Re: Circumcision of boys is a crime
Nobody is saying that if we stopped circumcision of children that all of the world's problems would go away. Nobody is saying that you can't be happy being circumcised as an infant and live a happy and healthy life. Nobody is saying that all circumcised men are miserable and feel that they were denied the right to their foreskin. Nobody is saying that uncircumcised men are perfectly happy and it's because they have foreskin.
What I am saying is that performing unnecessary surgery on children to remove healthy tissue with minimal health benefits without the consent of the individual is unethical and a violation of their human rights. You can dress it up as religious freedom or how it is more aesthetically pleasing or go on about what little health benefits there are but it will always be a violation of that individual's rights to their own body.
But you continually omit the factor which is that this is primarily being done by most as a religious practice/tradition. If one is religious as a Jew, it is actually the dictate of GOD to have their boys circumcised. Whether or not one agrees with a particular religion (or any or all religions at all) is another thing.
The argument against circumcision makes way more sense when and if one can (and will) factor out religious tradition and mandate.
But again, as in this case, circumcision is directly related to religious belief, the picture becomes more complicated than merely stating there isn't great medical benefit to it. And for better or worse, the religious text demands that these circumcisions be done by the age of eight days.
God didn't give a lot of leeway there, I agree. But maybe He had his reasons.
And many people choose to go with His reasons moreso than they might the reasons of a secular court.
Because, once again, this isn't about circumcision vs non-circumcision.
Its about religion vs the state. And the state in a free country really runs the risk of stepping over its boundaries when not keeping itself separate.
On a side note: often the circumcision of females is given as the direct comparative to this issue of circumcising boys.
But the reasons and physical effects of female circumcision differ greatly on many levels. For girls, such circumcision usually leaves them without sensation (as is one of the primary reasons for its practice). Its a control of the female body and its ability to have sexual sensation.
Circumcision of the penis - unless botched - doesn't do that. And it also isn't its intent - even religiously.
In fact, one hears of more horror stories around the inability to perform sexually - or of grave pain and discomfort upon erection - from uncircumcised guys.
For every circumcised guy who might not like the look of his penis, there are as many uncircumcised guys who hate the look of their own (and who complain of the foreskin being so tight as to render them suffering and unable to perform or interact with sexual partners).
Also, we seem to omit the reality that people come to accept and love their bodies when its what they know. They can get over the "trauma" of many things. And especially when a penis might look like all of the other penises in their world, well, not every Jewish or Muslim guy is having the freak out which some uncircumcised guys apparently think. lol
