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using Template:Sorrells etal 2007
The [[Intactivists]] movement, which promotes the idea that the possession of intact genitals is a [[human rights| human right]], is active against the genital mutilation of all children. [[Intactivists]] clarify many widespread myths about [[circumcision]], especially those concerned with male genital cutting. Advocates of circumcision often allege there are advantages. But the results of evidence-based scientific studies disprove these. They provide convincing arguments that the [[foreskin]] is not a superfluous piece of skin, but a part of the body with many positive functions and its lack leads to many disadvantages. To explain this, it is important to provide reliable, i.e. also verifiable, information about the anatomy of the [[foreskin]].
Medical studies of the past 25 years have provided much good evidence for [[intactivists]]. Evidence can be found, for example, that the [[foreskin]], especially at the end, is very densely supplied with nerve endings<ref name="Taylor">Taylor JR, Lockwood AP, Taylor AJ. The prepuce: specialized mucosa of the [[penis]] and its loss to circumcision. Br J Urol 1996;77:291-295. http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/</ref>, and is very sensitive to fine touch, even more sensitive than the [[Glans penis|glans]]<ref>{{Sorrells ML, Snyder JL, Reiss MD, ''et al''. Fine-touch pressure thresholds in the adult [[penis]]. ''BJU Int'' etal 2007;99:864-9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17378847}}</ref>. Basically this is enough to emphasize the special sensitivity of the [[foreskin]]. However, it is in this connection that the above figures are often quoted.
The traceable story of the legend of "20,000 nerve endings" began in October '''1997''', when the article "The Case Against Circumcision"<ref name="Fleiss">Fleiss, P. The case against circumcision. Mothering Magazine (Santa Fe). Winter 1997. http://www.cirp.org/news/Mothering1997/</ref> by Paul Fleiss appeared in the popular mothers’ magazine “Mothering”. This is the first documentation of the ‘fact’, that the [[foreskin]] contains "more than 20,000 nerve endings". Fleiss referred to an article from 1932 by the English Physiologist H. C. Bazett (1885-1950) together with other authors within a medical scientific journal.<ref name="bazett1932">Bazett HC, McGlone B, Willams RG, Lufkin HM. [http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/bazett/ I. Depth, distribution and probable identification in the prepuce of sensory end-organs concerned in sensations of temperature and touch thermo-metric conductivity]. ''Arch Neurol Psychiatry'' 1932;27(3):489-517.</ref>