On TikTok, an elderly man known as ‘Brother K’ sporting a gray beard, fedora and glasses proclaims it a ‘fundamentally evil’ act.
To others, it is the ‘worst human rights violation of the 21st century’.
What is this despicable crime of which they speak? The slave labor camps of Xinjiang? The Rohingya genocide?
No, this is the circumcision of millions of American men.
Some have taken matters into their own hands. On another far flung corner of the internet, a ‘restorationist’ shares his painful journey to reclaim his manhood.
You may think this extreme, but the Facebook forum to which he belongs boasts 2,800 circumcised members, all sharing advice on how to grow back their foreskins with a variety of medieval-looking contraptions.
The Bloodstained Men, a radical anti-circumcision protest group, make their voices heard on the streets of Las Vegas this week as the city prepares to host the Super Bowl
Dr James Haughey demonstrates how to use his Tug ahoy foreskin restoration device
A ‘dual tension restoration’ (DTR) kit for regrowing foreskins made by Chuck Torres of Foreskin Restore. It costs $80 and includes a push plate, a tug pin, four anchor screws, two tension screws, a gripper, elastic bands and a DTR bell
The fully assembled dual tension restoration kit. These ‘tugging’ devices work by applying outward tension on the existing skin and pushing inwards, applying tension in both directions
Methods range from rudimentary ‘manual stretching’, ‘extension devices’ such as weights and elastic straps, to full blown surgical reconstruction.
But the ‘intactivists’ – as they are known – are not just confined to the internet.
This week, the radical ‘Bloodstained Men’ – founded by Brother K – took to the streets of Las Vegas dressed in white overalls with red paint splashed over their genitalia as the eyes of America turned to the Super Bowl.
You may giggle, or dismiss their rhetoric as hyperbolic lunacy.
But with the national rate of circumcision on the decline in the US, might the intactivists actually be winning?
Table of Contents
America Uncut
‘I can’t understand why anybody wouldn’t be angry about somebody forcibly removing part of their penis,’ says Harry Guiremand, a spokesman for the Bloodstained Men.
The group has carried out more than 500 protests across the USA in every state bar Hawaii and Alaska.
It is targeting the Super Bowl for the simple reason that it draws attention. (It’s not known if the NFL has a strong stance on the issue – no one has asked – or whether Travis Kelce has had the snip.)
But America has always been a cut above its western counterparts when it comes to the procedure.
Although the national rate of newborn circumcision declined from 64.5 per cent in 1979 to 58.3 per cent in 2010, it is still comfortably above the 32 percent in Canada and 10 per cent in the UK.
At various points over the 19th and 20th centuries, foreskin removal was touted as a cure for paralysis, masturbation, or most recently infection.
But the medical community is now somewhat circumspect.
In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) was slapped down by the European Medical Community after it said the ‘benefits’ of circumcision ‘outweigh the risks’.
AAP guidelines have not changed, but they do say that the benefits are not enough to recommend universal circumcision and it should therefore be a parental decision.
Dr George Denniston, founder of Doctors Opposing Circumcision, based in Seattle, Washington, has previously described medical literature promoting foreskin removal as ‘bulls***’, adding that it violated the first rule for doctors: ‘do no harm’.
Reclaiming manhood
A sign at a Bloodstained Men protest in Las Vegas this week. One vendor of restoration kits claims around 100,000 American men are trying to regrow their foreskin
Now, not only are fewer American babies getting their foreskins cut, but more men appear to be growing them back.
The National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM) helps circumcised men create new foreskins, with local support groups offering emotional and technical support.
Its website lists a variety of recommended products, including the PeckerPacker, TLC Tugger and the terrifyingly named Supercanister. More on those later.
But first, to the restorers themselves.
Sean Kearney, a NORM co-ordinator in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been trying to grow his foreskin back for more than six years.
‘It’s a mostly solitary process,’ he says, without explaining his use of the word ‘mostly’.
It can take up to ten years to achieve the desired results, which is why the NORM community is vital for people like Sean.
‘A lot of people give up,’ he adds. ‘Progress can be sluggish, glacial even.’
Before the pandemic, Sean, 32, used to attend monthly support meetings in New Hampshire, with around ten other restorers.
Now, virtual meetings are the norm, but there is no shortage of online groups on Reddit and Facebook offering moral support.
Understandably, there are a dizzying array of anatomical queries.
A Bloodstained Man holds anti-circumcision placards in Las Vegas, including one that calls for the imprisonment of doctors who carry out the procedure. The group’s extreme rhetoric has been criticized by some within the medical community for overshadowing a valid debate on the issue
Another protester bears a tattoo describing himself as an ‘MGM survivor’. The group says circumcision is akin to male genital mutilation and comparable to female genital mutilation
A motivational post by a veteran foreskin restorer on a Facebook group with 2,800 members
‘I’ve been restoring by hand for the last year and the other day I noticed I’m getting a whole lot of extra skin underneath my penis is that normal?’ asks one.
‘Have any of you gotten an erection while you’re wearing your device?’ asks another. ‘What happened with it? Did it pop off? Was there pain? Etc…’
Some simply vent frustration: ‘We have been robbed and mutilated. I’m not having a good day about it today.’
Meanwhile, veteran restorers gee up the crowd with inspirational speeches: ’18 years ago today I started this foreskin restoration journey all I knew I wanted my foreskin.
‘Little did I know the great journey I was to endure, a lot of emotions, personal growth, feeling my circumcised comatose brain awaken to full wide awake mode as I grew my foreskin, I never dreamed how incredible I would feel mentally and physically as I grew my foreskin.
‘The more skin I grew the better I felt about myself. Now restored I love to see all you men restoring. And see how much restoring is changing you men also. I have been fully covered now around 13 years and the sensitivity continues to come alive every day of my life.
‘Thank you to all you men for the great group we have.
‘As I always say love, hugs, tugs forever.
‘Men never give up until you hit your personal goal.’
Is this going to hurt?
To the question on everyone’s mind – which products work best?
Devices have been in production for decades, with Dr James Haughey, who was featured in a 2006 BBC documentary ‘Mischief: Circumcise Me?’, credited with inventing one of the world’s first tapeless restoration kits.
Dr Haugher, who spent two years in the Army Medical Corps and ran a private medical practice in Los Angeles for 15 years, died in 2009 and his device waned in popularity.
But others have stepped in its place.
The Supercanister, which claims 100,000 men are now restorers, claims its ‘professional design’ will help you avoid ’embarrassing ‘equipment malfunctions’, such as the device slipping off onto the floor and ‘drawing unwanted attention’.
It adds: ‘You can also stand at a urinal and pee and no-one will know.’
The ‘advanced restoration kit’ costs up to $185.25 – size dependent – and includes a 17 ounce ‘torpedo tugging weight’, an adhesive to hold the ‘inner skin to the supercanister’ a tape remover, and of course, the supercanister itself.
It is essentially a ‘tugging device’, which works by applying outward tension on the existing skin.
The TLC Tugger can come with a variety of accessories, including a 13.5 ounce set of hanging weights for $103.50, a foreskin restoration jock and safety lace.
Its creator – Ron Low – has become a minor celebrity within the field, a status that owes as much to his musical talents as it does his restoration kits.
Ron, from Chicago, Illinois, writes songs about circumcision, such as ‘Grow It Back Again’, which features the lyrics:
‘I’m gonna tug and grow my foreskin back again
‘No it’s not TMI, I shared it ’cause we’re friends
‘My parents chose this road but I’ll choose where it ends
‘Don’t I deserve it all? Gonna grow it back again.’
The Supercanister ‘advanced restoration kit’ costs up to $185.25 – size dependent – and includes a 17 ounce ‘torpedo tugging weight’, an adhesive to hold the ‘inner skin to the supercanister’ a tape remover, and the Supercanister itself
A 13.5 oz set of hanging weights by TLC Tugger will set you back $103.50
Ron Low – the man behind TLC Tugger – has become a minor celebrity within the restorationist community and has appeared on the BBC and HBO
Sean says there is no one-size-fits-all approach to foreskin restoration and that in the absence of official medical guidance, it can ‘very much be trial and error’.
‘The challenge in all of these cases is that your penis is an object that you need to use for various purposes,’ he adds, choosing his words carefully.
‘Having it occluded by these devices for significant periods of time…you just can’t do that, because it’s…it’s an object that you need to use.’
Sean says his technique is ‘very passive’. He uses ‘manual methods’ when he showers and wears a retaining device to apply gentle tension on the foreskin for the rest of the day.
‘The hands on time is pretty minimal,’ he adds.
A few restorationists try to expedite the process through surgical reattachment.
This, however, costs up to $3,5000 and is not recommended by NORM due to the risks involved, which says that no ‘safe, effective’ procedure has been developed.
Scientists are now in the process of developing foreskin regeneration technology, which works by removing cells from a donor’s foreskin and then growing the patient’s cells over the top.
The newly-grown foreskin would then be surgically attached to the customer’s penis.
The technique is being developed by Foregen, a biotech firm based in Lynnwood, Washington.
A poll by the company found that 40 per cent of men would pay to get their foreskin back, with one in ten saying they would stump up as much as $20,000.
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
Would it be worth it?
As much as the benefits of circumcision are hotly debated, so are the rewards of restoration.
Anti-circumcisionists point to the sexual function of the foreskin. A Danish study did find circumcision was associated with frequent orgasm difficulties.
But estimates of the number of nerve endings it has vary from 20,000 to 100,000.
For the Bloodstained Men, it is a point of principle.
‘We’re all for restoration, but it’s not our primary focus,’ says group spokesman Guiremand.
‘We want to stop the mutilation from happening in the first place.
‘We focus on human rights, because I think that’s the strongest case that everyone has the right to their own body.
‘It’s a violent attack. It’s completely bizarre. It’s comparable to female genital mutilation.’
The Bloodstained Men founder ‘Brother K’ shakes the hand of a police officer during an anti-circumcision protest in Ogden, Utah, in July 2019
This sort of talk has drawn criticism from parts of the medical community, including Brian Morris, a long-time advocate for circumcision and professor of molecular medical sciences at the University of Sydney, who has said some anti-circumcision activists have a ‘cult-like devotion’ to their cause.
Other medics say the backlash against some of the unscientific claims of the first half of the 20th century may have gone too far, causing people to ignore modern data that suggests circumcision could reduce penile cancer and HIV transmission.
Urologist Dr. Jack Lapides has said ‘the analogy of throwing out the baby with the bath water has never been more applicable’.
Whatever your thoughts, maybe it’s time to stop the puerile puns and take the matter seriously.
