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The [[intactivist]] movement (also known as [[genital autonomy]] or [[genital integrity]] movement) is a political movement dedicated to promote the [[genital integrity]] of all people, particularly minors. By “[[genital integrity]],” [[Intactivist|intactivists]] mean the right to grow with [[intact]] genitals and to provide [[informed consent]] for any genital-altering procedure, with certain exceptions for cases of immediate medical need. Attached to [[genital integrity]] are the concepts of bodily autonomy, informed consent, self determination and the children's right to [[physical integrity]]. Intactivists oppose non-therapeutic infant [[circumcision]], gender reassignment surgeries for [[intersex ]] babies, and [[female genital mutilation]].<ref>{{REFweb
|last=Tennant
|first=Sarah
Circumcision of the male, [[infibulation]] of the male [[foreskin]], castration, [[clitoridectomy]], circumcision proper of the female (removal or reduction of the clitoral hood), removal of the nymphae ([[labia minora]]), application of irritants to the genitals, enemas, hysterectomies. The purpose was to reduce excessive sexual desire and its manifestations, such as [[masturbation]], which were suspected to be the cause of many diseases.
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 Cromwell]], first female {{MD}}<ref>{{REFbook
|last=Blackwell
|first=Elizabeth
|isbn=
|accessdate=2018-11-01
}}</ref>. But by changing the rationale for the procedure, [[circumcision ]] survived the transformation from the reflex neurosis theory to the germ theory. What started as circumcision of children, became newborn [[circumcision ]] during and after the World Wars.
In the [[United Kingdom]], an article by [[Douglas Gairdner]] led the NHS to stop coverage of circumcisions in 1949.<ref>{{REFjournal
|url=http://www.cirp.org/library/general/gairdner/
|accessdate=2018-11-01
}}</ref>. Ironically, the prevalence of [[circumcision ]] in the [[United States]] kept growing, with rare opposition.
[[Female genital mutilation ]] never became prevalent, although its practice remained more or less hidden in different places as a punishment for [[masturbation]]. However, since the 1950s, medicine started targeting babies born with atypical genitalia or atypical reproductive organs (intersex) for non-consensual "normalization" surgeries and treatments, some of which have been compared to [[female genital mutilation]]. In general, these procedures are now referred to as Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) by the [[intersex ]] community.
== Modern intactivism ==
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. in 1976, [[Jeffrey R. Wood]] established [[INTACT Educational Foundation]] in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. He promoted the adjective “intact” to define the state of the [[penis]] that has its [[foreskin]].<ref>[[Circumcision: The Painful Dilemma]], 1985, p. 346</ref> 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.<div style="clear:both;"></div>
== Origin of the name ==
=== 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.
=== Female genital mutilation ===
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 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.