Good stuff.

We’ve spent some time over recent weeks developing a ‘Letter to the Editor’ for publication in a national newspaper or periodical, in the week preceding the Conservative party conference, which starts next Sunday. The letter has been signed by some of the world’s most well-known anti-MGM campaigners, researchers, and anti-MGM organizations.

None of the numerous national newspapers and periodicals we’ve approached offering exclusivity (one after another) have been willing to publish the letter, so we’ve decided to publish it here. It takes up the remainder of this post:

Dear Sir / Madam,

We call upon the government to specifically proscribe the non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors (henceforth male genital mutilation, MGM). This would give male minors the same legal protection as that enjoyed by female minors since the passing of the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985.

The original purpose of this obscene practice was to diminish sexual pleasure in adult men. It detrimentally affects many men’s physical and mental health, blighting their lives, and sometimes leads to suicide.

This mutilation of healthy minors’ bodies has always been illegal under Common Law. It is illegal under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as a plethora of more recent legislation, which, inter alia, protects the basic right of the individual to bodily autonomy, until that person reaches an age to make an informed decision. MGM also breaches UN and EU conventions.

MGM is directly comparable to Type 1a and Type IV FGM. There are no medical benefits which bear close examination. It is ethically and morally indefensible. This barbaric practice must be banned at the earliest available opportunity.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Buchanan
Party leader
Justice for Men & Boys (and the women who love them)

Tim Hammond
Survey Programmer
Global Survey on Circumcision Harm

Jack Cohen
Honorary Professor
Institute of Mathematics, University of Warwick

Dr John Warren
Retired consultant physician
Chair, 15 Square (formerly NORM-UK)

David Smith
Chief Officer
Genital Autonomy

Patrick Smyth
Organiser
Men Do Complain

Professor George Denniston MD MPH
President
Doctors Opposing Circumcision (USA)

Natasha Philips
Legal Researcher
Researching Reform

Linda Massie
Director
National Organisation Circumcision Information Resource Centre of
Northern Ireland (NOCIRC-NI)

Ian Tyes
Solicitor (retired)

So what happens when a herd of hostile and particularly dim-witted Canadian feminists (along with their equally dim-witted male poodles) is confronted by one smart bilingual police officer, with the patience of a saint? This is what happens. A tip of the hat to Steve Brule for producing the video (5:42).

I had the pleasure of attending an all-day meeting of more than 20 MRAs in Oxford on Saturday. I was one of a number who gave presentations, and I’ve added hyperlinks to the PDF of the content, to enable people to access materials speedily. I titled my talk A call to arms.

I’m pleased to report that by the end of the day we’d acquired several new party members, commitments to attend the protest outside the Conservative party conference next Sunday and Monday, and two people expressed an interest in standing as J4MB candidates at the 2020 general election. All in all, a productive day.

We’re admirers of the website Researching Reform, and Natasha Philips – the founder, and the legal expert for the site – has published an interesting piece on MGM. I’ve just submitted a comment (below) and I urge you to submit your own. Thank you.

Non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors (Male Genital Mutilation / MGM) is already illegal in the UK, albeit not specifically illegal (unlike FGM, which has been specifically illegal since 1985). MGM also breaches a number of UN and EU conventions. In common with paternity fraud, MGM is a crime which the criminal justice system does not prosecute people for – but SHOULD.

MGM is an abhorrent assault on the human rights of make babies, infants, and children, who by definition cannot give informed consent. I know of no medical benefits from the procedure which bear serious examination, and I strongly recommend a blog piece by William Collins on the matter – here.

MGM is, inter alia, a human rights issue. MGM is child abuse. Our political party is calling for it to be made specifically illegal, in line with FGM, at the earliest opportunity.

Mike Buchanan

JUSTICE FOR MEN & BOYS
(and the women who love them)

https://j4mbdotorgdotuk.wordpress.com

As an admirer of the late writer Christopher Hitchens, I was delighted when Jon pointed me to this video (3:54).

A week ago I posted a blog piece about the Home Office response to our FOI request on MGM – asking why the police are not bringing prosecutions for the crime – being overdue. Details here.

Public bodies are required to respond to FOI requests within 20 days, and the deadline was last Monday. We emailed the Home Office FOI team about their response being overdue, and had no response. I shall email them again, and point them to this post.

Charlotte Proudman, a 27-year-old feminist barrister, recently won our inaugural Toxic Feminist of the Month award – here. We stated our conviction that she’d deliberately scuppered her legal career in order to pursue a far less demanding career – one with irresistible appeal to a narcissist – that of a feminist media pundit, in the style of that supreme narcissist, Special Snowflake (Laura Bates). Few people agreed with us. Following Ms Proudman’s recruitment by the Guardian – here – that might possibly change.

Her Guardian profile:

Charlotte Proudman is a barrister in human rights law and family law at the chambers of Michael Mansfield QC. She is currently working on a PhD in sociology at the University of Cambridge, where she is researching the law surrounding FGM in the UK, and is an executive committee member of the Society of Labour Lawyers and Fabian Women’s Network. Follow @CRProudman

Special Snowflake #2 is ‘researching the law surrounding FGM in the UK’, at the University of Cambridge. FGM has been specifically illegal in the UK since 1985, 30 years ago – here. Can I have my PhD in sociology now, please?

Three days ago SS#2 called in her Guardian piece for gender quotas for senior legal appointments – here. She hasn’t yet called for gender quotas in bomb disposal, refuse collection, sewage work, agriculture, construction, deep sea fishing, logging, or indeed any of the risky (and often poorly remunerated) lines of work which result in 95%+ of people killed in the workplace being men. We feel sure she’ll get to these areas soon.

Because we have yet to find a printing company willing to print our literature at no cost:

We’re looking forward to supporting Men Do Complain and protesting with them outside the Conservative party conference next Sunday, 4 October, and the day after. Our blog piece on the matter is here.

We invite you to join the J4MB supporters (and donors) who’ll be there, please email me mike@j4mb.org.uk if you’d like to join us on this historic occasion – a significant men’s rights protest outside the annual conference of a political party in government. The event will be video recorded by a man with a long professional career in film recording and editing, he’s looking for material for pieces to post online, with interviews of protesters, conference delegates… maybe even politicians (hope springs eternal). We’ll be taking along equipment for high quality audio interviews.

If you can’t afford the travel costs, let me know, we’ll see what possibilities there might be for car sharing. Sadly, there are no spare seats available on a coach which is travelling from London.

We’ll be handing out thousands of leaflets to politicians, delegates, media folk, and others entering Manchester Central, the conference venue. The design of the leaflet – A4, printed both sides – is here.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of the company of over 20 men’s rights activists – one of them, D, being definitely of the female persuasion – at a day-long meeting in Oxford. I was among the speakers, and I’ll be publishing the content of my talk shortly. One of those present was Patrick Smyth of Men Do Complain, the anti-MGM campaigning organization we’ll be supporting at their protest outside the Conservative Party conference venue on Sunday 4 October, and the following day.

On his way home, whilst at King’s Cross station, Patrick happened to encounter Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. He engaged Dr Williams in conversation, and he’s posted his account on his Facebook page – here.

A tip of the hat to Patrick. Like all the best campaigners, he never misses an opportunity to campaign. We look forward to supporting Patrick and his colleagues in Manchester.