A Teenager To Be Circumcised, Maybe
Posted: August 17th, 2007 | Author: Sam | Filed under: Blog Posts, Family, Frustration, Parenting, Politics, Religion, Scary Stuff |
There is a fight going on in Oregon between two parents over their 13-year-old’s penis. The father wants it circumcised; the mother does not. The details of the case are particularly distressing:
1. Dad recently converted, and decided that his son’s foreskin had to go as a result. Don’t ask me about the calculus involved in that decision, because I neither know it nor understand it.
2. Mom claims that the son is too afraid to say no to his father, even though he has privately explained that it is a procedure that he does not want.
3. Several religious organizations have stepped in on the behalf of the father to say that this is a circumcision that has to happen, because if it were prevented, the blow to individual religious liberty would be overwhelming.
4. These two parents have decided that the best place to have an argument over circumcision, and consequently, over their child’s penis, is in a courtroom in front of whoever walks in the court’s doors.
5. At no point in this case has the boy’s testimony been sought. Think about that.
Circumcision is bad enough when it is parents visiting the procedure upon their newborn infant. To insist that it occur to a 13-year-old boy in the throes of adolescence? The fact that the boy’s testimony hasn’t been sought is similarly mind-blowing. Is it being seriously suggested that his opinion simply doesn’t matter? That even if he does object to the procedure, his father’s desire to cut off his foreskin should win the day?
One of the stranger areas of individual liberty that rarely gets touched on are the rights of those under the age of 18. People tend to believe that children are the property of parents, and thus can be manipulated in almost any imaginable way. This is one of the reasons that so few abusive parents ever face anything bordering on legal retribution for their crimes. This case is another unfortunate illustration; some of the adults involved could obviously not care less about the child’s interest in this situation. This is a battle over “religious freedom” and not “individual liberty” in their eyes.
The problem of children is confusing in the extreme because there doesn’t seem to be an easy answer. We don’t want to allow children the right to run willy-nilly across the countryside, but at the same time, surely can’t believe that as parents we have the right to do almost whatever we want to them.
Obviously, I am against the father and his supporters on this case. He and they are so unbelievably wrong that it hurts the imagination. Yet, there is the very distinct possibility that he will win, and that his son’s penis will be circumcised without him ever getting a say-so in the procedure himself. And if that isn’t a blow to individual liberty, what in the hell is?
Update: This is exactly the sort of thing that I’m talking about. Although decades old, the assumption was that, because permission was given, the abuse of these children was acceptable. Children are not property.
I converted from roman catholicism to Christianity at the age of 14 y. My parents did not like the decision at that moment, nor the religious leaders of my country of origin, nor the priests at school. However, they did could not force me to deny my faith in Jesus-Christ, or to step back.
I just find that forcing a young man to be circumcised because of the faith of his father is simply abuse. If the kid is so scared to contradict his father, I wonder if it’s not a matter of other kinds of abuse as well.
Actually, the main reason that so few parents are prosecuted for child abuse is not because children are considered to be parents’ property, but rather because such prosecutions are generally considered not to be in the children’s best interests. The process of acting as the complaining witness in a criminal case is extremely traumatic, and it is considered to be too much for children in most cases, especially children who have already been victimized, to bear. In addition, many children, even those who have been victims of abuse, don’t want to testify against their own parents because they love their parents and don’t want to be responsible for sending their parents to jail. Imagine growing up knowing that you are the reason that mommy went to prison. That’s a big load for a child to shoulder. The goal of the family court system is to determine the best interests of the child, which are often not served by pressing charges against their parents in criminal court, even if that means that justice is not served.
I agree with you about the circumcision thing. I’m actually against infant circumcision for the same reason. Nearly everyone in our society believes that it’s always wrong to take a knife to the genitals of female children, and our laws protect those children. I think that they should similarly protect male children. If people want to get circumcised in order to comply with the religion of their choice, they can make that decision and submit to the procedure their religion mandates when they are adults, old enough to make informed decisions about both religion and medicine on their own.
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“Children are not property.”
Amen!
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It’s appalling that the boy’s opinion is not being considered here. Although he is not yet legally an adult, he is 13 years old and should have some sort of say in the matter. In addition, I don’t think he should be forced to have the operation done (especially at 13 when it’s going to be more traumatic!) just to coincide with his father’s new religious beliefs. There’s a great debate about circumcision going on right now at http://www.opposingviews.com/questions/should-boys-be-circumcised Experts from both sides weigh in, making some interesting arguments on the topic.
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