TUSCALOOSA, AL: Brother K accused of "indecent exposure"

Cent News
November 9, 2014

Picketer Arrested for Public Indecency Explains Stand against Circumcision

by James Carvin
Tallahassee, FL, United States (4E) - A man dressed in white with a blood stain painted on his groin was arrested yesterday, interrupting his tour to protest the practice of circumcision. The group he leads claims he was taken into custody because a passerby said he was exposing his genitals in public. Bloodstained Men is touring the Bible Belt picketing on crowded street corners to put an end to a practice it says is harmful, cruel and should be illegal under the 14th amendment.

Brother K wants attention and is dressed for the part. "Take a picture! Take a picture," he yelled to his similarly clad companions yesterday as he was being handcuffed in Tuscaloosa. [No, he wanted a record, in case the police misbehavied.]

They were in Tallahassee on a busy block by Florida's capitol complex the day before. "We protested in Denver last summer. We protested in San Diego at a Doctors' Convention last month. We're gonna be in Texas in March" … "it's all on our website, Bloodstainedmen.org" explained Brother K Saturday in an interview with 4E correspondent, James Carvin.

"The 14th Amendment says that the law has to be applied equally; that you cannot have a law that favors one class of people. Right now we have a Female Genital Mutilation Law (Federal) that favors women. They are protected from birth against any form of genital surgery; even just a pin-prick of blood. Under the 14th Amendment, boys should be - and actually, are; entitled to that same respect of their body that girls are."

Carvin was led to Brother K by fellow picketer David Atkinson who explained, "The 14th Amendment requires equal protection under the law. Female Genital Mutilation is illegal in the United States up until the age of 18. Outlawing male circumcision is a matter of equal rights."
Brother K pointed out, "intent alone to circumcise your daughter outside the United States is a felony." He hopes to see the practice end globally as with FGM.

Doing so will require a head to head clash with three major religions and a battle in the USA over 1st Amendment rights. Both Judaism and Islam practice circumcision. Although the Qur'an does not require it as the Torah does, some Hadith's call it a "fitra" (ideal). Christians have mixed views on adherence to Old Covenant law. Most do not feel obligated but circumcise young boys for medical reasons.

Brother K was graphic in debunking what he believes are medical myths about the health of circumcision.

"Circumcision is a devastating wound, both physically, psychologically, and spiritually to any human being, and it's the same with girl circumcisions. There are several extraordinarily destructive effects of circumcision. Perhaps, if I had to pick the one, at the top of the list, the glans penis by nature is covered with a foreskin whose interior lining is a mucous membrane, like the inside lining of your eyeball, or like the inside lining of your mouth. Imagine that your tongue had to live outside your mouth all your life."
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Earlier story

EASTERN CAPE: Botched circumcision website stays up

IoL News
February 18, 2014

Botched circumcision pics stay

by SAPA
Johannesburg - A Film and Publication Board (FPB) ruling that a website has the right to publish graphic images of botched traditional circumcisions was upheld by the Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday.

This was after the Community Development Foundation for SA (Codefsa) filed an appeal application last week after the FPB ruled that Dutch doctor Dingeman Rijken's website was a “bona fide scientific publication with great educative value”.

The FPB gave the website, www.ulwaluko.co.za, a rating of 13N, meaning it showed nudity and was only suitable for people older than 13. The website contains photographs of the penises of initiates who fell victim to botched circumcisions.

The Appeal Tribunal's interim decision reaffirmed the FPB's rating of 13N.

It ruled that the website must display the FPB's logo indicating that people under age 13 were not permitted to view the website.

The website's landing page had to display this warning: “Some people because of cultural or other sensitivities may find the pictures appearing on this website to be offensive or disturbing”.

The full reasons behind the Appeal Tribunal's findings would be released at a later stage.

Codefsa complained that the website's images were pornographic, compromised doctor-patient confidentiality and prejudiced and violated the cultural rights of black people.

Rijken said in an email on Tuesday: “Contralesa has contacted me... to request for a meeting to discuss a way forward, which I am very happy about.”

He said he would be willing to take the photographs off the website provided “they come up with an adequate plan to curb deaths and mutilations”.

Rijken previously said he had received consent for each photograph posted on the website, and that the deaths and mutilations undermined customs and violated cultural rights. He said it was preposterous to equate pictures of mutilated penises with pornography.

Earlier story