Most protests are about being seen and heard.
For Bloodstained Men and Their Friends—a nonprofit that aims to educate the public about the dangers and ethical issues surrounding infant circumcision—the former seems particularly important.
On Oct. 23, protesters on the corner of East Betteravia Road and South Broadway in Santa Maria donned white cowboy hats, shirts, and pants with large red splotches splattered across the crotch depicting blood.
The organization made a pit stop during its 19-day tour of Southern California, armed with signs, slogans, and costumes.
“No one should alter the body of an unconsenting person without acute medical need,” the group said in a press release announcing the protest. “The foreskin is a healthy, valuable body part that belongs to the child.”
Bloodstained Men and Their Friends call circumcision a Victorian-era practice and that the act is done under a “false rubric” of preventive medicine.
“Our bloodstained suit serves as an arresting visual reminder that circumcision affects its victims for life,” the release says. “When a baby boy is circumcised, so is the man he will become.”
The group did not return requests seeking comment as of the Sun’s print time.
This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 2, 2017.