LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES OF NEONATAL CIRCUMCSION:
A PRELIMINARY POLL OF CIRCUMCISED MALES

Tim Hammond

Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations,
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 9-11, 1996.

Responding to the Declaration of the First International Symposium, NOHARMM founder Tim Hammond presents findings from a survey that identify long-term consequences of infant circumcision. More than 300 men responded to the 1993 Harm Documentation Survey, revealing the physical, sexual and psychological consequences of a genital alteration they did not choose. This ongoing survey explores the ways in which men find to heal from childhood genital mutilation. This preliminary poll provides the foundation for future scientific, multi-disciplinary research of the extent and quality of such harm. As an outgrowth of the survey, Hammond teamed with filmmaker Lawrence Dillon in 1995 to capture the profound voices of survey respondents by creating the award-winning, social-issue documentary, Whose Body, Whose Rights? Televised by several public broadcasting stations in the United States, it will be premiered in Europe at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations.

For more information visit Long Term Consequences of Neonatal Circumcision.

[The complete paper is published in Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy, New York: Plenum Press, 1997 (ISBN 0-306-45589-7).]

Tim Hammond is the Survey Coordinator for Awakenings: A Preliminary Poll of Circumcised Men. In 1990, along with Wayne Griffiths, he co-founded a national network of men's foreskin restoration support groups, the National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM). In 1992, Hammond founded the National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males (NOHARMM), a national nonviolent, direct-action organization of men opposed to infant circumcision. He has produced many educational tools relevant to male genital mutilation in the United States.

Whose Body, Whose Rights? by Lawrence Dillon and Tim Hammond. [This 56-minute videotape is available from Video-Finders 2 1-800-343-4727 in the U.S., or for bulk orders from Tim Hammond, Executive Producer, P.O.Box 460795, San Francisco, CA 94146.

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SIMILARITIES IN ATTITUDES
AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT
MALE AND FEMALE SEXUAL MUTILATIONS

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein

Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations,
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 9-11, 1996.

Female genital mutilation has become increasingly recognized as ritual child abuse in many countries of the western world. Male circumcision tends to be shrugged off as being in no way comparable to this gross mutilation. This presentation will point out the similarities in trivializations, misconceptions and rationalizations as applied to unjustifiable, medicalized infant male circumcision in the United States and ritual genital mutilation of girls in Africa.

[The complete paper is published in Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy, New York: Plenum Press, 1997 (ISBN 0-306-45589-7).]

Hanny Lightfoot-Klein, M.A., is a cross-cultural sexologist and clinical supervisor of the American Board of Sexology. She spent the greater part of six years in the Sudan doing field research on female genital mutilation and has published extensively on the subject. Her groundbreaking book, Prisoners of Ritual: An Odyssey Into Female Genital Circumcision in Africa, received a book award at an international sexology conference in 1991.

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A REVIEW OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLLEGE OF PAEDIATRICS
POSITION PAPER ON "NEONATAL MALE CIRCUMCISION"

Mervyn Landers

Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations,
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 9-11, 1996.

Council of the Australian College of Paediatrics approved, in August 1995, a new Draft Position Paper on "Neonatal Male Circumcision" after the review of recent literature.

The Draft Position Paper addresses issues such as urinary tract infections, penile cancer, sexually transmitted diseases and the complications of circumcision. In this paper, the literature reviewed is reassessed to offer alternate interpretations.

The Draft Position Paper is notable in that there is no understanding that the foreskin is a "standard fitting" nor that males have a right to the integrity of their own body. The Draft Position Paper did not mention the human rights nor legal issues involved in Neonatal Male Circumcision nor the life-long loss and grief imposed upon men who have been circumcised against their will.

Mervyn Landers, M.B, B.S., Dip.Ter.Ed., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, is a pediatric surgeon, clinical lecturer at the University of Queensland, an Anglican (Episcopal) Priest, and is the Director of the NOCIRC Center in Queensland. He is an active NOCIRC campaigner and facilitates a Restoration Group.

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FIRE EYES

A Documentary Film by Soraya Mire

Presented at the Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations,
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, August 9-11, 1996.

Fire Eyes confronts the true nature of female genital mutilation and explodes the myths surrounding this taboo topic. The procedure is most often performed by midwives with unsterilized tools. Anesthesia is a luxury only for the urban and wealthy. Myriad medical complications and psychological traumas beset the circumcised woman for the rest of her life. This film sheds much needed light on the socio-economic, psychological and medical consequences of a custom that victimizes more than 100 million women worldwide.

[For more information about this important human rights documentary film, contact Soraya Mire, Persistent Productions, 235 E. Colorado Blvd. #1363, Pasadena, CA