Just when you thought antisemitism was getting more subtle – for the most part, hiding under the veneer of “anti-Zionism” (or Mel Gibson’s alcoholism) – along comes Foreskin Man.

The backers of a ballot initiative in San Francisco aiming to ban circumcision in that city have consistently maintained that their efforts are not anti-Semitic.

But the “Foreskin Man” comic book, which was written and edited in 2010 by the founder of a San Diego group supporting efforts to ban circumcision in San Francisco and Santa Monica, gives further credence to the accusation that so-called intactivists are in fact motivated by anti-Semitism.

“The imagery in ‘Foreskin Man’ is functionally Anti-Semitic,” Abby Michelson Porth, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC), said. “The motives of the proponents of this ban are questionable given their direct connection with “Foreskin Man.”

The story told in the second issue of “Foreskin Man,” which is available on its website, centers on the story of Sarah and Jethro Glick and their newborn son. Sarah thought that she and her husband had agreed not to circumcise their son, but Jethro had other plans. He secretly invited the villain, “Monster Mohel,” to circumcise “little Glick.”

On the website foreskinman.com, Monster Mohel, a bearded man with a black hat on his head and a tallis around his neck, is described this way: “Nothing excites Monster Mohel more than cutting into the penile flesh of an eight-day-old infant boy.”

Last month, San Francisco city officials announced that the backers of an initiative to prohibit circumcision in the city had collected enough signatures to put the measure to voters in November 2011.

Lloyd Schofield is the official backer of the San Francisco initiative, which uses text from the group MGMbill.org, a San Diego-based group established by Matthew Hess. Hess is credited alongside the comic book’s illustrator and colorist on the comic’s website.

In response to a question about his motivations, Hess said that he and his supporters are, first and foremost, human rights activists.

“We do what we do because we strongly believe that no one has the right to cut off part of another person’s body without their consent,” Hess wrote in an email. “We believe that amputating part of a boy’s penis is no different in principle than amputating part of a girl’s vulva. If you ask any activist in Africa why she is trying to stop the practice of female genital mutilation, I suspect that her answers would be very similar to ours.”

Writing on May 31, before the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the comic book existence, Hess addressed those who accuse him of being motivated by anti-Semitism.

“As far as the anti-Semitism charge, I might understand such an accusation if our proposed legislation applied to everyone except Jews. That would be like saying we care about all boys except the Jewish ones,” Hess wrote.

The JCRC is leading the fight against the initiative in San Francisco and has assembled a coalition of HIV researchers, medical authorities, civic leaders, and clergy from the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities to support their efforts.

The second issue of “Foreskin Man” depicts Monster Mohel as a dark-haired, wild-eyed man toting glistening scissors. Foreskin Man is a blond-haired muscle-bound superhero, complete with a cape.

Nice logic from the appropriately named Hess. I am not antisemitic because I am trying to stop circumcision of Jewish males as well. Which allows me to draw Jews to look like this:

foreskin man

Notice the claws on the Mohel

Update: Back in 2005, Hess recognized he would need Jewish support:

“Efforts to legally protect boys from MGM (“male genital mutilation”) will be much harder without the support of Jewish
leaders,” said Hess. “Many politicians fear that supporting a ban on infant male circumcision will upset their Jewish
constituencies and cost them votes in the next election. But those attitudes can be changed if more Jews speak out
against the practice – just as Muslim women have changed opinions on female circumcision in Africa.”

Hess himself is not Jewish, but he said that feedback and advice received from Jewish members of Congress and
their staff have made him more aware of the need to encourage activism in the Jewish community at large. “Concerns
about the ethics of circumcision are pervasive,” said Hess. “But transforming those concerns into action requires
people to speak up.”

So he must really hate Jews if despite this, he has chosen to draw antisemitic caricatures. Either that, or he is incredibly stupid – which may also be an option given this photo and caption:

matt hess

I suspect it’s a bit of both.

19 thoughts on “Foreskin Man”

  1. Jim from Iowa

    You do have to wonder what's going on in this guy's head. I've known a lot of guys who have been circumcized (mostly non-Jews, by the way) and not one felt he had been mutilated or that he longed to have his foreskin back. Although I have always been quite happy with mine, I'm apparently not quite as proud of mine as Rep. Anthony Weiner is of his. I can't quite make it out on Twitter, put I assume his is circumcized as well.

    1. I'm glad to hear this. I once met a guy whose head had been filled with some stuff, and was quite obsessive over the issue.

      I also recall one left-wing, presumably Jewish talk show host (people who bought Rush were forced to buy him also) who insisted it not be allowed until 18.

      Of course, circimcision was banned at various points of history, and Jews gave up their lives to practice it. (There was often a death penalty.) The pactical result would be to drive the practice underground, resulting in possible mutilation, as oppsoed to the extremely safe current pactice.

      One could also imagine some 13-year-old boys, knowing that the obligation is technically theirs, attempting an ameteur circusision and injusring himself.

      People don't THINK! Or maybe they know exactly what they are doing.

      (P.S. If someone want to ban medical circumcision, I could not care less.)

  2. No middle ground on this one, that's the odd thing. You get guys who are circumcised and don't care, and then there are the raving loony nut assortments, who are trying to restore their foreskins and publishing anti-Semitic cartoons, and babbling about mutilation.

  3. Stephen Mendelsohn

    BS"D

    I'm the one who found this on the internet several months ago. I and a friend tried contacting the Anti-Defamation League, to no avail. On Wednesday, I e-mailed Abby Porth of the San Fransisco Jewish Community Relations Council, and she forwarded it to her contacts, presumably including Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle, who broke the story with her Friday column.

    "Intactivist" antisemitism is not only a leftist phenomenon, and a neopagan (and militant atheist) phenomenon, but also sadly a LGBTQ phenomenon as well. I say this without prejudice, and we very much need to mobillize our LGBTQ Jewish friends (and non-Jewish ones) to speak out against antisemitism in that community, and especially on this issue. I do not know whether Hess is gay or straight, but Lloyd Schofield, sponsor of the SF ballot measure, is openly gay, as are disproportionate number in the intactivist movement. There is an unfortunate strain of bigotry in the gay community which holds religious Jews in particular responsible not only for the Torah prohibition of mishkav zachar and same-sex marriage, but also for circumcision, which many gay men (and some straight ones as well here) as inhibiting their sexual pleasure and making them incapable of a practice called "docking." Gay male porn increasingly features uncircumcised men engaging in this particular activity. MGMBill.org has been targeting the LGBTQ and BDSM communities in particular, marching in ridiculous penis costumes at Pride parades in SF and elsewhere http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrCzXxf9m4 , in addition to setting up booths at the BDSM-themed Folsom Street Fair, note the Foreskin Man comic book and poster at 0:22 of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhnLIxaZVGU . Of course, establishment Jewish defense agencies like ADL have been too PC to focus on this very real danger, preferring to see conservative Christians as the main source of antisemitism.

    1. Jim from Iowa

      I am a gay man who hates anti-semitism and I am pro-Israel as well. I'm kind of removed from the big city gay lifestyle now, but I am genuinely surprised that there is a strong anti-semitic element within the LGBT community that stems from the Jewish tradition of circumcision. There is widespread antipathy towards some religious Jews within the LGBT community to be sure, but I'm sure it has a lot more to do with banning gay pride parades, preventing us from fully participating in public life, creating an atmosphere of hate and self-loathing for gay Jews and others. I think the problem of bigotry exists among religious Jews at least as much as it does within the gay community. So we both have some work to do.

      1. I don't want people to have self-loathing; I want them to be able to get treatment if they wish, and not be told that biology is destiny, or have their counselor bullied into not treating them. BTW, a friend of mine involved in that field (and "reparative therapy" is just one type of treatment) tells me he is a bit ambivalent about JONAH, and that it isn't necessarily even a Jewish organization. (Since you mentioned it before.)

        As far a parades are concerned, I do not know if they are still as I have heard you describe them, with public displays of sexuality. I also understand they were targeting Chareidi neighborhood for the marches. If they are still like that, and they went, say, through the extremely narrow streets of Meah Shearim, I wouldn't blame the people there one bit for trying to protect their children from such displays. If I lived there and had kids, I would be quite tempted to throw something out the window; protecting my kids would come before any egalitarian theories.

  4. I wonder if there is the male equivalent surgery of the female hymenorrhaphy? 🙂
    The Foreskin Man would be out of business if there were!

  5. If the law ever passes, it will be declared unconstitutional. There is no review process for keeping unconstitutional laws off the ballot in the first place. It can only be challenged after it passes. Besides, the law would only prevent the surgeries from taking place in the city. An extra 20 minute ride to the suburbs and it's "off with its head." And they can't prevent circumcised males returning to the city. Of course they could set up check points and we could all wave our thingies at them. In that case Rep. Weiner would become a trend setter.

  6. @faboutlaws

    "the talk of "hate and self loathing" to claim victim status and you're whining like a muslim. "

    Muslims don't support gay sex nor whine for it. It's clear you're whining like……. whatever you are, I can't say, because I don't know…

    1. My remark wasn't to connect muslims and gays. I meant it like whining like a muslim, barking like a dog or squealing like a pig. They whine ad nauseam here in the US. They are the quintessential "victims" beating out all other whining groups. But as long as you brought it up Islam officially condemns homosexuality, but it's rampant in the Islamic world. About 98% of Islamic premarital sex is either rape, masturbation or sex with other men. The koranic description of heaven gives the muslim twice as many pearly little boys as virgins. And they're not all there to shine your shoes.

      1. @faboutlaws
        "About 98% of Islamic premarital sex is either rape, masturbation or sex with other men. The koranic description of heaven"

        Oh please stop projecting your own proclivities on us.

  7. Stolen? That's very harsh, considering I could have linked to any number of reports, but chose yours. I will know better in future, and will not find nor post any stories from your publication in future.

  8. The comic parody, Smegna Man Gets Circumcised, (published at Smegmaman.com) is a lot funnier; has a great plot; and passes along sound information about the medical and cosmetic benefits of the procedure– and, in the end, the villains meet a very appropriate end.

    Ed Margolis

  9. David Cross – not so much an As-a-Jew as a refuse-to-be-called-a-Jew – made a disgusting anti-circumcision episode of his cartoon “freak show”. Very offensive.

    And any idiot who equates female genital mutilation with male circumcision is … well, an idiot – there is no way male circumcision could ever be as harmful as the female version ALWAYS IS(except in the unusual case where the male circumcision is completely botched – which hardly ever happens if a skilled mohel carries it out).

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