do with it. To say that we must slice off - and sometimes tear - a defenseless baby boy's foreskin "in order to prevent infections" is as nonsensical as saying that we should excise little girls' nipples "in order to prevent breast cancer."

The fact is that, other than the rare case where infection does occur, which may or may not require surgery, circumcision is a totally unnecessary barbaric rite with no basis for existing in the civilized world. If you've been circumcised, I'm sorry. I'm certain that it hurt very badly and that it has had long-lasting, traumatic effects. If you've had your children circumcised, again, I'm sorry. I wish you had read this rant before you did so.

"Circumcision is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the United States today."

Over the past decade or so, I have met and communicated with two world-renowned "anti-circ" scientists, including pediatrician Dr. Paul Fleiss, who told me he had performed "thousands" of circumcisions before he saw the light, and neuropsychologist Dr. James Prescott, who has evidently proved that circumcision causes irreversible brain damage. (The foreskin is, after all, not a "useless piece of skin" but a highly complex organ.) Regarding his efforts in demonstrating that circumcision causes brain damage, Dr. Prescott writes:

"The NICHD, NIH refuse to conduct the studies that I have requested over the years using fMRI and MRI technologies to document the proposed brain damage. Be assured the damage will be found when the studies are conducted - on both males and females."

Dr. Prescott's proposal is entitled, "Consequences of Perinatal Trauma - Genital Mutilation/ Circumcision - and Somatosensory Affectional Nurturance Upon the Adult Brain: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Positon Emission Tomography (PET) Scan Evaluations of Brain Structure and Function." The abstract is: "Draft Research Proposal that describes the rationale and specific brain structures for scanning the genital sensory projection fields of cerebral neocortex and cerebellar cortex and related brain structures to determine structural and functional (fMRI) deficits consequent to genital mutilation."

Drs. Fleiss and Prescott are quite passionate in their crusade to end useless, ritual circumcision. Unfortunately for them, they cannot be as forthright as I can in stating loudly and clearly that CIRCUMCISION IS EVIL. (In my own limited crusade, I fervently hope someone makes a song by that title.)

Think about it. You're a baby boy who has just come into the world. Now, it's hard enough on you, because you've been growing inside this cozy, dark womb with this loud but comforting wooshing sound. All of a sudden - bam! - you're popped out into this horribly bright room with some awfully frightening noise. Then you are separated from your mother and stuck all alone in an incubator. A few days later, someone attacks your penis with a knife - almost always done without anesthetic, but the anesthetic itself would require a needle stuck in your penis. The pain is so excruciating that you may pass out. Infants often go into shock from the pain, but the ridiculous human mind in denial has claimed they are "sleeping!"

Now, mothers of boys who are being circumcised will at times fight this barbaric mutilation and often feel like they've been stabbed in their hearts when they lose the battle. It is quite likely that the babies themselves - most certainly traumatized - are acutely aware that their mothers have "abandoned" them and failed to protect them against a vicious and despicable attack. It seems logical to conclude that this trauma may have a lifelong affect on a male's attitude towards his mother and women in general - could circumcision be contributing to the widepread misogyny of the world? In reality, it is quite likely that in some cultures - warrior cultures - circumcision was designed in large part to destroy this mother-son bond in the first place. Which means that this male genital mutilation has nothing to do with a "good god" in the first place and everything to do with barbarism. Frankly, when I think about the suffering this horrid behavior causes to defenseless babies, I feel overwhelmed by nausea, and my heart becomes sore. In order "not to offend anyone," I have pushed this subject into the back of my highly empathetic mind for years. If I'm offending you now, too bad. There are adorable little boys the world over who are about to be attacked, and I am not one to stand by while babies are being assaulted. In fact, I am offended - nay, outraged - that I have to live in a world where this appallingly sick behavior goes on all the time, with people either defending it or not giving a rat's ass about it. You can call it whatever you wish - you can in your petulance call me whatever you wish - but the fact will remain that genital mutilation is a brutal, physical assault against a baby or a youngster by adults who should know better.

In case you're still unconvinced, here is a description of infant male genital mutilation, euphemistically called "circumcision," from NOCIRC.org:

How is circumcision done?

Most parents don’t know what is actually done to a baby when he is circumcised. The baby is placed spread-eagle on his back on a board and his arms and legs are strapped down so that he can’t move. His genitals are scrubbed and covered with antiseptic. His foreskin is torn from his glans and slit lengthwise so that the circumcision instrument can be inserted. Then his foreskin is cut off....

Circumcision is extremely painful – and traumatic – for a baby. Just being strapped down is frightening for a baby. The often repeated statement that babies can't feel pain is not true. Babies are as sensitive to pain as anyone else. Most babies scream frantically when their foreskins are cut off. Some defecate. Some lapse into a coma. The reason some babies don't cry when they are circumcised is that they can't cry because they are in a state of shock. Most babies are circumcised without an anesthetic. Anesthetics injected into the penis don’t always work. Being stuck with a needle in the penis is itself painful for a baby, just as it would be for anyone else. Babies are rarely given pain medication right after they are circumcised or during the week to ten days it takes for the wound to heal. Pain medication is not always effective and is never 100% effective....

Most parents who see what is done to a baby when he is circumcised and how he reacts decide against circumcision and let their baby keep his foreskin intact.

I am hesitant about providing a photo of a helpless baby enduring such torture. Suffice it to say it is horrendous. Instead of posting this image of a baby boy strapped to a circumcision board and screaming in terror, I am hotlinking it. View it at your own peril. As we know, there are all kinds of claims concerning the supposed "health benefits" of circumcision, but I do not think that any of them are worth subjecting an infant to such torture as depicted in that image - one of millions - "just in case." Unseemly as it may sound, the fact is that, rather than having appropriate reasons for removing a baby's foreskin, the medical industry is making big money from selling foreskins, which is a major reason it is unwilling to condemn circumcision.

"The doctors aren't going to put an end to circumcision: They make huge sums of money to mutilate the babies."

As I say, if you or your loved ones were needlessly circumcised, I'm sorry. There appears to be little that can be done, although some people have undergone for reconstructive surgery to restore their foreskins. There are people attempting non-surgical methods as well. There are also support groups for men who feel circumcision has seriously damaged them, which I believe in many cases it has.

If you have an infant son or are about to have one, please do not circumcise him! Let us please allow our defenseless children to live their lives in happiness and comfort, unharassed by such a heinous thing as having the most sensitive parts of their bodies hacked at with a knife. How very upsetting and repulsive it is to consider that this barbarous act goes on day in and day out, around the world! If we are to ever see a healthy human society, genital mutilation - of both males and females - simply must stop.