Law.com – Atlanta Lawyer Takes on Botched Circumcision Claims Nationwide
Posted: July 29th, 2010 | Author: Kink On Tap Editorial Staff | Filed under: Briefs | Tags: 52, activism, circumcision, health, law | 3 Comments »"I didn't set out to be a circumcision lawyer; it just sort of happened," said David J. Llewellyn of his legal practice suing doctors, hospitals, and medical supply makers around the United States. Llewellyn recently won a $10.7 million default judgment "against Mogen Circumcision Instruments, claiming one of its devices severed the head of the boy's penis during a bris, a Jewish ceremony for a male infant," Katheryn Hayes Tucker reports.
"The circumcision of infants is the American sickness, and unfortunately, we're spreading it around the world because of a small group that's pushing it," Llewellyn said. He recalls his early days fighting the practice, being routinely confronted with jokes and questions like "what does it matter?" The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) remains neutral on the matter, claiming "most of the complications that do occur are minor," and advising parents to "determine what is in the best interest of the child." But how, I wonder, are parents to know?
I lvoe that the AAP claims ‘most of the complications…are minor.’ I swear, they really need to take a fucking stand on this issue and actually do some education. I can’t believe how many people I meet who honestly think uncut cocks are actually, physically dirty. I’ve had a fair few un-cut partners, and they were no more or less funky than any other guy their age. 4 hours of dancing in tight leather will do that to anyone.
When I was a little girl, I spent quite a bit of time listening, not talking, and making myself seem like I wasn’t in a room so I could hear what was going on. The son of my mother’s best friend (and my best friend’s little brother) was about 3-5 years old and in *agony*. Crying, all sorts of pain and he was so upset and confused.
Turns out his circumcision wasn’t done well, and had healed awfully, creating skin bridges so short, that when he had erections, it was massively painful. Sure, he may or may not remember it now, and sure, its just one case, but still, a kid in screaming agony over something that could have *totally* been prevented doesn’t really seem like a minor thing to me. Nor does mutilation a child’s genitals.
Oh great, another privileged Western activist claiming that we’re “exporting circumcision to the world” out of … what? Culture? Sorry dude, we’re actually exporting circumcision to the world because both the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have done several studies that clearly demonstrate it to have at least a 60% reduction rate on the transmission of HIV. And if this Western dude actually lived and worked with HIV in Africa, like I do, then he’d know that African men are lining up to have the procedure done. Are there complicated questions about consent involved in circumcising boys? Sure. But thousands of health workers are promoting circumcision for a reason, and if he lived in a place where over a quarter of the population had HIV, he’d have a very different perspective.
Sorry, this issue just gets me really angry. I’m tired of people acting like I’m blindly playing into screwed up sex & gender issues when I promote circumcision. It works, people. Acknowledge that. Then we can have a conversation about consent.
Of course, they didn’t take into consideration the area where they were applying this research – See this article from the International Journal of STD and AIDs, January 1999, which collects and asses the data from a variety of research on circumcision and AIDs.
Particularly note:
And here are whole chunks of the discussion:
And for good measure, a collection of studies and article citations discussing the many, many negative side effects of circumcision. (The studies are not linked to. though are cited for those who want to look them up.) http://www.circumcision.org/studies.htm
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