The above photo was sent today from a friend who had a friend passing through Bucks County. They snapped this photo at York and Street Road. I guess that makes it Warrington?
My friend’s friend was speechless. I am speechless. It’s literally a penis protest. And I thought the anti-masker protests were fakakta. I am sure someone will comment that I am anti-man anti-penis but ummm, what I don’t get is why the anti-foreskin folks are protesting? Is there a must get snipped law we are unaware of?
I will note if you look at the photo at the bottom that will show a school bus. Which means kids were looking at this. it’s like a renegade health class come to life.
According to a couple of newspaper articles within the past couple of days that I unearthed, these people are also standing there with giant red splotches on their crotch to represent blood I guess. Oh to be a fly on the wall when the police have to drive by.
According to the York Daily Record:
📌‼️It was hard to avoid, a group of men, and two women, all dressed in white, with red splotches on the crotches of the pants, holding up signs that proclaimed, among other things, “Genitals Should Not Have Scars,” “Stop Cutting Baby Penises” and “Foreskin Theft!”….Over the past two weeks, the group, members of an organization called The Bloodstained Men, have been traveling the highways and byways of Pennsylvania, staging protests to the practice of circumcision, which the group contends is a human rights issue. They came from all around the country, meeting at the Philadelphia airport, renting a van and hitting the road….The group – which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization – argues that many male newborns in this country are circumcised at birth, a violation of their human rights because a newborn cannot consent to the procedure. 📌‼️
I just don’t know. I have really limited things I can say about this because I’m still somewhat speechless. Isn’t this an issue with their parents for doing it? And if these are all adults are their parents even alive?
Yep. They are an actual nonprofit. They also have a website. Bloodstained Men.
There is another article in The Intellegencer.
I’ll say it again, I didn’t know this was a thing.
Tomorrow they are in King of Prussia. 10 AM to 3 PM. Henderson Road and DeKalb Pike. That ought to make a fine mess out of traffic.
Penis protests. God almighty if they did that in front of Exton Mall at 100 and 30, there would be accidents.
Well thank you to my friend for the photos. Truly, you can learn something new every day.
Maybe someone should forward this article to Governor Abbott of Texas.
I laughed out loud and chuckled about it for some time after that.
The nonprofit organization is nation-wide. This is not just a PA problem.
Their argument:
many male newborns in this country are circumcised at birth, a violation of their human rights because a newborn cannot consent to the procedure.
OK, Let’s do some reading about the legality of circumcising male newborns.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks. However, the AAP doesn’t recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns. The AAP leaves the circumcision decision up to the parents – and supports use of anesthetics for infants who have the procedure. Mayoclinic.org
It is your choice whether to have your son circumcised. It is not required by law or by hospital policy. Because circumcision is an elective procedure, it may not be covered by your health insurance policy Acog.org
“Genitals Should Not Have Scars,” “Stop Cutting Baby Penises” and “Foreskin Theft!”
I wonder where they got their …inspiration to form this protesting nonprofit against circumcisions.
Why did they think penis protesting in public was appropriate?
Were the men in the group circumcised at birth?
Was there any communication with their parents about it?
Were they blindly following a story or show on a certain cable channel or computer?
I think….we should PROTEST AGAINST THE RISING TIDE OF CONFORMITY!
Hello! I recently came across your blog and found several articles very informative. I would like to contribute to the discussion here, and hope I don’t come across antagonistic, my only wish is to provide perspective and perhaps make you think about this.
I grew up in Europe and came to PA just before the birth of my first child. Circumcision is not something that is done where I come from except for a few deeply religious or urgent medical reasons. So I was rather shocked when the tour of the L&D ward included rather casual comments on “and then we do the circumcision” (I was also billed for one in the end even though we did not chose that procedure, that’s how routine it is. Getting it taken off our bill was less routine and took 8 months). I then learned that the vast majority of boys in the US are circumcised. I am data scientist, and curious why I set out to learn more about the research behind it. First there is the health argument – that circumcision prevents infection. I spent 4 weeks crawling through citation after citation until I found the source: A study about the spread of HIV in Nigeria, in a community where access to and cultural acceptance of condoms was severely lacking. In addition it was common that besides the person one is married to, both men and women had 2-3 lovers on the side. In other words, a cultural setting where an STD will spread like wildfire. This study found that circumcision provided 30% protection against HIV. So there is the health argument. Now, personally, I rather teach my kids to use condoms that have 99.9% protection, than snipping off a body part. Just like I teach them how to use a tooth brush instead of ripping out their teeth to prevent cavities.
Then there is the “looks like dad/sibling/peers” argument. My sample of my husband, and later my teenage boys is small, but apparently men comparing their anatomy isn’t a thing. So no worries on that front.
Then I researched the effects of circumcision. Not as severe as female circumcision, but male circumcision does affect the feeling of pleasure. This data was obtained from the very very few adult men in Europe that require circumcision for medical reasons, the only ones who can truly explain what this means. If found a few medical studies, and a very large number report that circumcision was detrimental to their sex life. So, not something I’d willing chose for my child without a good reason.
From there I went into researching why circumcisions are so common in the US, while in Europe they are not done unless for medical reasons. Turns out they became popular in the US in a movement that thought it would be a good thing to reduce how much fun sex is, because it may reduce all the types of sex individuals may have before they marry (on their own of with others). That’s a bit draconian, no?
So with all that information in hand, I can understand why men protest the legality of parents snipping off a body part of infants that will permanently alter their life experiences. In fact, I think women should protest it too. It’s their child, not their property. We’re not taking about hair that grows back, or deciding what the child eats for dinner, something the child can make their own decision about once they are an adult. Imagine finding out your parents did something that made having sex (or eating ice cream, or listening to music) 50% less enjoyable for the rest of your life. Wouldn’t you be mad, too?
FK I am so sorry that you had to deal with the stress dealing with a hospital that assumes circumcision is the ‘norm’. Circumcision is mentioned in the old Testament. It’s not in the New Testament. It’s not in the Quran. I did NOT know there had been studies on male sexual pleasure. I still feel that the protesting group is absurd. And I’d question the validity of the ‘pleasure’ study. New parents should be given the option….unless your Jewish. In that case, it’s a religious celebration (Bris). I don’t know if it’s still the case. In the late 1960’s and through the 70’s, there was a rebellion for just about everything. Reform Judaism changed or discarded many of the original rituals.
I think three words are very important for all men and women…and their children should remember: “Keep it clean”