I thought about this a lot some forty years ago when my son was born and circumcision (in the US) was standard procedure. It was also assumed to be done -- and to have been done from time immemorial--for health reasons, something I had great difficulty in believing when I saw the bandaged penis and tried to imagine watching my son cut. Surely, I thought, the prople who first practised circumcision were motivated by more than a vague belief in the child's statistically improved future health. Surely, it MEANT something to them: an offering to God, a commitment . . . And what did it mean to me? That I'd gone along with what everyone else did.
   To be sure, that "everybody did it" was what my husband said; he never questioned the procedure; in fact, he thought that looking like other boys was quite sufficient reason for it (and of course looking like him). And I only belatedly questioned it--belatedly felt a coward.