Genital Integrity Week Facebook Postings

Here are my posts for Genital Integrity week.  Please share on your own Facebook and other social media networks.  Lets get this important Information out there!

Monday
The New Testament church considered Circumcision Blasphemy.
They firmly believed that it was an outright denial of faith in Jesus Christ.
I am an Intactivist and this is Genital Integrity week.
Paul called circumcisers "vile dogs" - like a pack of wild dogs that preyed upon small animals and children. I wish this controversial topic was preached on more from the pulpit. Because to Christians, there is no controversy. The church states that salvation is through Jesus Christ, not circumcising. Children should be left intact, just like God made them."Watch out for those wicked men – dangerous dogs, I call them – who say you must be circumcised. Beware of the evil doers. Beware of the mutilation. For it isn’t the cutting of our bodies that makes us children of God; it is worshiping him with our spirits." – Phil 3:2-3
Stay tuned for my next post on how the Foreskin is an important Organ of the body, and a vital part of the immune system.
*I am an intactivist, which to me means that I educate, not drama-ate. I believe in expounding on the positivity and biological miracle that is the foreskin, not focusing or dwelling on the loss that is circumcision.
 http://www.cirp.org/library/history/peron2/
http://www.drmomma.org/2009/06/information-on-circumcision-for.html

Tuesday
The Foreskin is an important Organ of the body, and a vital part of the immune system.
Just as the eyelid protects the eye, the foreskin protects the glans. The foreskin also maintains optimal warmth, pH balance, and cleanliness. The glans itself contains no sebaceous glands – glands that produce the moisturizing oil that our skin needs to stay healthy.The foreskin produces the oil that keeps the surface of the glans soft and healthy.

I am an Intactivist and this is Genital Integrity week. This is an excerpt from an article found at
http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/functions-of-foreskin-purposes-of.html

The immunological functions of the foreskin and the self-cleansing functions of the penis protect the body from harm. From infancy to adulthood, the foreskin ensures optimal protection of the glans and urinary meatus from contaminants of all kinds. During childhood, the foreskin is also usually firmly attached to the glans to prevent contaminants from invading the urethra. The neck of the foreskin places the vulnerable urinary meatus at a distance from the external environment and defends it against invading contaminants. The fusion of the foreskin and glans and the nonexpandability of the preputial orifice in the child’s penis are therefore necessary for the health of the child. Even after the foreskin separates from the glans and becomes retractable, it continues throughout life to cover the glans and meatus in order to protect these delicate structures from dirty, contamination, abrasion, or bacterial invasion.

No attempt should be made to retract the foreskin before the penis has fully developed. Premature retraction causes the glans to become dry, hard, and scarred. The foreskin protects the glans from injury simply by covering it. The first person to retract the foreskin and expose the glans should be the child himself, and only when the child is ready to do so. It is best that parents avoid concerning themselves with this natural process. All by themselves, little boys will make the discovery that their foreskin can be retracted.

Glands in the foreskin produce antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as lysozyme. (5) Lysozyme is also found in tears and mother’s milk. Specialized epithelial Langerhans cells, an immune system component, aboud in the foreskin’s outer surface. (6) Plasma cells in the foreskin’s mucosal lining secrete immunoglobulin’s, antibodies that defend against infection.

Apocrine glands are important glands found in the skin. They are found in the foreskin and elsewhere on the body. They secrete the important lysosomal enzymes cathepsin B, lysozyme, chymotrypsin, and neutrophil elastase. All of these enzymes help protect the body from many kinds of bacteria. These enzymes are also found in tears and other bodily fluids. Human apocrine glands also produce cytokine, a nonantibody protein that generates an immune response on contact with specific antigens. All these substances have immunological functions and protect the penis from viral and bacterial pathogens. This natural protective function has been destroyed in circumcised males.

The foreskin is more sensitive than the fingertips, the glans (head) of the penis, or the lips of the mouth. It contains a richer variety and greater concentration of specialized nerve receptors than any other part of the body. These specialized nerve endings can discern motion, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations of texture.
The foreskin contains a highly organized erotogenic sensory nerve-receptor system. It transmits special sensations to the central nervous system and brain. The glans also has erotogenic sensory nerve receptors along its rim (the corona glandis), but far fewer than the foreskin. The massaging action of the foreskin against the glans produces stimulation in both organs.
The sense of smell is one of the oldest, most precise, and most important senses in humans. Smells convey vital information to the brain. Pheromones are hormonal chemical messengers secreted by an individual and perceived by another individual of the same species. They create sexual arousal and attraction in the person perceiving the pheromone. These glands are found in the armpits, breasts, and in the genital area. The penis itself is a specific site for these glands. Pheromones are secreted by the apocrine glands in the foreskin. These glands are present at birth, but during puberty they develop in the presence of testosterone.
Although pheromones themselves are odorless, they are released by the foreskin into the air where they are perceived by the vomeronasal organ, a small tubular structure in the mucosa of the nasal septum. This organ is a component of the accessory olfactory system. The olfactory area of the cerebral cortex is closely associated with the limbic system, the part of the brain that organizes emotional responses, mood, memory, and sexual arousal. Although most complex smells and their emotional associations are learned, the identification of pheromones is hardwired into the brain.
Read this article in its entirety at
http://www.drmomma.org/2009/09/functions-of-foreskin-purposes-of.html
 
Stay tuned for my next post of a list of the purposes of the foreskin.

Here is a list of websites specifically on the functions and purposes of the important foreskin organ.
To read more about the functions of the foreskin, see:

http://www.circumstitions.com/Functions.html

http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/

http://www.circumcision.org/foreskin.htm

http://www.norm-uk.org/function.html

http://www.noharmm.org/anatomy.htm

http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/denniston2.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/intact/foreskin.html


Wednesday
  The following post received over 1500 views and 19 shares!  Awesome!

Circumcision is not simply the cutting off of useless skin. Author Gary L. Harryman innumerates what circumcision destroys:
***Its connective synechia, which fuses the foreskin to the glans during development.
***Approximately half of the smooth muscle sheath called the dartos fascia.
***Most of the erotogenic nerve endings
***Specialized epithelial Langerhans cells, a component of the immune system.
***Thousands of coiled fine-touch receptors, including the Meissner's corpuscles.
***Estrogen receptors--the purpose and value of which are not yet fully understood.
***Ectopic sebaceous glands, which lubricate and moisturize.
***The protective covering of the glans, normally an internal structure. The foreskin shields from abrasion, drying, and callusing, and protects from dirt and other contaminants.
***The entire immunological defense system of the soft mucosa, which may produce antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as lysozyme, also found in mother's milk, and plasma cells, which secrete immunoglobulin antibodies.
***Lymphatic vessels, the loss of which interrupts the lymph flow within a part of the body's immune system.
***The frenulum, the sensitive "V" shaped tethering structure on the underside of the glans is also usually amputated, severed, or destroyed.
***The apocrine glands, which produce pheromones, nature's powerful, silent, invisible signals to potential partners.
***As much as 50% or more of the total penile skin, radically immobilizing and desensitizing whatever skin remains.
***The "gliding" mechanism. If unfolded and spread out flat, the average adult foreskin would measure 15-20 square inches, the size of a postcard. This abundance of specialized, self-lubricating skin allows the ability to smoothly "glide" back and forth within itself, permitting non-abrasive intercourse, without drying out the vagina.
***The pink to red to dark purple natural coloration of the glans.
***10% to 20% of its circumference because its double-layered wrapping of loose foreskin is now missing.
*** As much as one inch of erection length due to scarring and shrinkage from loss of the foreskin.
***Several feet of blood vessels, including the frenular artery and branches of the dorsal artery, the loss of which interrupts normal blood flow to the shaft and glan, damaging its natural function and possibly stunting its growth.
*** An estimated 240 feet of microscopic nerves, including branches of the dorsal nerve.
*** Perhaps most importantly, between at least 10,000 to 20,000 specialized erotogenic nerve endings of various types, which can discern slight motion, subtle changes in temperature, and fine gradations in texture.
And occasionally a boy will lose his life from this needless operation. It has been estimated that as many as between 100-150 babies die EVERY year from circumcision and related complications.

I am an intactivist and this is Gential Integrity Week. Please share this list with others, especially anyone who says the foreskin is a useless piece of skin or that circumcision is no big deal. The Foreskin is a vital ORGAN and an important part of immune system.
Here is a list of websites specifically on the functions and purposes of the important foreskin organ.
To read more about the functions of the foreskin, see:

http://www.circumstitions.com/Functions.html
http://www.cirp.org/library/sex_function/

http://www.circumcision.org/foreskin.htm

http://www.norm-uk.org/function.html

http://www.noharmm.org/anatomy.htm

http://www.nocirc.org/symposia/second/denniston2.html

http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/intact/foreskin.html


Thursday

Some Intactivist linky love for Genital Integrity Week:

Saving Our Sons Intact Dallas Keeping Future Sons Intact Whole Christian Network The WHOLE Network On This Journey The Guggie Daily Circ Stories @BarefootIntactivist Buck-A-Month Club for Saving Penises IntactNews @CircRegrets

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  On This Journey The Mom: Informed Intact America Intact Texas Dallas Fort Worth Circumcision Resources CircRegret Catholics Against Circumcision

  
  
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  On This Journey As Nature Intended Natural Papa The Crunchy Convert Crunchy Mommas International @HIV, AIDS and Circumcision Job Description: Mommy ParentingPatch

  
  
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  On This Journey The Way Nature Intended Mama's Milkies Love Parenting Circumcision Q&A Just a Snip - against genital mutilation aka circumcision

  

Friday
Statistics on the number of deaths YEARLY of Neonatal (under 1 month old) boys in the USA.
117 deaths from complications related to circumcision.
110 deaths from SIDS.
44 deaths from suffocation.
8 deaths from automobile accidents.
Every single one of those 117 deaths was easily preventable by simply keeping their foreskin (a vital organ and an important part of the immune system.)  
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-study-estimates-neonatal-circumcision-death-rate-higher-than-suffocation-and-auto-accidents 


Here are my other blog posts on Circumcision:
 

• Circumcision and mothers
• circumcision and fathers
• Excerpts from Strategic Approach to end Circumcisi...
• Circumcision is anti-christian
• Circumcision is a Human Rights Violation

updates:
here is an article currently making the rounds on facebook: 
Study Confirms Male Circumcision is Genital Mutilation
 http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/03/prweb512999.htm

Timeline of Medical Circumcision:
http://www.whale.to/a/timeline.html

Here is a great post by Michelle Richardson:
The only time the glans are exposed, after the intact prepuce is fully developed, is when it becomes erect. This is why, in our History, a circumcised male was forbidden to participate in the Roman games. They'd compete in the nude. An exposed glans in public was considered poor taste. An exposed glans meant arousal. The way circumcision was performed at this time was relatively simple. Most of the glans were covered. Only the meatus (urinary opening) was exposed. The ridgid band was the part that was removed or simply slit. Restoring the foreskin was also relatively simple. Jews would place weights to stretch the foreskin over their glans so they could appear as an intact male and then be able to participate in the games. It wasn't until 140 AD during rabbinical revolt did the Rabbis institute the full periah. In their fury against what the Jews were doing to their foreskin, they added a step to the procedure - ripping the synechia and removing the entire foreskin for a full exposure of the glans so it would become extremely difficult to restore the appearance of a complete set of male genitals.

My response:  In other words, God authorized a mere cut of the foreskin (still considered a burden and a sacrifice) in the Old Testament, while MAN authorized the complete removal of the foreskin.