Powerful, emotive book where the author doesnt hold back about the impact of this procedure. Not for everyone but very interesting.

Such a disappointing read. The author, clearly wounded by his parents actions during his infancy has clear issues to work through, yet spends the book projecting toxic masculinity on anyone who disagrees with him and viewing them as 'obviously blinded'.

Despite writing as a Christian author, he weighs in on Judaism as he is 'well versed' as a guest of his Jewish husband - not really official qualifications.

He questions medicine, which granted concepts become outdated, yet cites the apparent ease with which women can consult their gyno's with problems and compares this with the difficulties men face with urologists. I fear he has not done his research and the commentary lacks understanding of the female, Jewish and nuance of people who genuinely do not feel the same.

I respect his anger but I don't have much patience in reading angry rants that lack nuance.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc.

Such an important read for any one expecting a boy in my opinion, or any man who is struggling with his own circumcision.

My heart goes out to the author, and I applaud him for his bravery in speaking out about this horrific practice. Sharing his experience is very powerful, and I think this book can help change a lot of minds.

What an angry man. There is far more going on than his emotional and thus physical reaction to his circumcision as an infant. This procedure seems to have captured his entire life. He spends each waking hour contemplating the wrong that has been done him and then some 30 plus years trying to physically overcome situation. On almost every page and sometimes multiple times per page he refers to circumcision as sexual mutilation. He readily admits to being sexually dysfunctional from puberty. For this I truly feel bad for him. In a few short quips he admits that his childhood was not pleasant. He states in a few words that he is having a nose operation to assist in his breathing as a result of his father ramming his head through a wall, breaking his nose. Maybe there is something going on other than the circumcision issues. He never once states that he did anything to try and ease what has to be some anguish from that kind of childhood. He sees no mental health practitioner. He sees no one to try and understand what this fixation is about or how to overcome his dysfunction. The only time he says anything about seeing a mental health doctor is because a physician he is seeing demands it to continue his treatment. Then it is only once. Every doctor he sees is a fraud, a charlatan, never studied this in medical school and knows nothing about his issues. He sees each one as the enemy and therefore interprets everything they do as an act against him. Granted there are jerk doctors out there, but all of them? He refers to the religious aspects of this procedure as a cult indoctrination.

In the end I truly feel sorry for this man as at this point in his life, there is nothing that is going to satisfy him. I am of his age and circumcised. Do I wish i wasn't? Yes. But even as a gay man, I do not let this dominate my life. Additionally his writing is very standard and imaginary and he becomes incredibly repetitive. A good editor would have cut this book half. This book is not as informative as it is a sad story of mental dysfunction.

I found it difficult to get through this book. It was clunky and repetitive. The premise was interesting, though might be better suited for a shorter length book or single essay.

This book certainly gave a different point of view and thoughts than I had originally had. I may not agree with the author's point of view, but it was a good book to become educated.

I was interested in the topic but it is too much of a complain session and not very informative or what next book

Odd book. It was very angry. Not sure exactly how I felt about it, to be honest. I can't quite tell if I'm just brainwashed, like he suggested, or if his facts aren't quite right. If he's right though, then society had better change real quick. #NetGalley

I'm a cut ("circumcised") dad of two intact ("uncircumcised") teen sons. Ever since the first son was born, I have been researching and contemplating the issue of genital autonomy (the individual right to the genitalia you were born with). I have been speaking with hundreds of individuals about the ways they have been impacted by ritualistic genital cutting practices. I noticed a common theme among male, female and intersex cases.

Jay unapologetically shares his experience as a fellow man that was preputially amputated as an infant. While every individual I have spoken with has a unique life story around the issue, Jay's story parallels stories I have heard by others (as well as my own). Most choose not to speak out publicly for fear of offending people, losing connections with friends and family and creating tensions professionally. It seems that the less an individual has to lose, the more likely they are to speak up.

The book needs to be read throughout as he wrote it as his views on the topic evolved.

I very much appreciate Jays' bravery in writing this as it contributes to protecting the next generation for non-therapeutic genital cutting rituals/practices. I hope more individuals are inspired to do so as well.

I myself am very anti-circumcision, so I expected to throw myself into this book and spent the entire time nodding, agreeing, and alternating between crying for Jackson and throwing my fist in the air and shouting "yes!"

I didn't do any of that.

I very quickly stopped taking notes, because it soon became just too painful.

I'm not saying it's necessary, before writing a book about circumcision, to do a deep dive into women's and afab's (assigned female at birth) health issues and reproductive struggles, but if you're going to use that as a comparison to what people with penises are facing when it comes to circumcision, you may not want to come off as entirely ignorant.

Early in the book, Jackson claims that, in contrast to men, "women are welcome to confide in gynecologists about their issues," when in fact, many women are belittled, disbelieved, and downright ignored by their medical providers when it comes to everything from period pain that might be something more serious, to fertility or a desire for sterilization - women are often told they're too old, too young, they'll change their minds, and so much more. He also claims, "no one is strapping down baby girls and circumcision them 'for their own good,'" when this in fact happens all over the world in the form of female genital mutilation, which is still horrendously common, and which can be anything from nicking the tip of the clitoris to make sex less enjoyable, the closest form that I would equal to a traditional male circumcision, to completely severing the clitoris and both sets of labia, and then sewing up the woman's vaginal opening with only a small hole left over for a woman to urinate or menstruate through.

Jackson also uses an unfortunate metaphor about taking a baby girl to the mall to get their ears pierced, saying no reputable piercer would do this; this, too, is very common. I'm not saying it's right, but to use it as an absolute horrific act without the knowledge that it's utterly everyday kind of sucks most of the wind out of the metaphor.

And finally, despite being married to a Jewish man and taking his name, Jackson's absolute ignorance about many forms of modern Judaism is borderline anti-semitic. There are many Jewish families who choose not to circumcise for many more reasons. There are many Jewish families who wait until the child is older, or allow the person, once out of childhood, to make their own choices. And while the traditional bris may be harmful at best and abusive at worst, it's not the majority of Jews who perform circumcision that way anymore. While it is worth pointing out that the tradition bris is harmful, Jackson paints all Jews with this same broad brush and even says he's contemplating relinquishing his husband's Jewish last name, without even mentioning whether or not his husband's family is one of the ones perpetuating these harmful traditions.

For having done so little research outside of his own situation, this book is awfully lengthy, and I'm sad to say it's as narrow-minded as it is long. Circumcision is a surgery worth discussing and, I believe, doing away with entirely. But this book goes about it all wrong.