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August 2010

Discussion of our opening statement that is read at the beginning of every meeting. Group discussion of the use of vibration to encourage cell growth. Group discussion of stress in relationship to foreskin restoration. High stress can slow down your restoration process. Discussed a news item that detailed an $11 million lawsuit that was won by a family whose male child had their glans cut off in a “routine circumcision”.

At the start of our meeting, our coordinator wanted to review the policy statement that he reads at the beginning of every meeting, to see if there was any wording that we might change. NORM's meeting policies are outlined on their website, and in addition, we mention that this group is meant as a safe environment for discussion (as it is a subject that's somewhat taboo in public). This is meant to help newcomers who might feel uneasy talking about their penises or other subjects related to sexuality.

We talked at length about how it can be difficult to restore when we're stressed out by our various day to day lives. High stress can make it difficult to find the time during the day for tugging, or lead to less concerted efforts at tugging, and slow down one's overall progress. Many of us have experienced frustration at the slowness of what we're doing, and this can also become a problem if it leads us to give up on it for a while. A calm, level-headed approach is advisable; as the old saying goes: slow and steady wins the race.

Someone brought up a rather disturbing news item that surfaced in the last month. A lawsuit was recently settled in Los Angeles in favor of the family of a boy whose glans was severed during a botched circumcision. While the possibility of this sort of accident is almost never mentioned by those promoting circumcision, it does happen on occasion. This particular lawsuit was settled for $11 million, a larger sum than previous cases involving botched circumcisions. It is a common hope that such penalties will encourage more doctors (and other medical staff that do this) to think twice about what they're doing.