Female Genital Mutilation
1
THE CASE OF FEMALE GENITAL `MUTILATION:
THE TENSION BETWEEN
CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND UNIVERSALISM
Dianne Camille T. Corales
University of the Philippines Mindanao
Department of Social Sciences, BA Anthropology
December 2014`
2
INTRODUCTION
Over the past years, the practice of Female Genital Mutilation has received an increasing global attention and mass condemnation from the West in general along with the Feminists and
Human Rights Advocates. According to the statistics of UNICEF in 2013, Female Genital
Mutilation is known to be prevalent in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, where
125 million women and girls have experienced the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
Women and girls who have experienced the removal of their external genitalia have suffered it 's consequences which includes: severe pain, bleeding, shock, difficulty in passing urine, difficulties in labour, decreased and post-traumatic stress disorder, infections and sometimes even death (WHO,2014).
The issue on Female Genital Mutilation created a moral dilemma creating intellectual debates between the side of the Cultural Relativists and Universalists. In the side of Relativists, states that there is a need for respect for all the customs, practices and beliefs in every culture and the moral codes were not inevitably acclaimed. While on the side of Universalists, argues that people are interconnected by a certain cause through the universality of human rights. They regard Female Genital Mutilation as an act of violence and an abuse to the human rights of women (Danial, 2013).
The study conducted by Kerubo K.R (2010) entitled: “Female Genital Mutilation and its
Effects on Women and Young Girls” was mainly focused on the experiences of women, the consequences involved before and after the mutilation, cultural beliefs, religious views on the practice, and the human rights that were violated by the practice of female genital mutilation.
However, her study lacked information about
THE CASE OF FEMALE GENITAL `MUTILATION:
THE TENSION BETWEEN
CULTURAL RELATIVISM AND UNIVERSALISM
Dianne Camille T. Corales
University of the Philippines Mindanao
Department of Social Sciences, BA Anthropology
December 2014`
2
INTRODUCTION
Over the past years, the practice of Female Genital Mutilation has received an increasing global attention and mass condemnation from the West in general along with the Feminists and
Human Rights Advocates. According to the statistics of UNICEF in 2013, Female Genital
Mutilation is known to be prevalent in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, where
125 million women and girls have experienced the practice of Female Genital Mutilation.
Women and girls who have experienced the removal of their external genitalia have suffered it 's consequences which includes: severe pain, bleeding, shock, difficulty in passing urine, difficulties in labour, decreased and post-traumatic stress disorder, infections and sometimes even death (WHO,2014).
The issue on Female Genital Mutilation created a moral dilemma creating intellectual debates between the side of the Cultural Relativists and Universalists. In the side of Relativists, states that there is a need for respect for all the customs, practices and beliefs in every culture and the moral codes were not inevitably acclaimed. While on the side of Universalists, argues that people are interconnected by a certain cause through the universality of human rights. They regard Female Genital Mutilation as an act of violence and an abuse to the human rights of women (Danial, 2013).
The study conducted by Kerubo K.R (2010) entitled: “Female Genital Mutilation and its
Effects on Women and Young Girls” was mainly focused on the experiences of women, the consequences involved before and after the mutilation, cultural beliefs, religious views on the practice, and the human rights that were violated by the practice of female genital mutilation.
However, her study lacked information about
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