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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. [http://www.cirp.org/news/Mothering1997/ The case against circumcision]. ''Mothering Magazine'' (Santa Fe). Winter 1997.</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>
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=W0kr6BiVZMMfilm "Whose Body, Whose Rights?"] </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>