mum2toby- for goodness sake circumcision is the removal of a flap of skin. Most american men are circumcised- just for tradition! It's not religious genocide!
Right I'm going to leave circumcision for a bit to try and explain why I don't think you should be so judgemental about things you know nothing about.
Picture the scene. You've taken your dd/ds to a miniature pony farm for the day. On the way in you notice a boy- about 3- who appears to be studying the gift shop door handle quite intently. He's kind of in the way of your buggy, but his mother just moves him physically slightly so you can get past. As you move your buggy past he tries to grab it. His mother just says "come away" and he lets go and returns to the door handle. Still his parents just watch him. Then you hear his mother say "come on lets look at the gee gees" and try to walk away with him- he runs back to the door absolutely screaming. Next the father pickes him up and says "gee gees gee gees" and tries to carry him away from the door- he tried to headbutt the father and starts slapping him. Still he isn't told off. You look agaoin after about 10 minutes and he's still there. Soon you have to walk that way again and you hear the mother say "oh look slide" - the boy starts to run- straight for your child- the parent's don't say anything and he swerves out of the way and doesn't hit your child- bit scary though. For the next half hour or so you see him on the slide. Later you see him by the pony trecking - the helper tries to put a hat on him and he starts screaming and hitting his mother. The mother says a few things to the helper, she nods and he gets on the pony without a hat. Later you see the family eating lunch on a picnic table. The little boy won't sit down and appears to be eating crap- plain crisps, raisins and not much else. He has some strange looking jam snadwhiches- they look very dry, but he ignores those. Meanwhile the parents are tucking into - very nice looking helathy sandwiches. They don't off the child any.
So what's your verdict? Spoiled child? Terrible parenting? Talking to him in baby langauge (gee gee)? Letting him get away with it? He;s got them wrapped around his little finger?
Well no- that child was my ds1- apart from the lunch- we don't do lunch in public places unless it's an absolute necessity.
That child is autistic- he finds strange places stressfull and when he's stressed he glues himself to doors. There's no point trying to pull him away as he'll headbutt the concrete. He grabs passing buggies as he's fascinated by them- he does let go when told to though. His language is very delayed (he can say gee gee - he can't say horse). Like many autistic children he can't look and listen- so if I shouted "watch out" as he ran towards your child he would be more likely to bump into him. Again like many autistics he uses peripheral vision a lot which is why he looks as if he's running toward someone- I know he won't hit them. He has extreme tactile sensitivity and just cannot wear hats- we're working on reducing this - not there yet though. And I haven't even gone into the grass issues or the swing issues or whatever other nightmares we have when we try to have a day out. Oh and the apalling lunch and not sitting down- won't sit down as he's in a new place. Has a very very limited diet (I think he eats 10 different things- which isn't actually too limited for autism) and is gluten free - his diet is just about balanced and to be honest I have far bigger things to worry about. We are seeing a nutritionist who understands autism in June thpough (essential the last idiot told me to use star charts durrr).
So off topic- but to try and demostrate why you should not judge when you know nothing about something. You do not know anything about circumcision- the procedures that have been described here by people who have seen them do not sound like major surgery. so once more DON"T JUDGE!