The resulting baby celebration, which he tailors to the requests of parents, can involve dancing, singing, baby naming, even tree planting. It also often earns him a talking-to from a relative rubbed the wrong way by his revisionism. But Rothenberg is unflappable, if a bit self-righteous, in the face of such attacks. And while he wouldn't cut anyone himself, he insists his main goal is to help couples make their own decisions. Traditions, of course, rarely work that way.
Most gentiles routinely opt for the surgery out of sheer convention.
Physicians in the U.S. began removing infants' foreskins in the late 1800s to treat infections. This is not correct. Circumcision in the U.S. began as a method of preventing masturbation and controlling children's sexuality. But the medical benefits of the operation are now widely disputed. Some studies point to a slightly higher risk of STDs in uncircumcised men and their partners, but critics argue that circumcision causes infants pain and leaves men with reduced sexual sensitivity.