Is circumcision 'barbaric'? A protest group will spread that message in southeastern Mass.
A group famous for gory “attention-grabbing” public protests against male circumcision is coming to southeastern Massachusetts this week as part of its 13-day protest tour.
On Tuesday, the Bloodstained Men is planning to hold a peaceful protest at Tucker Street and Rhode Island Avenue in Fall River from 10 a.m. to noon, and on Brownell Avenue and Kempton Street in New Bedford from 2 to 4 p.m.
Members of the Bloodstained Men often hold signs with stark messages like “I did not consent” and “End male genital mutilation,” and wear white suits with a red stain in the crotch, which the group calls “an arresting visual reminder that circumcision affects its victims for life. When a baby boy is circumcised, so is the man he will become.”
The group, whose members call themselves “intactivists,” opposes circumcision partially on grounds of bodily autonomy, that infants are incapable of consenting to an optional surgery. They also claim circumcision is cruel, medically unnecessary, traumatic, reduces sexual sensitivity, and removes the “normal, healthy and valuable” foreskin.
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“The foreskin is a healthy, valuable body part that belongs solely and entirely to the child,” reads a press release from the group.
Circumcision is a religious rite in the Jewish and Islamic faiths, and one of the most common medical procedures in the United States, with nearly two-thirds of men in the U.S. having been circumcised. The rate varies in different regions of the country, with the procedure being most common in the Northeast, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
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Although circumcision is optional, many doctors and the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest to new parents that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, saying it is easier to keep the genital area clean, reduces the risk of a rare form of cancer, and reduces the risk of sexually-transmitted diseases. A 2016 study in the Journal of Urology concluded that sensitivity "did not differ” between men who were circumcised and those who were not.
The Bloodstained Men’s protest tour has visited communities in Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont. It will conclude in early August in Newport, R.I., and Longwood Medical Area in Brookline.
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Bloodstained Men will take anti-circumcision protest to local streets
