Throughout the course of human history, wars have been fought and lost for seemingly trivial things. Whether it’s a patch of land between two countries or the Second Amendment, there’s no end to the limits that people will go in order to defend an abstract concept or physical place they’re attached to in some way.
The foreskin is admittedly not exactly the same as the West Bank or the right to bear arms, but the issue of circumcision has still ignited a fierce internecine war that has swirled for decades. The ins and outs of the circumcision debate cut to the core of the cultural differences between Britain and America—nations with very different approaches when it comes to how we treat our infant males.
In an increasingly globalised world, the foreskin is so much more than just a piece of skin or the plotline in a Friends episode. It’s the cultural dividing line that separates Yanks from the Brits.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a uncircumcised penis,” says 27-year-old New Yorker Olivia. “If I saw one in the wild today I would probably not recognize it.”