Examples of “(male) children as chattel”

I don’t generally listen to what parents claim when they circumcise their sons. By nature of the act, they treat their son’s body as their property. They would deny it if confronted with this logic, and most aren’t willing to listen to even that. It’s mostly fruitless fodder for philosophical discussions.

Sometimes, though, parents come out and make it nakedly obvious. From this thread on cloth diapering after a circumcision, which descended into defensiveness and ad hominem. (To be fair, the original question asked for an answer independent of whether to circumcise or not.) Select quotes:

# 10: first off, ignore any “hate responses” as you are the parent and it is YOUR choice. Don’t listen to scare tactics. …

YOUR choice. Also, only those opposed to circumcising non-consenting, healthy children can use scare tactics, of course. A focus on HIV, UTI, penile cancer, STDs, hygiene, and social rejection aren’t fear-based tactics?

# 19: … What ever choice you make mamma is the right one. It is your son and your choice [sic]

There can be no objective truth, as long parents wish hard enough with good intentions.

# 37: … Dont [sic] worry about the anticirc posts, he’s your baby, it’s your decision. …

She’s your baby, it’s your decision? Nope.

I expect every single mother quoted here would deny that their words mean they consider their sons their property. But the logic just doesn’t hold up. It’s always the self-absorbed obsession with how circumcising affects them, without consideration for the how it affects the boy negatively or what objections he might one day raise. It’s their (capitalized for emphasis) decision.

This is interesting to me since I’ve encountered the hysteria that arises the moment anyone hints at a comparison of performing genital surgery on female minors. No woman would want that done to her. Duh. But every boy will be perfectly content if it’s done to him. He’ll applaud his parents. Again, duh. Except I can’t figure out how to get from “medically unnecessary” to “duh”, intellectually or emotionally. It will never compute because it requires willful ignorance.

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For fun, here are two comments in response to the links offering information against the circumcision of children:

# 15: … she [sic] asked for ADVICE on CARING for an INFANT, not if you thought the reason behind that special care was/is warranted. …

And:

# 27: And that pertains to cloth diapering after a circ how? …

The links pertain to cloth diapering because, at its core, if you don’t engage in a surgical violation of the healthy boy’s body, the debate over what to do to protect his sensitive penis is moot because nature’s already provided the protection. If you ask me what’s the best way to diaper a girl whose parents surgically altered her healthy genitals, I’m going to question the validity of the action that makes the question allegedly defensible. There is no difference because the cutting occurs on a penis rather than labia or a clitoris. None.

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