Intactivism: Difference between revisions
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<div style="float:right;">[[File:Van Lewis 1970 CROP.jpg]]</div> | <div style="float:right;">[[File:Van Lewis 1970 CROP.jpg]]</div> | ||
Intactivism as a grassroots movement started in 1970 when [[Van Lewis | Intactivism as a grassroots movement started in 1970 when [[Van Lewis]] and [[Benjamin Lewis]] protested demanding the abolition of infant circumcision outside a hospital in Tallahassee, Florida. From a few lone protestors, the movement started becoming organized in the 1980s with the creation of the [[NOCIRC|National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers]] NOCIRC, founded by [[Marilyn Milos]] in 1985, the [[National Organization of Restoring Men]] (NORM), and the [[NOHARMM|National Organization to Halt the Abuse and Routine Mutilation of Males]] (NOHARMM). Non-surgical methods for [[foreskin restoration]] are widely shared. | ||
The popularization of internet and the appearance of online social networks contributed to the growth and spread of the intactivist movement during the last decade of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century. | The popularization of internet and the appearance of online social networks contributed to the growth and spread of the intactivist movement during the last decade of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century.<div style="clear:both;"></div> | ||
== Origin of the name == | |||
The word intactivism was coined by [[Richard De Seabra]] of the [[National Organization of Restoring Men]] (NORM) in 1995. It combines the words intact (in reference to intact genitals) and activism. | |||
== | ==Areas of interest == | ||
=== Non-therapeutic circumcision of children === | |||
===Non-therapeutic circumcision of children=== | |||
Intactivism started specifically as a movement against the non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors. Intactivism does not intend to ban circumcision globally - intactivism promotes that all children deserve to grow with intact genitals, and that genital surgeries -including circumcision- should only be performed on adults capable of providing informed consent, except in cases of real medical necessity. | Intactivism started specifically as a movement against the non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors. Intactivism does not intend to ban circumcision globally - intactivism promotes that all children deserve to grow with intact genitals, and that genital surgeries -including circumcision- should only be performed on adults capable of providing informed consent, except in cases of real medical necessity. | ||
===Female genital mutilation=== | === Female genital mutilation === | ||
The movement against female genital mutilation started in the early 20th century in the form of local campaigns in places where the practice is prevalent, such as Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. Feminism took the cause during the 1970s. In 1975 the American social scientist Rose Oldfield Hayes became the first female academic to publish a detailed account of FGM. Her article in American Ethnologist called it "female genital mutilation," and brought it to wider academic attention. | The movement against female genital mutilation started in the early 20th century in the form of local campaigns in places where the practice is prevalent, such as Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. Feminism took the cause during the 1970s. In 1975 the American social scientist Rose Oldfield Hayes became the first female academic to publish a detailed account of FGM. Her article in American Ethnologist called it "female genital mutilation," and brought it to wider academic attention. | ||
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_Against_Female_Genital_Mutilation | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_Against_Female_Genital_Mutilation | ||
===Intersex surgeries=== | === Intersex surgeries === | ||
The history of intersex surgery is intertwined with the development of the specialties of pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, and pediatric endocrinology, with our increasingly refined understanding of sexual differentiation. Ambiguous genitalia has been considered a birth defect throughout recorded history. | The history of intersex surgery is intertwined with the development of the specialties of pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, and pediatric endocrinology, with our increasingly refined understanding of sexual differentiation. Ambiguous genitalia has been considered a birth defect throughout recorded history. | ||
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See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_intersex_surgery | See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_intersex_surgery | ||
===Intactivism and | ===Intactivism and voluntary genital surgery=== | ||
Intactivists do not object to consenting adults undergoing elective genital surgery, although they may question cultural or social influences on the decision (for instance, a man seeking circumcision because his girlfriend finds intact penises “gross”, or labiaplasty influenced by the typical female genitalia presented in pornography). Labiaplasty, sex-change operations, circumcision and other forms of genital modification all come under this category as long as the surgery is entered into freely. | Intactivists do not object to consenting adults undergoing elective genital surgery, although they may question cultural or social influences on the decision (for instance, a man seeking circumcision because his girlfriend finds intact penises “gross”, or labiaplasty influenced by the typical female genitalia presented in pornography). Labiaplasty, sex-change operations, circumcision and other forms of genital modification all come under this category as long as the surgery is entered into freely. | ||
===Intactivism and | === Intactivism and episiotomies === | ||
Many intactivists are also concerned with the process of birth, and consider the routine use of episiotomies by American OB/Gyns, particularly when performed [[Forced episiotomy|against the wishes]] of the mother or when consent is obtained by intimidation, as a form of genital mutilation and violence against a mother in a moment of vulnerability. | Many intactivists are also concerned with the process of birth, and consider the routine use of episiotomies by American OB/Gyns, particularly when performed [[Forced episiotomy|against the wishes]] of the mother or when consent is obtained by intimidation, as a form of genital mutilation and violence against a mother in a moment of vulnerability. | ||