[10] The Cut Podcast: David Llewellyn: the Harm of Circumcision is Hidden because the genitals are hidden

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon, the director of the documentary film Cut, interviews lawyer David Llewellyn about the legality of forced male circumcision, genital-injury cases, and his motivations for taking part in the Intactivist Movement. Here is the recording.

Transcript
(slightly modified)

Eliyahu Ungar-Sargon

From the White Letter Productions studios in Los Angeles, California, I'm [Eliyahu] Ungar-Sargon, and this is The Cut Podcast.

I'm sitting here now with David Llewellyn, so thank you so much for joining us. Why don't we jump off by having you explain to our audience what it is you do.

David Llewellyn

Well, I'm a trial lawyer in Atlanta, GA, and the majority of my work is now—and has been for several years—in the area of genital injury litigation, by which I mean cases where [men or babies] have been damaged by circumcision or circumcised against their or their parents' wishes—and I know that sounds strange, but I've actually had a case where an adult [who was] having other genital surgery was assured that he would retain his foreskin and did not because of a mistake (apparently on the part of the resident, who did not know how to do this surgery without removing the foreskin).

Zenas Baer: the Medical System and the Judiciary ignore the illegality of Circumcision

Zenas Baer (J.D.) discusses the events that led him to study the legal issues surrounding the circumcision of children.

Circumcision: The Big Transparent Lie

Harry Guiremand speaks candidly of his personal discoveries about circumcision and his efforts to bring evidence of its harm to the discussion.

Leonard B. Glick: Cultures Change

Jewish American scholar, Leonard Glick, speaks of his life, his academic career, his research on the history of circumcision, and his views on intactivism.

Georgeanne Chapin: The beginning of Intact America and the common sense of Intactivism

Georganne Chapin (MPhil, JD) discusses her first awareness of male circumcision and the events leading to her becoming Executive Director of Intact America.

Chapin also talks about the curious policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors

published on 2010 April 26 (the AAP has since rescinded that statement).

Dr. Dean Edell: Circumcision is inappropriate in general, especially to prevent HIV/AIDS

Dr. Dean Edell, who hosted the syndicated Dr. Dean Edell radio program, discusses the absurdity of circumcision.

Miriam Pollack: Jewish Mother on Circumcision and Jewish Identity

Miriam Pollack, a Jewish mother and feminist and longtime intactivist, encourages fellow members of the Jewish community to give serious consideration to the issue of circumcision and to welcoming their boys into the world with love instead of pain.

Intact America has first official Press Conference

Intact America is a new organization that was established “to change the way the [U.S.] thinks about male circumcision”. There was a press conference on 2009 June 22, about which more can be read in this official press release.

Unfortunately, it is often the case that people cast the issue of male and female genital cutting as 2 completely separate and mutually exclusive topics—and worse, opponents of male genital cutting are often derided as “misogynists” for not spending their efforts fighting a real injustice like female genital cutting.

The truth of the matter is that both female genital cutting and male genital cutting are genital cutting, and when this act is performed on non-consenting children—male or female—it is child abuse.

In a moving account of her own story, Soraya Miré—who was herself a victim of this abuse as a child—reaffirms the mutually inclusive nature of the fight against all forms of genital cutting, which she specifically calls genital mutilation regardless of gender.