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The Mark Groves Podcast

#017: The Shocking Truth About Circumcision with Brendon Marotta

The Mark Groves Podcast

Mark Groves

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.95K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2019

⏱️ 65 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week I was honoured to be joined by filmmaker Brendon Marotta. Brendon has just launched the ground-breaking documentary ‘American Circumcision’ on Netflix. We had an incredibly powerful, raw and real conversation on the issue of circumcision. We went deep on the trauma, pain and often undiscussed power that circumcision still holds in our society today. This is a topic that deserves so much more investigation and I am so passionate about bringing this topic to light. Don’t miss this episode. Highlights 1min: Why did you end up working on the topic of circumcision? 4min: Circumcision is a cure in search of a disease - a cure for masturbation. 7min: The data behind circumcision. 10min: Women as supportive of the issue. 12min: Trauma and circumcision. 19min: The history of circumcision. 25min: The power of cultural conditioning. 28min: How and why is the conversation on circumcision changing? 31min: Who are the gatekeepers and powerhouses behind the conversation? 41min: Circumcision the documentary. 42min: Was there a backlash to the documentary? 49min: Healing from circumcision and early childhood traumas. 56min: Healing from grief. Episode notes Brendon Marotta graduated from the University of the North Carolina School of the Arts in 2010 with a B.F.A. in film editing & sound, where he worked in every major role on a film set. In 2013, he completed a year long Meisner Acting program at the Waterfront Playhouse & Conservatory. In 2014, a feature he edited was selected to premiere at the Austin Film Festival and won the Narrative Feature Audience Award there. In 2017, he completed his first feature-length documentary as director, which won Best Documentary at the Lone Star Film festival. Brendon currently lives in Austin, TX. https://www.brendonmarotta.com/ @bdmarotta Bonus features and full access to film at circumcisionmovie.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Transcript

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0:00.0

All right, all right, all right. It is good to be back in your ear. I'm happy to be here. A couple things before we begin, because this week's podcast is filled with fire and maybe some controversy and all that kind of stuff that's good for the system, right?

0:23.6

When you get triggered, get curious because you've got something to learn.

0:26.5

At least that's been true for all of my life.

0:29.4

And I wanted to first say thank you.

0:31.9

Your feedback has been noted.

0:34.1

I love it when you guys tell me how I can be better.

0:36.1

That is how I continue to become a better human is people saying what I don't do so well.

0:41.6

I want to be good at this podcasting thing.

0:43.5

I want to be good at this interviewing thing.

0:45.5

And you guys spoke and I listened.

0:47.3

I've had a couple people give me the feedback that I've been possibly speaking over or interrupting guests.

0:53.2

So I want to acknowledge that that

0:54.8

has definitely probably been true. I don't listen back to all the podcasts. That's definitely been

1:00.9

true if that's been your experience. So first off, I'm sorry because that definitely impacts

1:05.3

your listening experience. Secondly, I was doing them by audio, so I couldn't see the natural video, you know,

1:12.5

conversational cues of when one person is going to go and when's the other and all those

1:15.8

things.

1:16.1

So I moved to video as the interviewing format or in person.

1:20.2

Secondly, I was using a program that would sometimes have a delay.

1:24.0

So when I spoke in a gap in the conversation, it would cut over them because

1:28.7

they wouldn't hear it right away. And so they wouldn't stop to allow me to speak and so on.

1:33.9

So I wanted to say sorry and I've changed the way I'm doing it to improve this experience for you

...

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