Tag: consent

Austin Caudill has an important message for parents “I didn’t have a choice. A needless modification was made to my own body, and I was given no say in the matter.

As a child and adolescent, since my own penis had skin covering the glans, I thought that I was either partially circumcised or not circumcised at all. It took me just one look at adult content to begin researching, and through that research I quickly realized how wrong I was.

I did not consent to genital mutilation

I discovered that the skin covering my glans is not the result of an incomplete circumcision or the removal of too little skin, but rather because the practitioner had cut away too much skin. A tight penile shaft skin, combined with the body’s tendency to protect its parts, causes the penis to be pulled in and become covered by the scrotal skin. This condition is known as “buried penis.” Scrotal skin covers my glans most of the time, as if it was intentionally pulled up and held there.

I found out that the different skin tones on the shaft of my penis, one skin tone near the base and a distinctly different shade closer to the glans, is a direct result of the cutting. The dark line between them is a scar I share with many other mutilated men.

As my research progressed, I began to realize the brutality of the circumcision procedure; that my penis was probed, clamped, crushed, and ripped apart – just like every other circumcised boy was forced to endure. In my case, however, during this mutilation, one of the instruments was pushed into my urethral opening and punctured through the underside of my glans penis. This created a huge hole below the glans. This unnatural urethral opening is a medically induced hypospadias that should have never happened to me. It also completely destroyed the frenulum, another repercussion in a long list of risks and possible complications of circumcision.

Having a buried penis with hypospadias means that my urethral opening is itself buried; the mechanics of which means that I am forced to pee sitting down, always, or otherwise I end up urinating all over myself.

My penis has been irreparably mutilated through a forced childhood genital cutting that many people euphemistically call “circumcision.” – This is my experience, the reality that I must live with every day.

But I am a human rights activist and an intactivist for more reasons than just my own experiences. I work to bring awareness and save other children from circumcision because I have thoroughly researched the topic. I have seen presentations such as The Elephant in the Hospital , and I’ve commiserated with other victims, including The Bloodstained Men and their Friends (Facebook page ). I realize that this problem is bigger than just myself. I understand, first-hand, the trauma and fallout surrounding circumcision that most people refuse to acknowledge. When someone tells me they don’t care, or that I am a bully or a hypocrite for standing up for an innocent baby, it burns me to the core.

– Austin, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

#IamNotThankful

#IDidNotHaveAChoice

#MenDoComplain

#ididnotconsent

#metoo

#mentoo

#cutpumpkinsnotbabies

#makecuttingillegal

#cuttingismutilation

#notthefamilypenis

#thebabydeservesachoice

#leaveyourbabywhole

#wholeisbeautiful

#intactivism

#foreskinpride

#foreskinisbeautiful

#16functions

#yourwholebaby

#bloodstainedmen

#intaction

#doctorsopposingcircumcision

#citizensagainstritualviolence

Just my story from my mouth to your ears, hopefully no more babies will have to go through what I have. Austin x