Against:
In a nutshell, it is rarely medically necessary. It causes pain and distress and is usually unfairly imposed on an infant who has no choice in the matter. When performed unnecessarily, it increases the chances of penile infection (as any open wound would, especially if the procedure is done in an environment (such as a hospital) which already tends to have a lot of pathogenic organisms about. Routine circumcision, especially of infants is a cultural or cosmetic procedure, with little justification on the grounds of hygiene.
One argument often heard in North America is "I want my son to look like his father". Alternatively, "Other boys will notice and he'll look funny". These are unreasonable lines of logic, though. If your child's eyes were a different colour from his dad, would you pluck the boy's eyes out or insist that he wear contact lenses? And yet everyone , not just you in the family, will be able to notice whether your son's eyes match his dad's.
If your child had white skin and went to a mostly black school, would you insist that he spend a lot of time in the sun or blacken his face up, just to fit in? it doesn't make any sense.
In a nutshell, it is rarely medically necessary. It causes pain and distress and is usually unfairly imposed on an infant who has no choice in the matter. When performed unnecessarily, it increases the chances of penile infection (as any open wound would, especially if the procedure is done in an environment (such as a hospital) which already tends to have a lot of pathogenic organisms about. Routine circumcision, especially of infants is a cultural or cosmetic procedure, with little justification on the grounds of hygiene.
One argument often heard in North America is "I want my son to look like his father". Alternatively, "Other boys will notice and he'll look funny". These are unreasonable lines of logic, though. If your child's eyes were a different colour from his dad, would you pluck the boy's eyes out or insist that he wear contact lenses? And yet everyone , not just you in the family, will be able to notice whether your son's eyes match his dad's.
If your child had white skin and went to a mostly black school, would you insist that he spend a lot of time in the sun or blacken his face up, just to fit in? it doesn't make any sense.
