OneWingedBird
Beloved of Ra
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2003
- Messages
- 15,431
Not a new story but a rather disturbing tale that I hadn't heard about until this morning.
The scary bit is the way that the bodymod people are trying to present Todd Bertrang as the injured party in this matter, regardless of the fact that he was very definitely practicing medicine without a license, allegedly had what was classified as child pornography in the house, and had agreed to perform female circumcision on a minor.
This is the Reuters reporting of the case.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles couple accused of offering to circumcise young girls for $8,000 were indicted on federal charges on Friday in what prosecutors say is the first U.S. case of its kind.
Todd Cameron Bertrang and Robyn Faulkinbury, who were arrested in January after agreeing to circumcise the fictional children of undercover FBI agents posing as parents, were also charged with making and possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.
An affidavit filed at the time of their arrest said that Bertrang, 41, referred to the 24-year-old Faulkinbury as his slave and offered to show the FBI agents her circumcised genitalia.
Female circumcision is widespread in parts of Africa, where it is seen as a right of passage to womanhood that limits promiscuity. Health workers describe the practice as female genital mutilation and say it causes long-term physical damage and psychological trauma.
A 1995 federal law banned the procedure in the United States, though exceptions are made for cases of medical necessity. Authorities have said there was no evidence that Bertrang and Faulkinbury, who were apparently born in the United States, were acting out of religious or cultural beliefs and did not have the medical training required.
Prosecutors said Bertrang and Faulkinbury are the first defendants charged under the 1995 law.
Bertrang, who was convicted of perjury in 1994, was also accused of possessing six firearms and could face a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted, though federal sentencing guidelines typically call for less. Faulkinbury could face 35 years behind bars.
The FBI agents had posed as a married couple who wanted to have their two girls, ages 8 and 12, circumcised on the advice a British friend who had done the same to his daughter.
The affidavit said undercover FBI agents approached Bertrang over the Internet after getting a tip that he had recently circumcised a young girl and had displayed pictures of a surgically altered teenage girl on a Web site.
Prosecutors say Bertrang bragged to the FBI agents that he had performed more female circumcisions than anyone in the Western world."
The Medical Board of California's press release:
Medical Board of California Arrests Santa Clarita Resident
For Unlicensed Practice of Medicine
SACRAMENTO—The Medical Board of California's Operation Safe Medicine (OSM), in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, served a search warrant on December 19, 2002 at the Santa Clarita residence of an unlicensed person, Todd Cameron Bertrang, for agreeing to perform female circumcisions. The procedure is an extremely painful, traumatizing mutilation of females that leaves them permanently disfigured. He also performs a similar procedure on males. He was charged with violating Business and Professions Code section 2053, a felony, by risking great bodily harm, serious injury or death by practicing medicine without a license. Bertrang was arrested and booked into Santa Clarita Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and will appear in court on January 21, 2003.
The Medical Board of California continues to analyze evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant. The Board's Chief of Enforcement Dave Thornton said, "The mission of the Medical Board is consumer protection. Stopping the unlicensed practice of medicine in California is a high priority with the Medical Board. We encourage anyone with information regarding additional victims of Todd Bertrang, or any other criminal activity connected to Bertrang, to contact the Medical Board's Cerritos Office at (562) 860-2819."
The case was referred to the Medical Board by a physician from Northern California who received information that Bertrang was performing clitoridectomies on women in Southern California. The FBI, who had received a similar complaint, also was investigating Bertrang. A joint investigation with the FBI resulted in a search warrant being obtained for the Santa Clarita residence, along with an arrest warrant for Bertrang. The investigation has revealed that Bertrang attracted potential patients through Web sites and may have performed various unlicensed procedures that include male and female circumcisions at his residence since 1997. These are procedures that can result in serious injury to patients who are not in a medical setting.
This arrest is the tenth in 2002 by investigators of Operation Safe Medicine, a special unit of the Medical Board composed of trained investigators who seek to protect a significant portion of the population by reducing access to individuals who are unlicensed and a danger to the public when they attempt medical treatment. OSM commenced in January 2001, and works closely with local and federal law enforcement agencies. The staff of investigators target the known areas where the unlicensed practice of medicine flourishes in Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area. The investigators also work other areas of the state as needed and provide training to other Medical Board enforcement staff in how to spot and respond to suspected illegal practices.
OSM is part of the Medical Board's efforts to steer consumers away from unlicensed practitioners, whose treatment of patients has resulted in harm and even death in Southern California. The Board encourages the public to confirm they are receiving healthcare from licensed individuals by calling its Consumer Information Line at (916) 263-2382 or visiting its Web site at http://www.medbd.ca.gov.
The Medical Board of California is the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating physicians in this state.
The editor of BME critisises the law:
The Arrest of Todd Bertrang
The more restrictions and prohibitions in the world, the poorer people get.
- Lao Tzu
UPDATE 01/11/04: Authorities have admitted that they have absolutely no evidence that Todd has ever done these procedures on minors, other than his willingness to play along with their ridiculous fabrication (which included paying him a preposterous $8,000 for the imaginary procedure on the imaginary clients).
Additionally, they have admitted that this whole thing is based on complaints filed by "a woman who said she believed that Bertrang had performed a circumcision on a 10 or 11 year old girl". Given how many times I've heard people in the BME chat room that he's rubbed the wrong way conspire to fabricate false charges against him, why am I not surprised? People said they'd get him busted for things he never did, maybe they succeeded (to put this into time context, it played out in the spring/summer of 2002).
As I write this, Todd Bertrang and his parter Robyn sit in prison for allegedly conspiring to perform female circumcisions on minors. The procedure they were offering is encouraged by the medical community, and, with slight (gender) variation, is even legal for non-doctors to perform. Not only that, but there never actually even were any minors — the whole thing was a cleverly concocted fantasy designed to entrap Bertrang. No matter what your opinion of Todd (he’s never masked his sexual overtones), this arrest is troubling on two levels — first, because it involves a deeply hypocritical law, and second, because it involves a questionable sting on a body modification artist.
To be clear let’s put the procedure in question into context: female circumcision. FGM. Female genital mutilation. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it — but it’s a loaded term chosen by activists (male circumcision is known as MGM, or “male genital mutilation”). The procedure we’re talking about isn’t an infibulation or a clitorectomy — it’s a circumcision (“to cut around”). The purpose of the procedure is to reshape the labia into a more pleasing form and to reduce or split the hood in order to make the clitoris more exposed. The procedure is designed to be a positive and enhancing one, not something oppressive or abusive.
The Hypocrisy
Proponents of female circumcision in the West (it’s a popular elective surgery) will tell you that it enhances the appearance of the genitals, as well as making sex more physically pleasurable. Proponents in Africa and the Middle East will tell you that, on top of its cultural and religious importance, it maintains cleanliness, prevents disease and cancers, keeps a couple together by making the man able to sexually satisfy the woman, and otherwise protects the woman who receives it. Some regions even have circumcision methods designed to make intercourse more physically pleasurable — in countries that it’s done in, it’s the women who have had the procedure that are usually the strongest proponents of continuing the practice.
Now don’t get me wrong — in spite of all these wonderful things about it, I believe it’s fundamentally wrong to force this on a child who can’t decide for themselves, let alone to allow an unqualified practitioner to do it. But we have to take an objective look at this in light of procedures that we do allow.
While most Western countries have phased out the procedure as barbaric, and the AMA has decried it as pointless and dangerous mutilation, in America, the genitals of young boys are still routinely partially amputated. The foreskin, one of the most nerve-heavy parts of the male genitals (and containing glands essential to genital health), is cut off, usually without anesthesia. Significant complications arise annually and numerous men permanently lose sexual function from this procedure. While it is most commonly done by a doctor, non-medical practitioners are also permitted to perform the procedure in private home ceremonies. No health benefits have ever been conclusively shown for this procedure, and the original justification for performing it was to reduce masturbation by “associating pain with the penis”.
So, with boys, we allow non-medical practitioners to cut off part of their genitals for dubious reasons, but with women we don’t. The fact is that we can’t have it both ways. Either make male genital mutilation illegal, or allow it for both genders.
The Sting
Underground cutters tend to be motivated by two factors. First, they usually enjoy doing the procedures they offer. Second, they care about the people they are working on and perceive themselves as helping — by offering a procedure that’s not available in the mainstream, they fulfill an important need and improve someone’s life (and thus they feel a need to come to the aid of someone in distress). The authorities understand that and in their stings play to the desires and ethics of their victim, dangling the perfect carrot in front of their noses.
It’s no secret from his actions in online chat rooms that Todd wants to believe that there are cultures that accept his views on female genital enhancement procedures. Additionally, talking to him it’s clear not only that he’s “getting off” on doing the procedures, but that he cares about his clients. The FBI appears to have presented Todd with a fabricated situation that seemed to good to be true — the opportunity to help a pro-circumcision family (ie. a culture that accepted his belief structure), and to improve two young girls’ lives.
Maybe you’re saying, “Shannon, are you insane? He was a pervert who was hoping to get off cutting up young girl’s genitals!”
That may or may not be true, but the fact is that those girls never actually existed and Todd never sought them out — the FBI presented them to him along with a tailored backstory to make it appear to Todd like he was doing the right thing by allegedly agreeing to perform the operation. Given that it was happening on minors with the full consent of the “parents”, and with the presented goal of helping the minors, can you really say it was even illegal? (Remember, we allow parents to send their children to absolutely brutal, sometimes fatal “Boot Camps”). In Todd’s eyes, and in the eyes of millions of people around the world, this procedure is positive and normal (which would make the government the oppressor, and Todd an agent of freedom). The FBI basically tricked him into allowing his beliefs and ethics to get the better of him.
I’m not trying to defend Todd with this article — if the allegations are true and he offered to work on minors like this, in my opinion he went too far. However, I do feel that it’s fundamentally wrong to charge someone for a crime that only exists as a police fabrication, and I believe it’s even more wrong to charge someone with laws that are by their very nature racist and sexist. These are unjust laws being applied with a heavy hand. Maybe Todd hit on you in a chat room and you’re glad to see him finally go down — but are you really comfortable having it happen like this?
Most body modification happens in a grey area. It’s usually not entirely legal, but it’s also usually not entirely illegal either, depending on how you look at it. Because of this, it’s very easy for almost any body artist to be arrested at any time, based on the whims of local or federal prosecutors. Body modification procedures are safer than everyday activities like driving a car, occur almost exclusively between consenting adults, and usually involve procedures not being medically offered (making underground the only option). To be clear, the laws are fundamentally unjust. Until we either start banning everything, or these procedures start getting medically offered, it is wrong to deny these grass-roots solutions.
The other reason body artists should be wary is if the FBI is setting up stings that seem “too good to be true”, you never know who could be next or how. Most body artists are pretty honest easy-to-read people — it’s very easy to figure out what makes them tick. We’ve accepted as a culture that it is wrong for our authorities to engage in entrapment (entrapment being when the police fabricate an illegal act, encourage the mark to take part in it, and then charge them for it), yet we’ve just watched Todd Bertrang fall victim to it. Because of the seemingly heinous nature of the charges (mutilating the genitals of young girls), most people don’t even consider the fact that this isn’t justice — just like we’re instinctively ready to act outside or beyond the law when it comes to dealing with child molesters and sex criminals.
So objectively, what we have here is an arrest of questionable legality for a fabricated crime, which is only a crime under laws which are hypocritical at best. Ask yourselves — are you willing to allow it to happen just because you don’t like Todd? Then ask yourselves a second question — will it happen again? What do you believe in that the mainstream may not agree with?
And the article Artist or Criminal, also from BME:
I do not know the man personally, nor do I believe that I know anyone who does. I've seen his work through his website and through BMEzine.com. I know "of" his personality and his outlooks only second hand and from third parties, which is never a reliable way in which to know someone, or try to gage or judge their character or intention, and in all honesty it is never really fair to try and judge anyone you have never met.
But, as I sit here, I am driven to write this as an expression of my belief, my take on the subject so to speak. And, as an ex law enforcement officer, my take on the laws and actions that have lead to his present arrest.
I read through Shannon's article on Mr.Bertrang and his present arrest and incarceration. This is in no way a response to that, it is simply my opinion. My thoughts, and another point of view to consider.
Having never had any actions or dealings with Mr.Bertrang, I have no feelings for him, one way or another, I do not dislike, nor do I like him, he is simply a person I have read about...however it does seem like he has managed to gather a great deal of hatred directed towards him, and how he lives his life and conducts his business. That, sadly, regardless of where or who you are will always make you a target.
With that said, it would seem to me, that his present situation is of his own making, and his downfall is of his own hand.
As Shannon write, most body modification takes place in a gray area, agreed, however that same statement could be applied to almost ANY aspect of day to day life, and the events we all partake in.
I think if body modification takes place in a gray area, we have ourselves, as a community to blame, and we have ourselves to look at to fix this issue...I'll get back to this idea in a moment.
Also in the article Shannon speak about entrapment, which sadly is a "darker" side to law enforcement than most in that community would like to admit. It runs back to the old argument of, how far are you willing to go to keep your streets safe at night. I personally don't believe in the idea of most entrapments or stings, I believe and have seen with my own eyes that once you move into the gray areas of the law and what society with accept, you have taken all the good you meant to do out of the whole event. And in the process possibly turn a criminal in a martyr, which is not to say I believe Mr. Bertrang to be a criminal.
Ask most cops, and they will tell you a sting or a UC, under cover, is a tricky thing, and usually in the big ones, it is run past a prosecuting attorney before it is even done.
And, as with everything in life there are "good" stings and "bad" stings, a bad sting would be when you are doing a pot buy, and you arrest the 40 year old with HIV or cancer who weighs 95 pounds and has a couple months to live at best, and just wants to smoke a joint to feel a little better, keep some food down, or forget the pain for a second, your gut, your personal feelings are that this law and this sting and this whole situation is wrong, and evil, and for a brief moment you don't like yourself too much.
Then there are the stings where you arrest a pedophile while doing a prostitution UC, those ones are good.
What I am getting at here is that, there is good and bad in all situations, even the law, and while the law is not perfect, it is not even always just, it is what we have in place to work with today, and the reason that Mr. Bertrang is sitting in jail is because he had what is known as criminal intent. Further to that, he gains sexual gratification, by his own admittance to doing something that, right or wrong is illegal.
Now, I agree with Shannon, that is we are going to look upon female circumcision as an illegal act, we should do so as well with it's male counterpart...it is a bit like saying crack is illegal but a snort of coke is ok.
But, right now, the justness so to speak of the law or even of the actions of the FBI are not in question here, what is is the actions of Mr.Bertrang.
Mr. Bertrang, was willing to conduct an illegal procedure on two minor females, and, needless to say, I am sure he would have "gotten off" on it as well, again as he has admitted before...and as is pointed out in Shannon's article as well, he "gets off" on what he does, in other words he is sexual aroused and stimulated by it, he gains sexual gratification from it.
Based on that admittance in the past, this could easily turn into a sex crime as well. Please understand that my point here is this, we would not accept a cop on the sexual assault squad getting off by being near rape or sexual abuse victims, we would not accept a plastic surgeon getting off on doing breast surgery on woman, we would not accept a priest counseling a little boy who was sexually abused, and then doing the same thing to him, or getting off on the story itself, I could go on, but you see my point, if it is wrong an illegal, let alone immoral in these professions, why on earth would we,, for a second tolerate it in a member of the body modification community, why would we thing it is ok for the practitioner to get off on it?
When we accept that behavior, we only invite ridicule and investigation.
Next there is the moral question, how old were his invented victims? I did not see mention of them in the article, but if there was parental consent involved it means without question these were minors, now, I know most studios will not pierce someone under s certain age without parental consent, and that there is an age where, even with the consent, most artists will say, sorry that is too young to make an informed choice right now, wait a bit...so how old were these victims, and if in fact they were under a certain age, does that not then bring us into another question of morality and when is enough enough?
As Shannon states, Mr,Bertrang was paid $8000 to do this procedure...too good to be true...well, if that is the case, why did Mr.Bertrang not see that? Was he too caught up in his sexual desire? His lust so to speak? I doubt it was his good honest caring nature just to want to help these girls that blinded him.
If I were the Agent, I would see greed, a sexual desire and a criminal intent, and I would do what they did, arrest him.
Granted, as all the details of this event are not known, and the full story yet to be told, this is a gray area indeed, but, from my point of view, the question is not about a just or unjust law, or even about a two sided system or a system designed to entrap or set out to catch someone...it is about mindset and intent, a criminal intent, the intent to allow greed and sexual "getting off" on it, the intent to want to do something on minors that is illegal, just because we cloud it in the shroud of modification, it does not make it right.
You might smoke pot, but if someone tried to give it to your kid you would freak right? You might have you labia cut, but if some guy wanted to do the same thing to your daughter, and you knew he was getting off on it...wouldn't you have an issue with that as well?
All a gray area right?
And this brings me back to that gray area, that area where a lot of modification lives, where a lot of the artists work, and exist.
I know part of the allure of mods is that they are in that gray area, they are in that realm of outside the norm, the run counter to society and rules and regulations imposed on us every day.
We get mods, we do it because it is our body our choice right? We get upset when the outside world with its regulations and rules and belief systems comes in and points that spotlight at us. Well maybe it is time to lobby for and put in place guideline and rules, code of conduct and regulations, that will prevent the outside from coming in, I know that sounds like us turning into them, but trust me, Shannon is right on this fact, it is only a matter of time before the spot light turns from Tom, to maybe you.
I believe what he did is wrong, if after the facts come out it is as bad as it sounds, and if he does time, if he is in jail, if he falls because of this, well, it is by his own hand. I do know though that I would not want to be a part of a community that would tolerate such actions or behaviors.
I guess, if there really is any point to this piece other than to take another look at what took place with Mr.Bertrang , based on the facts at hand right now, it is this.
We need to realize, laws or not, just or unjust, right or wrong, there simply is this fact, something's are unacceptable regardless what label we put on it, or how we choose to call it...maybe this was one of them.
The scary bit is the way that the bodymod people are trying to present Todd Bertrang as the injured party in this matter, regardless of the fact that he was very definitely practicing medicine without a license, allegedly had what was classified as child pornography in the house, and had agreed to perform female circumcision on a minor.
This is the Reuters reporting of the case.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles couple accused of offering to circumcise young girls for $8,000 were indicted on federal charges on Friday in what prosecutors say is the first U.S. case of its kind.
Todd Cameron Bertrang and Robyn Faulkinbury, who were arrested in January after agreeing to circumcise the fictional children of undercover FBI agents posing as parents, were also charged with making and possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.
An affidavit filed at the time of their arrest said that Bertrang, 41, referred to the 24-year-old Faulkinbury as his slave and offered to show the FBI agents her circumcised genitalia.
Female circumcision is widespread in parts of Africa, where it is seen as a right of passage to womanhood that limits promiscuity. Health workers describe the practice as female genital mutilation and say it causes long-term physical damage and psychological trauma.
A 1995 federal law banned the procedure in the United States, though exceptions are made for cases of medical necessity. Authorities have said there was no evidence that Bertrang and Faulkinbury, who were apparently born in the United States, were acting out of religious or cultural beliefs and did not have the medical training required.
Prosecutors said Bertrang and Faulkinbury are the first defendants charged under the 1995 law.
Bertrang, who was convicted of perjury in 1994, was also accused of possessing six firearms and could face a maximum of 40 years in prison if convicted, though federal sentencing guidelines typically call for less. Faulkinbury could face 35 years behind bars.
The FBI agents had posed as a married couple who wanted to have their two girls, ages 8 and 12, circumcised on the advice a British friend who had done the same to his daughter.
The affidavit said undercover FBI agents approached Bertrang over the Internet after getting a tip that he had recently circumcised a young girl and had displayed pictures of a surgically altered teenage girl on a Web site.
Prosecutors say Bertrang bragged to the FBI agents that he had performed more female circumcisions than anyone in the Western world."
The Medical Board of California's press release:
Medical Board of California Arrests Santa Clarita Resident
For Unlicensed Practice of Medicine
SACRAMENTO—The Medical Board of California's Operation Safe Medicine (OSM), in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, served a search warrant on December 19, 2002 at the Santa Clarita residence of an unlicensed person, Todd Cameron Bertrang, for agreeing to perform female circumcisions. The procedure is an extremely painful, traumatizing mutilation of females that leaves them permanently disfigured. He also performs a similar procedure on males. He was charged with violating Business and Professions Code section 2053, a felony, by risking great bodily harm, serious injury or death by practicing medicine without a license. Bertrang was arrested and booked into Santa Clarita Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and will appear in court on January 21, 2003.
The Medical Board of California continues to analyze evidence obtained during the execution of the search warrant. The Board's Chief of Enforcement Dave Thornton said, "The mission of the Medical Board is consumer protection. Stopping the unlicensed practice of medicine in California is a high priority with the Medical Board. We encourage anyone with information regarding additional victims of Todd Bertrang, or any other criminal activity connected to Bertrang, to contact the Medical Board's Cerritos Office at (562) 860-2819."
The case was referred to the Medical Board by a physician from Northern California who received information that Bertrang was performing clitoridectomies on women in Southern California. The FBI, who had received a similar complaint, also was investigating Bertrang. A joint investigation with the FBI resulted in a search warrant being obtained for the Santa Clarita residence, along with an arrest warrant for Bertrang. The investigation has revealed that Bertrang attracted potential patients through Web sites and may have performed various unlicensed procedures that include male and female circumcisions at his residence since 1997. These are procedures that can result in serious injury to patients who are not in a medical setting.
This arrest is the tenth in 2002 by investigators of Operation Safe Medicine, a special unit of the Medical Board composed of trained investigators who seek to protect a significant portion of the population by reducing access to individuals who are unlicensed and a danger to the public when they attempt medical treatment. OSM commenced in January 2001, and works closely with local and federal law enforcement agencies. The staff of investigators target the known areas where the unlicensed practice of medicine flourishes in Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area. The investigators also work other areas of the state as needed and provide training to other Medical Board enforcement staff in how to spot and respond to suspected illegal practices.
OSM is part of the Medical Board's efforts to steer consumers away from unlicensed practitioners, whose treatment of patients has resulted in harm and even death in Southern California. The Board encourages the public to confirm they are receiving healthcare from licensed individuals by calling its Consumer Information Line at (916) 263-2382 or visiting its Web site at http://www.medbd.ca.gov.
The Medical Board of California is the state agency responsible for licensing and regulating physicians in this state.
The editor of BME critisises the law:
The Arrest of Todd Bertrang
The more restrictions and prohibitions in the world, the poorer people get.
- Lao Tzu
UPDATE 01/11/04: Authorities have admitted that they have absolutely no evidence that Todd has ever done these procedures on minors, other than his willingness to play along with their ridiculous fabrication (which included paying him a preposterous $8,000 for the imaginary procedure on the imaginary clients).
Additionally, they have admitted that this whole thing is based on complaints filed by "a woman who said she believed that Bertrang had performed a circumcision on a 10 or 11 year old girl". Given how many times I've heard people in the BME chat room that he's rubbed the wrong way conspire to fabricate false charges against him, why am I not surprised? People said they'd get him busted for things he never did, maybe they succeeded (to put this into time context, it played out in the spring/summer of 2002).
As I write this, Todd Bertrang and his parter Robyn sit in prison for allegedly conspiring to perform female circumcisions on minors. The procedure they were offering is encouraged by the medical community, and, with slight (gender) variation, is even legal for non-doctors to perform. Not only that, but there never actually even were any minors — the whole thing was a cleverly concocted fantasy designed to entrap Bertrang. No matter what your opinion of Todd (he’s never masked his sexual overtones), this arrest is troubling on two levels — first, because it involves a deeply hypocritical law, and second, because it involves a questionable sting on a body modification artist.
To be clear let’s put the procedure in question into context: female circumcision. FGM. Female genital mutilation. It sounds terrible, doesn’t it — but it’s a loaded term chosen by activists (male circumcision is known as MGM, or “male genital mutilation”). The procedure we’re talking about isn’t an infibulation or a clitorectomy — it’s a circumcision (“to cut around”). The purpose of the procedure is to reshape the labia into a more pleasing form and to reduce or split the hood in order to make the clitoris more exposed. The procedure is designed to be a positive and enhancing one, not something oppressive or abusive.
The Hypocrisy
Proponents of female circumcision in the West (it’s a popular elective surgery) will tell you that it enhances the appearance of the genitals, as well as making sex more physically pleasurable. Proponents in Africa and the Middle East will tell you that, on top of its cultural and religious importance, it maintains cleanliness, prevents disease and cancers, keeps a couple together by making the man able to sexually satisfy the woman, and otherwise protects the woman who receives it. Some regions even have circumcision methods designed to make intercourse more physically pleasurable — in countries that it’s done in, it’s the women who have had the procedure that are usually the strongest proponents of continuing the practice.
Now don’t get me wrong — in spite of all these wonderful things about it, I believe it’s fundamentally wrong to force this on a child who can’t decide for themselves, let alone to allow an unqualified practitioner to do it. But we have to take an objective look at this in light of procedures that we do allow.
While most Western countries have phased out the procedure as barbaric, and the AMA has decried it as pointless and dangerous mutilation, in America, the genitals of young boys are still routinely partially amputated. The foreskin, one of the most nerve-heavy parts of the male genitals (and containing glands essential to genital health), is cut off, usually without anesthesia. Significant complications arise annually and numerous men permanently lose sexual function from this procedure. While it is most commonly done by a doctor, non-medical practitioners are also permitted to perform the procedure in private home ceremonies. No health benefits have ever been conclusively shown for this procedure, and the original justification for performing it was to reduce masturbation by “associating pain with the penis”.
So, with boys, we allow non-medical practitioners to cut off part of their genitals for dubious reasons, but with women we don’t. The fact is that we can’t have it both ways. Either make male genital mutilation illegal, or allow it for both genders.
The Sting
Underground cutters tend to be motivated by two factors. First, they usually enjoy doing the procedures they offer. Second, they care about the people they are working on and perceive themselves as helping — by offering a procedure that’s not available in the mainstream, they fulfill an important need and improve someone’s life (and thus they feel a need to come to the aid of someone in distress). The authorities understand that and in their stings play to the desires and ethics of their victim, dangling the perfect carrot in front of their noses.
It’s no secret from his actions in online chat rooms that Todd wants to believe that there are cultures that accept his views on female genital enhancement procedures. Additionally, talking to him it’s clear not only that he’s “getting off” on doing the procedures, but that he cares about his clients. The FBI appears to have presented Todd with a fabricated situation that seemed to good to be true — the opportunity to help a pro-circumcision family (ie. a culture that accepted his belief structure), and to improve two young girls’ lives.
Maybe you’re saying, “Shannon, are you insane? He was a pervert who was hoping to get off cutting up young girl’s genitals!”
That may or may not be true, but the fact is that those girls never actually existed and Todd never sought them out — the FBI presented them to him along with a tailored backstory to make it appear to Todd like he was doing the right thing by allegedly agreeing to perform the operation. Given that it was happening on minors with the full consent of the “parents”, and with the presented goal of helping the minors, can you really say it was even illegal? (Remember, we allow parents to send their children to absolutely brutal, sometimes fatal “Boot Camps”). In Todd’s eyes, and in the eyes of millions of people around the world, this procedure is positive and normal (which would make the government the oppressor, and Todd an agent of freedom). The FBI basically tricked him into allowing his beliefs and ethics to get the better of him.
I’m not trying to defend Todd with this article — if the allegations are true and he offered to work on minors like this, in my opinion he went too far. However, I do feel that it’s fundamentally wrong to charge someone for a crime that only exists as a police fabrication, and I believe it’s even more wrong to charge someone with laws that are by their very nature racist and sexist. These are unjust laws being applied with a heavy hand. Maybe Todd hit on you in a chat room and you’re glad to see him finally go down — but are you really comfortable having it happen like this?
Most body modification happens in a grey area. It’s usually not entirely legal, but it’s also usually not entirely illegal either, depending on how you look at it. Because of this, it’s very easy for almost any body artist to be arrested at any time, based on the whims of local or federal prosecutors. Body modification procedures are safer than everyday activities like driving a car, occur almost exclusively between consenting adults, and usually involve procedures not being medically offered (making underground the only option). To be clear, the laws are fundamentally unjust. Until we either start banning everything, or these procedures start getting medically offered, it is wrong to deny these grass-roots solutions.
The other reason body artists should be wary is if the FBI is setting up stings that seem “too good to be true”, you never know who could be next or how. Most body artists are pretty honest easy-to-read people — it’s very easy to figure out what makes them tick. We’ve accepted as a culture that it is wrong for our authorities to engage in entrapment (entrapment being when the police fabricate an illegal act, encourage the mark to take part in it, and then charge them for it), yet we’ve just watched Todd Bertrang fall victim to it. Because of the seemingly heinous nature of the charges (mutilating the genitals of young girls), most people don’t even consider the fact that this isn’t justice — just like we’re instinctively ready to act outside or beyond the law when it comes to dealing with child molesters and sex criminals.
So objectively, what we have here is an arrest of questionable legality for a fabricated crime, which is only a crime under laws which are hypocritical at best. Ask yourselves — are you willing to allow it to happen just because you don’t like Todd? Then ask yourselves a second question — will it happen again? What do you believe in that the mainstream may not agree with?
And the article Artist or Criminal, also from BME:
I do not know the man personally, nor do I believe that I know anyone who does. I've seen his work through his website and through BMEzine.com. I know "of" his personality and his outlooks only second hand and from third parties, which is never a reliable way in which to know someone, or try to gage or judge their character or intention, and in all honesty it is never really fair to try and judge anyone you have never met.
But, as I sit here, I am driven to write this as an expression of my belief, my take on the subject so to speak. And, as an ex law enforcement officer, my take on the laws and actions that have lead to his present arrest.
I read through Shannon's article on Mr.Bertrang and his present arrest and incarceration. This is in no way a response to that, it is simply my opinion. My thoughts, and another point of view to consider.
Having never had any actions or dealings with Mr.Bertrang, I have no feelings for him, one way or another, I do not dislike, nor do I like him, he is simply a person I have read about...however it does seem like he has managed to gather a great deal of hatred directed towards him, and how he lives his life and conducts his business. That, sadly, regardless of where or who you are will always make you a target.
With that said, it would seem to me, that his present situation is of his own making, and his downfall is of his own hand.
As Shannon write, most body modification takes place in a gray area, agreed, however that same statement could be applied to almost ANY aspect of day to day life, and the events we all partake in.
I think if body modification takes place in a gray area, we have ourselves, as a community to blame, and we have ourselves to look at to fix this issue...I'll get back to this idea in a moment.
Also in the article Shannon speak about entrapment, which sadly is a "darker" side to law enforcement than most in that community would like to admit. It runs back to the old argument of, how far are you willing to go to keep your streets safe at night. I personally don't believe in the idea of most entrapments or stings, I believe and have seen with my own eyes that once you move into the gray areas of the law and what society with accept, you have taken all the good you meant to do out of the whole event. And in the process possibly turn a criminal in a martyr, which is not to say I believe Mr. Bertrang to be a criminal.
Ask most cops, and they will tell you a sting or a UC, under cover, is a tricky thing, and usually in the big ones, it is run past a prosecuting attorney before it is even done.
And, as with everything in life there are "good" stings and "bad" stings, a bad sting would be when you are doing a pot buy, and you arrest the 40 year old with HIV or cancer who weighs 95 pounds and has a couple months to live at best, and just wants to smoke a joint to feel a little better, keep some food down, or forget the pain for a second, your gut, your personal feelings are that this law and this sting and this whole situation is wrong, and evil, and for a brief moment you don't like yourself too much.
Then there are the stings where you arrest a pedophile while doing a prostitution UC, those ones are good.
What I am getting at here is that, there is good and bad in all situations, even the law, and while the law is not perfect, it is not even always just, it is what we have in place to work with today, and the reason that Mr. Bertrang is sitting in jail is because he had what is known as criminal intent. Further to that, he gains sexual gratification, by his own admittance to doing something that, right or wrong is illegal.
Now, I agree with Shannon, that is we are going to look upon female circumcision as an illegal act, we should do so as well with it's male counterpart...it is a bit like saying crack is illegal but a snort of coke is ok.
But, right now, the justness so to speak of the law or even of the actions of the FBI are not in question here, what is is the actions of Mr.Bertrang.
Mr. Bertrang, was willing to conduct an illegal procedure on two minor females, and, needless to say, I am sure he would have "gotten off" on it as well, again as he has admitted before...and as is pointed out in Shannon's article as well, he "gets off" on what he does, in other words he is sexual aroused and stimulated by it, he gains sexual gratification from it.
Based on that admittance in the past, this could easily turn into a sex crime as well. Please understand that my point here is this, we would not accept a cop on the sexual assault squad getting off by being near rape or sexual abuse victims, we would not accept a plastic surgeon getting off on doing breast surgery on woman, we would not accept a priest counseling a little boy who was sexually abused, and then doing the same thing to him, or getting off on the story itself, I could go on, but you see my point, if it is wrong an illegal, let alone immoral in these professions, why on earth would we,, for a second tolerate it in a member of the body modification community, why would we thing it is ok for the practitioner to get off on it?
When we accept that behavior, we only invite ridicule and investigation.
Next there is the moral question, how old were his invented victims? I did not see mention of them in the article, but if there was parental consent involved it means without question these were minors, now, I know most studios will not pierce someone under s certain age without parental consent, and that there is an age where, even with the consent, most artists will say, sorry that is too young to make an informed choice right now, wait a bit...so how old were these victims, and if in fact they were under a certain age, does that not then bring us into another question of morality and when is enough enough?
As Shannon states, Mr,Bertrang was paid $8000 to do this procedure...too good to be true...well, if that is the case, why did Mr.Bertrang not see that? Was he too caught up in his sexual desire? His lust so to speak? I doubt it was his good honest caring nature just to want to help these girls that blinded him.
If I were the Agent, I would see greed, a sexual desire and a criminal intent, and I would do what they did, arrest him.
Granted, as all the details of this event are not known, and the full story yet to be told, this is a gray area indeed, but, from my point of view, the question is not about a just or unjust law, or even about a two sided system or a system designed to entrap or set out to catch someone...it is about mindset and intent, a criminal intent, the intent to allow greed and sexual "getting off" on it, the intent to want to do something on minors that is illegal, just because we cloud it in the shroud of modification, it does not make it right.
You might smoke pot, but if someone tried to give it to your kid you would freak right? You might have you labia cut, but if some guy wanted to do the same thing to your daughter, and you knew he was getting off on it...wouldn't you have an issue with that as well?
All a gray area right?
And this brings me back to that gray area, that area where a lot of modification lives, where a lot of the artists work, and exist.
I know part of the allure of mods is that they are in that gray area, they are in that realm of outside the norm, the run counter to society and rules and regulations imposed on us every day.
We get mods, we do it because it is our body our choice right? We get upset when the outside world with its regulations and rules and belief systems comes in and points that spotlight at us. Well maybe it is time to lobby for and put in place guideline and rules, code of conduct and regulations, that will prevent the outside from coming in, I know that sounds like us turning into them, but trust me, Shannon is right on this fact, it is only a matter of time before the spot light turns from Tom, to maybe you.
I believe what he did is wrong, if after the facts come out it is as bad as it sounds, and if he does time, if he is in jail, if he falls because of this, well, it is by his own hand. I do know though that I would not want to be a part of a community that would tolerate such actions or behaviors.
I guess, if there really is any point to this piece other than to take another look at what took place with Mr.Bertrang , based on the facts at hand right now, it is this.
We need to realize, laws or not, just or unjust, right or wrong, there simply is this fact, something's are unacceptable regardless what label we put on it, or how we choose to call it...maybe this was one of them.