intactivist / intactivism

[Ben Zimmer]

The anti-circumcision movement in San Francisco* has been getting a lot of
attention lately. The proponents of the circumcision ban call themselves
"intactivists" engaging in "intactivism":

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/us/05circumcision.html

The terms have been in circulation on Usenet since the mid-'90s:

"intactivist" - Oct. 1995:
http://groups.google.com/group/misc.kids/msg/da2d63dd3246e05b

"intactivism" - Feb. 1996:
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.sex/msg/41f5700a0d0b8bfc

The news databases begin recording the terms in 1998:

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-58340138.html

*now championed by the questionable superhero Foreskin Man:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/djsaunders/detail?entry_id=90153

--bgz


--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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