By Kari Milchman

In NYC, you’re forbidden from smoking in restaurants and bars, from consuming trans fat and, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, from maintaining your foreskin. City health officials have begun a campaign to urge men at high risk of contracting AIDS to get circumcised. A study conducted in Africa by the UN recently found that the procedure decreased chances of contracting the disease by up to 60 percent, and the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is hoping New York’s population could reap similar benefits. Already, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, which runs city hospitals and clinics, have been asked to dole out free circumcisions for men without health insurance. Those most at risk are men who have sex with men and men who inject drugs. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 65 percent of all male babies in the country are already circumcised. But for those who aren’t, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s not so sure it’s his place to encourage you to significantly alter your manhood. He wonders if the city should stick with just giving advice, rather than promoting a service (since those subway-themed condoms are nothing more than subtle words of encouragement). Peter Staley, an AIDS activist and co-founder of ACT-UP NY asks, “Should we proceed when we don’t have hard data yet on the population here?” Indeed, that’s a lot of perfectly good foreskins that could go to waste.