28 March 2012: Awareness

It seems that this week, the week of March 25 through April 1 is Genital Integrity Awareness Week, a week-long protest that seeks to protect unconsenting infants from unnecessary, unconsentual genital cutting.  This protest has been an annual event for the past 19 years.

I am glad that there are driven, caring people out there fighting to protect others.  I also feel remorse for the children who go unprotected and suffer.  I have hope that this world may someday change, that needless infant genital cutting might someday be illegal.  I quietly read about the worthy struggles going on, feeling enthralled by the small victories won to protect children, and lamenting from the very fibers of my soul when these fights are lost.

Years down the road, the world will be a much different place.  This much I know for certain.  The direction it goes in is always in the hands of people who care about the world.  I can only hope to see positive change happen within my lifetime.

I have more or less overcome my shock from the feelings of betrayal from my unsympathetic parents, I have no more urology bills to pay (at the moment), and my penile wounds have now scarred over.  My days of waking up to a bleeding penis are now a thing of the past.

As such, I really don't have much to write about in this blog anymore in regards to what my original goal in writing this blog was--to get the feelings of hurt off of my chest.


You may be a parent that stumbled onto this blog, and your child may have a botched circumcision.  There is little advice I have for you except for this: please, for the love of your child, don't be so unsympathetic and unapologetic about this with him.

The hardest part, the part that has hurt me the most and still weighs on my heart was the feeling of betrayal from my own family--people who by all rights should have tried to comfort me for what happened, and should have not tried to legitimize any part of my pain with excuses.  I wanted their love and support, and I only got excuses and apathetically recited words.

You should also know that if you or your child has a botched circumcision, you may have legal recourse as a possible option for either yourself  or for your child.  Please contact attorney David Llewellyn for legal consultation, or for legal advice.  I have spoken with Mr. Llewellyn before, and from my contact with him, I can tell you that he is very experienced in his field of work, and a pleasure to speak with.

25 March 2012: What's Mine is Yours?

My bill at the urologist has been fully paid off, now.

I received a phone call from my father, during which he tried to, in jest, make light of the situation by saying to me, "Congratulations!  Your genitals are finally yours now!"

I know he meant this in jest in regards to not having a bill hovering over one of my body parts, but I wonder if he even realized the cruel irony that came out of his mouth.

Why is it that my body or any part of my body should be my property only by right of purchase?

Why is it that my genitals were never considered to be "mine" from day one in the first place?  Hell, if that were the case, this entire mess could have been avoided.

I've had enough of trying to explain these feelings to him, so I simply swallowed them and moved on with the conversation.

I know a fruitless argument when I see one.