Presentation of Ronald Goldman at the Third International Symposium on Circumcision, College Park, MD. If you cannot remember your infancy, does this mean that infant experiences have no effects on infants and their later feelings and behavior? Can infants be traumatized? Ronald Goldman speaks about this and much more at the Third International Symposium on Circumcision. Goldman’s […]
Category: Public
Circumcision: Breaking the Silence
Ronald Goldman speaks at Interface Holistic Health Center, Cambridge, MA. This talk discusses what circumcision is and its sexual effects. Goldman describes psychological and cultural impacts and possible healing approaches. It is of particular interest to those working with men’s issues, and men with sexual problems. This program also helps women who want to understand […]
Update on Massachusetts Medicaid Legal Case About Circumcisions
Circumcision Resource Center is pleased to report an interim victory in what is likely to be a landmark circumcision case. This is the first win to our knowledge in a circumcision lawsuit in the United States other than malpractice suits for negligently performed circumcision. The lawsuit is Ronald Goldman And 27 Other Taxpayers v. Secretary […]
Articles by Ronald Goldman, PhD Published in African News Media About Circumcision and HIV Prevention
. . . The WHO circumcision “expert,” David Tomlinson, has a conflict of interest because he promotes and sells his own circumcision device to Africans and others. Tomlinson was asked to identify the functions of the foreskin, and he did not know! . . .
. . . The tragic outcome: tens of millions of African men are being deceived into getting circumcised.
Taxpayers Sue Massachusetts Medicaid About Circumcisions
After years of unproductive communications with state and federal officials about Medicaid circumcisions, Ronald Goldman, PhD, founder and Executive Director of the Circumcision Resource Center, heads a lawsuit representing taxpayers who want MassHealth (Medicaid) to stop paying for infant circumcisions. This historic legal action was filed in Suffolk County Superior Court by Attorney Peter Adler. […]
Q&A with Ronald Goldman, PhD After Watching American Circumcision Documentary
Video recorded on April 4th, 2018, in Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Political Avoidance of Medicaid Circumcision Violation of Regulations
The following letter was written by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., and published in the July 13, 2018 issue of a Boston newspaper. The unnecessary medical service is elective, non-therapeutic male infant circumcision. Rep. Malia’s Unresponsiveness As a public health advocate and concerned citizen, I am concerned about a MassHealth (Medicaid) administrative policy that approves payments for […]
Circumcision: 100 Known Complications and Risks
Complications and risks are much more numerous than most doctors know or disclose Hemorrhage Local Infections (6) staphylococcal infections, abscess of penis and scrotum, erysipelas, acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, tetanus, myiasis Systemic Infections (2) septicemia, Fournier’s gangrene Surgical Complications (31) excessive skin removal, excessive residual skin, total denudation of the penis, urethral fistula, multiple pyogenic […]
Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. Presents Circumcision Workshop to Birth Professionals
See the announcement from The Boston Association for Childbirth Education and Nursing Mothers’ Council below.
Circumcision is Exception to American Academy of Pediatrics Pain Policy for Newborn Infants
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – February 25, 2016 – The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published an updated policy on the prevention and management of procedural pain in newborn infants in the February Pediatrics journal. It advises the goal of the prevention of pain in newborn infants because of ethical considerations and the potentially harmful […]
International Journal Critical Analysis of Circumcision for HIV Prevention
The decision to recommend male circumcision to help prevent HIV transmission was a flawed process controlled by a small network of circumcision advocates who avoided open debate. The following abstracts are from Global Public Health, volume 10, issue 5-6, 2015. Kirsten Bell. HIV prevention: Making male circumcision the ‘right’ tool for the job In […]
Response to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Circumcision Policy Statement
The endless search for a medical benefit of circumcision, from treating epilepsy, irritability, and masturbation in the late 1800s to preventing sexually transmitted diseases today, has always been suspect. Close examination reveals that psychological factors affect every aspect of the practice, including who chooses to study circumcision, what questions are studied and what questions are […]
African Newspaper “Circumcises” Article Critical of Circumcision
With the help of an ombudsman, Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. submitted an article to Times Live, a newspaper of Zambia in Africa. The article questioned the claim that circumcision reduces HIV transmission and described the sexual and psychological harm. HIV protection is the primary argument that is being used to promote adult circumcision to tens of […]
A Mother Discovers Her Strength Talking to Her Husband About Circumcision
My name is Patricia and I just had my son, Daniel, last month. I come from a family of all circumcised males and married a circumcised male. During my pregnancy my husband and I discussed circumcision briefly and agreed that we were going to do it. At some point during the pregnancy a very dear […]
Council of Europe Opposition to Circumcision Remains Intact
Jewish Media Misrepresent Council’s Recent Resolution Numerous Jewish media sources report that a recent resolution of the Council of Europe “drops,” “cancels,” and “overturns” its previous anti-circumcision resolution of 2013. Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center, was an invited speaker at the Council of Europe meeting in January, 2014 that […]
State Bill Seeks to Improve Informed Consent for Circumcision
Massachusetts bill serves as model for similar bill in other states Update: This bill was not approved by the Joint Committee on Public Health. If you are a Massachusetts resident We ask you to help. First read the bill below. If you support it, contact your state representative and senator (sample message below) to […]
The Psychology of Circumcision Communication and Social Change
Video Recording of Ronald Goldman speaking on “The Psychology of Circumcision Communication and Social Change” at the 2014 Symposium on Genital Autonomy:
Historic European Circumcision Debate Draws Nearly 300
Previous Resolution Called Circumcision a Violation of Physical Integrity FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – March 6, 2014 – The growing European debate about circumcision led to the first international interdisciplinary dialogue on the subject recently at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France (video). This major meeting discussed an October non-binding resolution overwhelmingly passed […]
Petition Sent to Israeli Supreme Court
Over 35,000 Support Mother Who Resists Court Order to Circumcise Son FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – February 13, 2014 – The Jewish Circumcision Resource Center, representing Jews around the world who question circumcision and choose not to circumcise their sons, submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court. It supports a mother who wants […]
Video Recording of Council of Europe Circumcision Debate Including Ronald Goldman, PhD
Excerpt of Ronald Goldman, PhD’s comments during Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Circumcision, Parliamentary Assembly, Strasbourg, France. The full debate can be watched below. Ron speaks at 35:07 into the video, and again at 1:27:15. Complete minutes of this meeting are available at http://assembly.coe.int/CommitteeDocs/2014/Asocpv01add2-2014.pdf Also, see our press release about the event here.
European Circumcision Debate Will Include Jewish American
Psychologist and Author Ronald Goldman Criticizes the Practice FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – January 7, 2014 – Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Circumcision Resource Center, a nonprofit educational organization in Boston, has been invited by the Council of Europe to participate in an interdisciplinary dialogue about circumcision at a meeting in France on […]
Questioning circumcision isn’t anti-Semitic
To read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/commentary-questioning-circumcision-isnt-anti-semitic/2013/10/18/d7e1eaa4-382b-11e3-89db-8002ba99b894_story.html
Council of Europe Adopts Resolution That Opposes Circumcision
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – October 2, 2013 – Yesterday the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe agreed on a resolution in support of “children’s right to physical integrity.” The purpose is to reinforce the protection of children’s rights, oppose violence against children, and promote children’s participation in decisions that affect them. Genital cutting […]
Historic Nordic Agreement Opposes Circumcision
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – October 1, 2013 – Yesterday at a meeting in Oslo, Norway, Nordic ombudsmen for children representing six countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland) and Nordic pediatrician and pediatric surgeon organizations agreed on a resolution urging their national governments to work to prevent non-therapeutic circumcision of boys. According to […]
Do the Health Benefits of Neonatal Circumcision Outweigh the Risks?
To read about the debate between Ronald Goldman, PhD and Ronald Gray, MD see https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324798904578531063301112102
Campaign to Promote Circumcision Wastes Resources
Lack of Open Debate Results in Flawed Policy FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BOSTON – July 21, 2012 – Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center and author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma, is concerned about the International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC starting July 22. He says it offers a one-sided view […]
German Court Bans Circumcision of Young Boys
To read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-circumcision-idUSBRE85Q19Y20120627
Cultural Bias in the AAP’s 2012 Technical Report and Policy Statement on Male Circumcision
38 leading non-US physicians disagree with the American Academy of Pediatrics ABSTRACT The American Academy of Pediatrics recently released its new Technical Report and Policy Statement on male circumcision, concluding that current evidence indicates that the health benefits of newborn male circumcision outweigh the risks. The technical report is based on the scrutiny of a […]
Swedish Docs in Circumcision Protest
They say it ought to be banned. Circumcision of young boys for religious and non-medical reasons ought to be banned in Sweden, urged the Swedish Paediatric Society (Svenska barnläkarföreningen, BLF). In a statement submitted to the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen), the society called the procedure an assault. “We consider it to be […]
Study Reports 1/3 of Circumcisions Required Surgical Revisions or Intervention
To read more: https://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AAP/29075
Huffington Post Article by Ronald Goldman, Ph.D. Receives Over 1400 Comments
To read more: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/circumcision-debate-other-side_n_895132.html
Colorado to Cease Coverage of Medicaid Circumcisions
Over one-third (18) of all state Medicaid programs do not cover circumcisions. Is your state one of them? Find out. To read more:
Circumcision Associated with Sexual Difficulties in Men and Women
A new national survey in Denmark, where about 5% of men are circumcised, examined associations of circumcision with a range of sexual measures in both sexes. Circumcised men were more likely to report frequent orgasm difficulties, and women with circumcised spouses more often reported incomplete sexual needs fulfillment and frequent sexual function difficulties overall, notably […]
Circumcision Associated with Adult Difficulty in Identifying and Expressing Feelings and Circumcised Men 4.53 Times More Likely to Use Erectile Dysfunction Drugs
To read more: Alexithymia and Circumcision Trauma This preliminary study investigates what role early trauma might have in alexithymia (difficulty in identifying and expressing feelings) acquisition for adults by controlling for male circumcision. Three hundred self-selected men were administered the Toronto Twenty-Item Alexithymia Scale checklist and a personal history questionnaire. The circumcised men had age-adjusted alexithymia […]
U.S. Circumcision Rate Reported at 32.5%
As reported in the New York Times, a federal health researcher stated in July, 2010, at the International AIDS Conference that the U.S. circumcision rate had fallen to 32.5 percent in 2009. The researcher works for the Centers for Disease Control. The numbers are based on calculations by SDI Health, a company in Plymouth Meeting, […]
Psychological Effects
Susan Blank, M.D. is the Chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Circumcision March 16, 2010 Susan Blank, M.D. New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene 125 Worth St. Box 73 New York, NY 10013 Dear Dr. Blank: As the author of Circumcision: The Hidden Trauma, I have […]
AAP Pamphlet “Care of the Uncircumcised Penis” Included Foreskin Functions
Information deleted in subsequent editions with no coherent explanation The 1984 American Academy of Pediatrics pamphlet for parents titled, “Care of the Uncircumcised Penis” described foreskin functions, which include shielding the glans (head) from irritation and infection. “The foreskin protects the glans throughout life.” This information was deleted from subsequent editions of the pamphlet. Ronald […]
