February 19, 2022
Brendon Marotta has demonstrated that intactivism is a mental disorder. In a blog post published on Thursday, the producer of the anti-circumcision documentary American Circumcision claimed that circumcision causes serious psychological trauma. He also claimed that the procedure causes cultural trauma that unhappy circumcised men "experience from living in a genital cutting culture." [1]
Marotta claimed that unhappy circumcised men are "culturally traumatized" by the following:
They are traumatized by the presence of pregnant women.
The are traumatized by the presence of baby boys.
They are estranged from their own families.
They are traumatized by the presence of medical professionals.
They avoid medical appointments, putting their own health at risk.
They avoid pediatric appointments, putting their children's health at risk.
They are traumatized by sexual activity and romantic relationships.
They are traumatized by media depictions of the male body.
They are traumatized by the presence of Jews.
They are traumatized by religion in general.
They are traumatized by the government.
Marotta linked to four books and articles to support his claim that circumcision causes psychological trauma. Each of these sources was addressed in our article "Does circumcision cause psychological damage?" [2] In short, none of the sources proves that circumcision causes long-term psychological harm.
Marotta's claims of "cultural trauma" are, of course, absurd. What his trauma list actually shows is that intactivism is a debilitating mental disorder that obstructs a person's ability to interact in society. Our article "Intactivism is a mental disorder" documents dozens of examples of intactivism causing psychological harm. In addition to the evidence provided by unhappy circumcised intactivists, we provided examples of women and uncircumcised men who - by their own admission - have suffered significant mental anguish on account of their intactivist activities. [3] An upcoming Circumcision Choice article will provide additional documentation that anti-circumcision activities and false beliefs perpetuated by intactivists are the causes of their grief.
On a related note, Marotta claimed that unhappy circumcised men have stress around Jews. He stated that "Jewish perpetrators often frame [intactivist] feelings as 'antisemitism' and use that discourse as a justification to harm and target [unhappy circumcised men] for speaking about [circumcision.]" [4] In other words, Marotta placed the responsibility for a person's negativity on others who decline to validate his feelings, rather than on the individual himself.
Tellingly, Morotta didn't claim that intactivists are traumatized by the presence of Muslims. He didn't suggest that Muslims frame intactivist feelings as Islamophobic. He didn't say that Muslims harass and abuse intactivists, even though Muslims and Jews would use similar arguments to defend the procedure. Keep in mind that there are approximately 1.9 billion Muslims and just 14.6 million Jews on earth. [5] Marotta blames only Jews, and not Muslims, who are responsible for far more circumcisions. [6] In this case Marotta's post may be more illuminating for what is missing than for what is written.
If intactivists cannot cope with the fact that people disagree with them, they should cease their debilatating obsession with circumcision and instead take up a relaxing hobby. Perhaps stamp collecting or sailing.
[1] Brendon Marotta; "The Cultural Trauma of Circumcision"; Brendon Marotta blog; February 18, 2022
[2] Andrew Gross; "Does circumcision cause psychological damage?"; Circumcision Choice; February 17, 2019
[3] "Intactivism is a mental disorder"; Circumcision Choice; May 7, 2019
[4] Marotta also claimed that intactivists "have experienced or know they might experience harassment and abuse from Jewish people if they share their testimony." On the contrary, this is the exact opposite of what happens in real life. This is an example of projection: Marotta is projecting the behavior of intactivists onto their victims. Intactivists are far more likely to harass and abuse Jews online than the other way around. Jews do not initiate a confrontration about circumcision. Intactivists, on the other hand, contantly search social media for the "C" word and the "J" word, and then verbally attack en masse Jews who won't renounce circumcision. Intactivists search for the religious identities of scholars and reflexively dismiss papers and studies in which the author is Jewish. Kenneth Hopkins, the leader of the Blood Stained Men who calls himself "Brother K," has said that Jews should not be allowed on the AAP's circumcision task force. In 2018 a white supremacist killed and injured Jews worshipping in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania synagogue. After the terrorist attack intactivists debated whether the victims deserved to be killed, and they wondered if the shooting had prevented a scheduled circumcision ceremony. At the present time members of the intactivist community are discussing whether they should conduct anti-circumcision protests outside synagogues.
[5] In other words, about 1,301 Muslims are circumcised for every circumcised Jew. Religion by Country 2022; World Population Review.
[6] Our point is not to suggest that Muslims abuse and harass intactivists or that Muslims are responsible for the fact that intactivists feel bad. Muslims are not responsible for intactivists' feelings, just as Jews are not responsible. The point is that Marotta's own double-standard belies his claim that intactivists aren't antisemitic.