From my understanding, circumcision was pretty much only practiced my the Jews in the ancient Roman empire. In the ancient Greco-Roman world, it was considered odd for one to have exposed glans. It wasn't uncommon for athletes (competing in the nude) to tie string around their foreskin to prevent accidental retraction. Since bathhouses were a common social center, this made Jews outcasts. I don't know when this was written, I know that up until around just after the time of Jesus, Jewish circumcisions were less invasive. A small bit of foreskin was removed. Because of the combination of very loose circumcisions and being outcasts from being circumcised, it became a bit of a problem that Jews were using stretching techniques to restore their foreskins. In response to that, the technique of Jewish circumcision was changed to make restoration less possible. I'm not sure what the target recipient would be for this procedure, I would assume this may have been in response to the tighter version of circumcision that had developed, though she also mentioned people with a naturally short foreskin. Regardless of who was getting it done, I believe the concern may have been primarily social and aesthetic than function, but that's more my educated guess than anything else.
