2nd class citizens....

Children. They aren't. It's amazing what people can do to children just because they don't have a voice. Now before anyone starts ranting, I will say, I am a strict mama. I am all for discussing consequences, etc, but in the end, me=mama=boss. However, I don't impose random will on them for the sake of societal *norms* or my convenience....or maybe I do sometimes :(. I know I have in the past, but this "with age comes wisdom" thing seems to be working somewhat.
What got me thinking on this, is one of my forums has a constant debate on whether or not to circ your boys. Surprising that there is even a debate on this particular website since it supports more "natural-style parenting". Not totally crunchy, but not mainstream either. I am thinking of just a few that are affecting this current pregnancy.
My 1st 2 boys are circumsized. I didn't *know* there was another choice with my 1st, back then, insurance covered it and I wasn't as into the alternative parenting scene. I did family bed, breastfeeding and cloth diapering, but I was just getting started in this journey (I am not excusing my behavior!). I think the docs asked and the (now ex) husband was like, "I want him to look like me". With my 2nd, my Xh insisted the boy be circ'd bc his brother was. Huh. With the 3rd, he was born at home and xh thought for sure he was a girl, so no argument. I wasn't going to take my gently-birthed boy to a hospital to get sliced. In the time from the 1st circ til now, I have really learned and changed my views, or at least had my eyes opened. I've done the research, read the stories, etc, etc. The horror of it to me is that it is a cosmetic (PAINFUL) procedure that the baby has NO say in. Hmmm....I was sickened when I saw cliterectomies performed on girls in Africa on TV. How is it any different to subject my son to that? Granted, the environment was more sterile, etc. But age shouldn't matter. It should have been my 2 sons CHOICE not mine or their dad's. Yes, I have and will have to make choices for them that they aren't equipped to make, but that was not one that HAD to be made at the time. One mama puts in her signature on a forum, "mama to 4, ALL intact" meaning the daughters and sons. That said something to me that boys deserve to keep their foreskins, just as girls have a right to their clitoris!
Another thing that is done without thought to the baby, but more to the convenience of the mother, doctor, work schedules, etc, is things that take place in utero. Take inductions for example. Usually done at the request of the mother, convenience of the doctor, etc. Did anyone ask the baby if they baby was ready? Babies start to make hormones at the end of pregnancy to ripen the cervix for labor. So they *know* when it is their time to be born and begin to prepare their passage. Many women don't trust their bodies, sadly. Do they not trust the babies as well?
Also using things like dopplers instead of fetoscopes. The fact that there is even a "theoretical risk" is enough for me to want to stay away from it unless it is medically indicated! The times we have allowed it to be used on this baby, she went crazy, she moved about in an erratic manor and her HR was really high the last time- it took a while to find it. No more. It made us almost cry....as her parents we knew it was upsetting her! But moms like to hear it, docs find it easy, so that's how it will stay, I suppose. Same for sonos. When people get mad that I don't get a sono so that THEY know what sex the baby is....wtf? For YOUR curiosity, I should subject my baby and MY body to ultrasound waves? Who is to say I would even tell them the sex if I knew it anyway?
Technology (and "progress") isn't always a good thing...I mean, you are being subjected to my rant bc of the internet, right?