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this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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it seems a lot of commenters are missing that these are not babies. Those in the story are aged 16+ and it is a cultural rite of passage.
They're still children who are physically growing, especially cognitively. Likewise, they were sent there by their parents, so let's not pretend this was adults making a decision on their own, this was forced onto children.
So at 16 they shouldn't be able to choose what they do with their own dicks? How would this apply if they were trans and wanted bottom surgery? How does it apply to getting one's ears pierced?
Trans people go through long processes and professional oversight to arrive at medical intervention in professional settings. Bottom surgery is not taken lightly in the same way that later in life circumcision should be and should be consented to. Ear piercings are largely inconsequential although I strongly disagree with piercing unwilling children.
A shitty pedo culture*
Some of the arrest were parents who lied to have it done before their children were 16+ so they were in fact 15.
Not to trust Google entirely but it says that anyone younger than 18 is considered a child in South Africa.
If that is the case then anyone below 18 cannot consent to sex, if they can't consent to sex then they can't consent to surgery or medical procedures. Their parents should not be making the choice for them, it is bodily autonomy for them to choose for themselves when they are a legal adult and not before.