22,244
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
wikify Elizabeth Blackwell, add first REFweb
== Article: What's wrong with the movement for genital autonomy ==
On July 9th of 2014, Katharina von Kellenbach published an article on [http://fsrinc.org/ Feminist Studies on Religion], titled [http://fsrinc.org/blog/whats-wrong-genital-autonomy "What's wrong with the movement for genital autonomy"]. In this article, Katharina attributes the creation of the Genital Autonomy to the [http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/29/german-court-bans-male-circumcision/ Cologne case of 2012] which led to temporary age restriction of circumcision in Germany. In this regard, Katharina is wrong, as the genital autonomy movement can be formally traced at least to 1970 in Florida ([http://www.arclaw.org/newsletter/vol-9/no-1/van-lewis-memoriam/mens-lib-picketers-arrested Van and Benjamin Lewis]), although there are individual books and articles (mostly by physicians but also by humanists) prior to this time, mostly in the countries where secular circumcision had become a custom (United Kingdom - [http://www.cirp.org/library/general/gairdner/ [[Douglas Gairdner|Gairdner]], 1949], United States - [http://books.google.com/books?id=5qQhAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA1487&lpg=PA1487&dq=ap+morgan+vance+surgical+fanaticism+circumcision&source=bl&ots=wo34pR-cMz&sig=Lf_xf5Pt8H69E8al4hMgo7MfBlk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=21O_U6-JDs6yyATvoYCYCQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=ap%20morgan%20vance%20surgical%20fanaticism%20circumcision&f=false AP Morgan Vance, 1900], and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_L._Lewis Joseph Lewis, 1949]), some as old as 1894 ([http://www.historyofcircumcision.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=7&id=72&Itemid=51 [Elizabeth Blackwell]]).
Katharina uses double quotes when the descriptions do not match her ideal view of reality. For example in reference to the Cologne case, she uses double quotes when she writes the words "grievous bodily harm". These were the words used by the local judge in Cologne to describe the condition of the Muslim child, who had to be put under general anesthesia and operated as a result of the injuries sustained during and as a consequence of his circumcision.
Von Kellenback's article states that "''By December 2012, German lawmakers passed a law defending the right of Jewish and Muslim religious communities to circumcise their sons—though not their daughters.''"
The [[German Circumcision Act|law]]<ref>{{REFweb |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216073300/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/circumcision-germany-approved_n_2286736.html law] however |title=Germany Approves Bill To Protect Male Circumcision |last=Jordans |first=Frank |publisher=HuffPost (archived) |date=2012-12-12 |accessdate=2019-10-26}}</ref> however required a physician or trained practitioner to perform the surgery and limited the maximum age for the surgery (which could be a problem for some Muslim communities). The law allows non-physicians to perform the procedure until the 6th month (something definitively oriented to allow Jewish religious practitioners to perform the procedure). The Bundestag ignored the [http://circumstitionsnews.blogspot.com/2012/12/berlin-paediatric-association-condemns.html opinions of the German Academy for Child and Youth Medicine (DAKJ)], the umbrella organization of all pediatric associations in Germany (German Society for Child and youth medicine DGKJ, Professional Association of the Child and Youth doctors, German Society for social pediatrics and youth medicine DGSPJ) and relied on the recently released statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in spite of the harsh critique by most European medical associations.
Von Kellenback then writes: "''This spurred a movement across Europe that demanded the protection of boys’ bodily integrity in the name of gender equality. Their declarations and websites use gender-neutral language and declare “genital autonomy” a “fundamental right of each human being,” which includes “personal control of their own genital and reproductive organs; and protection from medically unnecessary genital modification and other irreversible reproductive interve.''"