Brian J. Morris

Note: Brian Morris has been attempting to keep the information on this page (then on IntactWiki) from staying available to the public. On 7 March 2011, Morris attempted to remove this page; more on that here. On 26 April 2012, Morris removed information from his website and pamphlets due to information published on this page, information published about the Gilgal Society, and due to an arrest of Vernon Quaintance as a result of information on Quaintance's page. You can review this page, and the related pages, to see what Brian Morris doesn't want you to know.

Brian J. Morris

Member of:

Gilgal Society

Associates with:

Circlist Cutting Club Acorn Society Circumcision Academy of Australia Circumcision Academy of America

Colleagues & Benefactors:

Vernon Quaintance Jake H. Waskett Bertran Auvert Robert C. Bailey Daniel T. Halperin Edgar J. Schoen Stephen Moses Thomas E. Wiswell Guy Cox

Brian James Morris (born 14 July 1950) is a molecular biologist and retired professor of molecular medical sciences at the University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. He is an avid circumcision advocate, who's never heard an argument for circumcision he didn't like. He's the most vocal Australian circumcision promoter, stating that circumcision should be mandatory, and uses regular scare tactics in an attempt to frighten parents into circumcising their children.

Morris is also a member of the Gilgal Society, who publishes circumcision propaganda, fetish stories of young boys being circumcised while others masturbate, and other materials. Gilgal Society has doctors and (circumcision to prevent HIV) researchers among their members. Gilgal is headed by Vernon Quaintance, who was recently arrested for child pornography.

Morris is in regular contact with Jake H. Waskett, who was the number one Wikipedia editor of any articles on circumcision, or are even somewhat related to circumcision.

Early life

Brian Morris was born in South Australia in 1950. In accordance with the then prevailing standard practice, he received a medically unnecessary, non-therapeutic circumcision. It was not the practice to use anaesthesia or analgesic at that time because doctors then falsely believed that infants could not feel pain. We now understand that infant circumcision is an adverse childhood experience and causes physical and psychic trauma. Infant circumcision has been shown to be traumatic in many cases. The extent of little Brian's trauma, if any, is not known, however his adult behaviour is suggestive of a deeply traumatised person with a compulsion to repeat the trauma of infant circumcision on others.

We now understand that infant circumcision is an adverse childhood experience and causes physical and psychic trauma. Brian Morris may be considered to be a victim of circumcision. It is likely that Morris's adult bias for circumcision, as reflected in his writings, derived from his infant experience and his lack of personal experience of a foreskin.

Using Sydney University prestige to silence dissent

Attempts to sack Dr. Karl S. Kruszelnicki

Brian Morris tried to use his status as a professor at the University of Sydney to pressure the university to sack Dr. Karl S. Kruszelnicki, from his position as Julius Sumner Miller Fellow in the School of Physics. As a popular science writer, Dr. Kruszelnicki published an article in Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend publication, titled "May the foreskin be with you," prompting a fierce attack from Brian Morris. Firstly, Morris tried writing in response to the article.

“

Good Weekend, 31 January 2004, Your Say Dr Karl Kruszelnicki ignores the massive scientific support for the benefits of circumcision (Weekender, January 10) and instead presents only extremist anti-circ nonsense from the likes of Paul Fleiss. Dr K fails to even mention that make circumcision prevents a raft of diseases in both sexes, as well as sexual problems in men. Bacteria abound under the foreskin,* accounting for 11-fold higher urinary tract infections. The foreskin is, moreover, an "HIV magnet". Its removal may reduce the risk of AIDS, penile cancer and cervical cancer. Professor Brian Morris University of Sydney – Brian J. Morris

In addition to writing a letter to the newspaper, and trying to get the University of Sydney to sack Dr Kruszelnicki from his position, Morris also filed a formal complaint of bias against the Sydney Morning Herald with the Australian Press Council. These efforts were not successful, however, and the press council dismissed his complaint.

Attempts to block a research paper from being published

In 2011, Morten Frisch, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of sexual health epidemiology at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen and at Aalborg University in Denmark, published a study, which showed an excess of orgasm difficulties in circumcised men, as well as significantly increased frequencies of orgasm difficulties, pain during intercourse and a sense of incomplete sexual needs fulfillment in women with circumcised spouses.

This study was preceded by three other publications based on the same dataset, dealing with sexual dysfunctions in Danish men and women in relation to socioeconomic factors, health factors and lifestyle factors, respectively, which were swimmingly published without serious criticisms from peer reviewers in the two most prestigious US journals of sexual health, the Journal of Sexual Medicine and Archives of Sexual Behavior. After adding the variable of male circumcision status to the analysis, however, the study was met with extremely critical reviews of everything about the entire dataset.

In particular, Brian Morris, along with Jake Waskett and Ronald Gray made extensive, obstructive peer-review comments in a review which included serious insinuations of racism and amateurism. According to a letter of appreciation written by Morten Frisch to the editors of the International Journal of Epidemiology for the publication of his study, Frisch was informed by a colleague that Morris used his mailing list to enact a campaign to write critical letters to the editors of the International Journal of Epidemiology.

“

To IJE Editors I would like to thank the IJE editors for withstanding the pressure from one particularly discourteous and bullying reviewer who went to extremes to prevent our study from being published. After the paper's online publication, I have received emails from colleagues around the world who felt our contribution was useful and potentially important. One colleague informed me that the angry reviewer was the first author of the above letter to the editor. In an email, Morris had called people on his mailing list to arms against our study, openly admitting that he was the reviewer and that he had tried to get the paper rejected. To inspire his followers, Morris had attached his two exceedingly long and aggressive reviews of our paper (12858 words and 5291 words, respectively), calling for critical letters in abundance to the IJE editors. Breaking unwritten confidentiality and courtesy rules of the peer-review process, Morris distributed his slandering criticism of our study to people working for the same cause. – Morten Frisch

Connection to the Gilgal Society

Morris hides his association with the 'Gilgal Society'

On the 26th of April, 2012, documents suddenly disappeared from Brian Morris's website. The documents were his leaflets promoting circumcision, bearing the imprint of the Gilgal Society. Recently, the head of the Gilgal Society, Vernon Quaintance, had been convicted of possessing child pornography.

Until the 26th of April, 2012, Morris's leaflet, "Circumcision A Guide For Parents", said it was published by Brian Morris & The Gilgal Society, with the society's address and logo. As of the 26th of April, 2012, all references to the society are gone, along with a reference to Morris's "interest in circumcision".

Morris's leaflet for women, "Sex and Circumcision: What every woman needs to know", which boasted a long list of co-authors—a virtual roll-call of the pro-circumcison movement—was removed and later replaced by a black and white version—again, with all reference to the Gilgal Society removed. Links to the Circumcision Foundation of Australia and the circumcision fetish site Circlist have been added.

Since April 11th 2012 (the day Vernon Quaintance's court hearing was set, the Gilgal Society website has carried the message:
"We regret that as a result of major computer failure none of our publications are currently available to order from us." But Professor Morris's leaflets continue to be advertised on the site.

Morris's site continues to show a "circumcision humor" page, including a verse by Vernon Quaintance, directly under a picture of a baby with his foreskin trapped in a cellphone.

Brian Morris' websites

Original website

Brian Morris formerly ran a circumcision website hosted by the University of Sydney. The University of Sydney asked Brian Morris not to associate his views on circumcision with his position at the university. While no longer on University of Sydney equipment, www.circinfo.net is again operational.

Recommended

Morris' website links to the following recommended websites and groups (8 of which are circumfetish sites, and 7 that sell devices to perform circumcisions):

• The Gilgal Society
• Circlist (German)
• Circlist (Yahoo Asian)
• Erotic Male Circumcision
• Circumcised Kids
• Circumcision Fetish
• SCARandACORN
• Teen Circ
• Cutting Club
• Beschnittene Gay Boys
• Misc. Kids
• Misc. Kids Health
• Misc. Kids Pregnancy
• A list of places to get circumcision devices

Humor

Morris' website also has a circumcision humor section, which contains jokes about children, and even a video called "Don't cha wish your boyfriend was circumcized?" It also contains a picture of a naked child, with a folding cellphone clamped onto his foreskin, dangling from the end of his penis, on the humor section of his website. It appears as if an adult purposely put the cell phone there and took the picture.

Foreskin fetish?

On several occasions Morris has called those against circumcision, foreskin fetishists. He sometimes cites a paper written in 1965 called "Foreskin fetishism and its relation to ego pathology in a male homosexual" (which links to Jake H. Waskett's website). Waskett is homosexual.

“

Allegations of a Homosexual Agenda Behind Intactivism A subgroup of the gay community practice “docking”, a sexual practice that requires the foreskin. Naturally such men would want to ensure that an adequate supply of boys with foreskins are coming up through the ranks, where a proportion will have an orientation towards males. Why don’t those who wish to outlaw male circumcision be honest enough to admit the REAL reason for their campaign? And by the way, “docking” is regarded on gay health websites as unsafe sex, as it exposes the vulnerable mucosal inner lining of the foreskin to infection by HIV, to name just some of the medical hazards posed by the foreskin. – Brian J. Morris

Does it make sense to have a fetish about a genital organ?

fet·ish [fet-ish, fee-tish]

Psychology. Any object or nongenital part of the body that causes a habitual erotic response or fixation.

Some of Brian Morris' arguments for circumcision

“	Mandatory Circumcision should be made compulsitory. – Brian J. Morris

“	Intact males are having sex Because parents have been encouraged not to circumcise their kids, what we're now seeing is a big rise in number of uncircumcised males entering the sexually active community. – Brian J. Morris

“	Bathroom Splatter Boys and men who are not circumcised can be a source of irritation if they do not retract the foreskin when they urinate, as 'splatter' will occur. – Brian J. Morris

“	Zipper Injury In uncircumcised boys the foreskin can become accidentally entrapped in zippers, resulting in pain, trauma, swelling and scarring of this appendage. Foreskin accidents in men can also occur. – Brian J. Morris

“	Saving lives? Millions of lives will be saved by universal circumcision. – Brian J. Morris

“	Women, be afraid! Circumcision must be advocated for reducing AIDS, and the impact on cervical cancer and other conditions in women. – Brian J. Morris

“	Intact penises kill people The benefits exceed the risks by 100 to 1. One in three males--as a conservative estimate--will get a medical problem, many will die, if they're not circumcised. I'm being very serious about this. – Brian J. Morris

“	A Good Talking To For sure, there will be people who don't want it done, just as there are opponents of vaccination, but the benefits are so incredibly vast that any parent not wanting their child circumcised REALLY needs a good talking to. – Brian J. Morris

“

Whose Responsibility? The greatest benefits accrue the earlier in life the procedure is performed. If left till later ages the individual has already been exposed to the risk of urinary tract infections, the physical problems and carries a residual risk of penile cancer. Moreover, it would take a very street-wise, outgoing, adolescent male to make this decision and undertake the process of ensuring that it was done. [...] many will suffer in silence rather than seek medical advice or treatment. Really though parental responsibility must over-ride arguments based on 'the rights of the child'. – Brian J. Morris (circinfo.net)

Public statements

Insight

Morris participated in the Australian TV debate show "Insight: The First Cut". His statements pro circumcision can easily be read in the transcript right here.

• Insight, The First Cut - Transcript, SBS One. Retrieved 8 November 2021.

Private statements

Female circumcision

The following was an email response from Morris, to an email citing two studies that claim to show female circumcision does not reduce sexual pleasure.

Mandatory circumcision

Morris thinks circumcision should be required by law.

Circumcision tourism

“

Brian Morris Watching Masai Boys During Circumcision Ritual in Kenya, 1989 I have some wonderful photographs of a group of Masai boys in their early teens that I met in Kenya in 1989 dressed in their dark circumcision robes, with white feathers as headwear, and white painted facial decoration that stood out against their very black skin. Each wore a pendant that was the razor blade used for their own circumcision. The ceremony that they had gone through is a special part of their tribal culture and was very important to these boys, who were proud to show that they were now ‘men’. In other cultures it is associated with preparation for marriage and as a sign of entry into manhood. – Brian J. Morris

CircLeaks incident

On March 7th 2011, a new user account by the name of Brianm signed up for Circleaks, attempted to blank this page, then successfully blanked the page entirely. A few minutes later Brianm added Brian Morris' website (circinfo.net) to the page, then added and removed edit=brianm. At this point an Administrator reverted the removal, and locked the page due to repeated attempts of removal without discussion. A message was then posted on Brianm's talkpage, notifying the user that their removals have been reverted, that if a statement is shown to be false it will be removed, and that registering simply to delete content that's incriminating to someone isn't compatible with Circleaks wiki policies. A Circleaks administrator checked the IP address of brianm and found the user to be in Australia, NSW, Sydney, University of Sydney. Soon after brianm's edits, Brian Morris sent an email to his mailing list regarding this page.

The following was an email response from Morris to his mailing list on March 7th 2011, several hours after User:Brianm made an account, and blanked this page.

On March 8th 2011, Morris posted an almost identical message on a science blog at Science 20.

On accusations of libel: CircLeaks prides itself on verifiable accuracy. Anyone may check the validity of any claim by checking the citations. If a claim is shown to be false, the claim will be altered or removed to reflect the new and more accurate information. If Morris finds anything on this page to be false, all he has to do is demonstrate the error, and said error will be removed or corrected. Blanking the entire page is not the way to resolve an error, and may instead appear to be an attempt to hide factual information. If you would like to challenge a claim on this page, please discuss it on the talk page.

CircWatch

• Posts about Brian Morris on CircWatch

Summary

Brian James Morris, a circumcised native of Australia, has devoted his life to the promotion of circumcision and foreskin loss for all males everywhere, however, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians' official advice on circumcision rejects all of his claims.

The incidence of non-therapeutic neonatal circumcision in Australia reportedly has declined to four boys in 100. His claims have been rejected in his native land.

Biased publications

Note: IntactiWiki does not recommend the publications indexed in this section.

In March of 2011, Morris published a paper in Am J Prev Med called "Circumcision denialism unfounded and unscientific." He had the paper co-authored by Daniel Halperin, Edgar J. Schoen, Stephen Moses, and others.

In August of 2011, Morris published a paper called "Male Circumcision: An Appraisal of Current Instrumentation" with an editor of Circlist (a circumcision fetish group).

Morris seems to never have done any direct research on circumcision or the foreskin, but only selective paper research. Various of his publications have only been peer-reviewed by circumcision fetish fellows of him. In August 2016 e.g., Morris published a critique of a paper that itself had critiqued the practice of circumcision. But the sole reviewer of Morris’s article was a frequent co-author of his, Aaron Tobian of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In his reference section, Morris listed five papers on which he and Tobian were co-authors.

• Morris BJ, Krieger JN. Does male circumcision affect sexual function, sensitivity, or satisfaction?. J Sex Med. November 2013; 10(11): 2644-57. PMID. DOI. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
• Morris BJ, Krieger JN. Non-therapeutic male circumcision. Paediatrics and Child Health. November 2019; 30(3) DOI. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
• Morris BJ, Moreton S, Krieger JN. Critical evaluation of arguments opposing male circumcision: A systematic review. J Evid Based Med. November 2019; 12(4): 263-90. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
• Morris BJ, Kennedy SF, Wodak AD, Mindel A, Golovsky D, Schrieber L, Lumbers ER, Handelsman DJ, Ziegler JB. Early infant male circumcision: Systematic review, risk-benefit analysis, and progress in policy. World J Clin Pediatr. 8 February 2017; 6(9): 89-102. PMID. PMC. DOI. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
• Morris BJ, Wodak AD, Mindel A, Schrieber L, Duggan KA, Dilley A, Willcourt RJ, Lowy M, Cooper DA, et al. Infant male circumcision: An evidence-based policy statement. Open J Preventive Medicine. February 2012; 2(1) DOI. Retrieved 19 July 2022.

Morris's papers are noted for the frequent citation of previous works by Morris and others of his clique. His co-authors are usually members of his clique. He openly publishes a list of his authors which are also members of the alleged medical organisation Circumcision Academy of Australia, with most of them highly biased in favor of circumcision for several reasons.

It has been observed in 2024 that Morris now publishes only in open access free journals. It appears that the more respected journal no longer accept his papers.

Bias revealed

Professor Gregory J. Boyle has reviewed an article by Morris & Krieger and explained the devices and tricks Morris uses to make the evidence support his biased pre-ordained conclusion.

Crossdisciplinary researcher Brian D. Earp revealed very graphically how totally biased authors, like Morris and his co-authors, can place pseudoscientific papers in important journals without their bias being admitted or discovered before publication.

Morris gets his friends and associates to review his articles to give them the illusion of having been impartially reviewed.

Co-authors

See Brian J. Morris/Co-authors.

See also

• Australia
• Bias
• Circumcised doctors
• Circumcision Academy of Australia
• Circumcision advocate
• Circumfetish -- Traits consistent with Brian Morris' profile.
• Jake H. Waskett -- Morris uses Waskett to do his dirty work.
• Journal of Men's Health -- Morris is an editor.
• Vernon Quaintance -- Morris uses Vernon to create his pro-circumcision brochures.
• Gilgal Society -- Morris is a member.
• Circlist -- Morris promotes and associates with Circlist.
• Cutting Club -- Morris promotes and associates with the Cutting Club.
• Acorn Society -- Morris promotes and associates with the Acorn Society.
• Daniel T. Halperin -- Coauthored a paper with Morris.
• Edgar J. Schoen -- Coauthored a paper with Morris.
• Stephen Moses -- Coauthored a paper with Morris.
• Bertran Auvert -- Colleague & Benefactor of Morris.
• Robert C. Bailey -- Colleague & Benefactor of Morris.
• Thomas E. Wiswell -- Colleague & Benefactor of Morris.

External links

• Crazy Man: Brian J. Morris -- Video.
• Does science support infant circumcision? A skeptical reply to Brian Morris. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
• Rebuttal to Brian Morris. Retrieved 2019-09-19.

References

Note: If a link is broken, you will find a PDF archive link directly behind it (under the same reference number).