There’s a huge movement now called Beyond the Bris. It’s Jewish people choosing not to circumcise. What we used to think was a small, benign thing to do is really removing a lot of skin. Rebecca Wald, a Jewish lawyer in Florida, has written a book with a colleague about a ceremony called Brit Shalom. Instead of having a bris, you have a naming ceremony but leave the baby’s penis intact. Many Jews in America and Israel are choosing not to circumcise because they’re convinced that the harms outweigh the benefits.

Babies feel pain, yet some hospitals give them no anesthesia. When the baby’s penis skin is cut, he loses erogenous tissue, taking away nerve endings that heighten sexuality and lessening the width and length of the penis. There are complications. The American Academy of Pediatrics came out with a task force analysis and issued a bogus and unscientific statement in 2012 that the benefits of circumcision outweigh the harms. They recommended that insurance companies pay for it, but the AAP never actually recommended the procedure.

As a journalist and researcher on this topic for over 10 years, it’s clear, based on scientific studies and doctors, the harms grossly outweigh the benefits, but the AAP disagrees with me. Many Jewish men are now saying, “The decision should’ve been ours.” What I told my son is, “You can make the choice to be circumcised once you’re 13.”