Monshroud said:
Just to toss in a medical reason for circumcision:
Several types of research have documented that male circumcision significantly reduces the risk of HIV acquisition by men during penile-vaginal sex.
This information is from: http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/circumcision.htm
If you follow other research in the field you also find that men who are circumcised have lower risks of getting other types of STD's as well.
I was going to post this. Thank you, sir, for posting it even earlier.
Regarding circumcision, at the moment at least, there is scientific evidence to support health benefits that outweigh the risks.
Regarding an age of consent of 18 or so, I think that would be a terrible idea. Circumcision is a preventative measure, because of which many people have difficulty seriously assessing the real benefit.
Say, for example, if the procedure was, for some reason, PROVEN to prevent the flu, 100% guaranteed. How many of males, even if it were proven that it could prevent a disease would voluntarily take a knife to the junk? That's with a real disease that people get frequently, and people every year die from. Now replace that disease with a disease with lower incidence, and can be prevented with cautious behavior. How many people do you think would really properly assess the preventive value to pain one would associate with circumcision?