewish, male physicians in the United States who is actively and adamantly opposed to circumcision would be allowed/asked to speak on these pop new media pieces. It seems slightly ridiculous to seek out pro-cutting doctors who have biases rooted in mythology, rather than those who are basing their statements, their beliefs, and their medical practice on sound science and empirical research.

Email Megyn Kelly directly at: kelly@foxnews.com

and/or

Leave comments for Fox News at: http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/29655150/controversy-over-circumcision.htm#q=America+Live+circumcision

Copy/Paste your responses into the comments below or email them to us at IntactInternational@gmail.com

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To become fully informed on the issue of the prepuce organ and circumcision, this is a page of resources to start your investigation.


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13 comments:

  1. Really got the cultural indoctrination coming out when he just instantly brushes-off female circ. "well, of course we don't do THAT to girls..." such a disheartening debate, because so many refuse to even listen to the very compelling evidence against it.
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  2. Thank you for posting the video. I missed it yesterday on TV by three mins! Georganne Chapin did a wonderful job. As for Dr. Siegal...scary.
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  3. I'd like to see the study that say it's more traumatic to an adult who knows what's going on that to a tiny baby, at which point it's probably his first experience of pain.
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  4. Kelly,


    I have been a big fan of your network until today. I watched your segment with Georgeanne Chapin and Dr. Siegel regarding routine circumcision. I was totally disgusted with Fox’s openly biased coverage of this issue. This segment was anything but “fair and balanced”. I couldn’t believe that you, as the moderator, not only choose sides but that you would disrespect your guest by rolling your eyes while Georgeanne was speaking. Additionally, the fact that Fox would choose a physician that can’t even limit himself to medical fact was ridiculous. Dr. Siegel’s fear mongering tactics and religious freedom arguments are without basis and are a testament to the poor quality of this segment. Despite the wide variety of body modifications that are performed on children throughout world cultures, Jews are the only group in America that is permitted to cut healthy body parts off of new born babies in the name of faith. As an adult man that has made it 30 years without contracting an STD I do not appreciate Dr. Siegel’s STD prevention argument. It was not the lack of foreskin that kept me healthy, it was choosing my sexual partners wisely and practicing safe sex. As a newborn infant I nearly bleed to death thanks to my “routine” circumcision. The emotional trauma of my near death experience was felt by my entire family and resulted in my parent’s divorce before I was one year old. The physical and emotional scars resulting from the unnecessary cutting of my infant genitals have had a major negative impact on my life. You would not remove a baby girl’s breast tissue to prevent her from getting cancer as an adult, nor would you remove a boys hand to look like a father that was missing his. I can’t think of a single instance where it should be legal to prophylactically remove healthy body tissue from a baby. With any medical procedure there are risks and no matter how small those risks are, a circumcision is not worth a baby’s life. I for one would much rather have endured some teasing for a few years in the locker room than suffer for decades with the results of my “routine” circumcision. Freedom of religion should not trump a baby’s freedom from unnecessary body modification. If there was only a few of us men that felt like this it wouldn’t even be a debate in Massachusetts. Why don’t you try watching a video of a circumcision being performed and then tell me if you still think that it isn’t traumatic. It is the boy’s penis and his right to choose what to do with it, not the parents!


    Damon in North Carolina
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  5. Hi Megyn,

    I would like to start by saying that I'm a HUGE parent's rights advocate and want the smallest possible government! With that said, I want to answer the question you had leading up to your interview with Georganne Chapin and the doctor. You asked something like this, "Who should decide about circumcision? The parents or the government?" You would think my immediate response to that would be, "The Parents, of course!" But no, there is a 3rd choice. The person whose body is being altered should decide.

    I'm a mom to two boys. Both are intact. If I had girls, they would remain intact as well. Girls are protected by law against such mutilation. Boys deserve the same protection. The arguments given by the doctor could very well be given for girls as well (although I don't agree with many of his arguments). If girls can get more UTIs and STDs from having a clitoral hood, then why shouldn't we remove it from all baby girls? That's absurd, right? We teach our girls how to clean themselves and about safe sex/abstinence. Boys can learn these things too!

    When I was pregnant, I assumed I would have my son circumcised. It's the "norm," right? Not so! I found that the percentage was far lower for circumcision than I thought! Then, in 2002, it was around 70%. Now it's down to almost 50%!!! I researched so many aspects of birth and babies including circumcision. I watched a video of this barbaric, painful procedure. AWFUL! I then researched the BENEFITS of remaining intact and there are MANY! So why risk harming my son with the possible complications from circumcision including excessive bleeding, infection, much less a botched job (google "botched circumcision") or even death (it happens), when remaining intact was a wonderful thing. The foreskin protects a baby boy from getting feces in the urinary tract (so actually LESS UTIs!). Sexually, there are MANY benefits to remaining intact. My research also found that NOT ONE medical association deemed it medically necessary. That begs the question, "Why, then, do we STILL routinely circumcise baby boys????" I also found that foreskin is not a birth defect... it has a purpose! I also figured out that my sons and my husband wouldn't be having penis comparing sessions! It just doesn't happen! (My husband was circumcised and he's NOT happy about his parents' making that decision for him!)

    As a parent's rights advocate and an advocate for small government, I don't find it troubling at all that the people of Mass. are trying to add boys to the law that protects girls from genital mutilation (circumcision). It's the same thing, and boys deserve equal protection! Thanks so much for reading my email! I hope it makes you think a little more deeply than maybe you have before about the practice of circumcision. Also, thanks for allowing this important debate on your show!

    Sincerely,

    Jill in Georgia
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  6. Georganne Chapin did very well against this disturbed "doctor".

    Marc Siegel compares cutting the umbilical cord with cutting off part of a child's penis? This man should be stripped of his medical license pulling all these "statistics" out of his ass.
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  7. While Fox is typically my network of choice for news, I must say I was sorely disappointed by the circumcision debate. What exactly was fair and balanced about that? There have been sooo many studies that completely derail just about all of the "health benefits" the pro-circumcision doctor cited. If I can sign a waiver not to have my child vaccinated because it violates my religious tenants, I believe he should be able to sign a waiver to circumsize his child because not doing so would violate his religious tenants. The "facts" that scrolled from the CDC have also been revamped. The American Academy of Pediatrics has changed their stance to reflect the fact that it is a COSMETIC surgery. If you honestly think the surgery is traumatic for an adult, why isn't it traumatic for a newborn? That child has just been under some serious pressure from uterine contractions, head molding to the birth canal, and now bright lights, voices, and constant stimuli, so why not cut a part of his body off and add to it? Do you honestly believe that is less traumatic than an adult man deciding to undergo the same procedure with the benefit of anesthesia and pain killers afterward? I have two boys and a girl. Neither of my boys are cut. My daughter isn't cut, either. If it's a matter of hygiene, wouldn't teaching your children to clean themselves be better than amputation of a functional part? Do you "trim" a female's labia because it traps in odors and whatnot? What is the difference, exactly? I must say I'm pretty upset by this piece and hope that, in the future, you will not only present a more balanced picture, but a more accurate picture of the facts as well.



    Regretfully
    Heather
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  8. There was something very disturbing about the 'doctor' they brought on the air. I TRULY hope people were able to see how messed up his argument was.

    I would have loved to see Georgeanne Chapin counteract his statistics, which were TOTALLY bogus, with some solid defense. For example, he suggested 10 percent of males needed to be circumcised.. well, we actually have PLENTY of statistics to destroy that argument.

    Just look at all the countries that don't practice circumcision.

    End Circumcision.
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  9. Wow that doctor is full of it.

    He has NO evidence to claim that adult circumcisions are traumatic. Adults ELECT genital surgery all the time. They tolerate better pain meds during the procedure, they control the pain meds during recovery, they can report if something doesn't feel just right during healing, and THEY HAVE A SAY ABOUT THEIR OWN BODIES.

    Foreskin feels REALLY good. EVERY circumcision removes a whole lot of pleasure receptive capacity.

    HARM. 100% of the time.
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  10. Georganne did brilliantly. We'll get there, thanks to speakers like her and sites like this.

    This debate made me ponder the definition of trauma: I think that anything you willingly participate in as an adult, no matter how painful or intense, can be empowering. Anything that is done to you against your will is traumatic, to some degree.
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  11. Why I personally support the MGMBil

    I'm a mother of a son who received an unwarranted genital reduction surgery. He was born healthy. A doctor removed a sophisticated integral part of his penis in the absent of a need. There was no "consent". During early labor a nurse solicited circumcision. My exact response to her was, "I don't think its a good idea." She went silent. The delivery was traumatic for us both. After his delivery I was drugged. I was given Vicodin. My body couldn't tolerate it. The nurse gave me Demerol without allowing my body metabolize the Vicodin. I was seeing Angels. Thats how far gone I was. At a time I was trying to recover from giving birth a nurse brought my son to me, took off his diaper and said, "There you go!". I was horrified. I yelled, "WHAT DID YOU DO??? YOU CUT OFF HIS PENIS!!!" It was so raw and bloody. The nurse replied, "Oh, thats normal!". My son's entire body was purple and swollen because he suffered hypoxia. Hypoxia means he was deprived of adequate oxygen supply because he was screaming so hard from the agonizing 30 minutes of torture performed on his penis. Before this, he could breastfeed just fine. We had problems breastfeeding ever since. He would scream each time he urinated on his open fresh wound. He would cry out in agony when I tried to remove feces off his raw bloody penis. This is no way to welcome a child into the world. We switched doctors. I expressed how upset I was and he said, "You know, circumcision isn't medically necessary." My son's surgery wasn't necessary. From that point on, I couldn't stop researching about the benefits of an intact foreskin. I searched through his records for a "piece of paper" that gave the doctor "permission" to cut off a healthy organ. When I discovered there wasn't one I called her office. She would not speak with me and had her nurse hang up on me. I called again and asked her why Dr. Anna Kowalska had done this to my son and why she didn't inform me or my husband anything at all about this surgery! To my horror, she replied, "We have a policy that states: Do not say anything unless the parents ask.". When I said to her, "Most parents haven't been to medical school and its a doctor's responsibility to inform parents about all medical procedures", she hung up on me again. Had this bill been in effect before he was born, my son would have been protected against this unwarranted surgery. Today, he has meatal stenosis. A condition that effects 10% of circumcised boys and only circumcised boys. Meatal Stenosis is the narrowing of the urethra. If left untreated, the urethra would fuse making urination impossible. It does this because the urethra isn't protected by the foreskin. On an infant, the sphincter of the foreskin closes tightly after urination is complete and only opens to void urine thus protecting the meatus from any foreign pathogens.

    Because of what happened to my son I could never again attempt to deliver another baby in the hospital. He was not protected. I have since delivered 4 more children in the safety of my own home. My home-born sons are intact. They have never, not once had any problems with their complete genitalia.

    Please, I urge you to concur with this Bill. Boys deserve to be respected, and their genital integrity should be protected.
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  12. Michelle - I am crying reading your story. Your poor little boy! I am in disbelief that they would do that without your consent. I am just sick to my stomach. :(
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  13. Every time I watch any kind of debate on faux news, I wanna bang my head against the wall.
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