Changes

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 etal et al 2007}}</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”“''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 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>

The popular American pediatrician [[Paul Fleiss]] (1933-2014), in empathy with the children, was very active against the genital mutilation of newborns by [[RIC]](non-therapeeutic) (Routine Infant Circumcision) in USA. Fleiss, [[Marilyn Milos|Marilyn F. Milos]], and alongside them many other [intactivist]] pioneers, have contributed enormously to explaining its negative consequences. Fleiss knew of the article by Bazett et al. (1932) through the medical historian F. Hodges. Fleiss and Hodges were well known to each other. They appeared both in the 1995 film “[[Whose Body, Whose Rights?]]”<ref name="WhoseBody">film "Whose Body, Whose Rights?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0kr6BiVZMM</ref>, and together they co-authored several articles<ref>Letter ; Neonatal circumcision does not protect against penile cancer; [[foreskin]] IS NECESSARY; AIDS and circumcision ; Circumcision in infancy ; Authors’ reply ; Immunological functions of the human prepuce</ref> and two books<ref name="SweetDreams">a) Sweet Dreams 2000; b) www.amazon.com/What-Your-Doctor-About-Circumcision/dp/0446678805 2002</ref>. In “The Case Against Circumcision” Fleiss referred to Hodges’ article: “A short history of circumcision in the United States” from Jan. 1997, wherein Hodges writes about Bazett’s “detailed anatomical description of the innervation of the [[foreskin]].”<ref>http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=0: Fn 50</ref>

The dissemination of Fleiss’ article took place through the Intactivist movement through [[NOCIRC]], [[Doctors Opposing Circumcision|DOC]], [[NOHARMM]], NRC and “[[Mothers Against Circumcision]]”, amongst others.<ref>http://www.nocirc.org/ ; http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcision.org/ ; http://www.noharmm.org/ ; http://childrightsnurses.org/ ; “For More Information”: http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/fleiss.html</ref>

However, in the article by Bazett et al. (1932),<ref name ="bazett1932" /> no number is given for the nerve endings in the [[foreskin]] as a whole. Only a count of 212 nerve endings in a 1 cm² piece of a single prepuce tissue is given (see Table 1, p. 492). The 29-page Bazett article of 1932<ref name="bazett1932"/> to which Fleiss refers as a source for his "20,000", without mentioning the page, is only provided with "Conclusions" at CIRP: "For both technical reasons and perceived lack of general interest, CIRP will not present these parts and will only transcribe the conclusions." Pretense? – the entire article is available in the archive of "The JAMA Network"<ref name="JAMA">http://jamanetwork.com/journals/archneurpsyc/article-abstract/645191</ref>. The article may be available in 2019 but it was not available in the spring of 1997.