CROYDON, UK. Arch circumcision advocate, Vernon Quaintance, was convicted of possession of child pornography April 11. Quaintance claimed during the proceedings he is celibate, a common defensive claim of pedophiles despite its irrelevance to possession of child pornography, and that he had only looked at the material a long time ago.
Vernon Quaintance: Convicted of Possession of Child Pornography in Croydon, UK.
Quaintance is a member of the Gilgal Society, a bizarre circumcision advocacy organization with ties to many other circumcision campaigners, such as Daniel Halperin and Robert Bailey.
In connection with this group, Quaintance is credited with providing a description of luring teenage boys through the use of alcohol and psychological manipulation into being circumcised. The description was published in Circumcision: An Ethnomedical Study by A. Thomas (The Gilgal Society, EMS-EN 0304-2, Fourth Edition 2005, Chapter 27 p.191, Case Histories and Experiences of Circumcision). See an excerpt here.
Despite the overt implications of abuse, the incident has never been investigated by authorities.
Perhaps fearing guilt by association, at least one fellow traveler, Brian Morris, has scrubbed his own website and other publishing activities to "disappear" any connection with Quaintance and the Gilgal Society.
Pertaining to the present criminal accusation against Quaintance, he accepted the charges and received a 40 week suspended sentence.
For years, politicians and pundits have justified military spending and war to the skeptical civilian by the assertion that from these necessary evils spring new and lifechanging civilian applicable technologies. No example is clearer than the internet itself.
Whether the premise is valid or not, now comes something that may benefit those who have suffered unwanted circumcision and related physical and psychological complications. Foregen's cause could be catapulted forward if the US military and their supporters get behind this, initially to support soldiers with catastrophic genital injuries, and then to roll out the regenerative technology to civilians.
[T]here is hope that doctors may soon be able to regrow a penis from the smooth muscle and endothelial cells of patients like Silva. Advances in regenerative medicine have surged during the past decade. At the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a team led by Anthony Atala reported last year that they had regenerated the penises of 12 New Zealand white rabbits. Once they healed, the rabbits were placed in cages with female rabbits. All attempted copulation within one minute and four females became impregnated.
It's important to realize that we're talking about advances in regenerative medicine for genital injuries, including circumcision, and not saying that penis replacement is the path to foreskin restoration. However, it can't be a far leap from one to the other. There is hope, indeed.
In the above seven and a half minute video, an event spokesman expressed his nervousness about our presence and you can see Halperin himself as he arrives for the event.
Tinderbox: How the West Sparked ...
The Bay Area Intactivists organized a protest in Corte Madera on the occasion of Daniel Halperin and Craig Timberg's book tour in support of their new book, Tinderbox. Close to a dozen people turned out to hold signs outside. They also attended the talk inside Book Passage wearing t-shirts emblazoned with messages in support of genital integrity.
The authors were cordial and willing to address the concerns of the crowd, which was majority intactivists. However, their demeanor couldn't disguise a certain lack of enthusiasm for questions that went to the heart of their assumptions and interpretation of data from studies Halperin himself designed and conducted.
Bay Area Intactivists at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, March 21, 2012
While no one expected the effort to change the authors' beliefs or underlying motives and assumptions, success was evident from the numerous thumbs up, positive comments, and car horn expressions of support from passing motorists.
Travis Wisdom is continuing his academic studies at Keele University. I've met him a couple of times. He's an intellect to be reckoned with and is already a force in the intactivism community despite his relative newcomer status.
It seems so recent that I was shilling for funds to go to Rome for the AIDS 2011 conference. But it's been almost a year since the beginning of that effort. Now AIDS 2012 is approaching and this time it's in Washington, DC.
This is the first World AIDS conference in the United States for over 20 years. Finally, this conference has returned, and the reason is simple: the US lifted the HIV travel ban. Yes, it's unbelievable, but the country with the highest rate of HIV in the developed world banned HIV-infected people from other countries from entering the US.
While there was some talk of going to DC this year, I have yet to confirm my own participation. This isn't because I'm not willing. Rather it's fallout from last year's intense series of events and developments. From Rome to the San Francisco ballot measure, it was a lot to deal with and I'm still recovering.
Things could still change. I hope that others are working behind the scenes to make a splash there. We've recently gained some traction in Africa with our message. This is a chance to extend that progress. We must keep up the pressure that circumcision is a dangerous distraction that will only take away resources from other efforts and likely increase HIV where it is promoted.
When I write about circumcision and HIV and intactivism, I link to a lot of material elsewhere on the web. I also frequently quote from other material. It's what bloggers do on their blogs. In fact, it's what defines blogging in an interconnected world.
The US Senate would like to empower unhappy big publishers and powerful corporate interests who don't like what blogs do to shut down websites like this one without notice, a hearing, an opportunity to confront accusers and rebut the accusations. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and would put every website that writes about or links to other material in legal jeopardy.
As the always entertaining blog, Boing Boing, says today on their site, "This would unmake the Web, just as proposed in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). We don't want that world. If you don't want it either, visit AmericanCensorship.org for instructions on contacting your Senator. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has more information on this and other issues central to your freedom online."
Note: I would have done a fancy "offline" splash page in place of this post, but the platform and registrar I use require a lot of work to do it and then put it back. Sorry. :(
Most people I worked with this last year will tell you it was a tough year for intactivism. Not all of the setbacks were caused by our opponents, either. There were missteps and unexpected unintended consequences resulting from a few of the efforts intactivists engaged in. That's my take that more than a few disagree with.
I'm not going to rehash what the problems were. I'll only say that when we individually or in small groups seek to push this issue forward, a thoughtful period of reflection can't be all bad. As much as we want genital mutilation and the child abuse to stop, we have to work through all the possible outcomes as much as possible and prepare for the most obvious.
Beyond that, this movement is one of individual effort. I applaud every person who puts him or herself on the line, risking family and professional relationships, their livelihood and their future to make it just a little less likely some poor infant will have the flesh torn and sliced from his penis in the name of culture, junk medicine or religion.
New Direction, New Emphasis
For some time now, prevention efforts have been gaining a strong following across the country that, while still nascent, is very promising. The new faces and new voices that pop up everyday in comments to news articles and on facebook in reference to some new outrage to line the pockets of American circumcisers in Africa are helping to mainstream intactivism.
So, while we are far from victory, it is time for this blog (and for me personally) to begin asking what's next in building the current synergistic, multidisciplinary movement to end the suffering from forced and unwanted circumcision.
Traditionally, there have been two pillars to intactivism. The first is education and outreach to drive down the numbers of children subjected to this abuse. The second has always been restoration. Getting involved in the latter has often been a highly personal journey that requires a level of mental and emotional fortitude few can sustain over the period necessary to be successful. I believe there are developments afoot that could bring much needed changes, thereby making this second part of the movement available to many more men and their partners.
Foregen is an organization, founded in Italy, that has recently extended its efforts into the nonprofit sector of the United States. In short, restoration through regenerative medicine is its area of concern. While you can go to their website to learn more about their ideas and efforts to get the research done, I will say this: we need this research because we need real therapies that are realistically within the grasp of every man who has suffered with being circumcised, whether he was circumcised by force or submitted to circumcision as an adult.
Still one might ask why. If we have restoration through skin expansion technologies, why do we need a new medical approach to foreskin restoration? The short answer is because skin expansion does not work for everyone. It is not often spoken about perhaps because restoration failure is or feels like defeat for the movement. To admit that once circumcised, it is permanent and no amount of personal effort can overcome the damage, the violation, or the psychological fall out is to submit to those who do this to children and misguided adults.
Over the next year, I'm going to be touching on regenerative medicine and its promise for foreskin restoration here on the blog. I'm aware that this is getting a little far afield from circumcision and HIV. However, as the blog evolves towards intactivism, I believe regenerative medicine needs and deserves attention.
Meanwhile, Dr. Stephen Badylak, while perhaps not necessarily a friend (or foe) of intactivism, has done some killer research that could help regenerative restoration take a giant step forward. He spoke at the Singularity Summit in 2011. Below is his talk that explains what is possible.
Thanks for reading these last five years. I'm not as active as I was, but I'm still here. Here's looking forward to a productive new year as we work to protect children from genital mutilations in the name of religion, culture, and medical culture. - David
Penn Jillette, one of our allies and heros, gives us an atheist guide to the 2012 election. The relevant part for intactivism is right around the 10 minute mark.
Jillette talks about how a mass falling away from organized religious belief is amplified by the internet. He says it has become really hard for religious communities to shield their members from opposing and differing ideas. It isn't that religion is disappearing, but that people who find themselves believing something different have the space to come out of the closet and live radically different than they would have, unexposed to other views.
The lesson for intactivists is that we will never go back to a time of total isolation. When a teen or young adult upset at being circumcised or suffering from a poor circumcision outcome goes online, he will find a community of supporters and a wealth of information. Odds are he won't do it to his own son. In contrast, how many times have we heard from men who came of age pre-internet, upset at being circumcised but who circumcised their own sons anyway?
Partially NSFW due to language and Jillette never addresses circumcision specifically (although his views are well known on the topic).
Subscribe and receive a numbered copy of The Intactivists: San Francisco Pride 2009-2010 as our thank you! Or buy the book online to support us! Here's why.
Male Circumcision and HIV provides a place for a public health policy debate on the linking of male circumcision and HIV/AIDS. It seeks to address questions of cost versus benefit, the effectiveness of circumcision in the fight against HIV/AIDS in real world settings, and the differing points of view of researchers, the media, and all contributors to the policy discussion.
David Wilton is a lawyer by training. He has a long-standing interest in issues of body integrity and HIV/AIDS. He maintains this site and blogs from San Francisco, California. His primary interests outside of nurturing a debate on the controversial measure of removing sexual tissue to reduce the spread of HIV are in the areas of international relations, languages, and journalism.
CUT, The PODCAST: In this episode, Eli Ungar-Sargon sits down with David Wilton of Male Circumcision and HIV to discuss the issue of circumcision and HIV-AIDS.
Below, San Francisco attorney David Wilton discusses male circumcision, HIV, and human rights.
Circumcision and AIDS at MGMbill.org A decidedly anti-circumcision site with a calm approach to addressing the human rights issues likely to become problematic in the rush to roll out circumcision as an HIV prophylactic.
Circumcision and HIV at circumstitions.com One of the most thorough reviews anywhere of circumcision and the history behind the HIV prevention community's study of it. The science behind this prophylactic tool is much more equivocal than the most recent researchers would have you believe. New Zealand based.
Circumcision and HIV: Harm Outweighs Benefits from circumcision.org From the Circumcision Resource Center, Boston, Massachusetts. This human rights organization has published such books as Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective and Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma. Sitting on its board are a number of individuals affiliated with Harvard and other Ivy League institutions.
Doctors Opposing Circumcision statement on HIV Doctor's Opposing Circumcision is a Seattle based physicians group that provides education, information and advice on medical circumcision and its effects.
Statement on AIDS and Circumcision from the International Coalition for Genital Integrity Another thorough treatment of male circumcision's likely impact on the spread of HIV from an "alliance of organizations dedicated to protecting the normal anatomy of males, females and the intersexed ... [that] was formed to coalesce the many activist organizations, each with a specific focus, into one, common voice."
Does circumcision prevent HIV infection? - NORM-UK John Dalton puts together a critique of the African studies and their weaknesses. He examines the evidence, appropriateness, and possible outcomes from promoting circumcision and calling it a "prevention."
