An unplanned social media campaign using the hashtag “ #SinceIWasABoy ” has been prevalent on social media with hundreds speaking out against routine circumcision. The campaign came about entirely by accident as a response to another social media campaign that highlighted aspects of gender equality for women.
Elite Daily asked women what they would do differently if they had been born a boy:
“We want to hear from you, so tweet, Instagram and Facebook us and let us know what you’d do differently #IfIWereABoy. We’re listening. It’s time everyone else does, too.”
The #IfIWereABoy photos were very intriguing themselves, but one stuck out glaringly to some activists who oppose routine infant circumcision (RIC):
The new #IfIWereABoy campaign taking @Beyonce ‘s lyrics one step further: http://t.co/SFgX8VEXbT pic.twitter.com/v4whmPBGkP
— MTV Act (@MTVact) August 12, 2014
Activists who fight for an end to routine infant circumcision are also called “intactivists.” Intactivist Cynthia Maloney explained to Inquisitr why the #SinceIWasABoy campaign was sparked as a response to that one photo featured in the Elite Daily article:
“Anyone fighting to end the forced genital cutting of infants and children here in America knows that is bulls***. Boys have the most drastic body modification of their lives forced upon them when they are merely hours old. Something about it set me off and commented something about getting the intactivist women together to make it clear that boys DO NOT have the right to chose what’s done to their bodies, way more extreme than anything women experience here in America. Forced genital cutting is a federal offense for girls, not even given a second thought when it comes to boys.”
Maloney said of routine infant circumcision, “Looking through all the many photos I’ve collected I know I’m not the only one sickened by this. The more we talk about it, the less socially acceptable it becomes. If you look at medical ethics and child abuse laws you’ll realize this is unethical and illegal. It’s just a matter of waking people up.”
#SinceIWasABoy #i2 @IntactVoices @UncutBits #SinceIWasAGirl #NoToFGM @CrispySea @sherlockmichael pic.twitter.com/XBtxnzR51A
— ATHEISTPOWER/Kriz (@ATHE1STP0WER) August 18, 2014
#sinceIwasaboy #i2 #questioncircumcision pic.twitter.com/8vNBdjAc4z
— Patrick Ridenour (@PRIntactivism) August 17, 2014
#SinceIWasABoy #i2 @IntactVoices @CrispySea pic.twitter.com/EkDh9nesXD
— ATHEISTPOWER/Kriz (@ATHE1STP0WER) August 18, 2014
#EXPECTING #PARENTS LOOK—Your baby boy will know the truth about #circumcision , even if you don’t. #i2 #SinceIWasABoy pic.twitter.com/tRgYDQD2SU
— Randall Reynolds (@randallr01) August 17, 2014
Eric Williamson explained his feelings on circumcision very simply and calmly during an interview with Everything Birth Blog , “It’s my body and should have been my choice. And personally, I would have never made that choice for myself.”
In that same article in Everything Birth Blog, California resident Garrett Wolfe said:
“I was robbed of normal sexual function, normal sexual sensation and pleasure, normal appearance and lied to all my life about it. I was made to feel that I was the one with the problem, not the victim. It’s as if I was blinded with red hot poker in infancy, and then told blindness is normal and good for me, and that I must have a problem for not appreciating it.”
Another anti-circumcision photo campaign is also currently happening on social media. #IAmNotThankful is a response to all of the people who say, “It may hurt now, but he will thank you for circumcising him later.”
Some people are angry about the #SinceIWasABoy response to the #IfIWereABoy photo campaign though. Justin Cooney of Michigan defended mocking the anti-circumcision campaign. “No I shame people who are stupid enough to say circumcision is sexual abuse,” Cooney tweeted. Cooney then elaborated, “We are also born with umbilical cord maybe we shouldn’t cut that off either.”
Inquisitr recently reported on forced circumcisions that are occurring to adults in Kenya.
Be Glad You Don’t Live In Kenya! You Won’t Believe What 12 Men Were Forced To Go Through! #gossip #celebrity http://t.co/fyDDbGVUMt
— Gossip Town USA (@GozzipTown) August 6, 2014
Americans vehemently opposed the Kenyan practice of forced adult circumcision, but intactivists involved with the #SinceIWasABoy photo campaign wonder why many of the same Americans see nothing wrong with forced infant circumcision.
[Photo via Dawn Papple]
