Eighth International Symposium

The Eighth International Symposium on Circumcision and Human Rights convened at the University of Padua, Padua, Veneto, Italy on September 2-4, 2004.

Faculty

• Suzanne Arms, author, photojournalist, filmmaker, founding member of the Coalition to Improve Maternity Services (CIMS) and the Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children (aTLC), and founder and director, Birthing the Future. Bayfield, CO, USA.
• Zenas Baer, JD, practices law in Federal and State Courts in northern Minnesota, concentrating on federal civil rights litigation. Hawley, MN, USA.
• Jeannine Parvati Baker, MS, director, NOCIRC of Utah – Joseph, co-founder, Six Directions, and author. Joseph, UT, USA.
• Peter J. Ball, MA, MB, B Chir, retired family practitioner, member, NORM-UK, and producer and director, non-surgical foreskin restoration video. Turnbridge Wells, Kent, UK.
• Charles A. Bonner, JD, civil rights, personal injury, and medical malpractice attorney. Sausalito, CA, USA.
• Lucrezia Catania, gynecologist, Research Centre for Preventing and Curing Female Genital Mutilation and its Complications. Department of Gynaecology and Obstretrics, University of Florence, Italy.
• Georganne Chapin, JD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hudson Health Plan. Tarrytown, NY, USA.
• Anna Laura Comunian, Professor, Theories and Techniques of Personality Testing and Group Dynamic Theory and Techniques, Department of Psychology, University of Padua; Fellow, American Psychology Association (Division 52); Coordinator of the Laboratory of International and Cross-Cultural Psychology for the personality test adaptation. Padua, Italy.
• Amber Craig, MS, director, NOCIRC of North Carolina and coordinator, Medicaid Project. Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
• George C. Denniston, MD, MPH, founder and director, Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.) and author. Norland, WA, USA.
• Lara Franco, graduated in Psychology, Working Group on FGM, University of Padua. Padua, Italy
• Joy Frempong, student in musical composition at the Professional Jazz School in Bern, performs jazz and experimental music and teaches contemporary singing in Zurich. Treviso, Italy.
• Noel Gazzano, PhD program, Department of Anthropology. Florence, Italy.
• John V. Geisheker, JD, LL.M., Attorney at Law, General Counsel, Doctors Opposing Circumcision, Seattle, WA, USA
• Leonard B. Glick, MD (University of Maryland), PhD (University of Pennsylvania), Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA, and author. New Salem, MA, USA.
• Nansi Glick, MA, is an academic bookseller in New Salem, MA, USA.
• Pia Grassivaro Gallo, PhD, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Padua, teaches Applied Biology, Human Genetics, and Genetic Anthropology. Since 1988, she has organized Padua’s Working Group on FGM, dealing with Africans and African immigrants in Italy. Padua, Italy.
• R. Wayne Griffiths, MS, MEd, sociologist and educator, co-founder of NORM (National Organization of Restoring Men. Concord, CA, USA.
• Frederick Mansfield Hodges, D Phil (Oxon), medical historian and author. Berkeley, CA, USA.
• Yngve Hofvander, MD, pediatrician, Professor, International Child Health, Uppsala University, Sweden, consultant to the Swedish International Development Authority, World Health Organization, and UNICEF. Uppsala, Sweden
• Abdulcadir Omar Hussen, gynecologist, Research Centre for Preventing and Curing Female Genital Mutilation and its Complications. Department of Gynaecology and Obstretrics, University of Florence. Florence, Italy.
• Anna Iordanidou, graduated in Psychology, Working Group on FGM, University of Padua, Department of Equal Opportunities of the Ministry of Interior (KETHI). Athens, Greece.
• Baba Galleh Jallow, BA, founding editor and CEO of The Independent newspaper in The Republic of the Gambia, Associate for the Africa Program of the Peace Building Unit of the American Friends Service Committee in Philadelphia, graduate student at Rutgers University. Philadelphia, PA, USA.
• Stella Lineri, graduated in Psychology, Working Group on FGM, University of Padua. Padua, Italy.
• David J. Llewellyn, BA, JD, practicing attorney at law representing plaintiffs in wrongful circumcision and other genital injury cases. Atlanta, GA, USA.
• Linda Massie, BSc, PG/Dip, founder and director, NOCIRC of Northern Ireland. Glengormley, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
• Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN, director, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), Coordinator, International Symposia on Genital Integrity. San Anselmo, CA, USA.
• Elizabeth Noble, PT, founder of the Women’s Health Section of the American Physical Therapy Association who always discusses circumcision in the seminars she gives worldwide. Harwich, MA, USA.
• Michel Odent, MD founder and director, Primal Health Research Centre, author, London, UK
• Claudia Piccolantonio, student in medicine at Johann-Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt (Main) and of psychology at the University of Padua is now working with Terre de Femmes. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• Sara Rashad, MFA in film production, University of Southern California. Documentary filmmaker. Egypt and Santa Monica, CA, USA.
• Patricia Robinett, Clinical Hypnotherapist. Eugene, OR, USA.
• Mariagrazia Scalise, Transcultural Psychiatric Group, “Santa Maria della Pieta.” Rome, Italy.
• Petra Schnuell, student in Ethnologie, Sociology, Journalism, and Communication Studies at Georg-August-University Göttingen, since 1996 committed to working with Terre des Femmes. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
• Steve Scott, Education Outreach Coordinator of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, director, NOCIRC of Utah. Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
• Leo Sorger, MD, retired OB-GYN refused to do circumcisions and promotes natural childbirth and breastfeeding. Harwich, MA, USA.
• J. Steven Svoboda, JD, founder and director, Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC), Berkeley, CA, USA.
• Eleonora Tita, student in Psychology, Working Group on FGM, University of Padua. Padua, Italy.
• Franco Viviani, Professor of Anthropology, Department of Natural Sciences, Professor of Psychobiology, Faculty of Psychology, Working Group on FGM, University of Padua. Padua, Italy
• George L. Williams, MB, ChB, FRACP, consultant pediatrician and perinatologist, founder, NOCIRC of Australia, author. Sydney, Australia.
• Hugh Young, BSc, graduated in Zoology, Canterbury University, and has worked as a journalist and radio producer. Pukerua Bay, New Zealand.

Proceedings

Program Thursday, 2 September

08:30 Registration
09:00 Welcome and Opening Remarks– Pia Grassivaro Gallo, Franco Viviani, Marilyn Milos
09:20 Honoring the Diversity and Wisdom of the World’s Cultures While Protecting the Rights of All Children Everywhere– Suzanne Arms
09:40 The Evolutionary Advantages of Neonatal Rituals – Michel Odent
10:00 Circumcision as a Memplex – Hugh Young
10:20 Discussion
10:45 Break
11:00 At the Roots of Ethnic Female Genital Modifications – Eleonora Tita and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Eleonora Tita
11:20 History of Male Circumcision in Europe – Frederick M. Hodges
11:40 Neuroscience, the Emotional Brain, and Male Genital Mutilation – George L. Williams
12:00 Discussion12:30 Lunch On Your Own14:00 The Neuro-Physiological Loss Consequent to Circumcision – Steve Scott
14:20 FGM, Women’s Identity, and the Sense of the Body – Noel Gazzano
14:40 Foreskin Sensation: A Subjective Review of 500 Men – Peter J. Ball
15:00 Iatrogenic Damage Awareness Increasing Among Circumcision Survivors – Jim Bigelow and R. Wayne Griffiths; presented by R. Wayne Griffiths
15:20 Discussion
15:45 Break
16:00 Survey of the East-African Female Students at the University of Padua – Stella Lineri, Chiara Rahue, and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Stella Lineri
16:20 Emigration and Tradition – Mariagrazia Scalise and Giovanni Hassan; presented by Mariagrazia Scalise
16:40 Accounts of the Labia Minora Elongation Rite by Baganda Girls (ages 12-16)– Anna Laura Comunian, Elisabetta Villa, Federica Bicchielli, and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Laura Comunian
17:00 Psycholinguistic Approaches to Ritual Labia Minora Elongation Among the Baganda Women of Uganda – Franco Viviani, Elisabetta Villa, and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Franco Viviani
17:20 Deinfibulation in Italy – Lara Franco, Lisa Rivaroli, Elena DiMaro, Franco Viviani, and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Lara Franco
17:40 Preliminary Research About the Psycho-Sexual Aspects of the Operation of Deinfibulation – Saulo Sirigatti, Lucrezia Catania, Sara Simone, Silvia Casale, and Abdulcadir Omar Hussen; presented by Lucrezia Catania
18:00 Toward the Suppression of an Initiation Rite: Infibulation – Mariagrazia Scalise and Antonino Jaria; presented by Mariagrazia Scalise
18:20 An Alternative Symbolic and Non-invasive Ritual to FGM – Abdulcadir Omar Hussen, and Lucrezia Catania; presented by Abdulcadir Omar Hussen
18:40 Discussion
19:00 Dinner on your own

Friday, 3 September

08:30 Registration
09:00 Because You Are A Girl– Joy Frempong
09:30 Addressing FGM in Germany: The Work of the Women’s Rights Organization Terre de Femmes – Petra Schnuell, Gritt Richter, and Claudia Piccolantonio; presented by Petra Schnuell and Claudia Piccolantonio
09:50 FGM in African Immigrants in Greece – Anna Iordanidou and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Anna Iordanidou
10:10 Impressions of Genital Cutting in Turkey, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and South Africa – Elizabeth Nobel and Leo Sorger
10:30 Discussion
10:45 Break
11:00 Male Circumcision in Italy – Franco Viviani, Gianluca Costardi, and Pia Grassivaro Gallo; presented by Franco Viviani
11:20 One Death Too Many: Social Services Must Protect Children at Risk from Genital Mutilation in Ireland – Linda Massie
11:40 Ending Circumcision by Telling Our Individual Stories – Patricia Robinett
12:00 Discussion
12:30 Lunch on Your Own
14:00 Isms and Schisms: Political Correctness and the Search for a Unifying Paradigm for Abolishing Circumcision in the United States – Georganne Chapin
14:20Violating the U.S. Constitution– George C. Denniston
14:40 Government Subsidation Through Medicaid (USA) of Medically Unnecessary, Non-therapeutic Circumcision – Amber Craig, Dan Bollinger, and J. Steven Svoboda; presented by Amber Craig
15:00 Activism and the Movement for Genuine Gender Equality – J. Steven Svoboda
15:20 Discussion
15:45 Break
16:00 Informed Consent Obstacles to Presentation of Claim to a Jury – Zenas Baer
16:20 Strategies for Litigation– David J. Llewellyn
16:40 A Step Toward Prohibition: State Regulation of Infant Genital Surgeries– John V. Geisheker
17:00 Protecting Human Rights from the Trenches of the Courtroom– Charles A. Bonner
17:20 Legal Panel and Discussion – Zenas Baer, Charles A. Bonner, Georganne Chapin, John V. Geisheker, David J. Llewellyn, and J. Steven Svoboda; moderated by Peter J. Ball
19:00 Dinner on your own

Saturday, 4 September

08:30 Registration
09:00 The Life of the Flesh Is in the Blood: The Meaning of Bloodshed in Ritual Circumcision – Leonard B. Glick
09:20 The Bridegroom of Blood: Circumcision as Blood Sacrifice – Nansi Glick
09:40 Violations Against Children in the Name of Religion and Tradition: Is There a Way Out? – Yngve Hofvander
10:00 Discussion
10:45 Break
11:00 Tahara, an 18-minute video – Sara Rashad
11:30 Dying for My Daughter– Baba Galleh Jallow
12:00 How to Change Blood Sacrifice Rituals While Honoring the World’s Wisdom About Children – Jeannine Parvati Baker

The proceedings are published in Bodily Integrity and the Politics of Circumcision: Culture, Controversy, and Change, edited by George C. Denniston, Frederick Mansfield Hodges, and Marilyn Fayre Milos, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, 2006.

Sponsors

National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers and The Padua Working Group on FGM Department of General Psychology, University of Padua.

See also

• 1989: First International Symposium on Circumcision
• 1991: Second International Symposium on Circumcision
• 1994: Third International Symposium on Circumcision
• 1996: Fourth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations
• 1998: Fifth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations
• 2000: Sixth International Symposium on Genital Integrity
• 2002: Seventh International Symposium on Human Rights and Modern Society
• 2004: Eighth International Symposium on Circumcision and Human Rights
• 2006: Ninth International Symposium on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights
• 2008: Tenth International Symposium on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights
• 2010: Eleventh International Symposium on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights
• 2012: Twelfth International Symposium on Law, Genital Autonomy, and Human Rights
• 2014: Thirteenth International Symposium on Genital Autonomy and Children's Rights
• 2016: Fourteenth International Symposium on Genital Autonomy and Children's Rights
• 2018: Fifteenth International Symposium‎‎ on Genital Autonomy and Children's Rights
• 2022: Sixteenth International Symposium on Child Genital Cutting