Female Circumsision
carlos montalvo
Prof. Anum Nyako
HED 220-9M
18 February, 2012
Female Circumcision
Female circumcision is practiced worldwide. To some, it is a religious ritual and to others, a human tragedy brought on due to male domination. These opinions relating to the practice create conflict in the world between those who hold on to the tradition of female circumcision and those who promote feminism by attempting to prohibit the practice. I do not think that the United States should get involved in the stopping of this cultural tradition. The international community must compromise. Those opposed to female circumcision must recognize that the practice is a type of religious and cultural belief. Meanwhile, participants of female circumcision must become more informed about the procedure’s health risks and possible alternatives to the extreme forms of the practice. Female circumcision is practiced in Africa to this day. Women seem to accept female circumcision’s religious origins without question. Some Christian groups promote traditional customs and support female circumcision as a link to Africa’s past. Many people in female circumcision practicing societies, especially traditional rural communities, regard female circumcision as absolutely normal, and they cannot imagine a woman who has not undergone mutilation. Others are quoted as saying that only outsiders or foreigners are not genitally mutilated. A girl cannot be considered an adult in this sort of society unless she has undergone the proper procedure. This is what their society expects of them. It’s a tradition, which has been practiced for 2,000 years. Although female circumcision is a traditional practice worldwide (performed in countries such as; Bahrain, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia, Ivory, Niger, Nigeria, Mauritania, Mali, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gambia, etc.) It is particularly prevalent in Africa, where circumcision occurs in approximately twenty-six
Prof. Anum Nyako
HED 220-9M
18 February, 2012
Female Circumcision
Female circumcision is practiced worldwide. To some, it is a religious ritual and to others, a human tragedy brought on due to male domination. These opinions relating to the practice create conflict in the world between those who hold on to the tradition of female circumcision and those who promote feminism by attempting to prohibit the practice. I do not think that the United States should get involved in the stopping of this cultural tradition. The international community must compromise. Those opposed to female circumcision must recognize that the practice is a type of religious and cultural belief. Meanwhile, participants of female circumcision must become more informed about the procedure’s health risks and possible alternatives to the extreme forms of the practice. Female circumcision is practiced in Africa to this day. Women seem to accept female circumcision’s religious origins without question. Some Christian groups promote traditional customs and support female circumcision as a link to Africa’s past. Many people in female circumcision practicing societies, especially traditional rural communities, regard female circumcision as absolutely normal, and they cannot imagine a woman who has not undergone mutilation. Others are quoted as saying that only outsiders or foreigners are not genitally mutilated. A girl cannot be considered an adult in this sort of society unless she has undergone the proper procedure. This is what their society expects of them. It’s a tradition, which has been practiced for 2,000 years. Although female circumcision is a traditional practice worldwide (performed in countries such as; Bahrain, Oman, Indonesia, Malaysia, Togo, Uganda, Zaire, Sudan, Tanzania, Somalia, Ivory, Niger, Nigeria, Mauritania, Mali, Kenya, Ethiopia, Gambia, etc.) It is particularly prevalent in Africa, where circumcision occurs in approximately twenty-six
Cited: Birch, Nicholas. "An End to Female Genital Cutting?", Time magazine, 4 January 2008. Web. Boyle, Elizabeth Heger. Female Genital Cutting: Cultural Conflict in the Global Community. Johns Hopkins University.2000. Press p 60. Web Gollaher, David. "Female Circumcision," Circumcision: A History of the World 's Most Controversial Surgery. Basic Books, 2001, pp. 187–207. p. 191 "What is female genital mutilation? Amnesty International, AI Index: ACT 77/06/97, accessed September 3, 2011. Web.