Programme
Special Activities
Human Rights Award
International Symposia on Sexual Mutilations
Continuing Education Credit
Location
Accommodations
Registration Form
Symposium Description
Symposium Objectives
Symposium Faculty

WEDNESDAY, 5 AUGUST

Welcome and Opening Remarks - Peter Ball, Marilyn Milos

Keynote Address:
Evolutionary Cultural Ethics and Circumcision/Genital Mutilation of Children - Nahid Toubia

The Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Prepuce - Peter Ball, Moderator

Anatomy and Physiology of the Human Prepuce - Steve Scott

Anatomy and Histology of the Penile and Clitoral Prepuce in Primates. Evolutionary Perspective of Specialized Sensory Tissue of the External Genitalia - Christopher Cold

Significance and Function of Preputial Langerhans Cells - George Williams

Current Research on Circumcision and Phimosis - George Denniston, Moderator

The History of Phimosis from Antiquity to the Present - Frederick Hodges

Diagnosis and Treatment of Phimosis - Steve Donnell

Anesthesia for Circumcision: A Review of the Literature - Robert Van Howe

Neonatal Circumcision and HIV Infection - Robert Van Howe

Genital Mutilations: Religious and Cultural Considerations - Tina Kimmel, Moderator

Our Sexual Organs Between God's Hammer and the Devil's Anvil - Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh

The Price of Truth: Circumcision in Islam - Judge Mustafa K. Al-Mahdawi

Evangelical Christianity and its Relation to Infant Male Circumcision - Jim Bigelow

A Jewish Perspective on Circumcision - Jenny Goodman

Circumcision: An African Point of View - Godfrey Tangwa

Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt - Mohamed Badawi

Unifying Language to Stop Genital Mutilations: Religious and Cultural Considerations - Jeannine Parvati Baker

THURSDAY, 6 AUGUST

Legal and Ethical Considerations of Genital Mutilation - Morris Sorrells, Moderator

Pre-Ethics - Mervyn Lander

Circumcision: The Legal and Ethical Issues - Christopher Price

National & International Laws Defending Children from Genital Mutilation - J. Steven Svoboda

Challenging Unconstitutionality of Gender Biased U.S. Law - Zenas Baer

Some Thoughts on Legal Remedies and Their Efficacy - David J. Llewellyn

The Physician as an Expert Witness - James L. Snyder

Tyranny by the Victims - George Denniston

A Comprehensive Approach of Communication About Female Genital Mutilation in Egypt - Seham Abd el Salem

Call for a Moratorium on the Medicalized, Non-Therapeutic Sexual Mutilation of Infants and Children - Charles Bonner

Human Rights Award Presentation, Recipient's Address:
Respect in the Context of Circumcision: Can Ethics Provide Insights? - Margaret Somerville

The World-Wide Campaign to End Genital Mutilation - John Warren, Moderator

The Practice of Circumcision in the United States - Morris Sorrells

Male Genital Mutilation: A Public Health and Human Rights Report from Northern Ireland - Linda Massie

Celebrating Phallos: Healing Men and Culture - Joseph Zoske

London Black Women's Health Action Project - Shamis Dirir

FORWARD: Strategies for the Eradication of Female Genital Mutilation - Adwoa Kluvitse

Challenges to Circumcision in Israel: The Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation - Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin

Activism on the World Wide Web - Marianne Sarkis

FRIDAY, 7 AUGUST

Psychological Aspects of Genital Mutilation - Jim Bigelow, Moderator

Varied Mutilative Practices in Human Cultures - Gerard Zwang

Psychoanalysis of Circumcision - Moises Tractenberg

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder After Genital Medical Procedures - Janet Menage

Attitudes, Beliefs, and Charges of Doctors Who Circumcise - Chris Fletcher

The Face of the Circumciser - Mary Conant and Betty Katz Sperlich

Psychology of the Survivor - Jeree Archer

Foreskin Restoration: Historical and Contemporary Considerations - Jim Bigelow, Moderator

The History of Foreskin Restoration - Dirk Schultheiss

Current Practices in Foreskin Restoration: The State of Affairs in the United States - Wayne Griffiths

Current Practices in Foreskin Restoration: The State of Affairs in the U.K. - John Warren

The Man Behind Restoration - Mervyn Lander

Current Problems in Medical Publication - Peter Ball, Moderator

Publication Bias in American Medical Publishing Regarding Circumcision - Paul Fleiss

Peer-Review Bias Regarding Circumcision in American Medical Publishing - Robert Van Howe

BMJ's Approach to Controversial Topics: A Model for the Elimination of Publishing and Peer-Review Bias - Sandra Goldbeck-Wood

Publication on Circumcision in Medical Literature: The Role of an Editor - Hugh Whitfield

Closing Keynote Address:
Neonatal Circumcision From A Primal Health Research Perspective - Michel Odent

Speakers confirmed but are subject to change. For program changes, check: http://www.nocirc.org.

Symposium Organisers: Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, and Frederick Hodges, Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford.

Special Activities

Book Table
Resource books, videos, and other educational materials will be available for purchase.

Poster Presentations
Additional information will be provided in poster presentations.

Post-Symposium Celebration
A closing celebration will be led by Jeannine Parvati Baker on Saturday, August 8; the time and place will be announced at the Symposium.

Human Rights Award
The International Symposia on Sexual Mutilations presents its HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD to ethicist Dr. Margaret Somerville for courageously stating that male genital mutilation is as ethically wrong as female genital mutilation, that non-therapeutic circumcision of baby boys is criminal assault, and that our duty is "to protect those who cannot protect themselves."

International Symposia on Sexual Mutilations
The International Symnposia on Sexual Mutilations, a special project of the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), provides a forum for discussion about the sexual mutilation of infants and children from historical, anthropological, cultural, religious, social, psychological, medical, ethical, legal and human rights perspectives. NOCIRC is a non-profit educational organisation that provides information for parents and others about protecting the rights of children.

Symposium Description

Every year around the world, 13.3 million boys and 2 million girls have part or all of their external sex organs cut off.

These mutilations are rarely regarded as such in the societies where they are performed.

Even in developed nations, the proponents of male and female sexual mutilation defend these mutilations with dubious scientific studies and manipulated statistics and by appeals to custom and tradition.

Doctors, parents, and politicians have been misled into believing that these mutilations are beneficial, necessary, and harmless.

Internationally respected experts in the fields of medicine, science, politics, law, ethics, sociology, anthropology, history, and religion will present the latest research, documentation, and analysis of this world-wide problem.

Symposium Objectives

Upon completion of the Symposium, participants will understand:

the ethical, political, and legal aspects of sexual mutilation;

the cost and other burdens to health care systems of medically contraindicated sexual mutilations such as male circumcision;

the latest medical research on circumcision;

the latest medical research on phimosis;

the anatomical and functional consequences of male and female sexual mutilation;

the religious and cultural aspects of sexual mutilation;

the need for religious, cultural, and gender sensitivity to the issue of sexual mutilation;

the world-wide campaign to end sexual mutilation;

the psychological aspects and sequaelae of sexual mutilation;

the historical and contemporary aspects of foreskin restoration;

the difficulty of getting accurate information about sexual mutilation into medical publications.

Symposium Faculty

Seham Abd el Salem, Female Genital Mutilation Resource Centre Documentalist, National NGO Commission for Population and Development, Cairo, Egypt.

Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, Doctor of Law, Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Mustafa K. Al-Mahdawi, Libyan Judge, on trial in Libya for apostasy. His 1991 book, Al-bayan bil-Qur'an (The proof by the Koran) takes a clear position against male circumcision, which he considers contrary to the Koran.

Jeree Archer, plaintiff, female genital mutilation litigation in Australia, West Ryde, New South Wales, Australia.

Mohamed Badawi, MD, Ph.D., Department of Mental Hygiene, John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Zenas Baer, JD, federal civil rights attorney, Hawley, Minnesota, USA.

Jeannine Parvati Baker, co-founder, Six Directions, non-profit educational organisation, author, Joseph, Utah, USA.

Peter Ball, MA, MB, B.Chir. (Cambridge), DRCOG, general practitioner, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK.

Jim Bigelow, Ph.D., Director, UNCircumcising Information and Resource Center (UNCIRC), author, Pacific Grove, California, USA.

Charles Bonner, JD, civil rights, personal injury and medical malpractice attorney, Sausalito, California, USA.

Christopher Cold, MD, pathologist, Marshfield Clinic, Minocqua, Wisconsin, USA.

Mary Conant, RN, co-founder, Nurses for the Rights of the Child, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

George Denniston, MD, MPH, Director, Doctors Opposing Circumcision (D.O.C.), Seattle, Washington, USA.

Shamis Dirir, Coordinator, London Black Women's Health Action Project, London, UK.

Steve Donnell, FRCS, Senior Registrar, Department of Paediatric Urology, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, UK.

Paul Fleiss, MD, MPH, paediatrician, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Christopher Fletcher, MD, paediatrician, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

Sandra Goldbeck-Wood, MB, Ch.B., Papers Editor, British Medical Journal, London, UK.

Jenny Goodman, MD, Ch.B., psychotherapist, British National Health Service, London, UK.

R. Wayne Griffiths, MS, M.Ed., Director, National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM), Concord, California, USA.

Frederick Hodges, M.St. (Oxon), Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.

Tina Kimmel, MSW, MPH, statistician, California State Department of Health, Sacramento, California, USA.

Adwoa Kluvitse, Chair, Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development (FORWARD), London, UK.

Mervyn Lander, MB, BS, Dip.Ter.Ed., FRACS, paediatric surgeon, clinical lecturer, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

David Llewellyn, JD, Director, Atlanta Circumcision Information Center, civil litigation attorney, Atlanta, George, USA.

Linda Massie, Director, NOCIRC of Northern Ireland.

Janet Menage, MA, MB, Ch.B., general medical practitioner, founding member of Positive Care in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, committee member, NORM-UK, Bulkington, Warwickshire, UK.

Marilyn Fayre Milos, RN, Director, National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers (NOCIRC), Coordinator, International Symposia on Sexual Mutilations, San Anselmo, California, USA.

Michel Odent, MD, Director, Primal Health Research Center, London, UK.

Christopher Price, MA (Oxon), Soliciter of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, former member of the Government Legal Service, specializing in international and human rights law, Pembrokeshire, SW Wales.

Marianne Sarkis, MA, applied medical anthropologist, established first comprehensive World Wide Web site on feamel genital mutilation, Albany, California, USA.

Dirk Schultheiss, MD, urologist, Department of Urology, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany.

Steve Scott, NOCIRC Educational Outreach Coordinator, Director, NOCIRC of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.

James L. Snyder, MD, FACS, urologist, past president, Virginia Urologic Association, Clifton Forge, Virginia, USA.

Margaret A. Sommerville, AM, FRSC, Gale Professor of Law, Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law, Montreal, Québec, Canada.

Morris Sorrells, MD, paediatrician, Alameda County Ambulatory Health Care Services, Oakland, California, USA.

Betty Katz Sperlich, RN, co-founder, Nurses for the Rights of the Child, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.

J. Steven Svoboda, JD, Director, Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC), Berkeley, California, USA.

Godfrey Tangwa, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Yaoundé, Board Member, International Association of Bioethics (IOB), Yaoundé, Cameroon, Africa.

Nahid Toubia, MD, Director, Research Action and Information Network for the Bodily Integrity of Women (Rainbo), New York, New York, USA.

Moisés Tractenberg, MD, psychoanalyst, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Robert Van Howe, MD, Consultant to the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision (1997), paediatrician, Marshfield Clinic, Minocqua, Wisconsin, USA.

John Warren, MD, DCH, FRCP, Director, National Organization of Restoring Men (NORM-UK) and NOCIRC of UK, Harlow, UK.

Hugh Whitfield, MD, Editor, British Journal of Urology.

George Williams, MB, Ch.B., FRACP, consultant paediatrician/perinatologist, Director, NOCIRC of Australia, Menai, New South Wales, Australia.

Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, steering committee, Israeli Association Against Genital Mutilation, Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Joseph Zoske, CSW, psychotherapist, independent health care consultant, Albany, New York, USA.

Gérard Zwang, MD, urologic surgeon, author, The Female Genitalia and Sexual Pathology, St. Clément de Rivière, France.