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The Tip Of The Story

news about circumcision, genital cutting, and human rights

Andrew Amberg

Yahoo News Refuses To Show Circumcision Botch

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In a story on a circumcision botch settlement for a Malaysian Muslim boy, Yahoo News refused to show the boy or botch, instead making the bizarre choice to use a Renaissance painting for their thumbnail.

Yahoo’s Chosen Thumbnail

On social media, Intact America criticized the article, asking:

Why is it that an article about the botched circumcision of a 10-year old Muslim boy features an Italian Renaissance painting of the Christ Child?!? Attitudes would change a lot faster if we could show photos of botched genital surgeries.

The story lists “Coconuts KL” as the author, which appears to link to a “lifestyle website” that “produces in-depth coverage of what’s happening in Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, Yangon, and beyond.”

The story appears to be stolen or reprinted from a Coconuts KL article, which also lists no human author and uses the same thumbnail.

Human rights activists have suggested that these media tactics are used to minimize the suffering of infants during circumcision.

USAID Has A Disturbing Pro-Circumcision Twitter Account

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USAID Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Project has an creepy pro-circumcision Twitter account – @VMMCSouthAfricaUSAID.

The account appears to be mostly automated posts of pro-circumcision content, including a repeated Whatsapp number men can call for what they refer to as a “quick, safe and free” male circumcision.

Although the account is not verified, it is followed by other official USAID accounts, suggesting it is real.

The account promoted debunked circumcision myths like “improved hygiene,” asks women to encourage their men to get circumcised, and features stock photos of African men grinning.

In one disturbing post, USAID even suggests that women prefer surgically altered genitals.

Western scholars and human rights activists have criticized African circumcision campaigns for their bias, double standards, and human rights issues.

New BBC Documentary Questions Circumcision

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A new BBC documentary A Cut Too Far? Male Circumcision, presented by Adnan Sarwar, questions whether or not infant male circumcision should be legal.

A producer of the documentary, Ali May, wrote an op-ed in Huffington Post titled Child Protection Laws Are Clear – Except When It Comes To Male Circumcision, in which he concludes:

“Perhaps it is time to allow men the opportunity to consent to their own non-therapeutic circumcision when they are old enough to do so.”

UK viewers can watch the documentary on the BBC website here.

Is This Anonymous Article Actually By Disgraced Doctor Cathleen London?

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An anonymous article published on KevinMD.com attacks the Intactivist movement by claiming that activists sent a complaint to the author’s state board of medicine, after the author belittled activists on social media.

Social media users were quick to notice the similarities between comments made by the author and disgraced doctor Cathleen London.

The anonymous article.
A tweet made by Cathleen London.

The article also includes other similarities to Cathleen London, such as mentioning that the author had 21,000 twitter followers, a blue checkmark, and shared a specific article on social media that Cathleen London also shared.

Cathleen London is a physician and former US Senate candidate, who deleted all her social media and abruptly ended her campaign, after publicly attacking human rights activists.

Dr. London also sent abusive messages to filmmaker Brendon Marotta, after Brendon interviewed her and recorded her making multiple false statements. Brendon details the interview and her bizarre behavior on his blog here.

Cathleen London was previously reprimanded by the Maine Board of Medicine in 2018.

Whether or not this article is actually by Cathleen London is unknown. The author is anonymous.

Major physicians and physician’s groups have not publicly disavowed Cathleen London’s behavior towards journalists and human rights activists.

New Documentary Explores Circumcision Trauma And Healing

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Healing The Hidden Wound, a new documentary by somatic sexologist Pyasa Neko Siff and filmmaker Chris Harrigan, aims to explore the long-term effects of infant circumcision.

The film’s indiegogo page says:

A variety of experts discuss the hidden effects of this preverbal trauma to empower men with the knowledge that can help them reclaim pleasure, heal themselves, their families & ultimately make the world a better place.

One of the campaign rewards includes a “Healing from Circumcision” program, to be released in 2020.

You can contribute to the film on Indiegogo.

Harvard Accepted Millions From Convicted Pedophile Jeffery Epstein, But Fired Eric Clopper

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According to the Daily Beast, now convicted-pedophile, sex trafficker, and registered sex offender Jeffery Epstein donated 6.5 million to a program at Harvard.

Despite Epstein’s federal sex trafficking charges, a Harvard spokesperson told USA Today they would not return the money.

“The university has no plans to return the $6.5 million to Epstein,” a Harvard spokesperson said Thursday. A Harvard source told USA TODAY that the funds were spent for their intended within a few years after they were received. 

Harvard also fired human rights activist and performance artist Eric Clopper, after Clopper premiered his stage show Sex And Circumcision: An American Love Story at Harvard’s Sanders Theater.

Both Jeffery Epstein and Eric Clopper are Jewish. In his show, Eric Clopper condemned all sexual abuse of children. Epstein was convicted for sexually abusing children.

Harvard has distanced itself from human rights activist Eric Clopper, and published multiple articles attacking him in The Harvard Crimson. They have not taken the same measures to distance themselves from convicted sex-offender Jeffery Epstein.

Clopper is currently raising funds for his legal case against Harvard on his website Clopper.com.

Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang Confirms He Has Seen American Circumcision Documentary

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In a recent article in Washington Post Magazine, Presidential candidate Andrew Yang confirmed that he seen the award-winning documentary American Circumcision.

Yang’s “intactivist” alignment began before the birth of his first son and at Evelyn’s behest. A pediatrician had described circumcision as an aesthetic decision, which shocked Evelyn: “Why would I [have] a surgery performed on him for something strictly aesthetic?” With this thought in the back of her mind, Evelyn was browsing Netflix when she saw a documentary called “American Circumcision.” “I have no idea what we were watching to have ‘American Circumcision’ be a recommended movie,” she told me, but she watched. Andrew’s memory is that he “watched at least half of that documentary and then was like, ‘Yup, I find this convincing, too.’ “

Yang has previously said he is against circumcision, and “highly aligned” with the Intactivist movement, but later walked back his comments after political pressure.

The film American Circumcision is currently streaming on Netflix, and available at CircumcisionMovie.com.

Yale Scholar Brian Earp Exposes World Health Organization Circumcision Bias

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In a recent twitter thread, Yale scholar and academic Brian Earp exposed the bias in the World Health Organization (WHO) circumcision manual.

In the thread, Brian Earp first shows that the World Health Organization is using studies performed on adults to justify genital cutting on infants.

Earp also exposes that one of the lead authors for the WHO manual on circumcision is someone who has applied for a patent on a circumcision device, and has a financial interest in the procedure.

Earp notes that this is a huge financial conflict of interest:

He also shows that WHO policy on male genital cutting contradicts their policy on female genital cutting:

Earp goes on to say that WHO “has sacrificed all credibility” on the issue of female circumcision by supporting male circumcision.

He concludes:

WHO has not issued any public response to these criticisms.

You can follow Brian Earp on twitter at @briandavidearp.