Coverage (media, not glans)
Oprah’s foreskin face cream nominated for Ecouterre’s most deplorable WTF fashion & beauty story of 2013
Ecouterre, December 27 2013
Ecouterre has nominated its January 25 2013 article Oprah Draws Criticism for Endorsing Face Cream Made From Foreskins — which covered CAN-FAP’s inaugural OPERATION OPRAH protest in Vancouver — as one of its “Top Seven WTF Fashion & Beauty Stories of 2013”. Will Ecouterre readers vote this the most deplorable story of them all? Stay tuned! UPDATE: Ecouterre readers voted this story the Most Deplorable WTF Fashion & Beauty Story of 2013!
Read the full article ”Top 7 WTF Fashion, Beauty Stories of 2013 (Vote for the Most Deplorable)” at Ecouterre.
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Xtra Vancouver declares FORESKIN PRIDE its #3 Newsmaker of 2013
Xtra Vancouver, December 25 2013 (online); Dec 19 2013 p.10 (print)
Read the full article ”Xtra Vancouver's newsmakers of 2013” at the Daily Xtra website.
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Glen Callender discusses infant circumcision on Vancouver SONiC 104.9FM
The Kid Carson Show, October 4 2013
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Dr. Jorge DeMaria and Glen Callender discuss botched circumcisions on Toronto NewsTalk 1010
Jim Richards Showgram, September 26 2013
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Circumcisions suffer from bad training: study
National Post, September 25 2013
Given that there is relatively little medical reason to perform circumcisions, it is important at least that physicians know what they are doing to prevent slip-ups, a new study says.
The mere mention of the word circumcision is enough to make some men cringe, and a new study suggests they might have more reason to flinch than they thought.
Many of the doctors who perform the procedure are generalists and poorly trained for the task, possibly explaining the steady stream of complications seen in emergency wards, some with life-long consequences, conclude researchers in Hamilton, Ont.
Given that there is relatively little medical reason to perform circumcisions, it is important at least that physicians know what they are doing to prevent slip-ups, the Hamilton physicians’ newly published study says.
“People who do circumcisions, the majority of those who do circumcisions, they are not surgeons. They have some training, but never enough to go out and do these operations,” said Dr. Jorge DeMaria, the McMaster University urologist who headed the research. “They go to a colleague and say ‘Show me how to do it’ … The majority don’t do it that well.”
He stressed that he is not anti-circumcision or necessarily opposed to non-surgeons doing the procedure. He and his colleagues developed a training program and video that seemed to produce better results, and drew favourable comments from as far away as Europe after being posted online.
“This operation will continue to be done forever and ever so, when they do it, I want them to it correctly,” said Dr. DeMaria.
Until recently, the McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton where he works would see about two cases a week of newborns suffering from mistakes made in neonatal circumcisions. While most are relatively minor, rare cases can be serious, including bleeding that requires transfusion, the specialist said. Two or three boys in Canada have died in the last decade.
“We got sufficient numbers of [complications], and also a lot of unhappy parents, because the cosmetic results were not very good,” said Dr. DeMaria.
Their experience does not seem unique. In Halifax, the IWK Health Centre likely sees a similar number of complications, the majority of them more cosmetic than severely debilitating, said Dr. Peter Anderson, a pediatric urologist at IWK and president of the Canadian Urological Association. Most problems can be fixed with further surgery, he said.
A 2008 study indicated that about 32% of Canadian parents had their boys circumcised, a procedure that involves removing some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The reasons for doing it reported in a Public Health Agency Survey included health and hygiene; to be like the father and brothers; and religious belief. Jews and Muslims both advocate the practice.
Debate has raged for years about its merits, with critics viewing the operation as mutilation inflicted without the child’s consent, while advocates argue that it helps prevent disease. The American Academy of Pediatrics last year softened its previous position that circumcision was medically unnecessary, saying that the benefits somewhat outweighed the risks, though the group still did not recommend the procedure be performed routinely.
The Canadian Pediatrics Society is considering the issue, too.
The McMaster group surveyed 54 of the 87 physicians it identified in southwestern Ontario as carrying out circumcisions, the team reported in the Canadian Urological Association Journal.
The majority were non-surgeons — family doctors or pediatricians — and none of those had received any formal training. They were shown a picture of a baby with a condition called “concealed penis,” which should make him ineligible for a circumcision given the high risk of complications. Still, a third of the respondents said they would operate on the child.
After offering a training course to non-surgeons and putting [an] instructional video online, the number of complications observed in the Emergency Department actually dropped, to about one case every two months, the article said.
The founder of a Canadian anti-circumcision group said errors that some might consider minor can actually have lasting impact, making the organ unsightly and undermining sexual satisfaction.
Some blunders have given rise to malpractice lawsuits, noted Glen Callender of the Vancouver-based Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project.
“There’s a lot of men walking around with a lot of damage on their penis,” he said. “I can put you in touch with guys who have no head on their penis, or no penis because of a botched circumcision.”
The McMaster study did not look at the “mohels” who perform Jewish ritual circumcision, carried out on the eighth day after birth, most of whom are not even doctors. Dr. DeMaria said he understood that some are, nevertheless, very skillful at it.
Read this article (online headline: “Many doctors performing circumcisions are poorly trained for procedure: report”) at the National Post website.
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Georgia Straight recognises CAN-FAP in its annual ‘Best of Vancouver’ issue for second consecutive year
Georgia Straight, September 19 2013
BEST FORESKIN FLAP DURING PRIDE WEEK
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project got its sometimes-absent knickers in a twist when its Pride Parade application was rejected. The Vancouver Pride Society attributed the rejection to the group’s founder, Glen Callender, displaying full-frontal nudity in the previous year’s parade. Foreskin Pride retaliated by staging a protest at the official Pride Week proclamation at Vancouver City Hall and later marched ahead of the official parade.
Read the full article at the Georgia Straight website.
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Foreskin activist banned from Vancouver Pride will march in Ottawa
Ottawa Citizen, August 22 2013
OTTAWA — A foreskin activist who was recently banned from Vancouver’s Pride parade for publicly displaying his genitalia will be marching in Ottawa Pride this weekend to “combat anti-foreskin prejudice.”
Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, was banned from participating in Vancouver Pride after he displayed full-frontal nudity in the previous year’s parade.
Section 174 of the Criminal Code of Canada prohibits public nudity.
According to his organization’s website, their mission is to “promote foreskin education, appreciation, and stimulation, and advocate for the human right of all children — male, female and intersex — to grow up with intact genitals.”
In a press release sent out Thursday, Callender said he would obey the law while marching in Ottawa.
“Sadly, Ottawa Pride-goers hoping to see Callender’s foreskin flapping freely on Sunday will be disappointed,” the press release states. “Ottawa cops don’t appreciate male full-frontal nudity like the famously foreskin-friendly Toronto and Vancouver police.”
Callender also made headlines earlier this summer, when his group protested Oprah Winfrey’s appearance in Ottawa because the talk show host endorses an anti-aging skin product that allegedly was developed using skin cells harvested from a baby’s foreskin.
Read this article at the Ottawa Citizen website.
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EDITORIAL: Stripping nudity out of Pride
The Vancouver Pride Society’s squeamish self-censorship doesn’t make me feel proud
Xtra, August 1/July 30 (print/online) 2013
Glen Callender marched in last year's Toronto Pride parade without incident. (Allan Selorio photo)
Glen Callender is not, as he puts it, “an authority-flouting naked rebel.”
He’s more of an opportunistic nudist who marches pantless in Pride parades that’ll have him to draw attention to what he considers the injustice of circumcision, a topic dear to his… heart.
Earlier this year, and last, he marched unfettered in Toronto’s Pride parade, without incident.
Last August he did the same here, also without incident, or so it seemed. Until the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) suddenly rejected Callender and his Foreskin Pride group’s application to march again this year.
Callender tells me the VPS hedged when he first questioned the rejection. His first call, he says, was met with a tepid, rote answer about there not being enough space for all applicants to march in the parade. Skeptical, he demanded a written explanation.
“Ray Lam then sent an email confirming that we were refused, and stated that we were excluded because of last year’s nudity,” Callender says. “He did not mention space concerns at all.”
When Xtra called the VPS manager, Lam initially distanced himself from any crackdown on nudity. Instead, he pointed to parade capacity and the difficulty of accepting all 200-plus applicants.
“I want to be clear,” he said. “The foreskin awareness group was not turned away because of nudity.”
But it doesn’t take long for Lam to reveal his true reason for banning Foreskin Pride.
“We have to follow the law, and it’s clearly stated in the law that you can’t be nude in public,” he says. “That is not something that has to do with Vancouver Pride. That’s not our rules and regulations. We have to follow the law.”
Really? Since when?
It’s not as if Callender’s nudity hurt anybody. And it’s not as if the police or the city care. Both deny putting any pressure on Pride to crackdown on nudity, despite this year’s shiny new civic designation.
“No, no, no,” says spokesperson Viviana Zonocco, when asked if the city is leaning from the sidelines. “I’ve spoken with city staff and the streets department who handle the parade, and no, not at all.”
“I think the Vancouver Police Department are really cool about stuff like that,” she adds.
Then to whom can we attribute this sudden burst of controlling squeamishness? The VPS’s board of directors? Lam, the man who led the VPS’s restructuring to create the manager position that he now fills?
What’s next? Will the Dykes on Bikes be told to put their shirts back on?
Previous VPS boards have respected the importance of self-expression and unabashed celebration.
“We were always advised by the city that the parade was a family-friendly event and that we should never encourage nudity,” says past president John Boychuk. “But there was no way of stopping it, of course. How do you tell someone who’s been marching in the parade for 35 years that they can’t express themselves?”
And why would you want to?
Though Callender would be just as happy to march his anti-circumcision message down Denman Street fully clothed, he is “deeply concerned at the prospect of the VPS cracking down on nudity when the city and police have indicated they are willing to tolerate it."
“If the VPS’s tolerance of harmless public nudity at Pride is now to the right of the city and the police, then our community has a problem,” he says.
I couldn’t agree more.
Why is the Pride Society trying to feed us a watered-down version of our own celebration? Self-censorship in the name of someone else’s need to seem ‘presentable’ doesn’t make me want to cheer.
Robin Perelle is the managing editor of Xtra Vancouver.
Read the full article at the Xtra website.
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Vancouver Pride censoring nudity, says banned Foreskin Pride founder
Xtra, August 1/July 15 (print/online) 2013
'It’s clearly stated in the law that you can’t be nude in public,' Lam says
The founder of Foreskin Pride says the Vancouver Pride Society (VPS) is trying to censor him.
Glen Callender has marched pantless, without incident, in past Pride parades both in Vancouver and Toronto, but the VPS won’t let him march this year.
Callender says the VPS initially informed him by phone that his application to march in the parade had been rejected due to space constraints. Skeptical, Callender asked for written confirmation. This time, he says, he was given a different reason for his rejection — that his nudity infringes on VPS rules and regulations.
Not only is this censorship; it's incompetent censorship, Callender alleges.
VPS manager Ray Lam maintains the rejection is primarily due to the parade’s space and time constraints.
“I want to be clear,” Lam says. “The Foreskin Awareness group was not turned away because of nudity.”
“Every year we receive over 200 applications for the parade, and we try to keep it around 120 entries just because factors like the length of the parade, the parade route and the duration of the parade,” Lam explains. “It’s just more enjoyable for the audience.”
But Lam admits that Callender’s decision to walk pantless last year contributed to the VPS’s decision to ban him.
He broke the rules by marching nude, Lam says.
Asked to explain the VPS’s staunch adherence to anti-nudity protocol this year, Lam says, “We’ve always enforced the rules.”
But this year, he says, “we just have a stronger system behind it so that we can respond quickly.”
“We have to follow the law, and it’s clearly stated in the law that you can’t be nude in public,” Lam says. “That is not something that has to do with Vancouver Pride. That’s not our rules and regulations. We have to follow the law.”
Section 174 of Canada’s Criminal Code says showing one’s genitals in public, with the exception of nude swimming, is against the law.
Glen Callender is interviewed by Xtra columnist Raziel at last year's Vancouver Pride parade. (Ross Johnson photo)
Asked if the Vancouver Police Department is suddenly pressuring the VPS to strictly uphold the law, Lam shakes his head. “No, we’ve always enforced our own rules and regulations,” he says.
Vancouver Constable Sandra Glendinning says she is not aware of any past nudity-related infractions addressed by police during the parade.
“As in past years, police officers will be exercising discretion when receiving reports of or witnessing acts of public nudity,” she says.
Lam says the parade’s new city-sanctioned civic designation has no bearing on the VPS’s decision to enforce its anti-nudity regulations, either.
“No, no, no,” says city spokesperson Viviana Zonocco, when asked if the city pressured the VPS to tighten its rules regarding nudity during the parade. “I’ve spoken with city staff and the streets department who handle the parade, and no, not at all,” she says.
“I think the Vancouver Police Department are really cool about stuff like that,” she adds.
Callender says the VPS should have informed him sooner of the supposed protocol breach. “I went to the [parade] orientation; I did everything right,” he maintains.
Callender even claims he cleared his plan to walk nude with VPS parade director Tim Kraumanis before the parade last year. “I had absolute confidence that the VPS was fine with it because I had talked to the parade director myself,” Callender claims.
Kraumanis denies giving Callender the green light to march pants-less.
“I’m aware of Glen's allegations,” Kraumanis tells Xtra by email. “And I can say with certainty that I did not give consent for him to march naked in the parade last year.
“There are many factors that the parade committee considered when selecting the entries for this year’s parade,” he writes. “The most important simply being space; with significantly more applications than slots in the Parade, we unfortunately have to turn away entries. In the case of Foreskin Pride, we did not accept their application on the basis that there are many other community groups that are willing to abide by our rules, and we gave priority to them,” he says.
Glen Callender at last year's Toronto Pride parade, July 1, 2012. (Allan Selorio photo)
Former VPS president John Boychuk can attest to the large number of parade applications the organization sees each year. But, he says, the VPS would often push the space limit to accommodate applicants. “We never turned anybody down.”
As for nudity regulations, Boychuk says the city has always suggested the rules be enforced. “We were always advised by the city that the parade was a family-friendly event and that we should never encourage nudity. But there was no way of stopping it, of course. How do you tell someone who’s been marching in the parade for 35 years that they can’t express themselves?”
Lam says nudity is not the only means of queer expression.
“We had 120 floats last year, all very representative of our community, and there was only one with nudity,” he says. “I understand [Callender’s] position, but there are other ways to communicate his message.”
Former Vancouverite Andre Tardif says he’s surprised by the VPS’s strict adherence to anti-nudity rules.
“I have covered many, many Prides as a photographer and videographer, and I’ve never encountered a problem with nudity,” he says. “It gives me the impression that it’s all a bit Victorian.”
Read the full article (plus reader comments) at the Xtra website.
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Vancouver City Hall makes official Pride Week 2013 proclamation: Foreskin Pride disrupted the proceedings with a protest
Georgia Straight, July 30 2013
Members of Foreskin Pride staged a protest at the Vancouver Pride Week proclamation for being rejected from the parade.
An outdoor ceremony on City Hall's north lawn was hosted by drag queen extraordinaire Joan-E....
Tensions arose when Vancouver Pride Society president Tim Richards and vice-president Chrissy Taylor took to the podium. A small contingent of Foreskin Pride members, led by Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project founder Glen Callender, holding placards and a Foreskin Pride banner, began chanting "Foreskin Pride! Let us march!"
The anti-circumcision awareness organization, which repeatedly interrupted the speeches with chants, had been rejected from the Vancouver Pride parade due to full-frontal nudity in the 2012 parade and a lack of space, according to Vancouver Pride Society general manager Ray Lam.
Mr. Gay Canada 2013 Danny Papadatos
Read the full article at the Georgia Straight website.
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PHOTO: Foreskin advocates briefly interrupted Vancouver’s official Pride Week launch at city hall
Metro News Vancouver, July 29/30 (online/print) 2013
Foreskin advocates briefly interrupted Vancouver’s official Pride Week launch at city hall on Monday to protest their exclusion from the 2013 “prude” parade. They allege they’re wrongly banned because one of them marched naked last year, but organizers say 200 organizations applied for 120 spots and they simply didn’t make the cut.
Read the full article “Vancouver Pride celebrates 35 fabulous years” at the Metro News Vancouver website.
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Foreskin activist cut loose from Pride Parade
Kudos and Kvetches, Vancouver Courier, July 18/19 (online/print) 2013
It appears that a Vancouver foreskin activist, or flogger as we like to call it, is in a flap over learning he that has, ahem, been snipped from this year’s Pride Parade.
Glen Callender, a self-styled keeper of the skin and head honcho of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, took to the streets last year to deliver his group’s loosely intact, arguably excessive and unnecessary, message that “the revolution will not be circumcised.” The problem was he did so sans pants. And gaunch for that matter.
Yes, Callender felt the best way to inform the public of the supposed evils of circumcision and to promote the attractiveness of intactness was to put his uncut junk on display in all of its Abe Vigoda, Shar Pei-like glory.
However, Pride officials felt otherwise and declined Callender’s “Foreskin Pride” application this year “due to the contingent’s long standing violation of our Parade Rules and Regulations, which all entries must agree and adhere to. Nudity is not permitted in the Parade.”
In response, Callender posted a lengthy, all caps-filled missive on his Facebook site titled “Who’s afraid of FORESKIN PRIDE?” which is, once again, ahem, too lengthy and layered to for us go into. Needless to say he isn’t pleased. In fact, he says he feels “jerked around” (his words, not ours) by Vancouver Pride Society bureaucracy.
Even though Callender’s dangling modifier has been edited out of this year’s Pride Parade, it will not be silenced. The creative, if not a somewhat obsessive, activist and “confirmed bachelor” has set up a Twitter account for his chatty foreskin. However, you won’t find any personal insights or observations from GlensForeskin, such as “Hanging out at Glen’s LOL,” or Instagram shots of the mesh lining inside a pair of swim trunks. Sadly, as is often the case with men’s appendages, the Twitter account is merely a thinly veiled extension of its handler.
Letter by Glen Callender, published August 2:
BACHELOR UNIT AVAILABLE
To the editor: Re: "Foreskin activist cut loose from Pride," July 19.
Once again I am dogged by the anonymous, foreskin-bereft wags of Kudos and Kvetches! Alas, in their gleeful rush to whip out that Shar-Pei photo yet again (for the record, my intact penis uncaninely resembles a pedigree English Pointer), they cocked up when they described me as a "confirmed bachelor."
As my foreskin's Twitter profile attests, it is my foreskin that is the confirmed bachelor — my own bachelorhood remains unconfirmed.
But let me assure your tightly cut staff that bachelorhood is much more enjoyable when one still has his bachelor hood.
Glen Callender,
Founder, Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project
Read the online version of this article here and see the print version here. Glen’s letter to the editor is here.
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Foreskin advocate who let it all hang out in Vancouver Pride Parade won’t be allowed to march again in 2013
The Province, July 12 2013
Glen Callender of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project says he is being denied participation in the 2013 Vancouver Pride parade.
Canada's foremost promoter of foreskin has been banned from next month's Vancouver Pride parade.
It seems Glen Callender broke parade rules — and the law — by marching with his foreskin at the forefront in last year's parade. His group is not being allowed back this year as a result.
Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, posted to his Facebook page the text of an email he says he received on Wednesday from Vancouver Pride Society board member Tim Kraumanis. It reads in part:
"I have an obligation to ensure that all entries abide by the parade regulations and the law, and therefore must stand by our decision to exclude you from the Parade this year."
Section 174 of the Criminal Code of Canada prohibits public nudity.
While Callender doesn't deny letting it all hang out last year, he claims he discussed his plans to do so with Kraumanis at a parade orientation session 11 days before the event, and that Kraumanis was OK with it.
Kraumanis's email to Callender does not acknowledge this alleged conversation, but it does say the decision "was also based on complaints of harassment, charged against members of your group, by other entries in the 2012 Parade."
This was all news to Callender, who says no issues had been raised with him by Vancouver Pride before he received notification July 8 [July 10, actually] that his group's application to participate in 2013 had been denied.
Callender, whose foreskin has its own Twitter account, also claims his group had no intention of engaging in full-frontal nudity in this year's parade.
The annual parade's colourful costumes and floats have made it an increasingly popular event among families in recent years, putting pressure on the Vancouver Pride Society to carefully consider what constitutes appropriate celebration.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project's mission, according to its website, is to "promote foreskin education, appreciation, and stimulation, and advocate for the human right of all children -- male, female and intersex -- to grow up with intact genitals."
Callender's performance in last year's parade drew the attention of the Vancouver Sun's Shelley Fralic, who wrote a column objecting to the nudity. Callender replied in a letter to the editor: "I led the 'Foreskin Pride' contingent in Sunday's Pride Parade, and it was indeed my fabulous, full-frontal flapping that got Shelley Fralic hot and bothered."
Callender also protested in January outside Oprah Winfrey's appearance at Rogers Arena, because the American mega-star endorses a skin scream that uses infant foreskins in its production.
The correspondence posted on Callender's Facebook page indicates that CAN-FAP would be eligible for parade consideration again in 2014.
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the Province website.
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Foreskin Pride rejected from Vancouver Pride parade for full-frontal nudity
Georgia Straight, July 12 2013
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project's Glen Callender has been rejected from this year's Pride parade for going full-frontal nudity in last year's parade.
LAST YEAR, GLEN Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project and Foreskin Pride, marched with full-frontal nudity for the first time in the three years he's participated in the Pride parade and events.
But after that revealing show-and-tell, he has found himself rejected from this year's upcoming parade to be held on August 4.
Callender received a letter on July 10 that Foreskin Pride, which raises awareness of circumcision on male minors, was denied participation in the 2013 Vancouver Pride parade, which will be held on August 4. Callender said that this year's application was rejected based on a violation of parade rules and regulations.
Callender claimed that he had cleared his plans to be nude in last year's parade with VPS parade director Tim Kraumanis prior to the event.
In a phone interview, Vancouver Pride Society general manager Ray Lam, however, told a different story.
"I have spoken to our parade director," he said. "He is very much aware of our rules and he would not have given any advice or any consent to a violation to the parade rules or Canadian law. That is just not something that we do."
Callender told the Georgia Straight by phone that he was informed that there were also complaints of harassment against his contingent of 13 people.
"I'm shocked to find out 339 days after the parade that there are these hidden harassment complaints against us," Callender said. "They won't show them. Ray Lam has said he is unable to reveal the names of people who decided Foreskin Pride would be banned from the parade. He is unable to disclose the documents that they cite in saying that we are refused. He won't show me that. He also told me that there is no mechanism available for me to dispute or challenge the decision...."
Lam said by phone that he couldn't discuss the complaints because they are trying to protect individuals from being targeted. He said that due to the number of applications they receive, they haven't been able to inform everyone who has a violation, but they're implementing a new system this year to inform people immediately after the parade.
Lam emphasized that the main issue at hand is space.
"Every year, we receive over 200 applications for the parade," he said. "Due to size and length restrictions and the duration of the parade, we limit it to about 120 participants. So that means almost half of the people are declined. And that's just an unfortunate reality of the size of the parade. We get a lot more applications than we can accommodate."
He added that they have to make tough decisions to maintain the parade's three-hour length.
"We have a very rigorous selection process where we look at the organization's fit with the community, the fit with Pride, why they want to march in our parade, how they support the LGBT community, and we rank them based on that. However, a serious consideration is violation. So if someone has violated parade rules in the past, then that's obviously taken into consideration when we're looking at individual applications."
Lam emphasized that no one has been banned from the parade, and that Foreskin Pride can apply again next year.
Callender explained that he decided to use full-frontal nudity to convey his message of body acceptance.
"The idea that genitals are dirty and shameful is the basis of both the nudity taboos and the belief that there is something wrong with the boy's penis so you have to circumcise the baby because genitalia are dirty and need to be reduced," he said. "I'm proud to walk around the street with my completely healthy, normal, harmless body and make that statement, that I love my foreskin. It's a valuable body part."
He also argued that nudity in the Pride parade has a "long, historical basis" and is "an integral part of the heritage of Pride" and sexual liberation. He pointed to the example of the World Naked Bike Ride, which doesn't result in arrests.
Lam pointed out that women can participate in the parade barebreasted, which is not against the law, but bottom nudity is illegal, he said. He added that one of their priorities is to welcome everyone.
"The parade is a family event and the main consideration for us is the space that we're creating and the environment that we're creating. We want to make sure that people come out to the parade feel comfortable and that…they're not alienated in any way….Nudity is against the law and we want to make sure that the people who do come out who are law-abiding citizens are enjoying the parade to the extent that they should be enjoying the parade."
Callender theorized that the VPS was trying to "sanitize" the parade because it received civic status on May 29. Lam denied that the rejection had anything to do with that, or any of their partners.
Callender said that if they are not accepted in the parade, they may end up showing up in protest.
"Nudity is the stupidest human taboo and we need to stop it," he said.
Read this article (plus reader comments) at The Georgia Straight website.
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Andrew Sullivan: FORESKIN PRIDE banner is the “Sign Of The Weekend”
The Dish, July 1 2013
Read this article at The Dish.
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FORESKIN PRIDE dissed by Fox News pundit Todd Starnes
Twitter, June 29 2013
The shortlink leads to the June 29 2013 gothamist article "Foreskin Pride" Activists Will March Into NYC On Sunday. See Starnes’ tweet (plus a response from Glen Callender’s Foreskin) at Twitter.
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“Foreskin Pride” Activists Will March Into NYC On Sunday
Gothamist, June 29 2013
A few years ago, we became aware of the growing Intactivist movement — Intactivism is the belief in the right of baby boys to keep their foreskins intact, and its members have been trying to legally ban circumcision. Tomorrow, you can get an up-close-and-personal look at that movement when foreskin-proud men and their allies march into NYC. Below, check out a NSFW video to get an idea of what you're in store for.
The march, known as Foreskin Pride, was created in 2012 by Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project founder and self-proclaimed “sexual revolutionary” Glen Callender, who campaigned against Oprah Winfrey for using and promoting foreskin-based cosmetics products.
“FORESKIN PRIDE may be an offshoot of the LGBT Pride movement," Callender said in a statement, "but it isn’t only for LGBT people — we are a pansexual movement that welcomes people of all sexual orientations, because forced genital mutilation harms people of all sexual orientations.” For what it's worth, you probably won't see many foreskins in person tomorrow — only the marches in Toronto and San Francisco are allowed to feature “fabulous full-frontal foreskin.”
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the Gothamist website.
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Glen Callender talks FORESKIN PRIDE on Toronto NewsTalk 1010
Jim Richards Showgram, June 28 2013
Guest host: Vinney White
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Operation Oprah on TMZ
TMZ, April 15 2013
TMZ: Oprah Winfrey is taking heat for endorsing a product made out of human foreskin — we talk to the guy leading the charge against her ... from the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (a real thing).
See this segment (plus viewer comments) on YouTube, or on the TMZ website (starts at ~33:00).
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Anti-Circumcision Group Protesting Oprah’s Foreskin Medication
The Jewish Press, April 14 2013
The cells are grown from a single foreskin obtained more than 20 years ago.
The Toronto based Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, is planning to protest appearances by Oprah Winfrey in Canada this week, over her endorsement of an anti-aging cream TNS Recovery Complex, made by the company SkinMedica, that uses cells reproduced from human foreskin.
“How would Oprah respond if a skin cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls? I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so. So it’s crazy that she’s doing the opposite,” the group’s founder Glen Callender told the Toronto Star.
“We think it’s extremely hypocritical and distasteful that Oprah Winfrey — who is herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and an outspoken opponent of female genital mutilation — at the same time uses and promotes a product that wouldn’t exist if not for the forcible genital mutilation of boys.”
Callender organized a protest when Winfrey appeared in Vancouver in January.
SkinMedica founder Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick has previously stated that while an ingredient in the anti-wrinkle cream is derived from foreskin fibroblast, the cells are grown from a single foreskin obtained more than 20 years ago.
One foreskin.
Is it possible those Canadian anti-circumcision folks are a tad hypersensitive?
Read this article (plus some unusually bizarre and disturbing reader comments) on the Jewish Press website.
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Foreskin organization protests Oprah
New York Post, April 12 2013
This has to be a first — even for Oprah Winfrey.
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, which opposes the practice of circumcision, plans to picket Winfrey’s appearance tomorrow in Hamilton, Ontario.
They’re peeved because Winfrey endorses an anti-aging cream called TNS Recovery Complex, which uses cells reproduced from human foreskin. “How would Oprah respond if a cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls?” CFAP’s founder, Glen Callender, told the Toronto Star.
“I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so,” he said. “So it’s crazy that she’s doing the opposite.”
Winfrey is scheduled to appear at Copps Coliseum tomorrow for “An Evening with Oprah” — and CFAP says it will also protest her upcoming stops in Ottawa and Montreal.
Read this article on the New York Post website.
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Oprah's Foreskin Controversy: Advocacy Group Protesting Mogul's Skin Cream Endorsement
Huffington Post, April 12 2013
Activists in Canada are planning to picket Oprah for a highly unusual reason.
The Toronto Star reported Wednesday that the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, a group that opposes circumcision, has beef with Oprah after she endorsed SkinMedica's TNS Recovery Complex, an anti-aging cream that contains cells derived from human foreskin. Activists picketed her stops in Ottawa and Montreal earlier this week, and plan to protest in Hamilton on Saturday as well.
“How would Oprah respond if a skin cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls?” Glen Callender, CFAP’s founder, told the Star. “I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so. So it’s crazy that she’s doing the opposite.”
In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, activist Jeremy Kung called on the media mogul to stop endorsing the product because it "perpetuates" circumcision. The group previously protested Oprah in Vancouver on January 24, carrying signs that "CIRCUMCISE OPRAH. SHE'LL 'BE CLEANER.'"
For its part, SkinMedica has said that the cream is made from cells derived from a single foreskin obtained twenty years ago.
Oprah featured the cream on her former daytime show, and has also endorsed it in interviews. The cream, which retails for $165 for less than ounce, claims to "improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles" and "enhance skin tone, texture and firmness." The website lists "Human Fibroblast Conditioned Media" among the cream's ingredients.
Read this article (plus HuffPo Live video commentary) on the Huffington Post website.
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Operation Oprah on “Square Off”
Square Off (CHCH-TV), April 11 2013
Watch this segment (plus viewer comments) on YouTube.
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“But not everyone showed up at the Bell Centre on Thursday to bask in Oprah’s glow...”
Montreal Gazette, April 11 2013
MONTREAL — They came from far and wide to see her, clutching their tickets like precious jewels and bearing offerings both large and small. Some had paid hundreds of dollars for the chance to be in her presence; to hear her speak without the barrier of a television screen between them.
And when she appeared, the floor of the Bell Centre vibrated and the rafters shook as 15,000 (mostly female) fans rose to their feet and cheered (no, screamed) for their idol.
It was pandemonium. It was surreal. It was Oprah.
. . . .
But not everyone showed up at the Bell Centre on Thursday to bask in Oprah’s glow.
Jeremy Kung, a member of a group of activists opposed to the circumcision of male infants, arrived wearing a white jumpsuit with a very conspicuous red mark over the pubic area. Kung and his fellow protesters are upset that Oprah has sung the praises of SkinMedica, an anti-wrinkle face cream made using fibroblasts from the foreskins of circumcised babies. As with anything Oprah endorses, the cream is now wildly popular.
“I consider (circumcision) to be a violation of human rights under the United Nations declaration on the rights of the child. It’s medically unethical to cut a healthy body part off a non-consenting individual,” explained Kung, who is visiting Canada from Australia.
By endorsing the cream, he added, Oprah is perpetuating the practice.
“She does not care,” he said. “I would like her to stop endorsing it, and start speaking out about it.”
Read the full article “‘... it’s just to be in her presence’” (plus reader comments) at the Montreal Gazette website.
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Anti-circumcision activists to protest Oprah's Canadian appearances
CBC, April 10 2013
Adoring fans won't be the only people heading down to Copps Coliseum for Oprah Winfrey's Hamilton soirée on Saturday. A group of pro-foreskin activists — yes, you read that correctly — plans to protest outside the event.
The group, which picketed outside the TV talk queen's appearance in Vancouver in January, has taken issue with her endorsement of an anti-aging cream called TNS Recovery Complex.
The preparation, produced by American cosmetics company SkinMedica, contains fibroblasts — cells that have been reproduced from a piece of human foreskin.
“How would Oprah respond if a skin cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls?” Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, told the Toronto Star. “I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so. So it's crazy that she's doing the opposite.”
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project opposes the practice of circumcision, arguing that it is medically unnecessary and limits sexual pleasure.
The group is also organizing protests for Winfrey's tour stops in Ottawa and Montreal.
SkinMedica founder Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick has said the company reproduces cells from foreskin that was obtained over 20 years ago, not from babies who've been recently circumcised.
“Initially, there was a misunderstanding and people thought we were actually grinding up the foreskin,” he told the San Diego CityBeat in 2010. “So, there was a lot of snickering and laughing about people putting this foreskin product on their face.”
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the CBC website.
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How did Oprah factor into the circumcision debate?
Globe and Mail, April 10 2013
“You have to admire CAN-FAP’s marketing cheek”
Of all the topics that Oprah Winfrey may cover on stage in Ottawa Wednesday night, she probably won’t spend a lot of time on the beauty secrets of her favourite foreskin face cream. To cover that ground on her behalf outside Scotiabank Place, a group of so-called “intactivists” have vowed to protest male circumcision and Winfrey’s misguided skin care choices. Now that’s foresight; making a big flap over a little flap on the PR energy of world’s most famous woman.
The group, called the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project has made protesting Winfrey’s Canadian events a central strategy to raise awareness about their opposition to allowing the circumcision of male babies — a practice it argues should be equated with female genital mutilation. (CAN-FAP believes infant male circumcision violates children’s human rights and performing it as a matter of routine or for religious reasons should be outlawed. The science community continues to have mixed views on the health risks and benefits of the procedure.)
The group first rallied outside Winfrey’s show in Vancouver in January. The peg? Apparently, the media magnate is a fan of the TNS Essential Serum, which contains the cultured cells of human foreskin. One ounce of the product Winfrey has reportedly called her “magic fountain of youth” costs about $260. To clarify, the company says it used one piece of actual foreskin decades ago to grow the cells that now make it into the cream itself. As the Huffington Post explained, apparently any baby skin would have worked, but “foreskins were the only available samples at the time.”
Anyway, you have to admire CAN-FAP’s marketing cheek, if not the taste used in their poster slogans. They plan to show up in Montreal and Hamilton this week as well. And her shows will be packed with the moms and grandmas who may be drawn in by a poster of a crying baby, or at least curious as to how Winfrey, known for her social justice work, factors into the controversy over circumcision. If there was ever a phrase asking for a Google search, it’s “foreskin face cream.” The protesters just better hope the well-known Oprah Effect doesn’t work in the wrong direction – with all her fans suddenly wanting an ounce of her age-defying “miracle” for themselves.
Read this article (plus reader comments) on the Globe and Mail website.
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Oprah dogged by circumcision protesters over promo of foreskin-derived face cream
Metro News Ottawa, April 10 2013
Oprah rubbed a group of Vancouver activists the wrong way with her endorsement of a skin cream derived from a baby’s foreskin and now the protest is er... stretching to Ottawa.
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (CANFAP) will hold a protest outside Oprah’s show at Scotiabank Place Wednesday night to condemn her endorsement of SkinMedica products, which contain anti-aging growth factors derived from a circumcised baby’s foreskin.
CAN-FAP founder Glen Callender poses with 'Faux-prah' outside of [Vancouver’s] Rogers Arena on Thursday [January 24]. More photos
Oprah’s website only mentions SkinMedica briefly in a 2009 post, but she has promoted it at times over the past decade.
The products, lauded in a variety of beauty magazines, contain growth factors that were bioengineered from a single donation of foreskin more than 10 years ago, SkinMedica spokeswoman Chrissy Baum told Metro Vanncouver in January. The foreskin fibroblasts are cultured in a lab and growth hormones from this process are used in the products.
“It’s not like there’s actual foreskin in the products,” she said.
But one foreskin used is enough to anger CAN-FAP, which takes issue with any circumcision done without consent – something impossible to obtain from an infant. It’s a double standard that circumcising girls younger than 18 is illegal in Canada yet the same practice is done on boys, said Franny Max, an activist with the group.
“If you tied down an adult male and cut off a piece of his penis without his consent you would be charged with aggravated assault,” said Max. “So why is it OK to do that to a baby? Just because he can’t complain? I’ll tell you if the baby could talk he wouldn’t be saying yes.”
Foreskin fibroblasts also have medical purposes, such as re-growing skin for burn victims or helping heal ulcers. The cells can easily be bought online for about $85 a piece.
In Canada, circumcision is not recommended as a medically necessary procedure.
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the Metro News Ottawa website.
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Pro-foreskin protesters to target Oprah at Hamilton appearance
Toronto Star / Hamilton Spectator, April 10 2013
Protests to great Oprah Winfrey at Canada appearances over her support for skin cream that contains a controversial ingredient.
A Vancouver activist is organizing protests against Oprah Winfrey, who is set to make three appearances in Ottawa, Montreal and Hamilton this week.
The issue: the celebrity’s endorsement of an anti-aging cream called TNS Recovery Complex made by SkinMedica, which contains skin cells called fibroblast that are derived from male foreskin.
Winfrey endorsed the product on her talk show, which ended in 2011.
Oprah endorsed SkinMedica's TNS Recovery Complex on her talk show.
“How would Oprah respond if a skin cream for men hit the market that was made using cells from the genitalia of little girls? I think she would be absolutely disgusted and appalled, and rightly so. So it’s crazy that she’s doing the opposite,” said Glen Callender of the pro-foreskin advocacy group the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project.
“We think it’s extremely hypocritical and distasteful that Oprah Winfrey — who is herself a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and an outspoken opponent of female genital mutilation — at the same time uses and promotes a product that wouldn’t exist if not for the forcible genital mutilation of boys,” he added.
Callender organized a protest when Winfrey appeared at a sold-out event in Vancouver on Jan. 24. The protest received international coverage.
The former talk-show star and international media mogul has upcoming shows in Ottawa on April 10, Montreal on April 11 and Hamilton on April 13.
SkinMedica founder Dr. Richard Fitzpatrick has previously stated that while an ingredient in the anti-wrinkle cream is derived from foreskin fibroblast, the cells are grown from a single foreskin obtained more than 20 years ago.
“Initially, there was a misunderstanding and people thought we were actually grinding up the foreskin. So, there was a lot of snickering and laughing about people putting this foreskin product on their face,” Fitzpatrick said.
Read this article (plus reader comments) on the Toronto Star and Hamilton Spectator websites.
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Foreskin protestors to crash Oprah’s Ottawa show
Ottawa Sun / Toronto Sun / Sun News Network / 24 Hours Ottawa / canoe.ca, April 9/10 2013
OTTAWA – Thousands of ticket-holding Ottawa Oprah fans need to brace themselves for a lot of shouting about foreskin.
About two dozen protesters are expected to greet fan heading to Scotiabank Place Wednesday night for Oprah Winfrey's sold out show.
They'll be dressed in a variety of "provocative" outfits, according to Vancouver-based protest organizer Glen Callender, including men in white jumpsuits with red crotches.
The first protests, held in Vancouver in January, featured a drag-queen dressed up as the talk show legend. Callender refers to them as circuses, and while the approach is a bit off-the-wall, the message is serious.
Representing what he calls the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, or CAN-FAP for short, Callender says Winfrey is the spokeswoman for a skin cream made using baby boys' foreskin.
He calls Winfrey a hypocrite because she speaks out against female genital mutilation, while using this face cream.
"Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls," Callender said.
CAN-FAP claims foreskin is not thrown away after a circumcision, but is often collected by cosmetics companies.
Winfrey promotes SkinMedica products. The makers of SkinMedica have said they use foreskin fibroblast — a piece of human skin used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.
Advertisements for SkinMedica say Winfrey has described the product as her "magic fountain of youth and miracle wrinkle solution."
Callender claims there is a double-standard in Canada where circumcisions can't be performed on girls but they can on boys and trans-gendered kids.
"We should protect all kids from genital mutilation," he said.
See this article on page 2 of the April 10 2013 Ottawa Sun print edition and page 4 of the 24 Hours Ottawa April 10 2013 print edition.
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, Sun News Network and canoe.ca websites.
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Foreskin Crusaders to protest against Oprah event
Ottawa Citizen / Saskatoon StarPhoenix, April 10 2013
Oprah Winfrey’s Ottawa speaking engagement Wednesday night will be protested by foreskin activists
OTTAWA — While an expected 14,000 people stream into Scotiabank Place on Wednesday night to hear Oprah Winfrey speak, they will be greeted by a group of protesting foreskin activists looking to take the media mogul to task.
This will take a bit of explaining.
The group, the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, or CAN-FAP, opposes the circumcision of baby boys. Oprah has become their target because, they say, she has endorsed an anti-aging skin product that was developed using skin cells harvested from a baby’s foreskin.
The product, made by SkinMedica, sells for around $250 per ounce.
The company could not be reached for comment Tuesday, but has previously explained that it does not use foreskins in the production of the cream, and has not since the original one was used to develop the line of cells nearly two decades ago. (There was actually nothing special about the foreskin — any baby skin would have worked, but foreskins were the available source).
However, CAN-FAP founder Glen Callender, a Vancouver resident who also staged a protest outside the Oprah event there in January, said Tuesday that in his eyes non-consensual male circumcision is a human rights violation that he equates with female genital mutilation.
“If you were to do that to me right now, today, as an adult, it would be aggravated sexual assault. You’d go to prison for 14 or 15 years,” Callender said. “I can’t see how that would be any different if you did that to me as a defenceless baby.”
Callender, a 39-year-old freelance writer and editor, said his main issue is the sexual pleasure that’s being taken away from men.
Oprah has had no comment.
Read this article on the Ottawa Citizen and Saskatoon StarPhoenix websites. (Note the ironic banner ad at the top of the Citizen piece.)
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Canadian Anti-Circumcision Protesters Target Oprah Over Foreskin Face Cream
Huffington Post Canada, April 10 2013
Well, this is awkward. A group of anti-circumcision activists is following Oprah Winfrey across Canada to protest her endorsement of an anti-aging cream that was developed with skin cells harvested from baby foreskin.
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (CAN-FAP), known as "intactivists," has gotten a lot of attention in recent months protesting Winfrey over the issue.
It is the same group that rallied outside an Oprah show in Vancouver in January and held the "Foreskin Pride March" last summer.
CAN-FAP, which opposes the circumcision of baby boys, says that a cream made by SkinMedica and endorsed by Winfrey, uses foreskin fibroblast — a piece of human skin used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.
According to SkinMedica, Winfrey has described the cream as “her magic fountain of youth.”
The product, called TNS Essential Serum, sells on the company’s website for $260 per ounce.
The Ottawa Citizen says that the company, which could not be reached for comment by the newspaper on Tuesday, has previously explained that it does not use baby foreskins in the production of the cream, and “has not since the original one was used to develop the line of cells nearly two decades ago.”
Why use baby foreskin to begin with? Apparently, any soft and new baby skin would have done the trick, but foreskins were the only samples available at that time.
Besides cosmetic uses of foreskin cells, Metro Vancouver noted that foreskin fibroblasts also have medical applications, such as re-growing skin for burn victims, and can easily be bought online for about $85 a piece.
CAN-FAP opposes routine infant circumcision because they believe it diminishes sexual enjoyment and violates children’s human rights.
Founder Glen Callender has said that the practice should be equated with female genital mutilation — which Winfrey obviously opposes — and argues that circumcising baby boys for routine medical and religious reasons are wrong.
The reasons that compel parents to choose to circumcise their newborn sons include evidence that male circumcision dramatically reduces the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, according to the World Health Organisation.
Still, the science and endorsements from Canadian and U.S. medical associations have been mixed, meaning the saga of the world’s most popular surgery goes on.
Meanwhile, CAN-FAP plans to keep following the Oprah show to Montreal on Thursday, and Hamilton, Ont., on Saturday.
Read this article on the Huffington Post Canada website.
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April 2013 Operation Oprah protests: Blog coverage etc
Windy City Times, April 17: World news
Mediaite, April 13: The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project Is Not Happy With Oprah...
Fashionista, April 12: Anti-Circumcision Activists Take Aim at Oprah for Endorsing a Face Serum Derived from Foreskin Cells (Seriously)
Global Grind, April 12: Aww Snip! Oprah's Use Of Foreskin Has The Anti-Circumcision Activists All Riled Up! (VIDEO)
The Celebrity Cafe, April 12: Oprah Winfrey criticized by the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project over anti-aging skin cream endorsement
BuzzFeed, April 12: Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project Mad At Oprah
Heeb, April 12: Oprah Loves Smearing Foreskin On Her Face (Sorta)
FishbowlNY, April 12: Oprah in Hot Water Because She Loves Using Penis Cream
Xtra! Toronto Diary, April 10: Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project to protest Oprah over foreskin cream
Yahoo! Canada, April 10: Why are foreskin activists protesting Oprah in Ottawa?
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Inauguration week politics, Aramaic vowel preservation, and Canadian foreskin awareness
Harper’s Magazine, January 29 2013
Activists from the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project (CAN-FAP) protested Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of an antiwrinkle cream containing cells from the foreskins of infants. [link to Sun News Network article]
Read the full article “Inauguration week politics, Aramaic vowel preservation, and Canadian foreskin awareness” at the Harper’s Magazine website.
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“Operation Oprah” protest hits YouTube
Bonobo3D posted this short film of CAN-FAP’s Jan 24 “Operation Oprah” protest:
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Protestors demand Oprah pull her endorsement of 'fountain of youth' face cream because it is made from baby foreskins
Daily Mail (UK), January 25 2013
Protestors in Vancouver, Canada, are planning to picket Oprah's appearance in the city because she endorses a face cream made from baby foreskins.
The billionaire talk show mogul has called SkinMedica's creams her 'magic fountain of youth' and urged her devoted fans to try it - at $150 an ounce.
Glen Callender, a Vancouver native who campaigns for 'foreskin awareness,' said the endorsement is hypocritical for Oprah - who has made an issue of stopping female genital mutilations in Africa.
Foreskined crusader: Glen Callender, a Vancouver resident, says he will picket Oprah's appearance in his city because she endorses a face cream made from human foreskin cells
'Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls,' Mr Callender told the Vancouver Sun.
Some researchers are calling 'neonatal fibroblast' a revolution in medical skin care. Tissue grown from the cells of infant human foreskins are being used to help heal wounds in new ways.
However, SkinMedica, a Southern California company, also claims that the cells make an unparalleled anti-aging cream.
Healthy glow: Oprah has called the skin cream her 'magic fountain of youth' and encouraged her followers to try it
However, the San Diego City Beat reports that SkinMedica hasn't harvested a foreskin in 20 years. The company instead grows the cells it needs from a single foreskin sample.
'Initially, there was a misunderstanding and people thought we were actually grinding up the foreskin,' SkinMedica founder Dr Richard Fitzpatrick told the newspaper. 'So, there was a lot of snickering and laughing about people putting this foreskin product on their face.'
However, Mr Callender, the founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, says the cream is unethical nonetheless. He called his group the 'feistiest pro-foreskin advocacy group' in Canada.
'I would like Oprah to come to her senses and realize that all children have a fundamental human right to keep all their genitalia and to decide for themselves if anything gets cut off,' he told the Vancouver Sun.
Mr Callender said 'one to two dozen' people will show up at Oprah's sold-out live show in Vancouver.
Oprah Winfrey did not respond to the Sun's request for comment.
Pricy: SkinMedica TNS Essential Serum costs $150 an ounce
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the Daily Mail website.
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COVER STORY - Protesters target Oprah: Criticized for using foreskin face cream
24 Hours Vancouver / Toronto Sun / Sun News Network / canoe.ca (English) (French) / Brantford Expositor / Belleville Intelligencer / Sarnia Observer / Sault Star / Peterborough Examiner / Owen Sound Sun-Times / St Catherines Standard / TVA Nouvelles (French), January 24 2013
VANCOUVER Demonstrators plan to picket Oprah Winfrey’s sold-out show tonight, angry she endorses a foreskin-based cosmetic. Full-size image
Glen Callender plans to protest Oprah Winfrey endorsing a skin cream made with human foreskin. Full-size image
VANCOUVER – She wrangled the truth out of Lance Armstrong about using performance-enhancing drugs but a Vancouver group wants Oprah Winfrey to explain why she has endorsed an anti-wrinkle cream made with human foreskins.
Winfrey, who rose from poverty to own her own television network, will make her first appearance in Vancouver on Thursday before a sold-out crowd at Rogers Arena, with fans paying up to $350 a ticket for a chance to see the TV mega-host live.
But as crowds pack into the stadium, Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project, will be outside with his supporters protesting Winfrey's support of SkinMedica.
Glen Callender, founder of the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project in his studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday January 23, 2013.
Callender says it’s hypocritical of Winfrey to speak out against female genital mutilation, while at the same time saying it’s all right to rub on a face cream made from foreskins from circumcised infant males.
“Imagine how Oprah would respond if a skin cream for men went on the market that was made from parts of the genitalia of little girls,” Callender said. “That would be an outrage and rightly so.”
Callender expects “a dozen to two dozen people” to attend the protest.
Advertisements for SkinMedica say Winfrey has described the product as her “magic fountain of youth and miracle wrinkle solution.” Winfrey didn’t immediately respond to an email asking for comment, but her website recommends the product to deal with wrinkles.
The makers of SkinMedica have said to make their cream they use foreskin fibroblast — a piece of human skin used as a culture to grow other skin or cells.
“I would like Oprah to come to her senses and realize that all children have a fundamental human right to keep all their genitalia and to decide for themselves if anything gets cut off,” Callender said Wednesday.
Callender describes the Foreskin Awareness Project as Canada's “feistiest pro-foreskin advocacy group” with the goal of “foreskin education and appreciation.”
Read this article (plus reader comments) at the 24 Hours Vancouver, Toronto Sun, Sun News Network, canoe.ca (English) (French), Brantford Expositor, Belleville Intelligencer, Sarnia Observer, Sault Star, Peterborough Examiner, Owen Sound Sun-Times, St Catherines Standard and TVA Nouvelles (French) websites.
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Vancouver based group to protest Oprah’s promo of baby foreskin-derived face cream - PHOTO GALLERY
Metro News Vancouver, January 24 2013
Oprah rubbed a group of Vancouver activists the wrong way when she promoted face cream with ingredients derived from foreskin.
The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project will hold a protest outside Oprah’s show at the Rogers Arena Thursday to condemn her endorsement of SkinMedica products, which contain anti-aging growth factors derived from a circumcised baby’s foreskin.
“Tissue from little boys is being put into cosmetic products for vain old women to rub on their faces. That is absolutely wrong,” CAN-FAP founder Glen Callender said in an interview, adding he expects a few dozen people at the protest.
“How do you think Oprah Winfrey would respond if a skin cream for men used tissue taken from the genitalia of little girls? I think people would lose their minds over it.”
Oprah’s website only mentions SkinMedica briefly in a 2009 post, but she has promoted it at times over the past decade.
The products, lauded in a variety of beauty magazines, contain growth factors that were bioengineered from a single donation of foreskin more than 10 years ago, SkinMedica spokeswoman Chrissy Baum said. The foreskin fibroblasts are cultured in a lab and growth hormones from this process are used in the products.
“It’s not like there’s actual foreskin in the products,” she said.
Foreskin fibroblasts also have medical purposes, such as re-growing skin for burn victims or helping heal ulcers. The cells can easily be bought online for about $85 a piece.
But one foreskin used is enough to anger Callender’s group, which takes issue with any circumcision done without consent of the person – something impossible to achieve if an infant is involved. It’s a double standard that circumcising girls younger than 18 is illegal in Canada yet the same practice is done on boys frequently, Callender said.
“We don’t think it’s radical to suggest exactly the rights girls have today should be given to boys and intersex children,” he said.
In Canada, circumcision is not recommended as a medically necessary procedure.
Other uses for foreskin
- Skin grafts for burn victims, ulcers.
- Cosmetic research.
CAN-FAP founder Glen Callender poses with 'Faux-prah' outside of Rogers Arena on Thursday. More photos
CAN-FAP members protest outside Oprah's show to condemn her endorsement of a product which is derived from a circumcised baby's foreskin. More photos
Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project founder Glen Callender on Thursday. More photos
Read the full article “Vancouver based group to protest Oprah’s promo of baby foreskin-derived face cream” (plus reader comments and a gallery of eight photos from the protest) at the Metro News Vancouver website.
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Oprah In Vancouver: Talk Show Host Arrives In BC
The Huffington Post B.C., January 23 2013
Oprah Winfrey is in Vancouver and the town is a-buzz with the talk show legend's arrival.
Winfrey will take the stage at Rogers Arena on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. for "An Evening with Oprah." . . .
But not everyone is excited to greet Winfrey.
Glen Callender of Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project has called for a protest outside the show's venue. The Vancouver resident wants to draw attention to Winfrey's past endorsement of a luxury skin cream made from skin cells extracted from donated foreskin tissue.
"It's an equal rights issue," Callender told to The Huffington Post B.C. He hopes to elevate public knowledge in the irony of Winfrey's endorsement of the contentious cream in contrast to her advocacy work to stop female genital mutilation.
Read the full article “Oprah In Vancouver: Talk Show Host Arrives In BC” (plus reader comments) at the Huffington Post B.C. website.
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January 2013 Operation Oprah protest: blog coverage
CAN-FAP’s Operation Oprah protest in Vancouver got the bloggers a-blogging on both sides of the Atlantic. Here is an incomplete collection of links:
MSN, Jan 25: Oprah endorses face cream made of foreskins, angering penis proponents
Yahoo, Jan 25: Vancouver protestors demand Oprah stop endorsing skin cream derived from baby foreskin
Jezebel, Jan 25: Oprah Loves Foreskin on Her Face
The Frisky, Jan 25: People Are Pissed That Oprah Winfrey Uses Moisturizer Made With Foreskin
The Scoop (Philadeliphia Magazine), Jan 25: Oprah Rubs Magic Foreskin Cream On Her Face to Look Young
starcrush, Jan 25: Canadian group protests Oprah Winfrey because she rubs foreskin on her face. No, seriously.
Before It’s News, Jan 27: Oprah and the skincream made from foreskins
Mommyish, Jan 26: Oprah’s ‘Magic Fountain Of Youth’ Skin Cream Is Derived From Baby Foreskin – And Pissing Off Men Who Miss Theirs
Ecouterre, Jan 25: Oprah Draws Criticism for Endorsing Face Cream Made From Foreskins
The Inquisitr, Jan 25: Oprah Endorses Foreskin Face Cream, Penis Proponents Protest
Dave Barry’s Blog (Miami Herald), Jan 24: The Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project takes action
dlisted, Jan 25: Oprah's Got A Face Full Of Foreskins
TVone, Feb 15: Oprah in Deep With a Foreskin Awareness Foundation
Darpan Magazine, Jan 24: Oprah Will Be Met by Vancouver Protestors Tonight at Rogers Arena
Sustainable Sass, Jan 26: Does this look like the face of a woman who relies on human foreskin to stay pretty?
Fellowship of the Minds, Jan 27: Oprah and the skincream made from foreskins
En francais:
Yahoo France, Jan 28: Oprah Winfrey : un secret beaute inavouable qui souleve la controverse
Wikistrike, Feb 6: Oprah Winfrey utilise une crème de beauté aux cellules de prépuce
Direct Matin, Jan 29: Des cellules de prépuce: le secret de la beauté d'Oprah Winfrey?
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