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→Jonathon Conte, 31: Wikify.
I was about 14 years old when I learned that part of my [[penis]] had been cut off. It seems like this is something that one might realize earlier in life and yet I never did. I was never taught about normal male anatomy and no one ever explained to me that I had undergone genital surgery as an infant. When I learned the devastating truth, my stomach sank and my throat closed up.
It wasn't easy for me to accept reality. Even though I understood that part of my body had been removed, I was in denial about the implications of this fact. I battled with depression, particularly whenever I had to see my [[penis]]. Each time that I got undressed to take a shower, I would see the [[Circumcision scar | scar]] and I would be reminded of what was stolen from me. Each time that I [[Preputial_sac#Urination| urinated]], I would be reminded that I would never know how my body was meant to look and how my body was meant to feel. I felt violated and helpless. I felt embarrassed and angry. I felt robbed and betrayed. I felt incomplete and damaged. And yet, I was incapable of verbalizing any of this. I was paralysed by embarrassment of my condition and by fear that others would neither understand nor sympathize.
It took over a decade of trying to cope with my emotions before I gained the strength to take a closer look at the issue. I read about the [[Foreskin#Physiological_functions| functions]] of the [[intact]] penis. I studied the numerous physical, physiological and [[Psychological issues of male circumcision| psychological]] problems that result from male [[circumcision]] and I began to recognize many of them in my own life. I learned of [[Circumstraint| the way that babies are restrained during the surgery]] and the various techniques that are used to rip, clamp, crush, and cut their tiny bodies. I came to understand the greed, arrogance, and ignorance that perpetuates the [[genital mutilation]] of children.
So now I speak out. Because I don't want any other child to have to make the same painful discovery that I did: That they were denied their [[Human rights| human right]] to keep the whole body with which they were born.
''(Jonathon Conte was an events coordinator for [[Bay Area Intactivists]]. He is was proud to have served on the Committee Opposing Forced Male Circumcision which gathered the signatures of over 12,000 San Francisco voters in support of the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation Bill. This speech, which he kindly provided me with, was held at the [[AAP]] Conference in New Orleans in October 2012)''<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NF0oTsNp9Q</ref>
== Andreas A. ==