This Penis Business

CIRCUMCISION CUTS THROUGH US ALL. In her eye-opening memoir, Georganne Chapin, healthcare executive and social activist, exposes the business of medical circumcision. This unnecessary and most common pediatric surgery in the United States permanently reduces the size and alters the function of a boy's penis for the rest of his life. Every year, nearly 1.5 million baby boys are assaulted in American hospitals and doctors' offices, subjecting them to pain, functional and psychological damage, and a forever-altered sexual experience. (Less than 2 percent of all circumcisions in the United States are done for religious reasons.) Chapin traces circumcision’s U.S. roots from 19th Century fears of masturbation to stereotypes about race, class, religion, and male sexuality. What started as a way to keep men and women from enjoying sex morphed into a for-profit medical practice that is rare or unknown in most parts of the world. This book is a punch-in-the-gut wake-up call that will enrage and empower anyone impacted by the multi-billion-dollar penis business.