Head2Head: Making the Cut – Infant Circumcision – Do parents have the right to intervene, or should they let their boys decide for themselves?-YES,” Psychology Today, June 2008.

“Circumcision is a procedure that medical associations worldwide agree is not justified. It is a culturally sanctioned cosmetic amputation. Circumcision excises a normal body part with several functions: protecting the penis, enhancing the body’s immunological resources, and providing specialized erogenous tissue. Parents cannot really know what their infant son would want, so the best decision is to leave the healthy foreskin alone. For parents to take away so intimate a part of their son’s body without his consent, barring true medical need, is wrong. —Steven Svoboda is the founder of Attorneys for the Rights of the Child.