Messica, that's pretty sad that you would belittle a man's pain over it. Okay you don't get why it would leave them traumatised but it can and does. I always think that just because there are greater problems in the world doesn't make the persons problem/pain/trauma less significant to them.
Pain is subjective. Lots of people believe living without two vehicles, a three story house, satellite tv, high speed internet on a three acre lot and seven credit cards is "suffering."
To some it truly may be. So what would you say to them? That you sympathize with their plight and understand why and how they could let those deficits completely ruin their lives??
I choose to raise my children with perspective. If at the end of the day the worst thing my son says I ever did to him was circumcise him based on our cultural norms? I can more than live with that and will definitely accept his right to make different decisions for his own children someday. I would apologize, and then expect him to move on because what I did was done with nothing but his best interests at heart. My children and I have been through some pretty mucked up things in life, and I will never teach them that dwelling in any amount of pain is healthy or logical. Life could always be worse. You do what you can to fix what makes you unhappy. And if there's nothing can be done you move forward anyway.
Yes, there are communal showers and wide open changing rooms. In every locker room I've ever been in it's all one giant room. No one wore swim suits or underclothes when they showered (wouldn't that defeat the purpose of cleaning up the dirtiest of places??). Same went for college dorm bathroom facilities. No I never stood there and stared, but I also didn't walk around staring up at the ceiling. When it comes to boys......well, if you think they're inclined to act more maturely than the girls handled the situation I imagine you've got another thing coming. The bravado of nudity doesn't end in toddlerhood for many, and to the contrary, can escalate when a young man passes adolescents and no longer feels awkward about his changed body. There's nothing wrong with that level of confidence, as long as one is pretty uniform compared to the rest. It's a wonderful thing to tell your child that uniformity doesn't matter but to most human beings, adhering to social norms in most capacities, absolutely does.
It's not like the US is the only place this sort of thing happens. It's everywhere, all the time, all over the world in millions of different capacities. It is why most of us make the daily choices we do regarding our lives and the lives of our children.
Keep in mind I'm not expecting anyone to agree with me, I'm just offering my perspective. How I came to the conclusions I have and why. I respect everyone else's decision to do what they feel is best for them and theirs.