Female Genital Mutilation Research Paper
Female Genital Mutilation An eighty six year old woman, Faduma Ali, still remembers the pain of being circumcised at the age of eight. Horrendous as it was, she still allowed her own daughter to undergo the same tribulation. But when it came to her granddaughters, she decided to step in and try to stop it. But this is not the same fate shared by the majority of women in West Africa, especially in the country of Sierra Leone. For 22 year old Isutu Ahmadu, The time did not come for Isutu Ahmadu until she was 22 years old. At that time, her family decided to bring both her and her eight year-old sister to be originated into their ancestral village. Not knowing exactly what to expect, she went willingly. She described the experience as
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They oppose anything from clitoridectomy to infibulations, a practice where the external genitalia is cut off and the two sides stitched together leaving just a slight opening for urination, then torn apart when a girl gets married. "It is painful and destructive” (motherjones.com). The African Women 's Health Center, the country 's first gynecological clinic dedicated entirely to African immigrants, treats hundreds of infibulated women, mostly from Sudan and Somalia.. Like some defenders of the practice, the Health Center avoids the term "female genital mutilation" because, "most of the women we treat don 't consider themselves mutilated." Many women consider infibulations beautiful. When they first realize American women are almost all uncircumcised, they tend to react with pity and disgust, not envy… "When you truly understand the issues of female circumcision, it 's a tradition, it 's a rite of passage, it 's something that is celebrated in a lot of these places. But they go a step too far because many women encounter long-term complications. These long-term complications can go from minor, chronic vaginal infections to inability to penetrate, to have intercourse, to infertility, to very painful intercourse, to inability to deliver a baby. You can 't tell me that they don 't have chronic issues”( (motherjones.com) …show more content…
There clearly is a clash between traditional values and contemporary medical practices. Trying to honor both and find a compromise is a very challenging undertaking that will take years and generations to address and resolve.
Works Cited
Dickerson, Debra J. "Political MoJo." Mother Jones. Motherjones.com, 2 Dec. 2007. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Goldber, Michelle. "Rights Versus Rites." The American Prospect. Prospect.org, 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Gruenbaum, Ellen, Amie Tholley, and Rosina Conteh. Http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/wcaro_SL_fgm_May_2008.pdf. N.p.: n.p., n.d. UNICEF.org. Apr. 2008. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Khaleeli, Homa. "Female Genital Mutilation: 'Mothers Need to Say No '" The Guardian. Theguardian.com, 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Shweder, Richard A., Martha Minow, and Hazel Rose. Markus. "What AboutChapter 11:"Female GenitalM Utilation"? and Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place." Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies. New York:
They oppose anything from clitoridectomy to infibulations, a practice where the external genitalia is cut off and the two sides stitched together leaving just a slight opening for urination, then torn apart when a girl gets married. "It is painful and destructive” (motherjones.com). The African Women 's Health Center, the country 's first gynecological clinic dedicated entirely to African immigrants, treats hundreds of infibulated women, mostly from Sudan and Somalia.. Like some defenders of the practice, the Health Center avoids the term "female genital mutilation" because, "most of the women we treat don 't consider themselves mutilated." Many women consider infibulations beautiful. When they first realize American women are almost all uncircumcised, they tend to react with pity and disgust, not envy… "When you truly understand the issues of female circumcision, it 's a tradition, it 's a rite of passage, it 's something that is celebrated in a lot of these places. But they go a step too far because many women encounter long-term complications. These long-term complications can go from minor, chronic vaginal infections to inability to penetrate, to have intercourse, to infertility, to very painful intercourse, to inability to deliver a baby. You can 't tell me that they don 't have chronic issues”( (motherjones.com) …show more content…
There clearly is a clash between traditional values and contemporary medical practices. Trying to honor both and find a compromise is a very challenging undertaking that will take years and generations to address and resolve.
Works Cited
Dickerson, Debra J. "Political MoJo." Mother Jones. Motherjones.com, 2 Dec. 2007. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Goldber, Michelle. "Rights Versus Rites." The American Prospect. Prospect.org, 17 Apr. 2009. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Gruenbaum, Ellen, Amie Tholley, and Rosina Conteh. Http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/wcaro_SL_fgm_May_2008.pdf. N.p.: n.p., n.d. UNICEF.org. Apr. 2008. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Khaleeli, Homa. "Female Genital Mutilation: 'Mothers Need to Say No '" The Guardian. Theguardian.com, 6 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
Shweder, Richard A., Martha Minow, and Hazel Rose. Markus. "What AboutChapter 11:"Female GenitalM Utilation"? and Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place." Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies. New York: