I was "circumcised" (preputially amputated) as a neonate in a US Naval hospital. I had troubles with erections and missed out on sexual functionality throughout my life. I did not realize that they were abnormal issues. It was only after I turned 35 and became a father of a boy that I learned better. My wife's OBGYN asked her the question "circumcise: yes or no?" She wrongly assumed that it was a good practice and went with "yes." However, she said so with a question along the lines of "shouldn't I?" Luckily someone later provided her with information when that OBGYN offered none. Today that OBGYN is the Chief Medical Officer at that hospital. These are not uncommon stories, as I have come to find out. Once I started researching how the normal/whole/intact/"uncircumcised" penis works and issues that fellow preputial amputees have experienced, I also realized that I had been living with the same issues. I simply did not know since I was practically born without my prepuce. People's genitals are not readily visible compared to other external body parts that an amputee may be missing. For instance, if someone is missing a hand, it's obvious that the person is missing out on functionality that the hand would provide. People rarely speak about the functions of the male prepuce. After speaking with fellow parents, it came very clear that it is not uncommon for medical professionals to not share such information before asking for consent to preputially amputate a boy. After looking at medical textbooks, medical diagrams and listening to medical professionals, it has become clear to me that many are left to believe that there is little to no value in the male prepuce. A recent survey was done by Intact America that found that 94% of hospitals ask parents and that the simple question often leads those parents to answer "yes." People appeal to the authority of medical professionals, just like my wife and I did. Due to these things, my wife, our two intact teen sons and I are compelled to educate others because, in part, we know that medical professionals and universities are not. Personally, finding ways to spread the information and to convince others to do the same, has become an all-consuming passion driven by my conscience. Unfortunately, the time and energy I spend doing so is not compensated. I have neglected my life-long career in corporate information technology, which has impacted my family's finances. Per historical documentation, it is a fact that the practice is born out of ritual and aimed to negatively affect the sexual activity of the individual. I do not understand how it was allowed for the story to change where much of the public is led to believe otherwise. The only possible explanation is greed and the desire to control.

"It quickly became apparent that what had just happened was a catastrophe... I died in 2015, not now." Lesley Roberts was stunned as she read the devastating final email from her beloved son Alex Hardy. The email had been timed to arrive on 25 November 2017, 12 hours after he killed himself. Less than an hour before the email arrived, Lesley had opened her front door to find a police officer standing there, explaining her son was dead. Alex was an intelligent and popular 23-year-old with no history of mental illness. Lesley could not understand why he would have wanted to take his own life. His email explained how the foreskin of his penis had been surgically removed two years before. This is commonly known as circumcision, but Alex had come to believe it should be regarded as "male genital mutilation". He never mentioned this to his family or friends when he was alive. Lesley did not even know her son had been circumcised. In the following months, she tried to find out more about circumcision. Why had it affected Alex so badly, and why did he feel killing himself was his only option?

My life has had its ups and downs. I can't say the same for my genital well-being. Here in the US, it appears that the doctors handling my circumcision case fudged my blood tests / rheumatology reports, and performed a contraindicated operation. I have since been diagnosed by one of California's most experienced urologists as having suffered almost every major physical trauma from the cut. As a kid growing up, my parents would often force me to wear underwear that was too loose, with the fly hole in the front, which often got caught on my genitals. Some days I was scared of even walking around like an average person. I sometimes urinated blood due to stenotic scarring. Likewise, I suffered skin tagging and miscellaneous abrasions all along my genitalia due to my sensitive skin issues. In adulthood, I was almost pronounced a eunuch in all but name. And the perpetrators got away scot-free. Nobody should be forced to go through the personal hell that I did.