Audio files: Radio shows, Conference presentations, Podcasts, etc…


Featured audio recordings

For more info, see https://www.arclaw.org/charleston.

Charleston Panel

Panel for Twentieth Pitts Lectureship on Pediatric Ethics, Charleston, SC October 19, 2013. (l. to r.) Norman Fost, Douglas Diekema, Minoo Kavarana, Steven Svoboda, Eric Graham, Michael Brady, Stan Block, Melissa Wasserstein

In August 2016, the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics published the proceedings of the event including the article by Svoboda, Peter W. Adler, and Robert S. Van Howe, titled, “Circumcision is Unethical and Unlawful“. Two other physicians on the Charleston panel told Svoboda that they changed their positions to pro-intact based on the evidence we presented.

For more info, see ARC Releases Video from Charleston Debate Victory over American Academy of Pediatrics.


Chronological archive of audio recordings

Steven was interviewed live on Honey Badger Radio for an hour on Monday, September 10. He discussed his work with ARC and also with the National Coalition For Men.

Interviewer Brian Martinez of Honey Badger Radio conducted a far-ranging, 80-minute interview of Steven that addressed a great variety of topics including genital autonomy, human rights law, the larger gender equity movement of which genital autonomy work is an important part, Steven’s recent marriage, and many other topics.

Steven’s podcast as the guest of author DeAnna Lorraine on August 1, 2018 went very well, with the host posing many perceptive questions for Steven.

The podcast, available at https://youtu.be/4UtMFO0Nuro, lasts an hour but Steven is on for the second half hour of it. The podcast focused on his work with ARC, including a recent submission to the United Nations, his two presentations relating to genital autonomy at the International Conference on Men’s Issues held in July 2018 in London, and his recent wedding.

On April 3, 2016, Steven Svoboda appeared on the “Shadow Politics” show. Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; Steven and Maria did their first show together way back in the year 2003. Their last previous show aired in July 2014.

In this hour-long show, one of Steven’s longest ever media appearances, released by Maria as a downloadable podcast available at http://bbsradio.com/podcast/shadow-politics-april-3-2016/, Steven overviewed some recent achievements by ARC in the 1.75 years since his last show with Maria as well as developments relating to the struggle to protect children’s right to bodily integrity:

1) ARC has several articles coming out shortly, including one jointly written by Steven and ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler, along with Bob Van Howe. Steven believes it will be the longest general article he has published on the topic. The Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics will be publishing it along with the other proceedings from the October 2013 pediatric ethics conference in Charleston, South Carolina, where our arguments convinced two physicians on the panel to switch positions to our side and where we left our debate opponent, Michael Brady of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), unable to respond to our arguments. Steven and Bob Van Howe also have an article taking a new approach to analyzing the ethics of circumcision whose publication is also imminent. More details on both papers soon.

2) Steven discussed “the rights of the child vs. the rights of the parents” at the Genital Autonomy conference held in Frankfurt, Germany in May 2015. Groundbreaking panel discussions of genital autonomy featured Steven along with Soraya Mire, Marilyn Milos, and (at the first event) Hida Viloria, in enthusiastically received events in Berkeley, California in May 2015 and December 2015. ARC was also represented by Tim Hammond at the 29th Palm Springs Pride Festival in November 2015, and Steven appeared in December 2015 on Linda Gross’ Men’s Advocate radio show.

3) December 2014 marked the appearance of the draft regulations of the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), to which ARC issued a press release on the same day the regulations were released. In January 2015, ARC and Intact America published a joint response to the CDC draft regulations. Peter published an important article on the CDC draft regulations in the International Journal of Children’s Rights.

4) In July 2014, ARC’s “know your rights” video was filmed by James Loewen, starring ARC Board Member David Llewellyn with an introduction of David by Steven, and in September 2014 it was released on our website.

5) Along with many other organizations, ARC helped push through the US’ first human rights accountability law, California’s AB 15. In other legislative activity, ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler testified in February 2015 at a hearnig on a New Hampshire bill introduced to stop Medicaid funding for male circumcision.

6) In November 2014, Steven was honored by Intact America as “Intactivist of the Month” and shortly thereafter, in February 2015, ARC Webmaster Jonathan Friedman received the same honor.

7) ARC published several newsletter during this period, summarizing important news from throughout the world of activism to protect genital autonomy.

8) In September 2015, the Canadian Paediatric Society issued its position statement on circumcision, and ARC again issued a press release that same day responding to this development.

Generally, Steven discussed the continuing process by which the movement is broadening and deepending and diversifying and gaining new soldiers. The radio show was conducted before the latest good news, the UK legal case upholding children’s rights that came down earlier this month thanks to James Chegwidden’s hard work. We are winning!

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child
www.arclaw.org

About Episode:

Is male or female circumcision an outdated religious/cultural practice? Mr. Steven Svoboda, Founder and Executive Director of ARC (Attorneys for the Rights of the Child) will be our guest addressing the issue of genital integrity. ARC is a non-profit organization founded to secure equal protection for, and broaden judicial and public recognition of, children’s legal and human rights to bodily integrity and self-determination. ARC also focuses on female genital mutilation also known as FGM. Compelling reasons exist for strong concern among attorneys and the public about the various types of damage caused by circumcision including pain and suffering, psychological harm, behavioral changes, irreversible reduction or loss of full sexual function, and under-reported tragic complications, including deaths. Has satisfactory medical justification for routine circumcision ever been demonstrated? Join us and find out the facts!

On July 9, Steven Svoboda appeared on the “Maria Sanchez Show.” Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; Steven and Maria did their first show together way back in the year 2003.

In this half-hour-long show, released by Maria as a downloadable podcast at http://mariasanchezshow.com/j-steven-svoboda-mp3-2/, Steven overviewed some recent developments:

1) Steven reviewed the recent flurry of developments from Europe including good news (Finland and Sweden each moving toward passing a law banning circumcision, Israel’s High Court of Justice overturning the rabbinical court’s holding and protecting a son from forcible circumcision,progress at the United Nations, and the class action filed against a pharmaceutical company’s use of foreskins in producing its products) and not so good news (the Obama administration’s recent suggestion–in concert with some US legislators’ attempt to pass a “European Religious Freedom Act”–that it will defend “circumcision in Europe,” Florida’s resumption of Medicaid funding, and passage in Norway of a law and in Denmark of guidelines regulating yet tolerating circumcision).

2) Steven pointed out the flurry of debate that has ensued, to a large extent as a result of the activism of people throughout our movement, and that such ferment is typical when a movement gains in influence and power as the intact rights movement has been doing. We have had places at the table at three important recent events–the October 2013 debate between Steven and Michael Brady of the American Academy of Pediatrics which we effectively won by leaving Brady unable to respond to our points; the January 2014 Council of Europe debate on male circumcision in which Ron Goldman participated (and which is reviewed in detail in the upcoming ARC Newsletter), and the April 2014 Al Jazeera debate in which (as John will also discuss in the upcoming ARC Newsletter) John Geisheker participated.

3) Steven previewed his upcoming presentation analyzing European legal developments at the Boulder, Colorado Genital Autonomy Symposium and briefly discussed this very exciting event. Steven also praised the many young scholars and activists full of fresh new ideas who have joined the movement including feminist scholar Travis Wisdom, ethicist Brian Earp, ARC Newsletter Editor Jonathan Friedman, and countless others.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

On March 17, 2014, Steven appeared on the “Maria Sanchez Show.” Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; Steven and Maria did their first show together way back in the year 2003.

In this half-hour-long show, released by Maria on March 17, 2014, as a downloadable podcast at http://mariasanchezshow.com/j-steven-svoboda-mp3/, Steven overviewed some recent developments including:

1) growing European support for intact rights including the momentous recent broadcast of the debate at the Council of Europe;

2) news regarding the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) including the effective victory we (ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler, Angel Alonso-Terron, Aubrey Taylor, and Steven) won debating the AAP’s Michael Brady at the Pitts Pediatrics Ethics conference in Charleston, South Carolina in October and the upcoming article written by Steven, Adler, and Robert Van Howe, analyzing the legal, ethical, and human rights aspects of circumcision in detail as part of the Pitts conference special issue to be published by the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics; and

3) letters and articles Steven published recently in the Journal of Medical Ethics and the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics rebutting falsehoods from Brian Morris. Steven also talked more generally about how every movement has a Morris analog or two and how he actually assists our work by helping us to remain focused and inducing us to ratchet up our accuracy and commitment to the highest possible level.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

On January 8, 2014, I appeared on the “Maria Sanchez Show.” Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; we did our first show together way back in the year 2003.

In this half-hour-long show, released by Maria on January 9, 2014, as a downloadable podcast at http://mariasanchezshow.com/steven-svoboda-mp3/, I had the pleasure of doing something I don’t ever remember doing before in a media appearance, namely, overviewing the entire history of circumcision and of intactivism. We also reviewed some of the important events of 2013, including: the growing recognition of genital integrity at the United Nations (as reported on in our latest newsletter by Antony Lempert of the Secular Medical Forum), Lena Nyhus’ awesome work in Denmark, the important statement by the five Nordic Children’s Ombudsmen, the September 2013 case out of Hamm, Germany that reaffirmed the right to genital integrity under German law, the October 2013 pediatric ethics conference in Charleston, South Carolina at which we (ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler, Aubrey Taylor, Angel Alonso-Terron, and I) effectively won a debate with Dr. Michael Brady and Dr. Douglas Diekema (the latter participating informally, as it were) of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the groundbreaking September 2013 conference I was fortunate enough to attend and to present at, held at the University of Keele in the UK. I also mentioned that the paper that came out of the Charleston event, co-authored by Adler, Robert S. Van Howe, and me, will be appearing this year in a special issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics that will be devoted to the proceedings from Charleston.

On Maria’s show, I predicted that the current advocates of circumcision at the AAP will be recanting their positions within a decade, and also that within a decade rates will be significantly lower than they are today. Our task, I noted, is to work to protect as many children as possible until that day that we know is coming when this practice will end.

As stated in a recent communication to me by one of the physicians on the panel with me in Charleston who changed his mind based on our presentation of the facts, “If there is no evidence to support circumcision, then why perform an unnecessary procedure?”

To all our readers, I wish the happiest of New Years. We truly all have so much for which to be thankful.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

On November 22, 2013, I appeared on the “Maria Sanchez Show.” Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; we did our first show together way back in the year 2003.

In this half-hour-long show, released by Maria on November 25 and now available as a downloadable podcast at http://mariasanchezshow.com, we discussed some recent landmark events:

1) Pediatrics Ethics Conference in Charleston: On October 18-19, I participated in the Twentieth Annual Thomas A. Pitts Lectureship in Medical Ethics, held at the Medical University of South Carolina pursuant to a conference titled, “Ethical and Legal Issues in Pediatrics.” I was the only non-physician invited, and debated the AAP’s Dr. Michael Brady in a talk entitled, “Newborn Male Circumcision–Is It Ethical; Is It Legal?” I also appeared in a “Seminar on Pediatric Controversies” opposite Brady and Douglas Diekema, also an AAP Circumcision Task Force member. As they each personally told me later, two (!) of the five physician presenters who are not AAP Task Force members were completely convinced by our arguments and went from being pretty strongly pro-circumcision prior to the event to coming to oppose the procedure based on our arguments. This was a true team victory, with my co-author, ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler, Aubrey Taylor, and Angel Alonso Terron providing awesome support and asking some hard questions the AAP Task Force members simply could not answer.

2) On September 16, I spoke at the University of Keele in the UK, analyzing the 2012 Cologne court case holding that male circumcision violates human rights and the law and the German legislation attempting to overturn that court case. I discussed four distinct reasons the legislation is invalid and the earlier court decision is soundly based in medical ethics, law, and human rights. The talk went very well and the questions afterwards were quite perceptive. Awesome presentations were given by a number of others including Antony Lempert, James Chegwidden, Anne Lindboe, and Lena Nyhus.
3) In early October, the National Post, one of Canada’s major newspapers, published an article that I was invited to write after submitting a letter in response to the National Post’s reprinting of Mark Joseph Stern’s article, “‘Intactivists’ Against Circumcision.”

4) Even since my last appearance on this show in early September, we are seeing a consensus continuing to emerge in Europe among medical associations, legislators, courts, and similar bodies that circumcision violates the rights of the child and should be illegal. Recent declarations have been issued by Sweden’s Ombudsman for Children and representatives of four leading Swedish physicians’ organizations, by the children’s ombudsmen from the five Nordic countries, by the Council of Europe, and even by the United Nations. In late September, while I was on the plane home from the UK (!), another German court held that a German-born woman of Kenyan descent could not authorize doctors to circumcise a six-year-old child of whom she had custody, because she had not taken into account the psychological damage it could cause him.

To all our US-based readers, I wish the happiest of Thanksgiving holidays. We truly all have much for which to be thankful.

To support the work of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child, please visit https://arclaw.org/donate.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

For more info, see https://www.arclaw.org/charleston.

Charleston Panel

Panel for Twentieth Pitts Lectureship on Pediatric Ethics, Charleston, SC October 19, 2013. (l. to r.) Norman Fost, Douglas Diekema, Minoo Kavarana, Steven Svoboda, Eric Graham, Michael Brady, Stan Block, Melissa Wasserstein

In August 2016, the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics published the proceedings of the event including the article by Svoboda, Peter W. Adler, and Robert S. Van Howe, titled, “Circumcision is Unethical and Unlawful“. Two other physicians on the Charleston panel told Svoboda that they changed their positions to pro-intact based on the evidence we presented.

For more info, see ARC Releases Video from Charleston Debate Victory over American Academy of Pediatrics.

On September 12, 2013, I appeared on the “Maria Sanchez Show.” Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and intactivism; we did our first show together way back in the year 2003. In this 40-minute-long show (available for playback or download here or at http://mariasanchezshow.com/steven-svoboda) we discussed some recent and upcomng events relating to intactivism and of the work of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC):

1) The 2012 German court case upholding a right to genital integrity and the subsequent legislation purporting to overturn the legal case, both of which I will be discussing on September 17 at a conference organized by Genital Autonomy at the University of Keele, UK.

2) The debate to take place between me and AAP representative Michael Brady, M.D. at the twentieth annual Thomas A. Pitts Lectureship in Medical Ethics, a conference on “Ethical and Legal Issues in Pediatrics” taking place at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston on October 18-19. The topic assigned by the organizers for the paper and talk, which are being prepared with the collaboration of ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler and Robert S. Van Howe, M.D., is, “Newborn Male Circumcision is Unethical and Should be Illegal.”

3) Brian Morris and colleagues have gone on the rampage again lately with a slew of articles attempting to attack intactivist scholars, which I believe evidence the increasingly beleaguered, embattled situation in which apologists for circumcision are finding themselves.

4) The recent study supporting the general trend of declining circumcision rates in the United States.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

My appearance on Shelton Walden’s longtime “Walden’s Pond” radio show on September 8, 2013 went extremely well thanks to Shelton’s skills as a journalist and his broad knowledge of the issues. In this hour-long show, aired on New York City’s public radio station, WBAI, we were able to provide a brief overview of the current state of intactivism and of the work of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child (ARC).

I led off this particular show by congratulating Shelton for his truly awesome, longtime work on many phases of this issue, as an activist, a journalist, and a human rights advocate. Shelton and I discussed the generally positive trend by which more and more people are coming to question circumcision, whether it be in the form of blogs or peer-reviewed articles that are being published by authors with all backgrounds from throughout the globe, or whether it be a mother who refuses to take a knife to her child without a solid medical reason to do so, which even the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) finds itself forced to admit is lacking with infant male circumcision. We also overviewed several recent developments and upcoming events:

1) The 2012 German court case upholding a right to genital integrity and the subsequent legislation purporting to overturn the legal case, both of which I will be discussing on September 17 at a conference organized by Genital Autonomy at the University of Keele, UK.

2) The debate scheduled between me and AAP representative Michael Brady, M.D. at the twentieth annual Thomas A. Pitts Lectureship in Medical Ethics, a conference on “Ethical and Legal Issues in Pediatrics” taking place at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston on October 18-19. The topic assigned by the organizers for the paper and talk, which are being prepared with the collaboration of ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler and Robert S. Van Howe, M.D., is, “Newborn Male Circumcision is Unethical and Should be Illegal.”

3) Brian Morris and colleagues have gone on the rampage again lately with a slew of articles attempting to attack intactivist scholars, which I believe evidence the increasingly beleaguered, embattled situation in which apologists for circumcision are finding themselves.

4) The recent study supporting the general trend of declining circumcision rates in the United States.

5) Activism by some of my valued collaborators with ARC including ARC Legal Advisor Peter Adler and ARC Webmaster Jonathan Friedman.

The show included several interesting phone calls from callers with a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives on this topic. As always, it was a great pleasure to revisit “Walden’s Pond.”

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

On Wednesday, June 12, 2013, I appeared on Maria Sanchez’ hour-long show, “The Maria Sanchez Show,” on Los Angeles-based Internet radio station LATalkRadio.com. Maria is a longtime friend of ARC and of intactivism and we are glad to see that she has returned to active media work. We discussed (1) several important legal developments including the recent $1.3 million award in an infant circumcision case in the Chicago area as well as circumcision-related lawsuits in Queens and in South Africa and a lawsuit filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center over the genital mutilation of an intersex child; (2) recent news of and some of the larger issues raised by the development of a new circumcision device (the PrePex) that is endorsed by the World Health Organization and is intended to help promote the practice in third world countries as an asserted preventive of HIV and AIDS; and (3) an overview of the continually increasing success of intactivism and the work of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child including the excellent achievements by Legal Advisor Peter Adler and by webmaster Jonathan Friedman.

Our next newsletter is due out shortly.

Steven Svoboda
Attorneys for the Rights of the Child

On Friday, April 26, 2013, I appeared on Maria Sanchez’ hour-long internet radio show, “The Maria Sanchez Show,” based in Los Angeles. The wide-ranging discussion was designed to update Maria’s listeners on events in recent years and also provided a historical overview of medicalized and religiously based circumcision and of intactivism.

I mentioned the wealth of recent positive developments in intactivism, such as our greater visibility in general mass media and among non-intactivist scholars, as well as advances in Internet availability of information and in social networking that have generally assisted the growing success of safeguarding bodily integrity. I also discussed (1) the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP’s) August 2012 policy statement and technical report and recent responses to it in the Journal of Medical Ethics (by me and Bob Van Howe) and in Pediatrics (by a large group headed by Morten Frisch), as well as the AAP’s counter-responses to both articles; (2) developments in Germany including the landmark June 2012 court case upholding a right to bodily integrity and the subsequent legislation (about which I am currently writing a paper for presentation in the UK in September); (3) the upcoming October 2013 ethical debate in South Carolina between me and the AAP’s Dr. Michael Brady regarding the legality of male circumcision.

Maria and I are already planning our next show for the summer. Visit Maria’s website:
http://mariasanchezshow.com

October 2, 2012
Strange Yet Familiar Bedfellows—Effectively Addressing Chronic Issues Encountered when Law and Human Rights Seek to Protect Bodily Integrity, J. Steven Svoboda
Presentation at the Twelfth NOCIRC Symposium, Helsinki, Finland, September 30-October 3, 2012

Steven Svoboda appeared on the Internet radio show “A Voice for Men” on January 5, 2012. He and the hosts discussed in detail the forces that have been attempting to promote circumcision of African men as a supposed preventive of HIV, including the World Health Organization’s effort to circumcise 28 million African men over the next four years. They discussed the history of circumcision in this country and explored reasons for its curious persistence. They also looked at the historical origins of medicalized circumcision and connections between intactivism and gender equity. The hosts were very well-informed and facilitated an effective program.

Steven was on the show for about half an hour, shortly after the 17-minute mark. The show can be played above, or downloaded at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avoiceformen/2012/01/06/circumcising-africa.

Steven Svoboda was interviewed by Todd and Laura Mansfield of the Parenting Unplugged radio show on June 1, 2011, for an episode titled “Fighting for the Rights of Children and Their Dads”.

The bulk of the interview (the first 28 or so minutes of the 30-minute interview) does not address genital autonomy but rather the loosely related work Steven does to promote gender equity. The last few minutes of the interview address genital autonomy.

Steven’s interview with host Shelton Walden on his long-standing show “Walden’s Pond” went very well. An mp3 of the show, aired September 26, is available from host station WBAI, New York City’s public radio station, for download or listening at archive.wbai.org. Topics discussed included the recent case in Florida, the heartening news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) about circumcision rates dropping, a summary of Steven’s talk at the Berkeley symposium regarding circumcision and informed consent, the Massachusetts legislative effort regarding which Steven submitted written testimony and ARC Legal Analyst Peter Adler testified in person, and the Dutch position statement.

On November 9, Steven was interviewed by Janel Miranda and Rich Winkle of Thoughtcrime Radio on radio station KOPN (89.5FM, Columbia, Missouri; www.kopn.org). Janel and Rich were well-prepared and sympathetic interviewers and did a fantastic job. The discussion was pretty far-ranging and included human rights protections applicable to male circumcision; our 2001 mission to the United Nations that resulted in the first UN document focusing on male circumcision as a human rights violation; the ongoing violation of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection; flaws in the African studies as well as developments relating to HIV and the CDC and other recent medical studies; the new organization Intact America; and parental rights and responsibilities.

KOPN allows anyone with Internet access to listen to the station live through a link from their home page. The program producing the interview is Thoughtcrime Radio (thoughtcrimeradio.blogspot.com/), operated by Rich Winkle and L. Janel Martin, and they are doing a series on circumcision, having previously interviewed Marilyn Milos, Gloria Lemay, and David Chamberlain on the topic.

Circumcision: Past, Present, Future
Annual Convention of the Association for Pre- and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH), Pacific Grove, California, April 26, 2009

“Three-Fourths Were Abnormal” – Misha’s Case, Sick Societies, and the Law
Tenth International Symposium on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights, Keele, England, September 4, 2008.

Steven appeared on February 15, 2008 on KVTA Ventura, California to discuss the book recently published by Oxford University Press, Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?: A Debate. He also reviewed some new developments regarding intact rights, such as the recent Oregon Supreme Court victory in Boldt v. Boldt and growing legal opposition to male circumcision in Australia.

Steven was interviewed at length by Greg Andresen on the “Dads on the Air” show broadcast out of Sydney, Australia on November 26, 2007.

Full episode:

Steven appeared on September 10, 2007 to discuss several recent developments: the upcoming Oregon Supreme Court decision in Boldt v. Boldt, recent declarations by Australian and French AIDS authorities that circumcision is not a panacea for HIV/AIDS, and the recent publication in the Medical Anthropology Quarterly of the article by Steven and Robert Darby.

Moving into the 21st Century with Joy: Protecting Boys from Circumcision
Men’s Equality Conference, Washington, DC, July 14, 2007.

Steven appeared again on July 2, 2007 to discuss the recent Egyptian ban on female genital cutting and also the landmark Talbott study refuting the theory that circumcision can help stop HIV in Africa.

Steven spoke with Maria Sanchez to comment on the absurdity of the claims that we should amputate parts of children’s genitals to reduce the spread of HIV.

August 26, 2006
A Treatise from the Trenches: Why Are Circumcision Lawsuits so Hard to Win?
Ninth International Symposium on Circumcision, Genital Integrity, and Human Rights, Seattle, Washington, August 26, 2006.

September 3, 2004
Legal Panel and Discussion, Genital Integrity and Gender Equity
Eighth International Symposium on Circumcision and Human Rights, Padua, Italy, September 3, 2004. We attended the biannual symposium held in Padua, Italy, presenting a talk on genital integrity and gender equity. In Padua, we also participated on a legal panel with several other attorneys including ARC Board Member David Llewellyn and ARC Advisory Board Members John Geisheker and Zenas Baer. ARC had a table in the presenter’s room that was stocked with our T-shirts, business cards, articles, photos, newsletters, and other material. We also participated in media interviews during our time there. Padua may have been the most successful and impressive NOCIRC symposium we have ever attended. As usual, an ARC subgroup formed and held informal meetings during the symposium.

In January 2004, Steven appeared on two successive weekly episodes of “The Men’s Forum,” a New York City Cable Television program produced by Gary Costanza. One episode, entitled, “Circumcision,” focused on male genital integrity while the other episode, titled, “Men’s Issues,” overviewed general men’s issues with discussion of male genital integrity. John McGrath cohosted the “Men’s Issues” episode along with Costanza.

On January 31, 2003, we squared off against Thomas Wiswell on Fargo, North Dakota’s “Hot Talk” radio show. The debate was hosted by Chris Walters live to run while the Flatt v. Kantak trial was in progress in that same city. Wiswell mistakenly claimed there were 200 million circumcised men in the US and was caught on the air in other errors and lies.

Note: We don’t have a full recording of this show, so don’t be alarmed when the audio suddenly cuts off without warning after about 9 minutes.

National Public Radio’s “Cross Talk Show,” hosted by Maria Sanchez at station KCLU 88.3/102.3 FM Los Angeles, devoted an hour to interviewing us and discussing intactivism and ARC’s work on January 28, 2003.

Note: The audio file above was corrupted and Steven’s introductory remarks have been lost, but the large majority of the recording remains intact.

Appeared on September 26, 2000 with host Diego Mulligan on “The Journey Home,” a program presented by KSFR 90.7-Santa Fe.

Appeared on May 24, 2000 with host Charles Adler on “Adler on Line,” a program presenter by CJOB 68 AM-Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“Accent on Wellness” New York City Cable Television. Footage of Presentation at Caravan of Dreams, New York City, August 5, 1999 by J. Steven Svoboda and Laurie Evans.

ABC 20/20 Feature on circumcision. January 15, 1999.

August 6, 1998
Attaining International Acknowledgment of Male Genital Mutilation as a Human Rights Violation, and a Written Intervention
Fifth International Symposium on Sexual Mutilations, Oxford, England, August 6, 1998.

“Walden’s Pond” on WBAI with host Shelton Walden, April 4, 1997.
Guests Marilyn Milos, Bob Van Howe, and Steven Svoboda.

19960307 Student Center, Kendrick Hall, University of SF, San Francisco
‘Routine Infant Circumcision – Examining the Legal & Constitutional Issues’
Steven Svoboda, Tim Hammond, Marilyn Milos, Tom Morris, Miriam Pollack

19960222 University of SF Law School, San Francisco
‘Routine Infant Circumcision – Examining the Legal & Constitutional Issues’
Steven Svoboda, Tim Hammond, Wayne Hampton, Martin Novoa, Leland Traiman