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|article=
→Prevalence of circumcision
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The United States is unique in having a [[circumcision industry]] that aggressively promotes the practice of medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic, harmful infant [[circumcision]]. The decline of the unnecessary practice has been slowed by payments for unnecessary circumcision by various government heath programs and by continual encouragement and promotion of circumcision by the [[circumcision industry]]. However, the practice of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of boys is now in gradual decline.
Despite the financially self-serving promotional efforts of the [[circumcision industry]], the incidence of non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of infant boys was reported to have continued its slow decline to 52.1 percent in 2016.<ref name="jacobson2021">{{REFjournal
|volume=205
|issue=1
|pages=257-63
|url=https://www.auajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1097/JU.0000000000001316
==History==
===Colonial and early 19th century===
Jews have lived in America since before the Revolutionary War. They have always practiced [[Jewish circumcision| ritual circumcision]], ([[Brit Milah]]), of boys on the eighth day of life in accordance with the [[Abrahamic covenant]], however this was only for a very small percentage of the population.<ref name="self2016">{{REFjournal
|url=https://journals.troy.edu/index.php/test/article/view/386/302
One may be certain that the eighteenth century [https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/founding-fathers/ Founding Fathers of the United States] of America were men with [[intact]] [[foreskin]]s as were the [[foreskinned]] men who fought the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Non-therapeutic [[circumcision]] of males for non-religious reasons originated with [[Claude François Lallemand]] in 1836 in France but soon spread to the [[United Kingdom]] in the early nineteenth century, from which it eventually spread to other English-speaking nations.<ref name="hodges1997">[[Frederick M. Hodges| Hodges FM]]. [https://lust-for-life.org/Lust-For-Life/_Textual/GeorgeCDenniston-MarilynFayreMilos-editors_JamesDeMeo_SexualMutilations-AHumanTragedy_1997_235pp/GeorgeCDenniston-MarilynFayreMilos-editors_JamesDeMeo_SexualMutilations-AHumanTragedy_1997_235pp.pdf#page=28 A short history of the institutionalization of involuntary sexual mutilations in the United States]. in: Denniston GC, Milos MF (eds.), Sexual Mutilations: A Human Tragedy (New York: Plenum Publishing, 1997), pp. 17-40. (ISBN 0-306-45589-7)</ref>
Edward Dixon (1847) recommended circumcision to prevent the spread of syphilis.<ref name="self2016" />
[[H. L. Rosenberry]], {{MD}}, (1894) published a paper "proving" that circumcision cures urinary and rectal incontinence.<ref name="self2016" /> <ref name="rosenberry1894">{{Rosenberry1894}}</ref>
Dr. [[E. J. Spratling]] (1895) provided information for other doctors.<ref name="self2016" />He gaved a detailed explanation of how a circumcision is to be done so as to make it as difficult as possible to achieve orgasm by [[masturbation]].<ref>{{REFjournal
|last=Spratling
|init=EJ
}}</ref>
[[Abraham L. Wolbarst]], {{MD}}, a Jewish New York doctor, apparently considered [[L. Emmett Holt|Holt]]'s paper to be an attack on [[Brit Milah| ritual circumcision ]] or perhaps [[Judaism ]] itself. He collected ''opinions'' from other doctors of the alleged value of [[circumcision ]] for health and published those ''opinions'' as ''scientific fact'' in a 1914 ''JAMA'' article.<ref name="wolbarst1914">{{REFjournal |last=Wolbarstentitled ''Universal circumcision as as sanitary measure]].
|first=Abraham L.
|init=AL
===Late twentieth century===
The late twentieth century was characterized by increasing opposition to non-therapeutic circumcision of boys by [[intactivists]] and increasing efforts by the circumcision industry to protect [[third-party payment]] for performance of non-therapeutic circumcision of non-consenting boys; and by increasing recognition that newborn boys intensely feel [[pain]] and that non-therapeutic male [[circumcision]] is a [[trauma| horribly traumatic experience]].
[[Abraham Ravich]] (1951) falsely claimed that [[circumcision]] prevents [[cervical cancer]] in women.<ref name="ravitch1951">{{Ravich1951}}</ref>
}}</ref>
Preston (1970) considered the matter of infant [[circumcision]]. He examined and debunked claims that male circumcision could prevent cancer of the [[cervix ]] in women, cancer of the [[penis ]] and cancer of the prostate in men. Preston concluded:
<blockquote>Routine circumcision of the newborn is an unnecessary procedure. It provides questionable benefits and is associated with a small but definite incidence of complications and hazards. These risks are preventable if the operation is not performed unless truly medically indicated. Circumcision of the newborn is a procedure that should no longer be considered routine.<ref>{{REFjournal
Laumann et al. reported an incidence of newborn circumcision of 78 percent in 1971.
The [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] (AAP) is not an "academy" at all. It is a [[medical trade association ]] that protects and advances the business and financial interests of its pediatrician "fellows". Influenced by Preston's paper, the AAP published a manual on the hospital care of newborn infants in 1971. The manual included the statement:
<blockquote>
<b>There are no valid medical indications for circumcision in the neonatal period.</b><ref>{{REFbook
|year=1971
|title=Standards and Recommendation for Hospital Care of Newborn infants
Grimes concluded:
<blockquote> However, until the benefits of [[Routine Infant Circumcision| routinecircumcision]] circumcision of the neonate can be proved worth the risk and cost, medical resources probably should be allocated to measures of demonstrated value.<ref name="grimes1978" />
</blockquote>
The American circumcision industry appears to have totally ignored Grimes' concerns.
It was at about this time that several small organizations that opposed non-therapeutic circumcision of boys started to appear. They were the first [[intactivists]], although that word had not yet been coined. One such organization was the Remain Intact Organization of Larchwood, Iowa, which was lead by Rev. [[George Zangger| Russell George Zangger]]. From the 1970s to the 1990s Zangger sent out cards with New Testament quotations that said the outward sign of circumcision is of no value. [[Jeffrey R. Wood]] formed [[INTACT Educational Foundation| INTACT]] (Infants Need to Avoid Circumcision [[Trauma]]), founded in 1976 as a local resource serving Western Massachusetts, and "Dedicated to Preserving Freedom of Choice." The organization gained recognition and had members across the nation.
Boczko & Freed (1979) collected cases of [[penile cancer]] in [[circucisedcircumcised]] men and by so doing, disproved the false belief propagated since 1932 by [[Abraham L. Wolbarst]] that circumcision was protective against penile cancer.<ref name="boczko1979">{{REFjournal
|last=Boczo
|first=Stanley
|accessdate=2021-10-11
}}</ref>
[[BUFF| Brothers United for Future Foreskins]] (1982) revived the practice of [[epispasm]] (non-surgical [[foreskin restoration]]) that had not been praticed since antiquity.
[[Marilyn Fayre Milos]], {{RN}}, while a nursing student at [https://www.mymarinhealth.org/locations/medical-center/ Marin General Hospital], witnessed an unanesthetized circumcision of a newborn boy in 1979. Shocked by the extreme [[pain]] and horror of it, she became an opponent of infant circumcision and was forced to resign in 1985 from her nursing position at Marin General Hospital where infant non-therapeutic circumcision is a profit center and promoted to parents. She immediately created the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers ([[NOCIRC]]) in 1985.
===Early twenty-first century===
====First Quarter====
The twenty-first century has been characterized by greater opposition to non-therapeutic circumcision of boys in the general population, the utter failure of the circumcision industry's vaunted new circumcision policy, and much more attention to legal and ethical issues relating to non-therapeutic circumcision of boys.
|year=2008
|title=Ch. 10: American Law and the Circumcision of Children
|url=https://www.i2researchhub.org/articles/ch-10-american-law-and-the-circumcision-of-children-doc-genital-integrity-statement/
|work=Genital Integrity Policy
|editor=
[[Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.)]] issued a Genital Integrity Policy in June 2008.<ref name-"doc2008">{{REFdocument
|title=Genital Integrity Policy
|url=https://www.i2researchhub.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/GenitalIntegrityStatement.pdf
|contribution=
|last=Hill
}}</ref>
[[Georganne Chapin]] founded [[Intact America]] in 2008with the aid of a grant from Texas philanthropist Dean Pisani.
[[Robert S. Van Howe|Van Howe]] & Svoboda (2008) said of the American practice of medically-unnecessary, non-therapeutic infant circumcision:
}}</ref>
The ill-fated 2012 [[AAP ]] Circumcision Policy Statement expired on August 31, 2017 in accordance with AAP policy, because it was not reaffirmed. The AAP has had ''no'' official circumcision policy since that time.
[[Dan Bollinger|Bollinger]] (2019) discussed circumcision as an adverse childhood experience,<ref name-"bollinger2019">{{REFdocument
|quote=
}}</ref> Infant circumcision is a profit center for many American hospitals so parents are pushed to circumcise.
[[Intact America]] (2024) called child circumcision "an outdated practice in desperate need of reevaluation",<ref name="alissa2024-12-16">{{REFweb
|url=https://intactamerica.org/circumcision-reevaluation/
|title=Circumcision: An Outdated Practice in Desperate Need of Re-Evaluation
|last=Alissa
|first=Kristel
|init=
|author-link=
|publisher=Intact America
|date=2024-12-16
|accessdate=2024-12-23
}}</ref> and exposed the propaganda that has promoted the harmful but profitable practice of child circumcision.<ref>{{REFweb
|url=https://intactamerica.org/exposing-circumcision-propaganda/
|title=The Unkindest Cut: Exposing the Propaganda That Normalized Circumcision—and How We Reclaim the Truth
|last=Alissa
|first=Kristel
|init=
|author-link=
|publisher=Intact America
|date=2024-11-19
|accessdate=2024-12-23
}}</ref>
[[Intact America]] (2024) reports a rapid increase in the percentage of Americans who oppose the harmful [[circumcision]] of boys.<ref>{{REFweb
|url=https://www.instagram.com/p/DKVZQGTRl77/?igsh=MWV1aW90MzBpd2dzdA%3D%3D
|title=Opposition to circumcision overtime.
|last=Anonymous
|first=
|init=
|author-link=
|publisher=Intact America
|date=2024
|accessdate=2025-06-01
}}</ref>
====Second quarter====
[[PEPFAR]] (2025) has scrapped its ineffective and harmful "voluntary male medical circumcision" ([[VMMC]]) program after 15 years and at least 27,000,000 harmful and useless [[foreskin]] amputations.<ref name="gwarisa2025">{{REFnews
|title=New PEPFAR Waiver Scraps Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Program
|url=https://healthtimes.co.zw/2025/02/07/new-pepfar-waiver-scraps-voluntary-medical-male-circumcision-program/
|last=Gwarisa
|first=Michael
|init=
|author-link=
|publisher=Healthtimes
|website=
|date=2025-02-07
|accessdate=2025-02-15
|format=
|quote=
}}</ref> Numerous studies have demonstrated that [[adult circumcision]] is not effective in preventing [[HIV]] [[infection]]. Child [[circumcision]] had previously been discontinued.
[[Eric Clopper]] has organized [[Intact Global]] in 2024, which has the goal of litigating in numerous states to ensure that boys will enjoy "the equal protection of the law". Intact Global instituted a suit against the state of Oregon in March 2025.
==Government financial support for non-therapeutic circumcision==
* [https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/4440 Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program] — Covers federal employees and families.
* [https://www.medicare.gov/ Medicare] − Covers persons who have reached 65 years of age.
==The second term of President Donald J. Trump==
The second term of President Donald J. Trump commenced on 21 January 2025. President Trump has promised far-reaching reforms of the executive branch of the government of the United States. It is not clear at this time (9 February 2025) how this will affect the practice of male [[circumcision]] in the United States. We note that the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief ([[PEPFAR]]) has been paused. The performance of ineffective [[genital mutilation]] (male circumcision) on African males may have stopped.<ref>{{REFnews
|title=Trump's Foreign Aid Freeze
|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-rubio-pepfar-prep-usaid_n_67a65f98e4b0682fe26ceb1f
|last=Cohn
|first=Jonathan
|init=
|author-link=
|last2=
|init2=
|author2-link=
|publisher=Huffpost
|website=
|date=2025-02-07
|season=
|accessdate=2025-02-09
|format=
|quote=
}}</ref>
== Statistical data ==
The National Center for Health Statistics (2013) reported that the incidence of child [[circumcision]] has been declining for thirty years.<ref>{{REFweb
|url=https://blogs.cdc.gov/nchs/2013/08/22/1667/
|title=Male Newborn Circumcision on a Three Decade Decline
|last=
|first=
|init=
|author-link=
|publisher=National Center for Health Statistics
|date=2013-08-22
|accessdate=2025-01-19
}}</ref>
=== Prevalence of circumcision ===
'''Prevalence of circumcision''' is the percentage of all males of all ages in the population who have been [[circumcised]].
[[Intact America]] carried out a survey in 2022 that claims that 73 percent of all American men were [[circumcised]],<ref>{{REFweb
|url=https://www.intactamerica.org/newsroom-gender-equality/
|date=2022
|accessdate=2023-03-29
}}</ref> however no documentation has been provided so it is not clear in what region it was carried out or what age groups were surveyed. The prevalence of [[circumcision]] varies by age, region, race, and religion. On another webpage, [[Intact America ]] claims 78 percent are circumcised so Intact America is uncertain of its claims.
Peter Moore (2015) reported that 62 percent of all American males reported being [[circumcised]],<ref name="moore2015">{{REFweb
In the Midwest, the incidence of [[circumcision]] has declined to 75 percent, which translates to a [[genital integrity]] rate increase to 25 percent or 1 in 4 boys having an [[intact]] foreskin.<ref name="jacobson2021" /> The previous report from 2010 was one boy in five being intact,<ref name="bollinger2017" /> and before that it was 1 in 10 boys being [[intact]], so this in an increase of 250 percent (0.25/0.10 X 100 = 250%) in the rate of [[Intact| intactness]] for the Midwest. The still high incidence of circumcision in the Midwest is counterbalanced by the low incidence in the West.
=== Intact Intactness is the new norm === [[Intactness]] had previously been shamed in the United States,<ref name="garrett2023-12-21">{{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/foreskin-phobia-intact-penis-shamed/ |title=Foreskin Phobia: How The Intact Penis Has Been Shamed |last=Garrett |first=Connor |init= |author-link=Connor Judson Garrett |publisher=Intact America |date=2023-12-21 |accessdate=2024-05-15}}</ref> but that era has ended. [[Intact America]] called attention to the existence of a "tipping point", when public opinion would shift toward [[intactness]] in 2016.<ref>{{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/do-you-know-about-the-tipping-point/ |title=Do You Know: About the “Tipping Point? |last=Chapin |first=Georganne |init= |author-link=Georganne Chapin |publisher=Intact America |date=2016-11-01 |accessdate=2024-06-03}}</ref> Public opinion in the United States in 2024 has now reached that tipping point.
The percentage of American boys being [[circumcised]] has been slowly but progressively declining for a long time, while the number of boys with [[intact]] [[foreskin]] has correspondingly increased.<ref name="jacobson2021" /> The percentage of [[intact]] newborn boys now exceeds the percentage of [[circumcised]] newborn boys.
As the present trend continues, being [[intactintactness]] is now becoming the more usual, normal , and expected condition for newborn infant boys in America.
==American [[genital integrity]] organizations==
* [[Financial incentive]]
* [[Intact-friendly]]
* [https://en.intactiwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page Home page]* [[Living with a foreskin in circumcised America]]
{{LINKS}}
* {{URLwikipedia|United_States|United States}}
* {{REFweb
|url=https://www.cirp.org/library/legal/USA/
[[Category:BSM]]
[[Category:USACountries]]
[[Category:Male circumcision]]
[[Category:Circumcision]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:USA]]
[[de:Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika]]