I think if you live in a country/society where circumcision is considered the norm, then it may be quite difficult to see that others don't see why it should be the norm.

New Zealand, where I live, had a 'bell curve' for circumcisions: prior to WW1 there were virtually none, and then post WW1 the number of cicumcisions rose dramatically (the tale is that the men in the desert furing the war had problems with sand where no man should have sand. Whether this is true or not I have no idea), so that by the 1960s approx 98% of men and boys were circumcised. Just as suddenly the rate of circumcision dropped.

Now less than 5% of new born boys are circumcised. Doctors over here virtually won't do it unless there is a religious reason, or medical reason.

I don't believe that 'I want him circumcised so he's like his father' is enough of a reason to cut it off.

As the mother of a son who has a foreskin this poses a little bit of a problem. I never had one, my hubby is of the age where virtually everyone was circumcised so he doesn't have a foreskin (we have the reciept for when it was done - it cost £3 pounds). So... every so often I ponder when are you supposed to be able to pull it back to clean? Should it even pull back if you are only 6 years old? will it hurt if you attempt it at that age? And all that stuff that my husband can't answer.

Anyway, I understand that there are still quite a number of cicumcisions done in Australia - in fact friends of mine have all had their sons circumcised and were puzzled when I was amazed that such a thing could be done in this day and age. So I suppose if you're having trouble tell a New Zealand from an Australia, you really only need to get him to drop his trousers and check.

Allie