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Originally Posted by Hadley2
Baptism is entirely different, it does not involve mutilating the body. If we honored every cultural/religious tradition, then we would have female circumcisions and that isn't happening, either. Less extreme, scarring isn't happening, either, and that is traditional in some cultures, too. I do not mean to equate ear piercing with circumcision or scarring except that all are medically unnecessary mutilations of the body.
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But that is where it gets REALLY hard to draw the line, isn't it? For instance, what if the child is male and the family is Jewish and the parents want the baby circumcised for religious reasons? Most of society considers that acceptable, and I assume that any Social Worker would support that, just as they would support a baptism. I personally consider circumcision to be "mutilation" and would never, ever have it done to my sons - but obviously that is a value judgement and LOTS of people circumcise for a variety of reasons - including religion. I think you will find that ear piercing is the same - SOME people may consider it "mutilation" while others certainly would not, and might be quite offended by that descriptor. Although I wouldn't pierce a baby's ears for safety reasons, I guess I DON'T consider it "mutilation"' since both my girls had it done by the time they were in Kindergarten. I think that since both scarring and female genital mutilation are clearly illegal in this country they are in a whole different category, so of course parents would have no right to request them.