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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. [http://www.cirp.org/library/anatomy/taylor/The prepuce: specialized [[mucosa ]] of the [[penis]] and its loss to circumcision]. ''Br J Urol'' 1996;77:291-295.</ref>, and is very sensitive to fine touch, even more sensitive than the [[Glans penis|glans]]<ref>{{Sorrells etal 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. [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>
1995, in the film "[[Whose Body, Whose Rights?]]"<ref name="WhoseBody" /> starting from Montagu's description of the number of nerve endings in normal skin, the number of nerve endings in the [[foreskin]] was calculated as follows: “15 square inches comfortably fits 15 quarters. This analogy helps us to understand that the adult [[foreskin]] contains … over 1000 nerve endings …" (15 × more than 50 = more than 750), which NOHARMM supplements to "Since Dr. Taylor's research suggests that the [[foreskin]] is '''more densely enervated than "normal" skin''', a circumcised man likely loses many times more than 1,000 nerve endings.”<ref name="circumcisionharm" /><sup>b</sup>
==== The “ridged band" ====
In 1996 the article by the Canadian pathologist [[John R. Taylor]] et al.<ref name="Taylor" /> about the “ridged band” of the [[foreskin]] had appeared. Taylor reported, that the encapsulated nerve endings<ref>Nerve endings can be divided into types with or without end corpuscles (corpuscular/encapsulated or free nerve endings). “… the free nerve endings (FNE) … do not seem to have any part in fine touch sensation (they are innervated by unmyelinated axons which conduct too slowly, don’t have specialised end corpuscles to transduce vibration, etc. and have a high threshold, all of which prevent the conduction of fine touch).” [[Ken McGrath|McGrath]], Fn 29b</ref> of the [[foreskin]] are concentrated in the “ridged band” and thus are distributed very differently. In his article, Fleiss also mentions the "ridged [[mucosa]]" and calls Taylor as a source. He therefore knew of Taylor’s work.
==== Nerve endings in the [[foreskin]] / 1cm² ====
In 1997 Fleiss knew from Bazett et al. (1932).<ref name="bazett1932" />,<ref name="JAMA" /> that they had counted 212 nerve endings within a 1cm²-piece of a single [[foreskin]] tissue (Table 1, p. 492). Now it is obvious that Fleiss reckoned similarly therewith and with the [[foreskin]] size of 15 sq.inch = 96.8 cm² (or with 8×13 = 104 cm²): 96.8 cm²×212 nerve endings / cm² = 20,522 nerve endings (or 104×212 = 22,048; short: 100×>200= >20,000). So he obviously came to "more than 20,000 nerve endings".