If someone would have taken away my son's ability to enjoy gluten-containing foods

My youngest son made spaghetti and broccoli for the family yesterday.  He's only 13!  I'm extremely proud of him!

That spaghetti, by the way, is gluten-free.  We have to pay a lot more for much of the food we eat in this family because he and is mom both have gluten allergies.

I still feel like a total heal for a time when I had him eat some BBQ chicken at Pizza Hut because the BBQ sauce had gluten in it!

In the genital autonomy movement, we often get the "he won't remember it" retort.  We figured out that he was allergic when he was very young.   THUS, he doesn't even remember enjoying foods with gluten in them.  

His brother, on the other hand, fully enjoys gluten-containing foods.  I still feel really bad for Brycen when we are out and about and certain restaurants just do not have many options for him.  He usually cannot have a Subway sandwich (sometimes they have GF bread, but most times not); he cannot have ice cream cones; he usually cannot have any of the desserts at sit-down restaurants; he cannot have most BBQ (YES, that contains gluten!).  But he is SOOO not phased!  Maybe it is his good nature, or, maybe it is just because he doesn't remember being any other way.  Even then, if someone ignorantly took away his ability to eat the foods that so many of the rest of us can enjoy, I don't know if I could restrain myself.  If you are a parent yourself, you can probably relate.  I would do anything to protect my children.  Actually, I think I would do anything to protect ANY child.

If you haven't already figured out where this is going, YES, I AM comparing this to genital autonomy.  Like he will never likely know what it is like to enjoy gluten-containing foods (without dealing with the consequences), I will never likely know what it is like to have the genitalia I was born with.

I don't know how regret parents don't go postal with the hospitals and clinics that did not provide reasonable information.  At the very least, file a formal complaint.  If there was a storefront for a place that did such a thing to my child, I would be protesting in front of that storefront every chance I had until they stopped doing it to other children.

Everyone should be able to enjoy their WHOLE body the way that nature intended.

"Circumcision" is most often performed using Gomco Clamps, Mogen Clamps and Plastibell devices.

Suit against USA federal government dismissed

Last summer I filed a law suit in federal court regarding the amputation of my prepuce: https://johnadkison.blogspot.com/2019/06/filed-suit-against-usa.html

Yesterday, I got the results.

Here is the response from the district attorney. I am not bothering with the other documentation such as the dismissal by the judge as it's all just formality. The interesting stuff is all in here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DdHARwPjPfHT1OP8mX-ijfFm2kIoYVSp/view?usp=sharing 

Regardless of your opinion of whether my case had merit, the way that this case got dismissed should concern everyone (in the USA at least).

 I could get deep into the "timeliness" issue that was used as one of the reasons for the dismissal. I'm just going to say this: rape does not have a 2-year statute of limitation. They use this because they consider it a medical procedure. Thus, determining whether it is or not didn't even get its day in court.
What I find most concerning is the lack of jurisdiction. If the federal court does not allow citizens to hold the government accountable for violations of human rights, WTH does? It seems only Congress has that jurisdiction. It appears that Congress has to say what the federal government can and cannot be sued for. I guess it's not already approved to sue the federal government for removing people's body parts without a medical need. So, what's the process for citizens to get such a thing passed? I'm guessing it is the same as requesting that the government create any law: petitions and letters to your representative.

It really surprises me that the federal government can't be sued for directly violating the Constitution or Bill of Rights. What is the point of having these things if we cannot hold the government accountable to those laws?

Consider a hypothetical: your parents had one of your kidneys removed through your belly button when you were really young so that you would not remember. You didn't find out about it for decades later. There may have been some science to back it up or one of your family members needed the kidney, whatever. Does the US government have the right to do that, even with your parent's permission?

I have struggled with the idea of social medicine. I hate what capitalism has done to the medical system in the USA, but, this is a case against the idea of the government operating medicine.

Elephant in the World

There's an elephant in the hospital.  No, not a literal one.  It's the expression like "elephant in the room."

So, there's an elephant in the hospital and most people are afraid of talking about it.  They're afraid for their jobs, their friends, their family, their livelihood, maybe even their lives!  Yes, lives!  People, like Martin Luther King, have lost their lives speaking the truth.  But, the world has become a better place because of people like this.

What is this elephant?  It's the question as to whether we should be modifying the genitalia of children without a medical need.  And, no, I am not just talking about male "circumcision."  In certain countries little girls also go through "circumcision" or what some consider "Female Genital Mutilation."  Even in the USA customizing female genitalia was performed in hospitals.  The USA is once again at risk of it restarting since a federal judge struck down the law in 2018.  It is a practice in hospitals of some countries as it is considered safer to meet cultural and religious demands.  I am also talking about intersex normalization surgeries.  There are many different possibilities when it comes to these, and many that went through them consider them genital mutilation as well.

Much of the fear that drives these genital customizations of children is rooted in other fears.  Fears that they will have to get something done as adults and that would be more painful.  Fears that they will be social outcasts.  Fears that they might get a rare disease.  And, all these fears apply to all cases, not just boys.

I believe that male genital cutting has to end if we expect the others to end.

The next generation needs YOU to be brave.

There are many ways to speak out, even incognito.  If you register at GenitalAutonomySociety.org, you will only be contacted by those running the organization.  There are options provided by Your Whole Baby that allow you to advocate without giving up your identity.  There are organizations that are promoted/supported by GenitalAutonomySociety.org that can be donated to in private.  There are many advocates that would do more if their finances allowed them to.  GenitalAutonomySociety.org desires to enable them to do so.

Filed suit against USA for "circumcision"

I was born in a Naval hospital.  Legally, this makes my complaint different than those that were born in a civilian situation.  In the military, people don't operate as autonomously as they do otherwise.  Thus, I see the action as one taken by the military as an entity unto itself vs. one taken by an individual.

I filed a criminal complaint several months ago; the Sheriff passed the complaint to the Navy.  I wrote about that in the following:  https://johnadkison.blogspot.com/2018/10/filed-criminal-complaint-for.html

I filed a tort claim with the US Navy.  Of course, they came back with the FTCA statute of limitations.  I'm hoping I can apply equitable tolling and the "18 U.S. Code § 3283 Offenses against children" codes to get a federal judge to override that.  At some point in history, I believe it was assumed that non-therapeutic preputial amputations wouldn't be a legal problem whereas there is no law that says it is not and plenty that say it is.

The case number is 19 CV 00853 RSL filed at the United States District Court, Western District of Washington (in Seattle).

I'm aiming for $1M.  I would use the money to spend the rest of my working years (until I can collect social security) on genital autonomy efforts (probably funnel it through genitalautonomy.org).  I know it's a huge stretch, but, every big thing in history has always been.

Here are my arguments for supporting equitable tolling:

1. The part of plaintiff’s body was amputated during the neonate period, a period that individuals are unlikely to remember the act;
2. Due to the fact that it was removed during the neonatal period, plaintiff never had a chance to understand and experience the body part before it was removed;
3. The procedure was one that had been made a routine one leading the plaintiff to assume that it is a legal one;
4. The remaining body part is never to be exposed in public amongst other people according to decency laws;
5. The procedure is not one that is covered in public education;
6. Plaintiff was a minor when it was performed;
7. The information regarding the anatomy and function of the body part is not well documented in publicly available resources, even in many medical texts;
8. There is no legal precedent for this case, causing for a lengthy discovery period;

I downloaded the "ProSe15Complaint-Violationof CivilRights" form and here is some of the text directly from it:

I chose "No" for Jury Trial.  I don't want to deal with the culture and emotions of a group of people; I prefer to stick with a judge and hope that the judge will stick to the law.

III.A - neither "Federal officials (a Bivens claim)" nor "State or local officials (a § 1983 claim)" seemed to fit; so I left both boxes blank.

III.B - Plaintiff believes that every human has an inalienable right to physical integrity and
bodily autonomy.  More specifically, all living tissue of one’s body, that is natural,
normal and healthy, should be left to that individual to choose to remove or modify in
any way.  Plaintiff believes that the 9th Amendment of the Constitution of the United
States of America covers this right as a non-enumerated right.
Plaintiff also believes that every human has the right to defend one’s own body as
intended in the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Plaintiff also believes that every law abiding citizen should be safe from torture and
the action taken, that is addressed in this complaint, not only inflicted torture during
the act, it also inflicted torture during their life and continues to inflict torture.
Plaintiff also believes that the action taken was part of an unethical human
experimentation.  The purposes for the action were not proven.
Plaintiff believes that their own government exists to protect them from harm and not
be the entity that inflicts unwarranted harm or torture.
Based on these rights, many laws have been written regarding sexual assault of a
minor, child abuse, failure to keep from harm and battery.

III.D - I just realized that I didn't check the "1983" so I wasn't supposed to fill this out, but, here it is anyway:

Washington State law RCW 9A.36.120 “Assault of a child in the first degree” states
“(1) A person eighteen years of age or older is guilty of the crime of assault of a child
in the first degree if the child is under the age of thirteen and the person:
(a) Commits the crime of assault in the first degree, as defined in RCW 9A.36.011,
against the child; or
(b) Intentionally assaults the child and either:
(i) Recklessly inflicts great bodily harm; or
(ii) Causes substantial bodily harm, and the person has previously engaged in a
pattern or practice either of (A) assaulting the child which has resulted in bodily harm
that is greater than transient physical pain or minor temporary marks, or
(B) causing the child physical pain or agony that is equivalent to that produced by
Torture.
(2) Assault of a child in the first degree is a class A felony.”
Washington State law RCW 9A.36.011 “Assault in the first degree” states:
“(1) A person is guilty of assault in the first degree if he or she, with intent to inflict
great bodily harm:
(a) Assaults another with a firearm or any deadly weapon or by any force or means
likely to produce great bodily harm or death; or
(b) Administers, exposes, or transmits to or causes to be taken by another, poison, the
human immunodeficiency virus as defined in chapter 70.24 RCW, or any other
destructive or noxious substance; or
(c) Assaults another and inflicts great bodily harm.
(2) Assault in the first degree is a class A felony.”

IV. - Plaintiff is unaware of the identity of the individual who took the specific action that
excised part of their genitalia.  Plaintiff is unaware of the specifics as to the reasons
the individual performed the action.  Plaintiff understands that the action became a
custom at one point in history that is performed on male infants with high regularity
and was likely never challenged as a legal activity.  Therefore, the plaintiff is holding
the United States federal government liable for gross negligence.

IV.D - A preputial amputation was performed on plaintiff’s body by an individual working

in a medical capacity as an officer of the United States Navy.

V. - Plaintiff’s caretakers were required to apply an unidentified material to the glans of
his penis to prevent remaining tissues from adhering to the glans.  No further
procedure has been available to repair the damage.

Why the bloodstained pants?

I have to give some credit to a very close friend of mine for this article.  They know who they are.  I appreciate their willingness to talk to me about the topic.

Yes, another article on "circumcision."

Many ask:
"Why do you have to be so offensive by wearing bloodstained pants and protesting publicly?"
"Should children be seeing that?"
"Why aren't you attacking bigger issues, like abortion or the opioid epidemic?"

To start off with, because the topic does not get the press it deserves.  I have a Google Alert set for "FGM" and there are daily news articles on the topic.  I just did a search for News on the topic and got 372,000 hits.  I did a search for News on the topic of "opioids" and got 8,410,000 hits.  The word "circumcision" gets a whopping (sarcasm) 78,800 hits.

This lack of press isn't just a lack of interest by journalists.  I've seen many cases where journalists have shown interest and then just stop talking to intactivists without any explanation.  It's a Pandora's box, the mainstream outlets don't want to touch the topic.  Even when you consider that the cultures that practice female cutting (aka FGM) call it "female circumcision" the press rarely uses that term.  I do not work in the industry, so, I cannot explain why it is that way for sure.  I do work with some intactivists that have been assembling press contacts on a shared database so that the press can be reached when something interesting is happening in their respective area.  It's extremely rare that those press contacts follow-up on tips about the topic.

Another reason is that I far too often see or hear the comment "I never heard a man complain."  I address this topic in a past article: 
https://johnadkison.blogspot.com/2018/10/why-more-circumcised-men-arent.html
After they've seen www.bloodstainedmen.com, they will never say that again.

I have demonstrated without the bloodstained pants; didn't get a fraction of the pictures taken as I do otherwise.  The pictures are extremely valuable these days.  You know where those pictures go: social media.  Sure, many people will laugh; that's great.  If they post them publicly, the intactivists catch it and take the opportunity to educate people.

My preference is to speak to people with an open mind, particularly at educational institutions and baby fairs.  Unfortunately, baby fairs only happen once a year (in most cases) and educational institutions rarely cover the topic.  Even at baby fairs, many people aren't willing to take the time to listen to or look at the information organizations like Your Whole Baby is providing.  Fellow volunteers would often ask people that were walking by if they were interested in information regarding "circumcision."  Default answer: "no."  My question: "do you know what a preputial amputation is?"  Ah!  The sudden interest!  Like the bloodstained pants, the word "amputation" gets people's attention!  Unfortunately, it is how we human beings are.  We MUST look at the carnage.  It is why everyone slows down to look at the car accident.

If half the population was walking around missing an arm because of a cultural practice or beliefs that it reduces chances of a low-risk cancer or infection, everyone would notice.  Genitalia is normally hidden from public view - out of sight, out of mind.  I wonder how fast this issue would get addressed if everyone who had their genitals mutilated walked around with something identifying the fact.

So, why do I speak out and why do I use such expressive ways?  Because not enough others are.  It's not that I don't care about other issues, it's just that I have become very prepared for discussion about this topic and am driven by my conscience to stoke people to discuss it.

Maybe, if the AAP, the textbook publishers, the educational institutions using the wrong textbooks and others were actually considering the feelings of the victims, the drive to use aggressive techniques wouldn't exist.  I'd love to see more "circumcision harms" billboards from Your Whole Baby.  I'd love it if similar funding for educational outreach was available, similar to the educational outreach that existed after the cigarette companies were sued.  Who's going to pay for that?  So far, it's only been a grassroots effort.

I do hate that children have to see it.  I hate that some are fearful because of it.  I don't want children to lose their childhood innocence any earlier than necessary.  So, please help.  If you are a supporter of genital autonomy, please register at genitalautonomysociety.org (I'm the founder).  If you are able to donate financially, that site took me over $800 to build and operate due to the fact that it involves a database (static websites are super-cheap in comparison) and would love help to cover those costs.  I have invested thousands into other efforts too.  Unfortunately, it's not a 501c3, yet, as that costs $1K just to setup.  If a tax deduction is needed, please support Your Whole Baby, Doctors Opposing Circumcision, Genital Autonomy America or Bloodstained Men.  I'd appreciate being tagged when you do so (they all know me).

What Intactivists Need to Give

History has many cases where people gave their lives for human rights issues.  In WWII, millions gave their lives fighting for religious freedom.  In the USA civil war, over 600,000 died for a cause primarily related to slavery.

Intactivism is another war; hopefully, though, one that will not involve deaths on a similar scale.  However, like any war, it's not pretty.

If you think you would have gladly fought for ending slavery or for religious freedom, giving up certain things to fight for the rights of the next generation should be easy.

Those things may include giving too much information about yourself, getting punched because you're protesting with a bloodstain on your crotch, losing relationships, losing your job, losing membership to your church or becoming a social outcast in other ways.  I'm not saying this is easy.  I admit, I have dragged my feet into intactivism myself due to the fears.  But, I leaped into my future self and thought that I want to be proud of my life.  I want to be able to tell the next generation that I fought for them to have intact genitals, because, by that time, it's going to be well known that genital mutilation was a bad thing in history.  If I live that long, I want that generation to look at me as a hero like my generation has looked at many that survived WWII.

Discussing genitals and sexual activity are taboo topics.  Getting into the nitty gritty details about how genitals work is not something many people want to discuss.  But, we NEED to!  We MUST be brave!  Keep thinking about the next generation and all the children that are getting their genitals cut RIGHT NOW!  Think about how urgent those that were fighting WWII felt about stopping needless deaths of innocent people.

What's ironic is that the people that were being fought for (the Jews in Europe) are some of the same people that are pushing back against our movement to protect one of their cultural practices.  The Nazis may have oppressed religious freedom with the use of death and prison camps, and while that's absolutely horrible, taking away parts of people's bodies in the name of a religion is also absolutely horrible.  Taking away parts of people's bodies for financial greed (relative to slavery) is also horrible.  So, this is really a war about both religious freedom AND slavery.

Thus, to sum up, please be brave.  Be willing to talk to everyone about it and give all the gory details.  Take a bullet for the next generation.  They are worth it!

Understanding fellow intactivists

If you've been following my posts for at least a year now, or have read my older posts starting with January 2018, you know that I've become heavily involved with the intactivism movement.  So much so that I became an admin of some intactivism groups on Facebook, became a supporting systems administrator of various intactivism websites, did some demonstrations with the Bloodstained Men as well as solo, been involved in the promotion of the documentary American Circumcision, started a petition for my own state which was copied for California and launched a new website: www.genitalautonomysociety.org

Wow!  Now that I wrote that down, I realize how busy I've been!  And, there's more I could add to the list.

I've been somewhat frustrated by the splintered set of intactivism groups.  However, I have come to understand why it is the way it is.

There's the "gentle education" group (i.e. Your Whole Baby), the "gotta get in people's faces" intactivists, the angry victims of genital mutilation (i.e. Bloodstained Men) and then the hurting victims of genital mutilation.

Not all members of one of these groups are likely to understand the perspective of members of other groups.  Most often, I've found that people that are in one group are rarely involved in the others.  I've been lucky enough to continue involvement with all of them.

The "gentle education" group wants to avoid chasing people away.  They want to keep people engaged in the discussion, even if they continue to promote genital mutilation (they'll call it things like "circumcision").  And, I understand this, as I will continue to hold onto hope that they will eventually get it.

I'm just going to explain the other end of the spectrum as everything in-between is explained by the two ends.

Most every victim of genital mutilation, that I have spoken with, had part of their natural genitalia cut away at infancy.  Like me, they did not learn about what was taken away from them until adulthood when they could fully understand and grasp it.  Once I started learning about the procedure that was performed on me, I immediately jumped into the first stage of grief (denial).  Luckily, this stage wasn't so strong in me that I insisted that my son get the same procedure done to him.  However, I still thought "there absolutely must be a good reason for it."  It's the second stage, though, that I think puts many at the other end of the spectrum (anger).

I'm an introvert, thus, I process most of my feelings internally.  Sometimes they show up in some of the things I say and do when interacting with others, and, that has gotten my wrist slapped a few times by the "gentle educators."  However, I've met some that are clearly extroverted and give no apologies for their expressions of anger.  While I believe that people need to see this anger to really get that there are people that are hurt by genital mutilations, I personally look for ways to express it without attacking people.  However, there's an inherent challenge:  when victims see people insisting that it's best for their child to have the procedure done, it's as if it was going to be done to them all over again.  Imagine the worst injustice that has ever been done to you; now, imagine someone saying they're going to do that same thing to another person; ya, that's what it feels like.

What is difficult for the hurting victims to see is that these parents genuinely think they are doing what is best and they simply do not understand what intactivists understand.  It makes me think of what Jesus said "...for they do not know what they are doing."

If you've taken care of children, and have had a case where you accidentally hurt them, broke their toy or something along those lines, you probably know that you can apologize to them but they will still try to lash out at you.  I've seen this sort of behavior between regret parents and intactivists that are hurting victims.  With children, you can often get them to move forward from anger to bargaining by offering to replace the toy or making them a cake.  However, in the case of genital mutilation, there's not much you can do; it's not a toy that can be replaced.

What you may be able to do:

• Start by not getting defensive.
• Empathize or sympathize with their feelings.
• Apologize (as if you were the one that made the decision their parents made).
• If you want to help them forward into the next step of grief, try bargaining with them by committing to speak out for the next generation.

This can be done during intactivist activities as well.  When you encounter a fellow intactivist bashing someone, leverage it rather than attempt to counter it.  While addressing the person that is being attacked by the intactivist, empathize with the intactivist and the person being attacked at the same time.  I compare this to the good-cop/bad-cop approach often seen in cop shows.

Sometimes, the hurting victims hit the depression stage and we end up losing them from the movement.  Jonathon Conte is the most notable of intactivists lost to depression, as he committed suicide.  I worry about my fellow intactivists, hoping that no more will go the same way.

This leads to a double-edged sword.  The more I educate fellow victims of the harm that was done to them, the more individuals that will go through the same grief process.  However, not educating leads to the continuation of a harmful practice.