> A newborn cannot possibly understand and contextualize the intense pain that it is being subjected to, both during the procedure and during the recovery.
While I wouldn't defend infant circumcision in any way, I think the paragraph from you is exactly the point. Babies don't conceptualize pain in the same way children or adults do, it just isn't the same sort of thing. It doesn't necessarily scare them in the same way, and there is no evidence whatsoever that painful experiences are traumatic for infants. And biology seems to align with this, as all infants also naturally suffer quite intense pain for months as their teeth grow.
So I don't think the case that inflicting necessary pain on infants rather than doing it later as children or adults is a bad one. Of course, the pain of circumcision is entirely unnecessary (for the vast majority of people, since of course phimosis is a thing that affects some people). But, in principle, for a necessary operation, having it done as an infant is sound medical practice.
While I wouldn't defend infant circumcision in any way, I think the paragraph from you is exactly the point. Babies don't conceptualize pain in the same way children or adults do, it just isn't the same sort of thing. It doesn't necessarily scare them in the same way, and there is no evidence whatsoever that painful experiences are traumatic for infants. And biology seems to align with this, as all infants also naturally suffer quite intense pain for months as their teeth grow.
So I don't think the case that inflicting necessary pain on infants rather than doing it later as children or adults is a bad one. Of course, the pain of circumcision is entirely unnecessary (for the vast majority of people, since of course phimosis is a thing that affects some people). But, in principle, for a necessary operation, having it done as an infant is sound medical practice.