Most US adult men are circumcised, but the number of newborns having the op is falling, and is now below 50% in some states - intensifying the dilemma for parents.
Stephen Box - like most American men - is circumcised.
Seven months ago, as a new father, he had to decide whether to circumcise his newborn son. It was not a straightforward decision. "I was uncomfortable he would be different from me," he begins.
Stephen Box is part of a generation in the US for whom circumcision was almost universal - so much so that an uncircumcised boy would stand out in the locker room, his most private part an object of curiosity, perhaps even ridicule. "Little boys can be ruthless on little boys who are different," he says.
But Stephen and his wife decided not to circumcise their son. They felt they could only justify the operation if they could find a good reason for doing it - and they didn't.
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Circumcision, the ultimate parenting dilemma
21st August 2012
Most US adult men are circumcised, but the number of newborns having the op is falling, and is now below 50% in some states - intensifying the dilemma for parents.
Stephen Box - like most American men - is circumcised.
Seven months ago, as a new father, he had to decide whether to circumcise his newborn son. It was not a straightforward decision. "I was uncomfortable he would be different from me," he begins.
Stephen Box is part of a generation in the US for whom circumcision was almost universal - so much so that an uncircumcised boy would stand out in the locker room, his most private part an object of curiosity, perhaps even ridicule. "Little boys can be ruthless on little boys who are different," he says.
But Stephen and his wife decided not to circumcise their son. They felt they could only justify the operation if they could find a good reason for doing it - and they didn't.
Cordelia Hebblethwaite
Read this article in full on the bbc.co.uk. Photo by Rachel-Esther.