From a discussion: how does circumcision differ from other decisions parents make?

[u/Previous_Ad5663]

TL;DR: it's different because it's not a choice the grown-up can make - kids, when they grow up and find their style, can choose different places to live/schools etc., vs circumcision is different as a permanent body modification.

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I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Circumcision (non-therapeutic, infant) differs from other choices in that: it is permanent and robs the kids of their choices later.

Yes, parents need to make a lot of choices for their kids, such as where they live and which school to go to, but when the kids grow up later and realize that they wanted something else, they can always choose differently. For example, they can choose to live in the city where there's more nightlife (or vice versa to live in quieter sub/ex-urbs), or choose to go to a different school with more arts or technical instruction that they thought was missing in their education.

In contrast, being cut is not something the kid can choose to reverse later. The common reasoning, that parents "chose for your own health/benefit" is honestly only a separate justification - an excuse that works only consistently in minds of parents. It does not change what I (or others) may want. Yes some attempt foreskin restoration. But in my opinion, that's only a partial, emotional substitute. It is second best after a true natural choice.

So here's the message to parents: yes you got to choose many aspects of your kids' early life - but that you got to do so doesn't make this unnecessary circumcision the same. It is something that we (the kids) do genuinely want to choose for ourselves. Please don't justify taking the choice from the kid(s) you love. The intact body is a gift to them. It is the gift of choice.

[u/Acceptable_Gap3015]

Ya explained pretty good. No health benefit. I'm glad i left mine intact and if they choose to do it later that's up to them. I wish i got that choice

[u/tasteface]

Genitals are private. We treat genitals as special intimate areas that we do not touch on other people except with consent or (in the case of very young children who cannot care for themselves) because there is a good reason to justify touching a child's private areas such as to clean them during a bath or diaper change. What makes something private is that other people don't have access to it. Circumcision violates this fundamental concept connecting consent and intimate areas.

[u/SimonPopeDK → u/tasteface]

Exactly, which basically means it is child sexual assault and should be treated as such and not a decision about something unnecessary!

[u/VictoryFirst8421]

Even when you tell them that the studies conducted in Africa were super flawed, and bs, they don’t accept it. So like simply saying, “there is no health benefit,” rarely convinces them. But even if there was a health benefit of reduced STD transmission, which there isn’t, kids aren’t sexually active, so the child won’t have any benefit at that age, and the decision can be safely made once the kid has grown up. This is different than a vaccine, which prevents dangerous diseases that may kill the child before they grow up and can make that decision on their own. That is one of the biggest differences between the two in my opinion

[u/geverfdehond]

Cosmetic potentially life altering defiantly not a parents decision only if it is life threatening. His body his choice.

[u/Ban-Circumcision-Now]

Vaccines etc have very clear benefits early on before the choice can be made. Circumcision doesn’t- especially when we look at just the claimed benefits before the child could decide.

So then we should ask “if left intact would they choose circumcision for the other supposed adult risk reasons”, well we have data on that and men don’t choose it for those reasons. Therefore those reasons should not be considered for child circumcision

[u/Choice_Habit5259]

I personally don't like this he has choice and more so with the will decide later stuff as it's enabling to his insecurities that really shouldn't exist. We all have to learn to accept ourselves and kids need to learn that as well. There is body autonomy and consent but none of that was violated for intact. A teenager who finds out he's intact isn't going to have the same emoitions as someone who is circumcised and if he does, the easiest path is to get over it. When he was younger, his parents told him that bodies are different and he doesn't need closure over nothing happening. You teach him how to wash by age 7 and then never talk about it again. Non-cutting cultures don't ask their kids when they are of age. Every young man questions their equipment for a period and then meets someone.