It is generally well-accepted that a researcher or expert that seeks to convince by a claim of authority or by personal observation needs to be objective, impartial and dispassionate; an audience can only evaluate information from such a source if they know about conflicts of interest that may affect its objectivity and credibility. Thus, before an audience evaluates information from a source, conflicts of interest need to be declared or identified. The personal background and affiliations of researchers can reveal hidden biases and prejudices.

Having eccentric associates does not make one an eccentric, but sometimes friends, coworkers, etc., mutually enable each other by serving as echo chambers to each other. Let’s take a look at Brian Morris, and let’s see how he relates to some friends and fellow researchers, Guy Cox and James Badger. How do they relate?

The characters

The University of Sydney staff directory presents Guy Cox as an Honorary Associate Professor, botanist and microscopist, and no mention is made of his interest in circumcision or the role of the foreskin. However some of his interest has managed to creep onto servers at the University of Sydney; one of his papers on circumcision and the foreskin is actually stored in these servers, as will be shown in the next paragraphs.

Brian Morris and Guy Cox are co-authors of chapters 19 and 21 of the book “Surgical Guide to Circumcision” by By David A. Bolnick, Martin Koyle, Assaf Yosha

Guy Cox published an article on Medical Hypothesis called: “De Virginibus Puerisque: The Function of the Human Foreskin Considered from an Evolutionary Perspective” in which he refers to a survey performed by James Badger and thanks Badger for making his data available. A copy of the pdf file is stored on the servers of University of Sydney (url: http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~cox/pdfs/dvp.pdf). Is the University of Sydney aware of the existence of this article by Guy Cox stored on their server, outside his particular career path?

James Badger published a two part circumcision survey on Australian Forum magazine, 1989. Australian Forum is not a peer-reviewed scientific or medical publication.

Brian Morris’ website identifies James Badger as a “University of Sydney biomedical scientist” who “used to regard himself as neutral on the issue of circumcision, but would now appear swayed by the evidence into adopting a ‘pro’ stance”.

Circlist (a website and discussion group for men who sexually fantasize about performing and receiving circumcisions) identifies James Badger as one of its members and has 6 surveys by Badger on different aspects of circumcision, such as masturbation, urination, emotions, attitudes, etc.

A PowerPoint presentation by Brian Morris on the topic of circumcision, which can still be found on the server of University of Sydney, makes reference to the “first ever survey by a USyd academic in 1989″ (slide 35) – the survey by James Badger.

A curious fact, slide 6 of the same PowerPoint file shows a picture of Morris with a small group of Sub-Saharan boys during the preparation for their circumcisions, with emphasis on the close up of an old razor hanging from the necklace of one of the boys, a razor that will be used to remove his foreskin. Traditional circumcisions in Africa account for many yearly deaths, mutilations (loss of the penis), life threatening infections and other complications, as denounced on the Ulwaluko website.

But the existence of James Badger poses a new mystery.

Morris’ book “In Favour of Circumcision” reveals that James Badger is a pen-name for the purposes of the Forum survey and debate in general. See note 168 on page 93.

Searches on the University of Sydney’s staff directory for James Badger return empty. Further searches for a Sydney scientist named James Badger also return empty.

So now that we know something about our characters, let’s develop the story.

Lies and fetishism

Brian Morris’ original website was hosted on the servers of the University of Sydney, where he and Guy Cox were professors. The old url, now inactive, was http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~bmorris/circumcision.shtml (archive)

Brian Morris’ website has a page of links and resources. On 2007, the second link listed was aboutcirc.org, and, as revealed on the Wayback Machine (a tool that saves snapshots of websites at different times), between parenthesis it used to read “Dr. Guy Cox, Australia” (see archive).

On December of 2011, the University of Sydney asked Morris to remove his website from their servers.

Morris found a new hosting service, a company called Lemonred, and moved his website there. (Before Lemonred, Morris’ site moved temporarily to Trinidad and Tobago).

Currently, the first link on the page of links and resources remains aboutcirc.org. However the parenthesis now read “James Badger, Australia”.

According to Robert Darby, historian interested on the topic of circumcision, James Badger is really Guy Cox. This seems to be supported by Morris’ diverging attribution of the author of the aboutcirc.org website. It seems ironic then, that Guy Cox, on his paper about the function of the foreskin, would quote James Badger’s survey and thank him for authorizing the use of his data. If they are really the same person, this would be disrespectful of the general public.

Brian Morris is known for self-referencing openly in third person: “researchers have demonstrated”, “experts criticized”, etc. A good example of this is his recent article, coauthored with Tomas Wiswell and Stefan Bailis and published by Mayo Clinic Proceedings, which is said to be a literature review: out of 80 references, 12 are articles and studies co-authored by Brian Morris himself.

So now let’s go back to the University of Sydney on December of 2011 asking Morris to remove his website, and Morris finding a new hosting service, Lemonred.

Internet records show that Lemonred’s domain is owned by Cassian Cox, who happens to be the son of Guy Cox.

Further investigation reveals that Lemonred also hosts:

Guy Cox’s personal website (Guy Cox Software). In a web design section, this site lists two websites as examples of their work: Male Circumcision (aboutcirc.info) and Claude Cox Old and Rare Books (claudecox.co.uk) – notice the last name.

Aboutcirc.com has a section for book reviews, and one of the books is called “airport encounter” by James Badger, described as “a light-hearted story about an Australian choirboy and his friends, this books follows the life and loves of a group of boys and girls as they grow from children into teenagers. Circumcision is a major theme as, naturally, is music. It is quite sexually explicit at times“. The contact to buy this book happens to be, surprise! Claude Cox, the British librarian.

Would it also be a surprise that James Badger’s website would make a review of one erotic fiction book which includes circumcision, whose author is also James Badger, who is a “University of Sydney biomedical scientist” and “used to regard himself as neutral on the issue of circumcision” but is also “a circumcision pen-name“? (all italics are literal words by Brian Morris)

The other book reviewed is “The surgical guide to circumcision”, which, as we mentioned earlier, includes two chapters written in collaboration by Brian Morris and Guy Cox!

There is another website hosted by lemonred (and most likely owned by Guy Cox himself) which deserves particular attention. The website is called boyguard.com and offers a product for boy chastity. The purpose of the website seems to be to promote this product to control children’s sexuality, aided by “high and tight” circumcisions.

The site states: “We are strongly in favour of circumcision for all boys. (…) If you are considering circumcision for your boy, make sure it is done properly, with the foreskin completely removed. The glans (knob) should be completely uncovered and there should be no surplus skin on the shaft of the penis. Otherwise the hygiene benefits may not be fully realized. (…) So the skin will stretch to allow for the firmest erection, and this is the desired outcome – the skin should be stretched tight when the penis is erect.”

“While we do not subscribe to the 19th century notion that circumcision prevents masturbation, there is no doubt that this type of circumcision makes it more difficult, and so if a boy does get access to his penis in an unguarded moment he is less able to succumb to temptation. In particular, if he has seen an uncircumcised or partly-circumcised boy abusing himself, he will be quite unable to mimic what he has seen.”

(The first sentence almost seems as a direct reference to the title of Brian Morris’ book: “In favour of circumcision”).

It is worthy of note that James Badger (AKA Guy Cox)’s survey includes observations about the difference in masturbation techniques between circumcised and uncircumcised males.

It was also “James Badger” who on April of 2013 announced to the inter-circ Yahoo Group to the existence of the Boyguard website, while pretending not to have any relation to it.

Incidentally, the Inter-circ group is, in its own words, “a global male circumcision appreciation group encouraging discussion of the pros and cons of circumcision as an adult. The group is also for those who feel that male circumcision is a perfectly acceptable parental decision resulting from religious, cultural, or medical considerations. WE ARE PRO-RIC.” (RIC = Routine Infant Circumcision)

Recapping, the administrator for lemonred is Cassian Cox.

The admin for circinfo.net is private, but it doesn’t matter because it’s recognized as Brian Morris’ website

The registrant for James Badger’s websites (aboutcirc.info, .org and .com) is Guy Cox, with Cassian (his son) being the administrator.

The administrator for claudecox.co.uk is Claude Cox.

The registrant for Guy Cox’s personal website, guycox.com, is Guy Cox, with Cassian Cox as administrator.

The registrant for boyguard.com is private, however the contact us page has a P.O. Box which corresponds to the P.O. Box of Guy Cox Software (see previous screenshot).

Conclusions

Considering that James Badger appears to be a fictitious character, identified as a scientist at University of Sydney (but impossible to find through the staff directory), who owns three websites, who really published a survey on an Australian magazine in 1989, who is said to be neutral on the topic of circumcision, who is a member of circlist -a mailing list that accepts circumfetish-, who authored one erotic fiction book that includes the topic of circumcision, who then used his website to publish a review of said book speaking in third person, whose surveys have been used as reference by Brian Morris and Guy Cox, and who comments on internet articles about circumcision… We have to say, quite a talented and busy fictitious character!

If James Badger is a fictitious character, Brian Morris is lying by currently identifying him as the owner/author of aboutcirc.com and a scientist at University of Sydney, and by using his surveys as references; but if James Badger is not fictitious, then Brian Morris lied on his book by identifying him as a pen-name, and by attributing the aboutcirc.com website to Guy Cox back in 2007.

If James Badger is a fictitious character, Guy Cox lies by using his survey as reference and thanking him for allowing him to use the data; particularly if James Badger and Guy Cox are the same person.

If James Badger is a fictitious character, then it is incredibly ironic that Brian Morris, circlist, Guy Cox, and Badger himself behave as if James Badger really existed.

But if James Badger does exist, we would love to see more information on his work: publications, work story, bio, or at least one photo!

Implications

The association between Brian Morris and Lemonred is not as casual as looking for hosting companies in the yellow pages and shopping for prices and hosting packages. The owner of Lemonred, Guy Cox, happened to be a co-worker of Brian Morris at Sydney University, and also happens to be an independent researcher/author on topics of circumcision, outside his career path. Both of them have referenced each other on their papers and publications and coauthored at least one publication. Both have been known to participate on circumcision related mailing lists such as circlist and the Gilgal Society, funded by now convicted pedophile Vernon Quaintance.

Our investigation reveals that Cox also happens to be interested in interference in the sexual lives of children through chastity devices and circumcision . As our readers may remember, the very beginning of “medical” circumcision during the late 19th century was caused by a desire to prevent children from masturbating, and included chastity devices, infibulation of the penis (sewing the foreskin shut with a silver thread), circumcision without anesthesia and other similar barbarities, and included genital mutilation as a way of dealing with female masturbation (clitoridectomy, rubbing carbolic acid on the clitoris, removal of the labia, etc). The dynamic of power involved in controlling children’s sexuality opens the door for potential child abuse.

Both Morris and Cox are now retired professors but continue to participate in the debate over circumcision, with Morris particularly having a very active role in the public eye.

The media in general and particularly medical journals such as Mayo Clinic Proceedings; the University of Sydney, and the general public should be informed that Brian Morris lacks medical credentials to be speaking on the matter of circumcision; he is not a pediatrician, urologist, sexologist or physician in any capacity; Brian Morris is known to interact with individuals who openly practice circumfetishism or identify as “circumsexuals” and his website links to at least one circumfetish website. While he may outwardly portray an interest in child well-being and public health, this conflicts with the perverted interest in the forced circumcision of minors and/or sexual control and chastity of minors.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to all the anonymous individuals who in one way or another collaborated with this investigation from different corners of the world.