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October 2007

This month there were were 11 men in attendance. At the beginning of the meeting, there was discussion regarding the men who have been coordinators of NORM Southern California so far:

Our group has been in existence for about 15 years and has assisted countless men in restoring their foreskins and dealing with their feelings on the brutality of circumcision.

A few of us discussed the web site, as a new guy will be taking over updating it soon. We may need to move our web site from one server to another, as the current webmaster had been having trouble accessing it, and need to get the domain registration information to begin the process.* Next month we will decide if we are going to update the current site or start fresh with a new design for the site. [*NOTE: the problem was eventually solved, and the hosting arrangements for norm-socal.org remain the same.]

The coordinator passed around handouts of coded map that quickly gives a person information regarding the prevalence or lack of prevalence of circumcision in any country on the planet.

Group discussion then moved to another handout, a printout of an message that appeared on the restore email list speculating about a possible link between ADHD and circumcision. It seems as if this condition is very widespread in the USA. Most other countries do not have the ADHD issues we have... they also do not have the high rate of circumcision we have.

Another issue brought up in discussion was the falling sperm count in the USA. Circumcision tends to pull scrotal skin on to the shaft of the penis, and in some cases the testes are held closer to the body. As the testes function normally at a lower temperature, the additional warmth from being drawn closer to the body could reduce sperm production.

[Note that the above two paragraphs involve a bit of speculation, and NORM Southern California does not not endorse either viewpoint.]

One of our regulars brought in a "doughnut ring," something like a giant o-ring with the texture of a gummy bear. This item can be placed at the base of the penis to prevent the skin of the scrotum from being pulled up onto the shaft during one's tugging process.