Genital Integrity Awareness Week, New Educational Organization Forms in the Metro Area

3/18/2003

From: Ryan McAllister of NOCIRC of the Capital Region, 301-779-8388 or rmca@physics.umd.edu

WASHINGTON, March 18 -- Numerous groups will sponsor educational activities and demonstrations against infant circumcision in the nation's capital during the first week of April -- Genital Integrity Awareness Week. April is Child Abuse Prevention Month.

SIC (Stop Infant Circumcision) Society will lead the children's rights advocates, who call themselves intactivists, on three marches during the week and will demonstrate on the steps of the Capitol Building and Supreme Court. They will also distribute educational materials.

"We are focusing on the rights of every child to an intact body," says Marilyn Milos, director of NOCIRC (National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers). "If someone were cutting off other normal body parts of non-consenting minors, we would be defending their right to that body part, too. The real question is: Why is it that the sex organs are being cut off?"

A federal law protecting girls from genital cutting was passed in 1996. Intactivists are asking for equal protection for boys and intersex children.

During Genital Integrity Awareness Week (GIAW), activists and educators will reach out to families and communities who mistakenly believe that there are benefits to circumcision. Internationally, the circumcision rate is between 10-15 percent for males and 2 percent for females, compared to 60 percent for males in the United States. The United States is the only industrialized nation that routinely performs neo-natal circumcision. A popular misconception is that the operation confers some health benefits. By performing routine circumcisions rather than disseminating known information about the procedure, doctors are violating their oath to "first, do no harm."

NOCIRC has more than 80 regional centers throughout the United States and more than 20 other centers throughout the world. In addition to participating in GIAW, it sponsors the biennial International Symposia on Genital Integrity. NOCIRC is a 501(c)3 non-governmental organization (NGO) in Roster status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

A new chapter of NOCIRC formed in the Maryland/DC area in January 2003. NOCIRC of the Capitol Region (NCR) is dedicated to educating the public about circumcision. Ryan McAllister, Director of NCR, says, "If parents comprehended what was being done to their children by circumcision, it would never be allowed. The potential for long-term damage, loss of ability to feel sexual pleasure, and risk of infection are just some of the impacts of this worthless surgery."

NCR's goal is to turn what few people know into common knowledge. The early activities of this group have included lectures at local universities, public educational events, and dissemination of medical research on circumcision to the media. "We want to spread the word to parents, physicians, legislators, students, men and women," said Heather Lindsay, member of the NCR Board of Directors. "We also want to facilitate the healing of those who have experienced health problems as a result of having been circumcised."

More information about NCR is available at http://www.notjustskin.org. For more information about GIAW, contact: David Wilson -- 321-783-6383, sicsociety@aol.com, or visit http://www.sicsociety.org.

Abbreviated events listing:

March 31: Lobby the Legislators Day. Speak with elected representatives regarding human rights.

April 1: 10th Annual March for Genital Integrity. Gather at the Washington Monument, N.E. corner 15th Street and Constitution Avenue, 8 a.m.

April 2: March to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gather at the Washington Monument, 8 a.m.

April 4: Protest at the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) Building, 409 12th Street SW, Washington, D.C.

April 6: March from the U.S. Capitol to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gather at the west side of the US Capitol, 8 a.m.