Hypothetical:
Your 13 year old son is not circumcised. When he was born, you railed and railed against circumcision, stating that "the owner of the penis should be the one to make the choice."
At 13, your son decides he'd like to be circumcised. The procedure requires your signature since he is a minor. You refuse to sign.
Is this ethical on your part?
Hmmm, this is a toughie. Because like many 13 year olds he may be more worried about what his friends think than what's best for his body, ya know? And it's not like dyeing his hair or having a mohawk, those things are temporary. And I'd HOPE he's not sexually active, so he has no idea of how the foreskin functions during sex.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm. Let me hereby state that my children can choose to be circumcised when they are 18. Until then it would be hard to be sure that they're not doing it for stupid reasons. :-)
I'm going somewhere with this, and I hope someone picks up on it.
ReplyDeleteYou made a promise or a statment that the "owner" gets to choose. You made no qualifications about "when" the owner got to choose. You can't change the rules later. If your son wants to go through the procedure at 13 or at any other time then it's his choice as you stated the "owner" got to make the choice.
ReplyDeleteApparently this parent didn't want the circumcision done at all.
Brownie--
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of your statement rests on the fact that a 13 year old doesn't know what's best for his body. What if he'd done the research, at 13, and knew that this was in fact what he wanted, whether or not you *agreed* with his reasons? Would that change your answer?
IMO the refusal to sign in the OP makes it look like the mom is forcing whatever anti circ agenda she has on her child. Like "By golly, you just WILL NOT be circumcised."
To clarify, I don't think anti circ is an "agenda." But the mom in the OP certainly gives off the impression that pro circ IS.
ReplyDeleteYeah, if my 13 yr old had done the research, understood the procedure, risks, and recovery time, and truly wanted to be *circumcised* (not just that he wanted to fit in or something and was *using* circumcision to do so) then I would sign the consent form. Worst case scenario, if he regrets it he can do one of many foreskin restoration exercises (essentially stretching the skin, like wearing heavy earrings does to earlobes) and get back to where he was to begin with.
ReplyDeleteWell that last part sounds pleasant. ;-P
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it, though? When we watched Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" episode on circing they had a doctor who showed how to do it. It basically involved taping a small dumbell to what would become his foreskin and letting it dangle there for hours to stretch the skin. You can also simply "tug" on the skin repeatedly and for long periods to accomplish the same thing.
ReplyDelete