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Before the 19th century, [[circumcision]] existed only as a ritual for some cultures and religions. However, the belief that Jews were immune to [[masturbation]] because of their [[circumcision]], led to the inclusion of [[circumcision]] among the plethora of genital surgeries.
The late 19th century and early 20th century saw the first opponents of medical [[circumcision]], such as Herbert Snow, [[Elizabeth CromwellBlackwell]], first female {{MD}}<ref>{{REFbook
|last=Blackwell
|first=Elizabeth
=== 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 [https://www.thegirlgeneration.org/organisations/inter-african-committee-traditional-practices-affecting-health-women-and-children-iac Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children], founded after a seminar in Dakar, Senegal, in 1984, called for an end to the practice, as did the UN's World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993. The conference listed [[FGM ]] as a form of violence against women, marking it as a human-rights violation, rather than a medical issue. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s African governments banned or restricted it.
The United Nations General Assembly included [[FGM ]] in resolution 48/104 in December 1993, the ''Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women''. In 2003 the UN began sponsoring an International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation every February 6.
In 2008 several United Nations bodies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, published a joint statement recognizing [[FGM ]] as a human-rights violation.[191] In December 2012 the General Assembly passed resolution 67/146, calling for intensified efforts to eliminate it.
Most countries in the world have legislation prohibiting [[FGM]].
Since [[intactivism]] is prevalent mostly in countries where [[FGM ]] is not prevalent, and since campaigns against FGM are led by recognized global organizations, [[intactivists ]]have very limited action regarding FGM. [[Intactivists ]] however remain attentive to ensure that [[FGM ]] does not spread to their countries of influence.
When the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]] in 2010 suggested that "pricking or incising the clitoral [[skin]]" was a harmless procedure that might satisfy parents, [[intactivist ]] organizations and individuals were quick to respond in condemning the "policy statement on ritual genital cutting of female minors".
While the [[intactivist]] movement at large recognizes all forms of [[female genital mutilation ]] as harmful, some of the organizations leading the campaigns against FGM do not recognize any harm in male [[circumcision]]. In fact, [[Catherine Hankins]], a circumcision promoter who works for the corrupt [[WHO|World Health Organization]], wrote: "it is therefore critical that messaging about male [[circumcision ]] for [[HIV]] prevention not only clearly distinguishes it from FGM but also contributes to efforts to eradicate FGM".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_Against_Female_Genital_Mutilation
=== 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.
Genital reconstructive surgery was pioneered between 1930 and 1960 by urologist Hugh Hampton Young and other surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and other major university centers. Demand for surgery increased dramatically with better understanding of a condition known as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and the availability of a new treatment (cortisone) by Lawson Wilkins, Frederick Bartter and others around 1950.
Genital corrective surgeries in infancy were justified by (1) the belief that genital surgery is less emotionally traumatic if performed before the age of long-term memory, (2) the assumption that a firm gender identity would be best supported by genitalia that "looked the part," (3) the preference of parents for an "early fix," and (4) the observation of many surgeons that connective tissue, [[skin]], and organs of infants heal faster, with less scarring than those of adolescents and adults. However, one of the drawbacks of surgery in infancy was that it would be decades before outcomes in terms of adult sexual function and gender identity could be assessed.
Intactivism and [[intersex]] activism intersected in 1965, when baby [[David Reimer|Bruce Reimer]] had his [[penis]] burned during a [[circumcision]]. Johns Hopkins psychologist [[John Money]] recommended sexually reassigning the baby as a female (conveniently this would serve as an experiment for John Money's theories, as Bruce's twin brother had not been operated). Bruce was renamed Brenda, castrated, subjected to hormone treatment, and raised as a girl. During adolescence, the parents had to tell her him the truth, and Brenda resumed a male identity, now taking the name David. David underwent double mastectomy and two phalloplasties, and replaced hormonal treatment with testosterone. After learning that [[John Money]] continued presenting his case as a success, and that [[intersex]] children were routinely subjected to sexual reassignment, David went public with his story in 1997. David committed [[suicide]] in 2004.
The 1970s and 1980s were perhaps the decades when surgery and surgery-supported sex reassignment were most uncritically accepted in academic opinion, in most children's hospitals, and by society at large. In this context, enhancing the ability of people born with abnormalities of the genitalia to engage in "normal" heterosexual intercourse as adults assumed increasing importance as a goal of medical management. Many felt that a child could not become a happy adult if his penis was too small to insert in a vagina, or if her vagina was too small to receive a penis.
===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, however intactivists are aware of [[regret men]].
=== Intactivism and episiotomies ===
{{LINKS}}
* {{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/intactivism-anti-circumcision/ |title=Intactivism 101: An Anti-Circumcision Guide for Foreskin Activism |last=Anonymous |first= |init= |publisher=Intact America |date=2024-02-02 |accessdate=2024-02-17}}* {{REFweb |url=https://intactamerica.org/public-opinion-on-circumcision/ |title=Public Opinion on Circumcision: Can Intactivists Hit A Tipping Point? |last=Anonymous |first= |init= |publisher=Intact America |date=2024-03-23 |accessdate=2024-03-24}}* {{REFweb |url=http://www.kon.org/urc/v11/wisdom.html |title=Advocating Genital Autonomy: Methods of Intactivism in the United States |last=Wisdom |first=Travis |init= |publisher=Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, Volume 11 |date= |accessdate=2024-02-17}}
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