If I was not circ'ed and was just now finding out that the procedure existed, I'd probably be rather pissed (pardon the pun
) since I'm sure it hurts a LOT more for adults...and they remember the pain.
Which really should be the crux of this topic. The baby is going to experience the pain (and I'll argue the pain is the same for any age) but isn't going to remember it. I mean shots for vaccinations are painful and usually the child has forgotten them by the time they get their sucker.
To say that the pain/trauma of the circumcision is going to affect the child's life in any way whatsoever is just plain lying and not founded on the reality that the vast majority of men in America have been circumcised and, somehow, are doing just fine because of it the "trauma" of the circumcision when they were an hour old not withstanding.
That's what gets the most about the circumcision argument. I mean I'll go along with the idea that it has no medical benefit, the idea that it has no meaningful medical drawbacks (other than what goes along with any medical procedure, that-is the slim chance for error, infection or otherwise) and that it's pretty much just done for the hell of it for cosmetic reasons.
Fine. The child still isn't going to remember a damn thing and when he gets old he's not going to know any different or, like most rational people, not even give a damn.
I don't give a shit about the loss of foreskin. I don't know what it was supposed to do for me, or what I am missing without it, so, whatever. And any claims from men who were circumcised as adults who claim there's a "feeling difference" is anecdotal as there's a pretty strong effect of "it feels different because he believes it's different." There's no way of knowing if the feeling is "really" better, worse, or whatever.
So, really, what we're talking about is the pointless removal of a flap of skin that's all things being equal is pointless to begin with.
Cry me a river. Parents are entrusted to make the best choices for their child as the child is incapable of making these choices their/himself. That the child may not have made the choice for their self decades later, looking back, is irrelevant. The parents have to make the choice and the best choice they can on the information they have.
Some adults argue vaccination carries no benefit (and claim that it has, unfounded and falsely claimed, side-effects) and shouldn't be done to a child. Yet we do it. Should we stop vaccinating children? Leaving it for them to decide when they're an adult and have the facts to make an informed decision for them-self? I mean there's those falsified reports and claims that it just
might, maybe, possibly, but not-really cause Autism. Should a parent really take that risk? I mean what are the odds of the child getting the measles, anyway?
Parents make the best choice they can for the kid. So long as that choice isn't actively harming the child then who are we to tell them what they can and cannot do? If there's real
harm being caused, yeah, speak out. But if a parent believes there's medical benefits, social benefits or religious benefits to circumcision then they should be allowed to do it. Keep your opinions about my son's cock to yourself.
If he grows up and hates me for it, cool. He's that 1 in 100-million boys who does that. Write a book about it, son. I did it because I thought it was in your best interest. Just like your shots, just like your corrective-eye surgery, just like your diet and exercise program and just like sending you to public school. I did my best and look where you are because of it.
I don't have my foreskin and I don't care a bit and I
certainly don't have a hate for my parents because of it or any lasting psychological trauma over something that happened over the course of a few seconds 32 years ago. And I don't blame other people for doing the same to their child. I honestly don't care that much about other peoples' babies' penises.
Not if the loss of that body part has no negative result.
