[user104658]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

yes but should a parent have the right to choose to remove part of their babies body with no medical reason though? Should that choice not be up to the boy when he gets old enough to choose himself?

Well exactly, I don't see why it's a huge leap for the religions that have it as a tradition to make it that it's something that people can choose to do at 18, when they are adults capable of making that choice. Not least because they may well have decided by that point that they're non-religious...

Also, in terms of the procedure itself, the foreskin is actually attached to the glans at birth and removal at that point is far more "dramatic" a procedure... and it being done to infants is actually what causes a lot of the problems that some experience (scarring / loss of sensation) because it has to be forcibly "peeled away" from the head of the penis. It doesn't start to detach until about age 3... most are fully detached by ages 5 or 6 but for some it doesn't even start to detach until puberty. It should DEFINITELY have detached by 18 - meaning that foreskin removal at age 18 would have far fewer risks, as well as the consent issue. It just makes sense .