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This morning I transferred the last of the donations to Foregen from our fundraiser. Thanks to everyone who contributed. There are multiple pressure points in our fight against genital mutilation. Real restoration is an important new front.

 I'm on the road this week. I'll be back next week with some more thoughts.

Thanks again.

By KAREN RANZI
I was born in Newark NJ at Beth Israel Hospital in the 1950s and was raised in Livingston NJ. My parents were Jewish. My father always taught me to question, and so throughout my life I have questioned all that has come before me to make sure I am following what I believe to be the truth. I published my first book in 2010, Creating Healthy Children: Through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods.
The book focuses on parents following the needs of the child. Home birth, long-term breastfeeding, weaning when baby is ready to wean, skin-to-skin contact, holding baby, the family bed, and modeling emotional poise are all aspects of attachment parenting, which lead to superior physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development of the child. I devote a chapter of my book to circumcision facts and the harms of circumcision surgery.
In addition to attachment parenting, my book focuses on the extraordinary benefits of fresh plant-based nutrition for the health and wellbeing of the entire family. Families living with abundant living foods, fruits and vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables, and some nuts and seeds, reap numerous health rewards while also eliminating the main cause of illness, the horrendous food choices of the standard American diet.
Eating raw foods, parenting naturally, and even questioning circumcision are not ideas I came to entirely on my own. They are family traditions. In the early 1920s, my paternal grandmother had been extremely ill with severe asthma and emphysema. She was a single mother, and since my father was only four years old at the time of her illness, she had a strong motivation to survive. The doctors told my grandmother she had only several months to live. She then read a book that had been recently published, titled The Mucusless Diet Healing System by Arnold Ehret. She was impressed and decided to transition first to a vegetarian, and then to a vegan diet, and gradually toward a diet high in fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. She recovered from her illnesses and lived another fifty years.
Avoiding Circumcision Surgery
My grandmother also refused to follow the circumcision tradition and chose to leave her son—my father—intact. This is remarkable given that she made this choice as a Jewish woman in America in the 1920s when Jewish circumcision was the unquestioned norm. As a single parent, she devoted her life to caring for her son. She knew that circumcision would sever the bond between them, and cause him excruciating pain, physically and emotionally. She refused circumcision in New Jersey and left her son intact because she was a very strong-minded individual who followed her mothering instincts.
My father grew up in Chatham NJ where Jews were a minority. He was often left out of social activities because he was a Jew. My grandmother and my father were ostracized because of their diet and their beliefs, which were viewed as undesirable and strange. Students at school forced ham down my father’s throat and often made fun of him, but he stuck with his values and believed in his mother’s message.
Circumcision Controversy
Today, I myself delve into topics that are controversial and are often shunned or ignored. While I have received overwhelming positive feedback on the chapters in my book dedicated to attachment parenting and raw foods, I have also been told the circumcision information in chapter 4, titled “Discovering the Truth about Circumcision,” is not the truth. Some have erroneously expressed to me that circumcision surgery enhances sex for the man and the woman. Many of those giving these comments are alarmed when they first hear about circumcision trauma or when they read the chapter, suddenly becoming defensive about a circumcision procedure they have supported their entire lives. When I discuss this topic during my classes, including circumcision complications, sometimes one or two upset people leave the room.
Some have even changed their minds about writing a review of my book after reading the circumcision facts chapter. There have been times when I asked for a testimonial following a workshop, and my request has been denied because the director of an association or principal of a school is pro-circumcision. Some have suggested I remove the controversial chapter to avoid the hostility. However, I feel the information is important for everyone, especially parents yet to make a circumcision decision. I am willing to face any anger and resistance.
I have also received praise for my courage to include circumcision facts. The editor of an attachment parenting magazine, who wrote a review of Creating Healthy Children, told me she used my book as a positive example in another review. The other author, a pediatrician, had avoided the subject of circumcision surgery, saying it was beyond the scope of her book on health and attachment parenting. The editor of the magazine wrote to her, saying my book was about raw foods and I still included 11 pages of information on circumcision, including two pages of sources for more information. The editor thanked me for including the chapter, as the circumcision controversy brings out strong emotions, but for the sake of the babies it affects, she felt it’s cowardly to avoid it out of fear of offending.
Choosing Brit Shalom
We must continue to educate about the harmfulness of circumcision for newborns so those who are resistant to change this old ritual will realize it’s cruel, unhealthy, and causes a severe blow to the psyche of our speechless baby boys. The bris ceremony can be replaced with a ceremony called brit shalom, the covenant of peace, which celebrates the complete intact child. As some rabbis begin to abolish brit milah, I am hopeful that even religious Jews will understand it’s time for change, and that they will not be less religious for choosing to part with Jewish circumcision.
It’s time for a major shift. As Creating Healthy Children is spread far and wide, my dream is that readers will come to understand not only the benefits of a raw food lifestyle but also circumcision trauma. When more people become comfortable speaking out about circumcision complications and lifelong circumcision effects, protecting our precious newborn boys will become the norm.
The health of our children affects everyone on the planet. The advice in the book is for raising healthy children, and healthy adults as well, on all levels of wellbeing. Attachment parenting, which includes understanding the negative circumcision effects, and eating raw foods are philosophically connected because they are vital in raising physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy human beings.
By avoiding the standard processed food diet, which is inexorably linked to medical treatment so accepted in our society, children learn to listen to their bodies and to Nature. As parents, it’s our responsibility to teach our children about the superior foods and to provide the tender loving care so needed throughout the growing years.

In the six years I have joined the Bay Area Intactivists participating in the San Francisco Pride parade, the worst reaction to our presence I have ever seen along the parade route was subdued disapproval. Never shouting. No name-calling. Certainly no violence.

That all changed this year. As the Bay Area Intactivists moved into the parade route, a single individual began spewing vile and hateful abuse at us. The experience was not unlike the kind I have seen and experienced from homophobes and religious zealots of all kinds who sometimes come to Pride celebrations.

The experience was puzzling, frightening, and weird all at the same time. I seriously wondered whether he had us confused with the real "child molesters," which is what he kept calling us. After all, we're the advocates for children. We were the group with the half dozen or so mothers, all of whom had protected and defended their children from the predators who wield the knives aimed squarely at the little ones' most private, most sensitive parts: their genitals. So what gives?

We obviously hit a very sensitive nerve in this man, whose demeanor you can judge for yourself in the still photos below. He was acting out over a very profound hurt. I can't say for sure whether that hurt was centered on his own genital mutilation or something else. But we in the community working for children's rights and seeking protections from circumcisers, whether through an appeal to society, doctors or legislators, need to understand this could become more common as we become more successful.

This is the first blog post sponsored by an anonymous donor to our fundraiser for Foregen.org. Please help reach our goal of just $500.

Novelist and Beyond the Bris contributor Lisa Braver Moss has written a powerful essay for the Huffington Post on metzitzah b’peh, which is practiced by some Orthodox mohelsduring the bris. As a direct result of the ritual, several New York infants contracted the herpes virus. Two died and two suffered permanent brain damage.  
“Jewish law is constantly evolving. Our practices change as we learn,” writes Moss. “If we discover that a previously accepted Jewish tradition is dangerous—or if we simply learn that there’s a more compassionate way to act, one that is more consistent with Jewish principles than the previous interpretation—it's incumbent on us to modify or discontinue the tradition,” she says.
Many Jewish parents considering circumcision pros and cons know nothing about metzitzah b’peh, in which the mohel washes the fresh wound with wine, using his mouth, after he has removed the foreskin. It is important for all Jewish parents to recognize that although this practice is rare, it does take place. If the decision is made to hire a moheland have a bris, parents should gain specific assurance before the ritual that no oral-genital contact will take place.
There are a number of diseases, in addition to the herpes virus, that can be transferred via oral contact with an open wound. These include HIV, HPV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis and hepatitis B. Although the focus of the current metzitzah b’peh controversy has been on infants contracting herpes, it is very possible to transmit other diseases as part of this brisceremony.
Of course, some Jewish parents today are opting to skip circumcision surgery altogether and hold a brit shalom instead. By peacefully welcoming their sons into the covenant with a non-traditional bris that skips the cutting, it is possible to completely avoid all circumcision complications.
Lisa Braver Moss does not touch on the brit shalommovement in her Huffington Post piece, but she does mention the current Jewish movement to question circumcision. “[E]ven without metzitzah b'peh, circumcision carries the risk of complications and death from sepsis, hemorrhage and other causes. All this has led a small number of Jews to question not only how circumcisions are performed, but the very act itself,” she says.  

This evening I kicked off an experiment to test the fundraising mojo of MC_HIV with Indiegogo.com, a funding platform similar to Kickstarter.com, but without the limitations that prevent charity or activism campaigns.

I'll spare you the pitch here because I think the pitch is better made over there. Please have a look by clicking the link below, and thank you in advance.

MC_HIV: Five New Articles - Fund 5 new articles on the blog, Male Circumcision and HIV, benefitting the work of foregen.org.

The Bay Area Intactivists marched in the Santa Cruz Pride Parade today and found themselves immediately embroiled in controversy for taking pictures of one of their members innocuously holding a protest sign in front of a group representing the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ever since the San Francisco Male Genital Mutilation ballot measure went down in flames with the support and encouragement of the ACLU, they have been a special favorite for targeted protest among some of us here in the San Francisco Bay Area. The affront is that the ACLU is all for the civil liberties and presumably human rights of little girls born to Muslim cultures that believe in female circumcision, but completely change their tune when it comes to American infant boys. Female genital mutilation must not be tolerated, but the male version is a religious right, according to their logic.

During the incident today, Santa Cruz Pride sent their rent-a-cops over to intimidate the intactivists when the ACLU complained of their presence. The rent-a-cops told them that they were not allowed to take pictures as the ACLU and the rent-a-cops were "private." I pointed out that the ACLU and Pride generally were in a public place participating in a public event, bringing my desire to document the event under the protection of the highest law in the land, the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. They disagreed, but were unable to cite any authority to support their position.

I encourage readers to ask the Diversity Center of Santa Cruz, which sponsors and organizes the Santa Cruz Pride events, why they felt it necessary to try and stop pictures from being taken at their event. I would also encourage readers to contact the Santa Cruz Chapter of the ACLU and ask them how they feel about being party to suppression of political speech and the dissimination of said speech in these circumstances.

Intactivists stopped from taking pictures and asked to move away from the ACLU during Santa Cruz Pride Parade (Click on image for larger view)

UPDATE: Another image of private security intimidating intactivists below. It didn't work.

Private security moves into position to protect several ACLU locals from a guy holding a sign at Santa Cruz Pride (Click on image for larger view)

 

By REBECCA WALD
Author and lecturer Karen Ranzi
at Nuage Cafe in Parkland Florida. In her new book Creating Healthy Children: Through Attachment Parenting and Raw Foods(2012) Jewish author, lecturer and mom Karen Ranzi combines two subjects that are close to her heart in an informative compendium of sound parenting advice and great raw food recipes that even picky toddlers will devour. 
“I began writing my book emphasizing only raw food nutrition. However, I realized that one cannot raise a healthy child through good food alone,” Ranzi says. “Attachment parenting is crucial. The mothers of today’s civilized world must return to their roots and learn to listen to their maternal instincts in order to be present to raise their children,” she says.
Much has been written on attachment parenting since William and Martha Sears coined the term and introduced it to millions of readers in The Attachment Parenting Book: A Common Sense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing Your Baby (2001). The attachment parenting style of childrearing aims to foster a close bond between young children and their parents, especially newborns and their mothers, through practices such as breastfeeding on demand, co-sleeping, and baby wearing.
While more natural ways of living are gaining acceptance, according to Karen Ranzi, many still view the ideas presented in her book as controversial. “Most people are resistant to change. Living a raw food lifestyle and attachment parenting are growing movements, but they continue to be viewed as extreme by the mainstream,” she says. “These topics are often laughed off in our society as people are fearful of making changes, as they desire to be accepted and don’t want to be looked at as different in a judgmental society.”
Adding to the controversy, despite being Jewish, Ranzi takes a strong stance against circumcision in Creating Healthy Children. She devotes a whole chapter to the topic, which is written by her good friend Laurie Evans, a longtime circumcision critic who also happens to be Jewish.
A book about attachment parenting by a Jewish woman that openly disavows circumcision is a breath of honesty. Earlier this year, actress Mayim Bialik released her book Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way (2012). Mayim Bialik’s book makes no mention of circumcision, which has frustrated many who adhere to natural parenting principles. Ranzi points out that circumcision, in addition to its physical harm, absolutely goes against attachment parenting, as it severs the emotional trust and bonding with the mother.
“Mayim Bialik is wise to raise her children with attachment parenting, but avoiding the circumcision issue does not go along with this parenting style, and she must begin to realize this,” Ranzi says. “When a mother plans on nursing her child, being present for her child in every way, then how can one justify the cutting of her child’s most sensitive organ?”
Karen Ranzi’s own story when it comes to recognizing the harm of circumcision is fascinating. Her Jewish grandmother, whom she describes as a very strong-minded attachment parent, chose to leave her son (Ranzi’s father) intact. This makes Ranzi’s own son a third-generation Jew raised with the understanding that circumcision is harmful. Ranzi will talk more about this fascinating aspect of her family history in her upcoming essay for Beyond the Bris.
To read Ranzi’s fantastic blog, which is full of great tips for getting kids to eat their vegetables, and to learn more about her book Creating Healthy Children please visit her site superhealthychildren.com.  

The question of whether to circumcise is front and center in the new film “What to Expect When You’re Expecting ” which has an all-star cast that includes Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison, Chris Rock, and Dennis Quaid. The comedy-drama (heavier on the comedy) follows five expectant couples as they prepare to face parenthood.
“What to Expect When You’re Expecting” is well done, with solid acting and a fast-paced script that keeps the audience laughing. For circumcision critics, it is a slam-dunk in terms of pop-culture attention to this issue. Jules (Cameron Diaz) is an LA celebrity who is determined not to circumcise her son despite the protestations of the baby’s father Evan (Matthew Morrison). When a tabloid magazine prints that Jules won’t be circumcising on its front cover, the couple’s tensions over the issue escalate. The circumcision issue is not merely addressed in passing. It is a major plot point in the film.

“What to Expect When You’re Expecting” represents a major shift in the way popular culture is addressing circumcision. In the past, circumcision has been the butt of jokes. Here the arguments against circumcision are highlighted with little credence given to the alleged benefits. In Jules we see the real direction of our country on this issue—away from routine infant circumcision and toward a more natural and thoughtful style of parenting that has no place for it. If the trend away from circumcision has gone unnoticed by some in Middle America, this film will certainly bring it to their attention with humor and thoughtfulness.
“What to Expect When You’re Expecting” will appeal mostly to women in their 20s, 30s and 40s, who can appreciate a lighthearted look at getting and being pregnant today. It is just these women who are on the frontlines of the circumcision issue. It is not an overstatement to say that this film will likely have a degree of impact on American circumcision rates.    

CROYDON, UK. Arch circumcision advocate, Vernon Quaintance, was convicted of possession of child pornography April 11. Quaintance claimed during the proceedings he is celibate, a common defensive claim of pedophiles despite its irrelevance to possession of child pornography, and that he had only looked at the material a long time ago.

Vernon Quaintance: Convicted of Possession of Child Pornography in Croydon, UK.

Quaintance is a member of the Gilgal Society, a bizarre circumcision advocacy organization with ties to many other circumcision campaigners, such as Daniel Halperin and Robert Bailey.

In connection with this group, Quaintance is credited with providing a description of luring teenage boys through the use of alcohol and psychological manipulation into being circumcised. The description was published in Circumcision: An Ethnomedical Study by A. Thomas (The Gilgal Society, EMS-EN 0304-2, Fourth Edition 2005, Chapter 27 p.191, Case Histories and Experiences of Circumcision). See an excerpt here.

Despite the overt implications of abuse, the incident has never been investigated by authorities.

Perhaps fearing guilt by association, at least one fellow traveler, Brian Morris, has scrubbed his own website and other publishing activities to "disappear" any connection with Quaintance and the Gilgal Society.

Pertaining to the present criminal accusation against Quaintance, he accepted the charges and received a 40 week suspended sentence.

Source: Croydon circumcision campaigner caught with child porn videos

By NATALIE BIVAS

Twenty-five years ago my husband and I did something few Jewish parents had. We held a brit shalom ceremony for our son as opposed to a brit milah. We invited guests without saying there would be no circumcision. Dr. Dean Edell (who is Jewish and opposed to circumcision) sent a camera crew for our brit shalom and later used clips from it on different TV programs.
We had a friend who was a rabbi in education, but without a pulpit. It was novel for him to do a brit without mila, but he was willing to do it and risk it. There was also a rabbi in Marin County who was known to do a brit shalom. He was known as a hippie rabbi. He also was willing to do this for us. So we had two rabbis.

Looking back, though, I wish I’d done nothing. I felt I wasn’t fair to the guests because they were invited to something that might have offended them, and without warning.  I was so nervous about it that I had no pleasure in it. My parents were there and just happy to have a grandson. They were 75 and 79 at the time. My husband’s parents were in France.
We were afraid to bring up our decision to our families, all members having a strong Jewish identity. My husband’s sister is prominent in Jewish organizations at the national level. We wrote thoughtful letters to everyone. I don’t know what they really felt, but they didn’t reject us. We aren’t otherwise very rebellious. I must admit this was super scary and painful for me. 
Convincing My Husband Not to Circumcise
My husband is Jewish, from Egypt. He was not on board at first with the idea of not circumcising our son, but he also was uncomfortable because he and others in his family had fainted at brises. Pregnant, I would wake him in the middle of the night and ask him to imagine what it would have been like to have circumcised our then three year-old daughter. Female circumcision, after all, would have been practiced in his native Egypt. This thought was very difficult for him. 
Eventually my husband thought of how primitive his family viewed the tribal scarring practiced by the Sudanese and Nubians in Egypt. I would ask my husband, “So tell me the difference, please, between those people cutting themselves and our people cutting themselves?” He conceded that circumcision, if you could step back and consider it as an anthropologist would, was not different from tribal scarification. With these comparisons and my crying at three in the morning, he came around.
My pregnancy was spent in a constant distress. I sometimes feel angry and guilty because I must have surrounded my poor baby with stress hormones due to the decision not to circumcise him. I can’t help but wonder if there were long-term effects on my son as a result. I had anxiety and dry heaves through much of my pregnancy because I felt as if Judaism was forcing me to choose between not hurting my child and being seen as a heretic. I was angry about being in that position. And I was afraid everyone would argue with us and turn their backs on us. I did lose a friend over our decision. She said, “So in another holocaust, your son will be spared!” We don’t talk anymore, by the way.
I grew up in a steel-manufacturing town 20 miles outside of Pittsburgh. My parents were first generation Jews in America. As a child I was always more religious than my parents and insisted we celebrate every holiday. My extended family called me the rebbetzin. Women were not rabbis then. If it had been possible to be a woman rabbi, I might have. We didn’t have bat mitzvahs in our shul, only bar mitzvahs. Eventually we added confirmation, and I had a confirmation at 15. My maternal grandfather was very observant, and I regarded him as one step down from God, so I understood kashrut and how to be observant.
Realizing the Harms of Circumcision
I’m not sure when I came to view circumcision as harmful. It was a process. When I was five, my parents explained circumcision as we were going to my cousin’s bris. I remember my parents saying the penis had a little something that didn’t belong there and had to be cut off. It was a bit like cutting fingernails, they explained, and it wasn’t painful. I was slightly uneasy about the idea of being born with something you didn’t need and with the idea that removing something from the penis wouldn’t be painful. When the bris started, my baby cousin screamed. He and the men were in another room. I sensed the anxiety of the women, and I also felt anxious because I knew I didn’t scream when I got my nails cut. Experts in memory say the events we remember well from childhood are often the scary, traumatic ones. This must have been scary for me because I remember it well.
I was in my early twenties when I was invited to a bris of my friend’s son. The women had quietly left the room before the cutting, and I hadn’t noticed. I found myself with a front row seat.  The baby was livid with shrieking. In the hallway, friends were supporting the mother from collapsing. It seemed horrible. The next day, I was back in the Hebrew school where I was teaching at the time, talking to my Israeli colleague. I said to her, “I think circumcision was created as one of those rites of passage that separated the weak from the strong. Probably many babies didn’t survive it in primitive times.” She said, “My baby brother died from his circumcision in 1939. He ended up with septicemia before there were antibiotics, and he died.” That was the beginning of my eyes being opened to the dangers of circumcision. It was clearly not the same as a fingernail trim. Years later, when I was pregnant, I learned from a friend of a boy she knew who was institutionalized because of his bris. He also had septicemia and was permanently brain damaged.
Raising My Intact Son
My son was around eight when he learned about circumcision and the fact he is intact. One day he asked why he was on TV now and then. (Recall Dean Edell and the bris.)  I explained to him what circumcision is, and that it was novel that he was Jewish and not circumcised because we opposed it. I don’t think he minded not being circumcised. I think he was appalled that anyone would have considered cutting off part of his penis.
Being intact hasn’t stopped my son from being involved with Judaism. He had a bar mitzvah and did the whole service except for Shachrit, including a dvar Torah. He went as a volunteer in the Israeli army with me when he was in high school. He went to Hillel for every Shabbat and for every holiday at Oberlin where he was an undergrad. In college, he went to Israel again with Aish HaTorah to learn how to become an advocate for Israel. He did a Kohn internship here when he was an undergrad, working for Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA). He did a year of modern Hebrew at college (that is all they offered). He currently goes to Hillel or to a local synagogue every Shabbat in Ann Arbor where he is a grad student. When he’s home he is eager to go to Torah study with us on Saturday mornings at the Reform congregation. For someone his age who was not raised as an Orthodox Jew, he is very knowledgeable about Judaism and very interested.
Being a Jew Opposing Circumcision
Choosing to leave our boy intact hasn’t diminished our Jewish involvement. My husband and I belong to two congregations in Palo Alto, California. We’ve belonged to the Conservative synagogue for at least 25 years and are associate members of the Reform temple where we attend Torah study. I am a member of the Jewish Community Relations Council. My husband, who was exiled from Egypt, is an active member of JIMENA and does presentations about Jews exiled from Arab countries. I am an advocate for Israel and have twice volunteered on supply bases with Sar-El. I have had many pro-Israel letters published in newspapers and magazines.

I think circumcision is wrong, is mutilation, and parents have no right to mutilate their child’s body. I would advise parents who are on the fence about this decision to have the strength of their convictions because others have gone before them. These days Jewish identity is so weak, and intermarriage among Jews so high, that no parent should think circumcision is the act upon which their child will identify. Parents who are concerned about fostering their child’s Jewish identity would be better off focusing on other aspects of Judaism. So, in short, I’d say, “stand your ground.”
Natalie Bivas is a reading and ESL specialist for the Palo Alto School District where she has worked for eighteen years. Prior to this she taught in two Jewish days schools in Montreal after finishing a teaching credential at McGill University where she earned her B.A. She is also the former reading specialist for the Jewish Coalition for Literacy.

Social activist and New Yorker Jonathan Friedman has recently published a “zine” on male infant circumcision titled “Genital Autonomy: Why Circumcision Must Be Stopped.” This is a significant project because it is introducing a wide audience to the harms of circumcision in an innovative way—and also in a way that is, at the same time, steeped in historical tradition. In the following interview, Jonathan talks about his project and how those interested in preventing infant circumcision can get involved.
Beyond the Bris:
What exactly is a “zine” for those who may be unfamiliar with the term?
Jonathan:
A zine is a pamphlet. Perhaps the most famous example is Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.” Zines are made to be mass-produced, which is really easy with photocopiers. The word “zine” is short for magazine, and is pronounced “ZEEN.”


Beyond the Bris:
Have zines been used as part of other human rights campaigns or political movements?
Jonathan:
Certainly. Zines are popular in activist and counterculture scenes. I like to read social criticism and forgotten history zines. I have a collection of over 100 zines in my bookshelf. I’ve seen zines on housing, education, environment, food, economics and war. One of the most famous zines is “On the Povery of Student Life,” a 1969 pamphlet from Paris that set off student and worker strikes that shut down the entire country. Here in New York City, Occupy Wall Street has printed out zines for major actions against Goldman Sachs and the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC).
Beyond the Bris:
What inspired you to write this zine?
Jonathan:
I’ve always wanted to distribute free literature. Once Occupy Wall Street began, I networked with people at the free literature table in Zuccotti Park. We distributed tens of thousands of zines, all for free. The zines were on various topics. We had articles by Emma Goldman, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and David Graeber. We had zines on bicycle maintenance and COINTELPRO (an acronym for Counter Intelligence Program). We had a lot of zines, and people came back often to pick up new ones, especially because they were free. Although we never asked for donations, people donated a lot of funds. We were able to cover the copying costs.
People always asked if I had written any of the zines on the table. So, one day I decided to write a zine on circumcision. I had been writing many articles on IntactNews, but I felt I needed to try something different, something that would contain everything I’ve done over the past year, something more basic and educational.
Beyond the Bris:
Why do you think a circumcision zine is so important?
Jonathan:
In contrast with zines on other human rights and political issues, a zine on circumcision can be measurably successful in creating a better world. All that is needed to stop circumcision is to educate individuals, which is much easier to do than stopping complex economic or environmental crises.
Beyond the Bris:
So how has the project been going so far?
Jonathan:
Right now it’s been one week since the first printing and I’ve already distributed over 100 copies of my zine. My zine has been making the rounds in activist circles. I find these people are more receptive to the idea of genital autonomy since their work involves challenging authority figures and experts, and also the general principle of autonomy/anti-oppression. Just the other day a woman came up to the free literature table at Occupy Union Square. She picked up the zine and expressed regret for circumcising her son nine years ago, saying it was the worst thing she had done in her life. A war tax resister that I work with has two intact sons. He read the zine and is really excited about it. The word is spreading and people are getting educated.
Beyond the Bris:
How are you marketing the zine?
Jonathan:
I’m marketing the zine mostly through tabling and online. I also carry a stack with me at all times to hand out to people. I also have copies on the free shelf at Bluestockings, a radical feminist bookstore in New York City that I have been going to events at for years.
Beyond the Bris: If people reading this interview want to help distribute the zine, what can they do?
Jonathan:
People can announce the zine on Facebook by linking to the site QuestionCircumcision.org, where it is available for free download in regular and booklet form. Those wishing to print and distribute it in their area are welcome and encouraged to do so. If people want to donate, this will enable more zines to be printed and distributed in New York City, which is one of the highest-need places for education on genital autonomy. Donations can be made via Paypal directly on the QuestionCircumcison.org site. If people have any questions about the zine, or about making and printing zines in general, they can email me at info@intactnews.org.
___________________________________________
If you are reading this and opposed to infant circumcision, Beyond the Bris asks that you please support Jonathan’s important project right now with your donation of $18 or in multiples of 18. Typically when Jews give gifts of money they will give in multiples of “chai,” which is the number 18. Chai means life in Hebrew but in this case it means luck. Good luck, Jonathan!