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Originally Posted by Chris
It's extremely oppressive, because it runs counter to the fundamental principle that when children can't give consent - because they are children - then it is the parents' right and responsibility to give that consent.
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This isn't a medically necessarily procedure. It's not a decision that has to be made so what it the harm in waiting until the child is older? I understand in the Jewish faith at least it needs to be done as a child, in which case I concede it would be the state interring in a religious matter.
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Furthermore, you're trying to hide your prejudice behind reasonable-sounding arguments about adult consent. Perjorative words and phrases like 'mutilation' and 'live like that for the rest of their lives' are a gross misrepresentation of what a male circumcision is.
If removal of the foreskin is in any absolute sense a 'mutilation' of the body, then it would be mutilation even if it were carried out for medical reasons. Yet nobody, but nobody, refers to it in those terms. The physical appearance is barely more dramatic than a post-operative scar.
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Ok I take back mutilation. It's not prejudice though, I am perfectly happy for people to do what they want to themselves as long as they understand the ramifications and consent to it. I don't think that extends to parents making the choice for their child. None of us think that parents have a right to make all decisions for their child and we all just draw the line at a different place.