What about "Female Genital Mutilation"? And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the
First Place
Author(s): Richard A. Shweder
Source: Daedalus, Vol. 129, No. 4, The End of Tolerance: Engaging Cultural Differences (Fall,
2000), pp. 209-232
Published by: The MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences
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Richard A. Shweder
What About "Female Genital
Mutilation55? And Why Understanding
Culture Matters in the First Place
Female
mutilation
genital
(FGM,
also
as
known
female circumcision) has been practiced
in sub-Saharan
for centuries
traditionally
Africa.
and taboos have
Customs,
rituals, myths,
even
the practice
it has
perpetuated
though
maimed or killed untold numbers of women and
FGM's
girls....
combined with
disastrous
a serious
constitute
health
effects,
the social injustices it perpetuates,
to overall
barrier
African
development.
?Susan
Rich and Stephanie Joyce1
On the basis of the vast literature on the harmful
effects
of genital
one might
surgeries,
have
anticipated finding a wealth of studies that
document
morbidity.
considerable
increases
incontrovertible
rate of medical
are the
exception
evidence
on mortality,
suggests
the rule.
complications
rather than
?Carla
Richard
A.
in mortality
and
This review could find no
Shweder
is professor
of
human
M.
and
the
that
they
Obermeyer2
development
at
the University
of Chi
cago.
The
essay is part of a forthcoming
volume,
and H. Markus.
? Russell
Shweder, M. Minow,
This
209
Free Exercise
Sage
of Culture,
edited by R.
All rights reserved.
Foundation.
210
Richard A. Shweder
societies
Early
over
controls
and
devised
curb
in Africa
the sexual
female
desire
and
response.
Koso-Thomas3
?Olayinka
...
studies
sexual
that
feelings
strong
of their women
to
circumcision
of
behavior
means
the brutal
sexual
established
the
systematically
investigate
women
men
in
and
societies
of
where
surgeries
genital
the scant
information
question
the assertion
surgeries
women's
are
are found
are
that is available
rare,
and
to
with
incompatible
into
calls
that female
genital
antithetical
fundamentally
sexuality
and
sexual
enjoyment.
M.
?Carla
some of the most
practice
of such customs?clitoridectomy,
who
Those
controversial
polygamy,
that are
or marriages
the marriage
of children
otherwise
coerced?sometimes
explicitly
women
them as necessary
for controlling
defend
and openly
at men's
acknowledge
insistence.
the customs
that
?Susan
It is difficult for me?considering
I have
ceremonies
observed,
to accept
that what
appear
celebrations
joy and ecstatic
actuality
Obermeyer4
disguise
hidden
M.
persist
Okin5
the number of
including my own?
to be expressions
of
in
of womanhood
experiences
of coercion
and subjugation. Indeed, I offer that the bulk of
Kono
because
women
who
uphold
these
rituals
do
so
they want
supernatural
against men
relish the
to?they
their
ritual leaders
powers
of
in society,
and they brace
the
over
and, particularly,
authority
legitimacy
of female
the authority
their
mothers
and
of
grandmothers.
?Fuambai
Ahmadu6
"Female Genital Mutilation
What About
BY RITES A WOMAN:
MULTICULTURAL
TO THE
LISTENING
VOICES OF FEMINISM
November
18, 1999, Fuambai
Ahmadu,
scholar who
grew up in the United
a paper
at the American
Anthropological
ON
can
cultural
Ahmadu
Association
and
pluralism
care about
the accuracy
and who
in our public-policy
debates.
these words:
paper with
who
people
of "differences"
freethinking
toleration
a young Afri
delivered
States,
that should be deeply troubling to all liberal
in Chicago
meeting
211
"?
representations
her
began
value
democratic
the
of
scholars
and activists
campaigning
a concern for women's
female
circumcision]
[of
against
as well as for the
and sexual well-being,
psychological
physical,
status and
for
women's
of
these
traditional
rituals
implications
an
of
in
from
ethnic
group
power
[the Kono
society. Coming
I also
share with
feminist
the practice
in which
initiation
and
Eastern Sierra Leone]
female
(and male)
are institutionalized
"circumcision"
and a central feature of cul
ture and society and having myself
this traditional
undergone
a
I
it
find
of
"woman,"
process
becoming
challenging
increasingly
to reconcile my own experiences with prevailing
global discourses
on
"circumcision."7
female
ceremonies
Coming-of-age
and
alterations
genital
involving
in the lives of, many
bedded
but in Europe
and the United
number
these
and
of
States
African
contemporary
vary widely
practices
two hundred
million.
secrets
ceremonies
gender-identity
em
embraced
and
by,
deeply
not only
in Africa
African
women,
are
as well.
women
Estimates
of
the
in
participate
between
eighty million
their
these women
keep
who
and wildly
In general,
not been
inclined
to expose
have
the most
They
to
their
of
bodies
examination
and
parts
public
they
not been
in the habit
of making
their case on the op-ed
or at
in the halls of Congress,
of American
newspapers,
secret.
intimate
have
pages
academic
Fuambai
and
state
meetings.
So
it was
Ahmadu,
that the
an
initiate
an extraordinary
event
an
and
anthropologist,
claims
to witness
stand
adverse
up
ef
oft-repeated
"regarding
on women's
do not tally
circumcision]
[of female
sexuality
most
with
the experiences
Kono
of
her
women,"
including
was
own.8 Ahmadu
twenty-two
years old and sexually
experi
fects
212
Richard A. Shweder
enced
at
when
Most
she
in her
least
case
women
Kono
to Sierra
returned
own
to be circumcised,
so
she is talking
about.
Leone
she knows
what
the practice
of female
(and male)
its
evaluate
for their
consequences
positively
and
Ahmadu
social,
psychological,
spiritual,
physical
well-being.
on to suggest
went
that Kono
feel empowered
girls and women
and she de
ceremony
(see quotation,
above)
by the initiation
some of the reasons why.
scribed
circumcision
uphold
and
Ahmadu's
observations
ethnographic
seem
to readers
may
intellectual
astonishing
in which
circles
most
so "politically
to deplore
correct"
claims
and
representations
alarming
of African
groups
parents
(images
and
of Dcedalus.
personal
In the
Americans
travel
female
of
testimony
social and
it has
circumcision
anti-"FGM"
routinely
and
been
that
the
advocacy
for hundreds
of years disfiguring,
and murdering
their female
chil
maiming,
dren and depriving
them of their capacity
for a sexual
response)
not
to reliable
have
been
scrutinized
with
carefully
regard
Nor
have
evidence.
they been cross-examined
by freethinking
minds
through
the facts
trary;
a process
of systematic
rebuttal.
the con
Quite
the ground
and the correct moral
attitude
for
on
to be so self-evident
have been
taken
that merely
guys"
FGM?"
is
"what
about
the
rhetorical
posing
question
presumed
as an obvious
to function
to cultural
counterargument
plural
"good
alternative
case there
than
sided
bad,
a clear
to define
ism and
that
ways
is good
Six months
before Fuambai Ahmadu
the prevailing
about
cision,
readers of the Medical
cally)
gist
an
extraordinary
sort. Carla
different
and
epidemiologist
review
comprehensive
female
genital
that
of
tolerance
for
in this
is far less one
because
the case
are not really all that
that the "bad guys"
be upheld,
of pluralism
should
and that the
an awful
to
have rushed
and gotten
judgment
doubts
served
to any feelings
is unfortunate,
life. This
reason
to believe
of
supposed,
the values
"good guys" may
lot rather wrong.
limit
surgeries
discourse
global
event
publicly
on
Anthropology
of
a
Obermeyer,
at Harvard
similar
yet
a medical
expressed her
female
circum
Quarterly
ob
(methodologi
anthropolo
University,
published
of the existing
medical
literature
in which
in Africa,
she concluded
a
on
that
the
of
claims
ated
are
movement
anti-"FGM"
the
reality.
her essay by pointing
began
Obermeyer
on which
of the literature
review
haustive
by what
the mobilization
motivated
tween
research
on
the medical,
from
in the Medline,
were
made
about
no
evidence
was
Popline,
or
"female
be
the
she
435
and
avail
genital
statements
in which
publications
the devastating
effects
of
at all. When
presented
is based
article
and Sociofile databases),
in most
that
discovered
ex
"The
demographic,
article
published
topic
mutilation"
she
this
that
a potential
disparity
activism
toward
and
as
every
literatures,
including
circumcision"
of "female
the
out
such efforts."9 When
support
of
"research
base"
(a total
ought
at that
reviewed
science
social
able
look
were
articles
appeared
of resources
to
that
base
a closer
took
exagger
highly
not match
and may
was
213
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
circumcision
female
she examined
evidence
she
research
discovered
reports
containing
actually
original
numerous
flaws
(e.g., small or unrepresentative
methodological
no control
and quality-control
(e.g.,
groups)
problems
samples,
in some of the
of
medical
vague
complications)
descriptions
most
cited
widely
ficiencies,
an aura
some
She
documents.
of
the published
of dependability
remarks:
"Despite
have come
reports
and
repeated
through
their
de
to acquire
cita
uncritical
tions."10
about
even
some
to draw
In order
realistic,
of
consequences
the health
some
introduced
then
female
if tentative,
circumcision
conclusions
in Africa,
standard
epidemiological
For example,
criteria
for evaluating
evidence.11
quality-control
a research
if
its
be excluded
methods
sampling
study would
on a single case
or if its claims were
were
not described
based
the basis of the relatively
rather
than a population
sample. On
Obermeyer
small
of
number
mum
available
standards
scientific
that
studies
(for
example,
actually
eight
mini
passed
on
studies
the
topic of medical complications), Obermeyer reported that the
widely publicized medical complications of African genital op
erations
are
are
alterations
that
the
been
killed
supported
the
claim
not
exception,
not
incompatible
that
by
the
that female
rule;
genital
with
sexual
and
enjoyment;
numbers
of girls and women
have
untold
as a result
of
this
evidence.12
the
"traditional
practice"
is not well
214
Richard A. Shweder
Many
and
anthropologists
other
researchers
who
on
work
this topic in various field settings in Africa have been aware of
on female
the global
discourse
circumci
of maiming,
sexual
murder,
dysfunction,
and oppression)
and
their own
ethno
between
discrepancies
sion
(with
its
images
coercion,
mutilation,
with
experiences
graphic
realities.13
the
Perhaps
discourse
first
came
in
discourses
indigenous
and
physical
the global
protest
against
anthropological
to
1938
from Jomo Kenyatta,
who,
prior
a
wrote
of
Kenya,
president
postcolonial
the first
becoming
in anthropology
Ph.D.
thesis
at the London
School
of Econom
thesis was published as a book entitled Facing Mount
The
Tribal Life of the Gikuyu, in which he described
Kenya:
ics. His
both
the
customary
sexual
premarital
practices
(lots of fondling and rather liberal attitudes
and
petting
and
arousal)
the
the Gikuyu
toward adolescent
of
practice
female
(and
circumcision.
male)
words,
ring and
Kenyatta's
temporary
a conference
the
European
'barbarous
other
Save
'heathen'
was
children
the
an uncanny
con
us that "In 1931
in 1938,
have
First he informs
published
relevance.
on African
of
auspices
several
this
sexual
of
Children
held
Fund.
in Geneva
under
In
this
time was
that the
delegates
urged
custom'
should
be abolished,
and
it
should
be
abolished
customs,
the
conference
ripe when
like all
that,
at once
by
law."14
a genital
that among
the Gikuyu
alter
goes on to argue
is a bodily
is re
"like Jewish
that
ation,
circumcision,"
sign
non
sine
"as
the
of
conditio
the
whole
of
qua
garded
teaching
no
man
that
tribal
and
proper Gikuyu
law, religion
morality,"
He
or woman
would
circumcised,
that
sible adulthood
"there
defense
have
sex with
the practice
for many
or marry
someone
who was not
is an essential
step into respon
African
is a strong
community
of this custom."15
later
sixty years
Nearly
can be found
in the writings
of
echoes
account
in Kenya,
the Okiek. The Okiek,
female
educated
of
of Corinne
a detailed
of
girls and boys,
initiation
Gikuyu
and that
opinion
in
message
Kenyatta's
has written
Kratz, who
in another
ethnic
group
Jomo
she tells us, do not talk about
in terms
circumcision
of
but rather
desire,
speak
and adulthood."
According
view
modification
"genital
during
displayed
Okiek
personhood."16
Many
tween
the
the dampening
of it "in terms
to Kratz,
the
and
as
operation
circumcised
sion
sexual
of
cleanliness,
women
Okiek
bravery
constitutive
and
beauty
and men
self-control
of
experiences
be
women
appear
field
to the global
regard
or
as a disfigurement
Robert Rubinstein
me
to be orgasmic,"
continue
in other
East
other
reports.17
discourse
a
have offered
that
"mutilation,"
field
enjoy
"Kikuyu men
African
societies
that
remarks
assured
or
pleasure
of discrepancies
could
be cited
examples
and
of many
discourse
the
experience
global
to
in Africa. With
issue
the
of
sexual
regard
for example,
Robert
ment,
Edgerton
like those of several
and women,
female
that practice
circumcision,
With
of
other
the
researchers
marks
215
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
in 1961-62
and
represents
Sandra
the following
that
re
similar
circumci
Lane
and
caution:
An
is that many members
of societies
important caveat, however,
that practice
traditional
female genital surgeries do not view the
in fact, the resulting
these groups,
result as mutilation.
Among
an
over
in
is
considered
female genitalia
appearance
improvement
or to
their natural state. Indeed, to call a woman
uncircumcised,
a
is
call a man the son of an uncircumcised
terrible
insult
mother,
are often considered
and noncircumcised
adult female genitalia
we
in
In
interviews
conducted
rural
and urban Egypt
disgusting.
by faculty of the High Institute of Nurs
of
the overwhelming
University,
ing, Zagazig
Egypt,
majority
women
to
on
circumcised
have
the
planned
procedure
performed
some fifty women we found
In discussions
their daughters.
with
resent and are angry at having been circumcised.
only two who
Even these women
is one of
do not think that female circumcision
women
the most critical problems
and
facing Egyptian
girls. In the
some
rural Egyptian
hamlet where we have conducted
fieldwork
women were not familiar with groups that did not circumcise
their
was
not
learned
cir
When
that
the
female
researcher
they
girls.
their response was disgust mixed with
cumcised
joking laughter.
and
in studies
conducted
how
she could have thus gotten married
and
They wondered
an
could
how
her
mother
have
such
questioned
neglected
important
for womanhood.18
part of her preparation
Richard A. Shweder
216
These
suggest
beauty
dental
real
and
we
are
reports
ethnographic
that instead
of
disfigurement
want
to consider
the possibility
that
divide
around
the world
might
cultural
astonishing
reactions
and
aesthetic
emotional,
no
There
of
doubt
that
course,
is,
and
anxiety
and
aroused
easily
they
of
perceptions
and must
be transcen
assuming
are universal
and
disgust
because
noteworthy
that our own
about
this
to
female
own
our
powerful
either
manipulated
rhetorically
surgeries.
with
or
"torture"
the activity
(for example,
labeling
to understand
But if we want
the true character
tion").
cultural
divide
our
own
and
to save
initial
"savages,"
it may
make
good
emotional/visceral
automatic)
conclusive
powerful
(and
any
rather
argument,
objective
in sensibilities
have
than
Perhaps,
analysis.
we might
develop
People
other
feelings
or
color
them
of
instead
a better
PLURALISM AND THE "MUTUAL
for
sense
"mutila
of
alterations,
larly intense
or horror.
"mutual
however,
even approach
and may
From a purely
descriptive
this
to bracket
reactions
the end
of
the
short-circuit
all
deploring
the
simply
understanding
of the inside
of
the
of
for
YUCK RESPONSE"
at each other's
and
recoil
practices
it comes
all over
the world.
When
the
be
pic
a synoptic
account
point
subject by constructing
women
of
from
the
those
African
many
view,
perspective
seem both normal
and desirable.
whom
such practices
MORAL
of
feelings
and can
surgical implements) or with
tures (for example, of Third World
words
is a
in moral,
genital
personal
are
topic
there
say "yuck"
to female
at each
genital
is
response
particu
yuck"
a sense of mutual
outrage
that particu
point of view,
is routine
of modification
of the "natural"
and
body
in many
For example,
national
ethnic
groups.
preva
rates of 80-98
for Egypt,
have
been
lence
percent
reported
Sierra
and
the
the
Leone,
Somalia,
Gambia,
Mali,
Ethiopia,
rate is
In African
nations
where
the overall
Sudan.19
prevalence
lar type
normal
lower?for
example,
30
50 percent
in Ghana?this
percent
d'Ivoire,
in those
countries
ethnic
groups
circumcision
while
other
ethnic
within
Ghana
the
ethnic
in Kenya,
in Cote
43 percent
some
is typically
because
a tradition
have
of female
do not.
groups
in the north
groups
For
and
example,
the east
in the south
groups
In general,
for both
circumcision
the
(versus
the ethnic
(and boys), while
girls
circumcision.
tradition
of female
circumcise
no
have
217
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
of
and girls
the best predictor
boys
or cultural
For ex
affiliation.
absence
of it) is ethnicity
group
Kono
of
Sierra
is
for
the
circumcision
Leone,
customary
ample,
it is not. For women
within
these
of Senegal
but for the Wolof
one
other
cultural
key factor?their
affiliation?trumps
or
as
socioeco
educational
level
of
such
behavior,
predictors
a secondary
even women
status. Among
with
nomic
the Kono,
groups,
or
school
Wolof
There
one
that
argue
their religion,
heritage
practice
typically
or their
for
the
that
argue
are
custom
it is not
conducted
permitted
and
by
their
cultural
endorse
their
the
cultural
groups
for whom
female
heritage
approval
ratings
to the
rather
and Health
circumci
female
part
important
women
who
do not
generally
in northern
about
endorse
of
religion.20
of ethnic
among members
is part of their cultural
Sudan Demographic
was
while
think
who
it is an
For
practice.
circumcision
this cultural
do not
terms. Women
or
Second,
circumcision
about
facts
women
African
in human-rights
sion typically
heritage
while
circumcised,
Senegalese
not.
illiterate and unschooled?are
the
women?including
are other notable
thing, most
are
education
college
high.
According
Survey of 1989-1990,
out
central
which
of
3,805
Sudan,
89 percent were
circumcised.
Of the women
or
96 percent
said they had circumcised
who were
circumcised,
When
circumcise
their daughters.
asked whether
would
they
women
favored
women
interviewed
continuation
said
In Sierra
majority
they
Leone
90 percent
the practice,
its continuation.21
favored
of
of circumcised
is much
the same,
and the vast
the picture
are sympathetic
to the practice.
Even Olayinka
an anti-"FGM"
note of the high
makes
activist,
of women
Koso-Thomas,
of support
degree
for genital
a rather
herself
with
"Most
African
operations,
voice
patronizing
women,"
Koso-Thomas
she expresses
although
tones.
and in imperial
not
"still
have
observes,
or to see in many
to feel deprived
sensitivity
developed
a
cultural
of their human
violation
practices
rights. The conse
women
most
in the mid-80s,
in
of this is that,
when
quence
can
Africa
and
have
influence
decisions
voting
political
rights
the
against
practices
harmful
to their
health,
they
continue
to up
Richard A. Shweder
218
hold
and mores
the dictates
seem
live; they
late."22 When
of
to
in fact
the
in which
communities
traditional
regard
it comes
to maintaining
their
Koso-Thomas
ceremonies,
they
invio
as
beliefs
and
coming-of-age
not
does
like the
gender-identity
women
vote.
African
She thinks
she is enlightened
way many
in the
about
human
and
health
and
that
rights
they remain
most
But
dark.
she does
her censure,
that, despite
recognize
women
in Sierra Leone
the practice
endorse
of circumcision.
ethnic group affiliation
Third, although
of who
circumcises
are
the
and who
operation
enormous
variability
not
does
the
not,
across
consistent
is the best predictor
in the
form
and
timing
groups.
at which
the
of
is
there
Thus,
is nor
age
surgery
years).
(any time from birth to the late teenage
performed
in
is also enormous
the
traditional
variability
style and
a
cut
in
of
the
the
surgery
prepuce
(from
covering
degree
area
to the complete
out"
of
the
clitoris
by
"smoothing
genital
mally
There
removing all visible parts of the clitoris and most
labia).
In some
Sudan)
the
"smoothing
the aim of enhancing
closed the vaginal opening, with
the womb.23
The
protecting
or Pharaonic
to as "infibulation"
and
most
good
mated
latter
it occurs
that
where
in about
the practice
15 percent
of female
lar, including Somalia and the Sudan,
women
that
these
them more
make
genital
beautiful,
is not
it has
groups,
although
in the anti-"FGM"
circumcising
deal of attention
referred
typical
received
a
cases.
all African
is popu
circumcision
it is widely
in
It is esti
literature.
of
fertility
often
procedure,
circumcision,
ethnic
In places
if not all of the
in Somalia
and the
groups
(for example,
out" operation
is concluded
by stitching
ethnic
believed by
their bodies
and
alterations
improve
more
more
more
civilized,
feminine,
honorable.
More
trusion
because
the body
beautiful
or "fleshy
encumbrance"
be
and
aesthetics
an
of
ideal
refined,
women
pealing
to
odious
ugly
cultural
both
is made
is removed
sight
and
and a pro
to
is thought
is a
There
touch.24
smooth
that
in play among
circumcising
as smooth,
sexual
region
the human
ethnic
groups,
and
cleansed,
of
genitals
the view
that the
which
supports
are unsightly,
and
and men
misshapen,
state.
if left in their "natural"
rather
both
unap
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
More
feminine because unmodified
females)
are
perspective
the male
organ,
several
induction
seen
the
as
clitoris
and
the
female
network
to empower
an unbidden
themselves
and
a genital
about
because
that
as
they perceive
male
anatomy.
rid of what
of unwanted
ac
is a symbolic
to
exercise
willingness
alteration
says something
over feelings
of lust and
for sexual
desire
pleasure.
restraint
cial
identity,
group of powerful
support
and motherhood.25
Many
of female
initiation
seek
marriage
traditions
by getting
trace
and dispensable
civilized
one's
over
self-control
the antiso
the surgery announces
because
one's
to perpetuate
the lineage
and value
the womb
source
of social
reproduction.26
More
female's
of
vestige
associated
with
is positively
attainment
of full
and ultimately
these
uphold
tion
a
its removal
adult women,
who
More
(in both males and
genitals
From
sexually
ambiguous.
as an unwelcome
is viewed
good
things:
into a social
women
219
honorable
commit
ment
As
hard
as
it may
circumcision
female
fashionable.
be
"us"
for
is commonplace
As hard as it may
that
recognize
women
many
for
some
in places
of
"us"
such
to believe,
it is not
as
in places
only
where
but
popular
be for "us" to believe
this
is really
as Mali,
Somalia,
(and I
to believe),
hard
Egypt,
and Chad are repulsed by the idea of unmodified
the
Kenya,
female geni
as ugly,
and
unrefined,
genitals
not
un
and hence
associate
undignified,
fully human.
They
or
at
with
modified
life
outside
of
the
civi
bottom
of
genitals
lized society.
"what kind of
"Yuck,"
they think to themselves;
are these who
barbarians
don't
circumcise
their genitals?"
tals.
They
view
unmodified
The
Female
is, of course, mutual.
"yuck"
are not
routine
and normal
for members
in Europe,
the United
majority
populations
other
and
of
the
pan,
parts
world,
including
members
of those
cultures
the very
thought
surgery
should
produces
be noted
of any
kind
change
of
operation,
an
that
unpleasant
for many
alterations
genital
or
of mainstream
States,
South
of
China,
Africa.
female
Ja
For
genital
visceral
it
reaction;
although
the detailed
visualization
an abortion,
a sex
operation,
of us
surgery?a
bypass
a breast
implantation,
a face
lift,
or
even
a
220
Richard A. Shweder
decorative
ant
eyebrow
reaction.
visceral
or
on
tongue
In other
a
words,
merely
contemplating
or the genitals,
can be quite
seems
when
the surgery
jus
fully
the
face
surgery,
especially
or revolting,
even
upsetting
tified
from our own
"native
In the United
has
gery
described
been
some
brutal
States
an unpleas
piercing?produces
of view."
point
and
the practice
Europe
as "mutilation."27
disparaged
as rape or torture
and
of genital
It has been
associated
with
about
the health
sur
re
the nightmare
a
Victorian
(or perhaps
gyne
patriarchal
a young woman
or girl, pulling
her into the
cologist)
grabbing
room
a knife
or razor
back
and kicking,
and using
screaming
to deprive
blade
her of her sexuality.
Various
dramatic
and
of
disturbing
harmful
loss
of
male
claims
side
have
effects
a capacity
been made
of African
operations,
genital
sexual
pleasure.
to experience
to the practice
Saying
"yuck"
sition to the oppression
around
emancipation
has
of women
hazards
and
including
the
a symbol
become
and of one's
of oppo
for their
support
the practice
the world.
has
Eliminating
a high-priority
mission
Western
for many
feminists
in Africa,
activists
under
(and for some human-rights
who,
not
come
from
often,
enough,
standably
although
invariably,
become
ethnic
noncircumcising
and human-rights
and
groups)
for some
international
the World
health
Health
(for example,
organizations
and Equality
Now).
International,
Organization,
Amnesty
in
Outside
of Africa,
States and Europe,
the United
especially
to female
so "politically
circumcision
has become
opposition
most
correct"
criti
that until
?mi/-anti-"FGM"
very
recently
or sympathetic.
been defensive,
The
sym
superficial,
are
criticisms
of
pathetic
critiques
mainly
counterproductive
on how
to be more
tactics. They
"eradication"
advice
provide
cism
has
effective
There
as
have
an
anti-"FGM"
also
been
attention
campaigns
activist.28
occasional
and
that
complaints
resources
divert
displace
in the United
social
States
and
injustice
against
concern
about
there have
been
of
expressions
state
are
own
ous
of mind
told
by
mother
to them
of African
the media
is "mutilated"
too.30
from
battles
And
Europe.29
the anguished
States who
living in the United
social-service
that their
by
agencies
is
and that she
potentially
danger
children
and
anti-"FGM"
221
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
In general,
do not go very deep.
But these types of criticisms
female circumcision
facts about
the purported
go unquestioned,
to be obvious,
of the case are thought
the moral
implications
to func
is presumed
"what
about
FGM?"
and the mere
query
tion
in and
of
a knock-down
as
itself
pluralism
and
SO WHAT
ABOUT
FGM?
So what
about
"FGM"?
cultural
inclination
any
I shall
treat
as
this
a real
question
rhetorical
as a
rather
than
response
to terminate
For starters,
all debate.
a considered
deserving
both
argument
against
tolerance.31
toward
the prac
intended
query
a
of
is
rather
alteration
tice of genital
poor
example
gender
on
women.
or
the
of
world,
Surveying
society picking
inequality
one finds very
in which
if any,
few cultures,
surgeries
genital
on girls but not boys,
are performed
there are many
although
in which
cultures
only on boys or on both
they are performed
sexes.
The
male
cence
and
they
in which
incision,
Considering
evant
initiation
wide
scale,
instance
of
trary;
alterations
often
take
genital
can involve major modifications
sub
(including
line
of
the
urethra).
along the
and
of
the rel
timing,
intensity
is split
the penis
the
in adoles
place
prevalence,
on a world
alteration
genital
to argue
that it is an obvious
the con
disfavoring
girls. Quite
rites, and viewing
one
is hard pressed
a gender
inequity
of the ritual
transformation
of
recognition
a
as
more
mature
status
into
empowered
girls
both
social
and
boys
and women
In other
in Africa,
a major
of the ceremony.
point
infrequently
it occurs
female
when
and where
circumcision,
is not
words,
is much
before
equally
sible adulthood
The
more
a case
of society
treating
boys and girls
law and inducting
them into respon
the common
practice
domination.
Many
in parallel
a
is also
ways.
rather
poor
cultures
of patriarchal
example
in Europe
do
and Asia
patriarchal
at all or (as in the case
in genital
alterations
engage
and many
African
ethnic
non-African
many
Muslims,
in
from
this
valued
exclude
practice
participation
girls
to boys. Moreover,
it only
the African
ethnic
groups
not
cumcise
in kinship,
men
females
(and males)
religion,
economy,
are very
family
different
life,
from
ceremonial
of Jews,
groups)
and do
that
each
cir
other
practice,
222
and
Richard A. Shweder
so forth.
archal,
Some
are Islamic,
as the Kono,
initiations
Some
some
(such
formal
have
some
organizations,
sexual
purity,
do
some
are patri
are not.
society)
women's
well-established
into
care
Some
not.32
restraint
are not.
Some
a matrilineal
a
lot
about
female
outside
of marriage,
and
the social
are more
of desire,
but others
(such as the Gikuyu)
regulation
are
not
relaxed
about
sexual
and
premarital
play
puritanical.
to female
it comes
And when
initiation
and genital
alterations
is almost
the practice
always
controlled,
and most
performed,
although male kin often do provide
strongly upheld by women,
men
have
however,
Typically,
not
rather
little
female
know
may
operations,
it is not
about
and may
feel
their
very much
them,
really
or to try to tell their wives,
to interfere
business
aunts,
mothers,
to do. It is the women
and grandmothers
what
of the society
are the cultural
in this intimate
who
feminine
experts
domain,
material
and
moral
support.
these
to do with
and
share
they are not particularly
secrets.
their
cases
In those
most
familiar
of
practice
who
undergo
ordeal
and
without
an event
own
view
female
(I have
is routine
genital
the
ritual
it can
be
ethnic
initiation
up
alteration
their
with
or
powers
I am
which
in Kenya, where
lived and taught
some
for
to give
inclined
the
the adolescent
groups),
look forward
to
girls
it.33 It is an
if done
(especially
"naturally"
painful
as a test of courage.
It is
but it is viewed
and controlled
who
have
their
women,
by
anesthesia),
organized
of the aesthetics
view
of the body?a
different
from
is
about what
and beautiful.
The girl's
civilized,
dignified,
are not
to their daughter?African
to be cruel
parents
trying
one
too. No
is raped or tortured.
love their children
parents
ours
There
What
is a celebration
about
surrounding
the
on health
effects
and
negative
in
anti-"FGM"
the
litera
portrayed
the
devastating
that are vividly
sexuality
to hard-nosed
ture? When
it comes
the
consequences
there are
health,
of
female
relatively
As
scientific
of
investigations
on sexuality
and
sound
studies.
surgeries
genital
few methodologically
in her medical
review,
discovered
Obermeyer
is "data-free"
literature
published
testimonials,
basic
against
event.
or
else
relies
most
on
or inadequate
reports,
samples.
research
much
standards,
epidemiological
secondhand
of
the
sensational
Judged
of the
223
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
published empirical evidence, including some of the most widely
cited
in the
publications
cluding
Nevertheless,
ing about
clude
anti-"FGM"
in think
science worth
considering
to con
which
leads Obermeyer
circumcision,
discourse
about
the
health
and
sexual
global
female
the
of
consequences
evidence.
credible
The
anti-"FGM"
lists of
short-term
the practice
is not
sufficiently
literature
advocacy
and long-term
medical
blood
loss, shock,
including
supplied
with
features
typically
complications
acute
infection,
cumcision,
strual problems,
incontinence,
difficulties,
childbearing
These
lists read like the warning
pamphlets
enumerate
which
many
prescription
drugs,
ity, and
(in
is some
there
that
literature
advocacy
Report34), are fatally flawed.35
the influential Hosken
death.
of
long
cir
men
steril
that
every
accompany
ever
effect
of
the
medicine
has
been
claimed
side
that
negative
are
matter
how
very scary to
(no
infrequently).
They
reported
are
and
stomach
very misleading.
read,
they
Scary-looking,
lists of possible
churning,
anxiety-provoking
tions
aside, Obermeyer's
ture on
the actual
medical
review
comprehensive
and risk of medical
plications
frequency
do not die because they have been circumcised
malnutrition,
ceremonies);
with
patible
not
and
war,
and that
because
disease,
the experience
aesthetics
genital
the
of
the
remarks,
Edgerton
anesthesia
and hence was
and
few
suffered
Circumcised women
relations,
Nevertheless
In other
of
nor
operation
coming-of-age
is com
pleasure
of
related
practices
with
Robert
Edgerton's
in the
the Gikuyu
missionaries
first
among
Western
and 1930s, when
of the 1920s
Kenya
version
launched
their own
of "FGM
As
(they die from
of
sexual
and
groups.
circumcising
are basically
Her
consistent
findings
comments
circumcision
female
about
ture
complica
the litera
complications
com
in Africa
that medical
surgery
suggests
genital
are the exception,
not the rule; that African
children
following
bravely
of
eradication
programs."
without
performed
most
"yet
girls bore
was
very painful,
serious
infection
or
injury
did not lose their ability to enjoy sexual
was
their
diminished.
capacity
child-bearing
the practice
offended
Christian
sensibilities."36
claims
that are a standard
the alarmist
fea
words,
the anti-"FGM"
it
as a result.
advocacy
literature
that African
tradi
224
Richard A. Shweder
tions
of circumcision
women
not
be
have
or killed
"maimed
and
and
them
girls"37
deprived
Given
the most
reliable,
true.
of
even
untold
numbers
of
their
may
sexuality
if limited,
scientific
viewed
with
skepti
at hand,
be
those
claims
should
as fact, no matter
not accepted
times they
how many
on
are uncritically
the
editorial
of
the New
pages
recapitulated
or
a
on
in
York Times
invoked
essay
journalistic
poignantly
PBS.
evidence
cism
and
If genital
in Africa
alteration
really
were
a
long-standing
to intolerably high
inwhich parents, oblivious
cultural practice
their pr?adolescent
and adoles
disabled
and murdered
risks,
reason
to wish
cent children,
be good
for its quick
there would
review
that this characterization
end. Obermeyer's
of
suggests
as
be
may
is dubious
the practice
in liberal
it is time for the anti-"FGM"
democracies,
seem to have taken the place of yesterday's
groups, who
to revise
the "factoids"
either
missionaries,
they dis
diversity
advocacy
Christian
to
rigorously
The
real
to
regard
the evidence
ful female
Leone
it is nightmarish,
or, at the
Given
the importance
of
debates
about
cultural
and misleading.
in public-policy
very
least,
accurate
information
tribute
as
fanciful
or
the public,
collected
else
to
such
they have been
the ceremonial
by
spiritually)
the
(including
claims
as Mali,
improved
ordeal
Kenya,
and
(physically,
and
symbolic
initiation.
The
associated
with
pain)
most
initiates manage
that
of these youthful
indicates
without
disastrous
their own
estimation)
"improved"
major
This
mented
short-term
is not
4-16
these
with
are quite
otherwise.
With
suggest,
of genital
the
of
surgeries,
weight
of
the overwhelming
majority
youth
that
suggests
in
countries
initiates
and
their
data.
I would
facts,
the consequences
believe
substantiate
Sierra
socially,
process
evidence
to be
or
(in
even
or
for their health.
consequences
long-term
we
not
should
about
the docu
that
worry
rate
infection
associated
with
percent
urinary
or the 7-13
cases
in
is
of
which
there
percent
to say
surgeries,
or the 1 percent
rate of septicemia.38
The
excessive
bleeding,
to unsafe
is not to
reaction
of many
abortions,
however,
people
some
be
of
antiabortion
rid
abortions.
groups might
get
Perhaps
some
are
that
because
abortions
the
argument
by
tempted
unsafe,
there
should
be
no
abortions
at
all. However,
a
far
What About
more
not
safe. Why
alterations?
arise
be
to unsafe
reaction
reasonable
the
same
and
unsanitary
corrected
without
other
surgical
depriving
of
central
system
meaning
sense
and their overall
identities
and
case
medical
of
their
of
female
complications
or malpractice
procedures
"others"
to
is to make
abortions
in the
reaction
Infections
from
225
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
a rite
cultural
of well-being.
sense
current
the
of
and
What
them
genital
that
can
passage
personal
I do want
to suggest,
is that
of shock,
however,
horror,
and righteous
"Western"
directed
the
mothers
indignation
against
of Mali,
Sierra Leone,
the Gambia,
Somalia,
Egypt,
Ethiopia,
and
the
is misguided,
Sudan
and
rather
disturbingly
misin
formed.
CONCLUSION:
UNFAMILIAR
I can
think
quoting
legal
ON THE VIRTUES OF BEING SLOW TO JUDGE THE
A HARD SECOND LOOK
AND HAVING
of
no
better
way
Lawrence
scholar
to conclude
Sager,
who
this
essay
writes:
than
by
concerns and the principle of equal liberty counsel that
Epistemic
we be slow to judge the unfamiliar,
that we take a hard second
look at our own factual beliefs and normative
judgments before we
condemn
endorsed
So, too, they counsel that
practices.
culturally
extant legal categories
not be closed to
of excuse and mitigation
the distinct experience of cultural minorities.
And finally, of course,
they require that our robust tradition of constitutional
liberty?
the rights of speech and belief, the right of parents
to
including
the
of
their
to
and
the
of
guide
children,
development
right
people
be free from governmental
intrusion into decisions
that ought to be
theirs alone?be
available on full and fair terms to cultural minori
ties.39
as a matter
I have tried to
of epistemic
essay,
concern,
we
that
should
be skeptical
of the anti-"FGM"
advo
suggest
literature
and the global
discourse
that portrays
African
cacy
as "mutilators,"
or "torturers"
mothers
of their
"murderers,"
In this
children.
that
We
African
mothers
mother.
have
We
should
be dubious
a better
should
of representations
that suggest
or that First World
mothers,
to be a good
idea of what
it means
slow to judge the unfamiliar
of
practice
are
mothers
be
bad
Richard A. Shweder
226
in part because
asser
the horrifying
alterations,
genital
tions by anti-"FGM"
activists
the consequences
of
concerning
the practice
out
about
health
(claims
mortality,
devastating
female
the
and
comes,
loss
a capacity
scientific
of
to
are
sex)
enjoy
evidence.
not
well
with
credible
supported
Of course,
the anti-"FGM"
of preemptive
overheated
genre
terms
in
too
claims
moral
is
itself
all
familiar.
It is the
expressed
kind
of discourse
employed
some
by
tize liberal men
privacy
nancy.
hesitate
"you murderer
who
activists,
(for example,
antiabortion
and women
who
believe
of
life")
it to stigma
use
the right to family
a right
to choice
in cases
of unwanted
preg
implies
one
more
reason
to
is just
That
take a second
look and
before
the
using
to describe
"FGM"
epithet
and
gender-identity
practices
ing-of-age
women.
women
millions
of African
African
and
personal
family
to guide
privacy,
of
excessive
and
an African
Imagine
the
embraced
too
com
by many
have
the development
children in light of their own ideals of the good
free
innocent
to
rights
of their
life, and to be
unreasonable
intrusion.
government
in the United
States
living
mother
holds the following convictions.
who
She believes that her daughters
as well
as her sons should
be able to improve
their looks and
enter
a
covenant
into
their marriage
with
and
prospects,
God,
as
be honored
via circumci
adult members
of the community
sion.
that
her
(for ex
Imagine
proposed
surgical
procedure
a
cut
covers
more
in
no
the
is
that
the
prepuce
clitoris)
ample,
substantial
American
extend
to
the
male
that
option
of
view
operation.
to the Kono
of
parents
due process
Jewish
imagine
in Seattle who
point
circumcision
gender
equity,
tural freedom,
option.
Or
a medical
from
and
family
than
the
customary
we
not
should
Why
as well
as
of daughters
parents
for example?40
sons,
Principles
before
the law, religious
and
privacy
would
seem
to
support
the
cul
the
a sixteen-year-old
female
Somali
teenager
living
believes
that a genital
alteration
would
be "some
thing very great." She likes the look of her mother's
her
of
circumcised
recently
look of her
own.
cousin's
She wants
far better
body
to be a mature
than
and
body and
she
likes
beautiful
a Somali man
or at
to marry
Somali
woman,
style. She wants
an
least a man
who
the
of
initiated
appearance
appreciates
to show solidarity
with
other African
She wants
body.
sense
and feminine
of
who
their
express
civility,
beauty,
sense
in this way,
of aesthetics
and
and she shares
their
woman's
women
dignity
seemliness.
that
211
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
reviews
She
can
the
surgery
on
effect
great
the medical
be done
her
literature
and
safely,
hygienically,
sex. After
to enjoy
capacity
discovers
consultation
with her parents and the full support of other members
to carry on the tradition. What
that her cultural
should
heritage
an
to
end?
she elects
community,
of justice demands
and brought
cated"
I have
With
also
that merely
FGM?"
suggested
is not
accurate
scientific
about
an
argument
information
where
tolerance
the
ideal
for whom
and getting
cluding
very much
each other's
if all
powerfully
negative
principle
be "eradi
the scientific
ideals
un
cultural
(not unreasonable)
they are meaningful.
Our
cherished
begins.
of being
"pro-choice")
of her
"What
the question
cultural
pluralism.
against
and sufficient
to see the
it is possible
derstanding
such practices
for those
the cultural point
posing
no
and with
point
Seeing
facts straight
of
would
tolerance
not
of
amount
is
(in
to
our willingness
to was
to eat
they amounted
to enter
foods
and to grant
each other permission
on the week
for a couple
different
houses
of worship
of hours
means
our readily
end. Tolerance
aside
and
aroused
setting
groups
"other"
minority
gage the
more
justify
The
of
of
life
is not
over
controversy
are
step
versus
tolerance
open-and-shut
is a responsibility
to
about
than overheated
rhetoric
a cultural
"eradication"
question
ued ways
who
the practices
of immigrant
to
the
facts
and en
get
long enough
straight
in a serious moral
It
should
take far
dialogue.
feelings
case.
practice.
of modesty,
offended
campaign.
eradication
sensibilities
to say,
Needless
to
the
of other peoples'
val
a
women's
issue.
just
in Africa
is not an
female
circumcision
Given
the high
stakes
of cultural
knowledgeable
pluralists?both
about African
and
speak out,
are many
African
or
privacy,
loyalty,
forward,
There
and
educate
women
I believe
involved,
men and women?
circumcision
the public
out
who,
a well-founded
it
practices
this
about
of a sense
sense
of fear,
to speak
And
it is a responsibility
hesitate
for themselves.
may
of everyone,
anti-"FGM"
activists
and cultural
alike,
pluralists
to insist on evenhandedness
and the highest
standards
of reason
Richard A. Shweder
228
and
in any
evidence
public
on
debate
policy
this
and
voices
fully
at
topic?or
least to insist that there is a public policy debate, with
all sides
represented.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A longer and far more comprehensive version of this essay will be published in
The Free Exercise of Culture: How Free Is Jif How Free Ought It to Be? ed. Ri
chard A. Shweder, Martha Minow,
and Hazel R. Markus
(New York: Russell
Sage Foundation
cause
of space
That
Press).
limitations,
treats
essay
cannot
be
several
and
questions
addressed
here,
including
that, be
topics
varia
cultural
tions in conceptions
of the "normal" body, the lack of a tight link between edu
cation
toward
and
attitudes
of
longer
ought
and moral
traditions of a politically
It examines
States.
evaluates
critically
African
ethnic
groups
friends,
version
should
be
and
colleagues,
of
spective
Fuambai
this
on
this
essay. Without
controversial
Ahmadu,
Margaret
of how
the
female
between
and implications
"eradication
pro
of
much
toleration
scientific,
medical,
and male
circumcision,
this particular
as a form
viewed
on African
experts
this topic with me and/or critiqued the longer
in any way
them
responsible
holding
to express
I wish
issue
my
deepest
David
Chambers,
Beck,
Janice
Boddy,
for my
Sudhir
Krieger, Maiv?n
Kakar,
Frank
Kaplan,
Corinne
Kessel,
Peller,
Jane
Lawrence
Rabe,
Sager,
Lauren
to
Cohen,
Jane
Albrecht
Dennis
Kratz,
L?m, Heather Lindkvist, Hazel Markus, Martha Minow,
Anni
Obermeyer,
Jane
per
gratitude
Elizabeth Dunn, Robert Edgerton, Arthur Eisenberg, Ylva Hernlund,
Hofheinz,
legal,
such as the
democracy
of many
customary
practice
of "political
persecution."
initiation
ceremonies
have gen
that
(and tolerantly) discussed
erously
the character
anti-"FGM"
liberal pluralistic
the connection
the claim
and
Many
of
the question
essay also addresses
to be reasonable
in the context
of
the practice
United
and
surgeries,
genital
and various
types
liberalism"
"imperial
That
grams."
Carla
Gerd
Shweder,
Spittler, and Leti Volpp.
ENDNOTES
xSusan Rich and Stephanie Joyce, Eradicating Female Genital Mutilation: Les
sons for Donors, Wallace Global Fund for a Sustainable Future, 1990 M
Street, NW,
anti-"FGM"
D.C.
Suite
250, Washington,
who
activist
developed
"FGM
n.d.,
20036,
eradication
for the Special Projects Fund of Population
Joyce
2Carla M.
is an
"Female
and the Unknowable,"
Carla
is an
Obermeyer
of population
and
programs"
International.
Rich
is an
in Africa
Stephanie
consultant.
independent
Obermeyer,
Action
1, 3. Susan
Genital
Medical
Surgeries:
Anthropology
anthropologist
international
health
The
Known,
Quarterly
the Unknown,
13 (1999): 92.
in the department
epidemiologist
at Harvard
University.
and
of Women: A Strategy for Eradica
The Circumcision
301ayinka Koso-Thomas,
37. Olayinka
Zed Books,
(London:
1987),
Ltd.,
in Sierra Leone
activist.
and an anti-"FGM"
cologist
tion
Genital
"Female
4Obermeyer,
Matthew
Cohen,
Joshua
IsMulticulturalism
and Martha
Howard,
in Africa:
and Ylva
Shell-Duncan
Culture,
(Princeton,
is a FirstWorld femi
who contends that
An Insider/Outsider Reflects on Power
"Rites andWrongs:
in Bettina
and Excision,"
cumcision"
Bad for Women?
C. Nussbaum
N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999), 14. Susan Okin
nist and a political scientist at Stanford University,
is bad for women.
multiculturalism
6Fuambai Ahmadu,
is a gyne
Koso-Thomas
95.
Surgeries,"
5See Susan Moller Okin with respondents,
ed.
229
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
What About
Hernlund,
and Change
Controversy,
"Cir
Female
eds.,
Colo.:
(Boulder,
Lynne Rienner, 2000), 301; also presented in the panel on "Female Genital
1999, 98th An
Cutting: Local Dynamics of a Global Debate," 18 November
nual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Chicago, Illinois.
Fuambai
is a Kono
Ahmadu
woman
At
of Economics.
into
initiated
customs
the
the
the age
"women's
of her
ethnic
of
Leone.
Sierra
from
United States and is a Ph.D. candidate
in anthropology
she
twenty-two
secret
society"
grew
to Sierra
returned
and
She
up
in the
at the London School
to be circumcised
Leone
to be
to
according
group.
7Ibid., 283.
8Ibid., 308, 305.
"Female
9Obermeyer,
10Ibid.,
80.
Surgeries,"
n. 24.
"Ibid.,
12See quotations
13See,
Genital
81.
for
also
above;
Janice
example,
ibid.,
Boddy,
79.
Wombs
and
Alien
Spirits:
Women,
Men,
and
the Zar Cult in Northern Sudan (Madison: University of Wisconsin
Press,
1989); Boddy, "Violence Embodied? Circumcision, Gender Politics, and Cul
tural
in R.
Aesthetics,"
Emerson
Dobash
and
P. Dobash,
Russell
eds.,
Re
(Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publica
thinking Violence Against Women
tions, 1996), 77-110; Ellen Gruenbaum, "The Cultural Debate Over Female
Circumcision: The Sudanese Are Arguing This One Out For Themselves,"
Medical Anthropology Quarterly 10 (1996): 455-475; Corinne Kratz, Af
in Okiek
and Experience
Women's
Movement,
Performance:
fecting
Meaning,
Institution
Initiation
D.C.:
Smithsonian
Press,
Kratz,
1994);
(Washington,
in Misty
Dilemmas:
"Contexts,
Controversies,
Circumcision,"
Teaching
Bastian
and
Millenium
"Bridges
paign
Jane
Parpart,
eds.,
Africa:
Teaching
(Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner,
and
Against
Barricades:
Female
Rethinking
Circumcision,"
and
Polemics
Case
African
Studies
in the New
1994, 1999); L. Amede Obiora,
Western
Intransigence
Reserve
Law
in the Cam
Review
47
;Melissa Parker, "Rethinking Female Circumcision," Af
(1997): 275-378
rica 65 (1995): 506-524; Shell-Duncan and Hernlund, eds., Female "Circum
cision"
in Africa;
Christine
J. Walley,
"Searching
for
'Voices':
Feminism,
An
Richard A. Shweder
230
the Global
and
thropology,
over
Debate
Genital
Female
Cul
Operations,"
12 (1997): 405-438.
tural Anthropology
14JomoKenyatta, Facing Mount Kenya: The Tribal Life of the Gikuyu
Seeker and Warburg,
1938), 131.
(London:
15Ibid., 133, 132.
16Kratz,Affecting
346.
Performance,
17Robert B. Edgerton, Mau Mau: An African Crucible (New York: The Free
"The Sexual and
Press, 1989), 254, n. 22; also see Hanny Lightfoot-Klein,
Marital Adjustment of Genitally Circumcised and Infibulated Females in the
Sudan," Journal of Sex Research 26 (1989): 375-392.
18SandraD. Lane and Robert A. Rubinstein, "Judging the Other: Responding to
Traditional Female Genital Surgeries," Hastings Center Report 26 (1996): 35.
19Bettina
of
Asma
e.g.,
Ylva
Practice
the
"Circumcision"
Female
eds.,
20See,
and
Shell-Duncan
Dimensions
El Dareer,
Hernlund,
and Debates,"
in Africa.
in Shell-Duncan
of
"Epidemiology
in Africa:
'Circumcision'
"Female
Female
and Hernlund,
in
Circumcision
the
13 (1983): 43.
Sudan," Tropical Doctor
21LindyWilliams and Teresa Sobieszyzyk, "Attitudes Surrounding the Continu
ation of Female Circumcision in the Sudan: Passing the Tradition to the Next
Generation," Journal ofMarriage and the Family 59 (1997): 966-981, Table 1.
The
22Koso-Thomas,
Circumcision
in Rural
Northern
for
logical,
Koso-Thomas,
the Other,"
example,
Rubinstein,
"Judging
and
Historical,
American
Sudan,"
The
9
682
(1982):
"Violence Embodied?"
and
7; Lane
of Women,
Otto Meinardus,
above;
"Mytho
of Female
Circum
of the Practice
Circumcision
quoted
Sociological
of Pharaonic Cir
Ethnologist
and Alien Spirits; Boddy,
698; Boddy, Wombs
24See,
2.
"Womb as Oasis: The Symbolic Context
23See Janice Boddy,
cumcision
of Women,
Aspects
cision Among the Egyptians," Acta Ethnographica: Academiae Scientiarum
16 (1967): 394; Asma El Dareer, Woman, Why Do You Weep?
Hungaricae
Circumcision and Its Consequences
(London: Zed Press, 1982), 73.
"Rites
25Ahmadu,
and Wrongs";
ciological Aspects
tians,"
Meinardus,
Historical
"Mythological,
of the Practice of Female Circumcision
Among
The Hosken
27Fran P. Hosken,
(Lexington,
Mass.:
Abraham M. Rosenthal,
1995, A25.
28Rich
and
So
389.
26See, for example, Boddy, "Womb as Oasis"; Boddy, Wombs
Boddy, "Violence Embodied?"
males
and
the Egyp
Joyce,
29For example,
Eradicating
Yael
ber/November
Tamir,
1996).
Report: Genital
Women's
and Sexual Mutilation
International
Network
"The Possible Dream," New
Female
"Hands
Genital
Off
and Alien Spirits;
Mutilation:
Clitoridectomy,"
News,
York Times,
Lessons
Boston
of Fe
1993);
13 June
4.
for Donors,
Review
(Octo
What About
Tewoubdar
can Families
Circumcision:
231
"Female Genital Mutilation"?
on Afri
Politics
The
and Moral
Impact
Beyene,
"Body
Advocacy:
on
in the panel
in the U.S.,"
Female
oral presentation
"Revisiting
Feminism
Current
20
and
November
Discourse,"
Beyond
of the American Anthropological
1999, 98th Annual Meeting
Association,
Chicago.
recent
The
are more
that
exceptions?essays
and/or
nondefensive,
formed,
incisive,
profoundly
in
ethnographically
of
the current
skeptical
anti
"FGM" global discourse?include
Ahmadu, "Rites and Wrongs"; Boddy,
"The Seattle Compromise:
"Violence Embodied?"; Doriane L. Coleman,
Multicultural Sensitivity and Americanization," Duke Law Review 47 (1998):
L.
Sander
717-783;
"'Barbaric'
Gilman,
in Okin,
Rituals,"
Is Multi
culturalism Bad For Women?; Ellen Gruenbaum, "Reproductive Ritual and
Social Reproduction: Female Circumcision and the Subordination ofWomen
in Norman
in Sudan,"
O'Neill
and
Jay O'Brian,
eds.,
and
Economy
in
Class
(Brookfield, Vt.: Avebury, cl988); Kratz, Affecting Performance:
and Experience in Okiek Women's Initiation; Kratz,
Meaning, Movement
Sudan
Controversies,
Genital
Surgeries:
"Contexts,
"Female
Dilemmas:
The
Circumcision";
Teaching
the Unknown,
and
Known,
Obermeyer,
the Unknow
able"; Obiora, "Rethinking Polemics and Intransigence in the Campaign
Against Female Circumcision"; Parker, "Rethinking Female Circumcision";
and
some
cision"
and
of
in Shell-Duncan
the essays
in Africa:
and Hernlund,
and Change.
Culture,
Controversy
female
concerning
representations
initiation
eds., Female
For a sample
and
"Circum
of
views
see
circumcision,
also
Boddy, Wombs and Alien Spirits; Mary H. Cooper, "Women and Human
Inc.) 9
Quarterly,
Rights," CQ Researcher
(published by Congressional
(1999): 353-376; El Dareer, Woman, Why Do You Weep? Circumcision and
Its Consequences;
Isabelle
tion";
Gruenbaum,
R.
Ritual
"Reproductive
"Arrogant
Gunning,
and
Perception,
Social
Reproduc
and
World-Travelling
Feminism: The Case of Female Genital Surgeries," Columbia
Multicultural
Human Rights Law Review 23 (1991-1992):
189-248; Ylva Hernlund,
Without
Ritual
and
Ritual
Without
Cutting: Female 'Circumcision'
"Cutting
and
the Re-Ritualization
Hernlund,
Carey
eds.,
Jackson,
Medicine,"
of
"Circumcision"
"Female
'Circumcision':
of General
Journal
Mount
Facing
to Traditional
Kenyatta,
Responding
for
"Searching
the Continuation
Human
Concerning
Kenya
Performance;
4See note
Obermeyer,
between
circumcision
Walley,
also
Leone,
for
27.
"Female
Genital
and
Surgeries."
the Other:
"Judging
"Rites
Mount
Facing
'Voices.'"
into powerful
and Wrongs."
Kenya;
Kratz,
"Mytho
Circum
A Criti
Circumcision:
10 (1988): 437-486;
entrance
and
12 (1997): 491-499;
Meinardus,
Surgeries";
of the Practice
of Female
"Female
and
American
Confront
"Attitudes
Sobieszyzyk,
in the Sudan."
see Ahmadu,
see Kenyatta,
"Searching
Rubinstein,
Aspects
T. Slack,
Rights Quarterly
in Sierra
societies"
Women
Internal Medicine
Williams
and
'Voices'";
Circumcision
of Female
*On the connection
secret
African
and
Lane
Kenya;
Genital
Female
and Sociological
logical, Historical,
Alison
the Egyptians";
cision Among
cal Appraisal,"
in the Gambia,"
in Shell-Duncan
in Africa;
R. Horowitz
Carol
Initiation
Female
Walley,
Surrounding
"women's
Affecting
Richard A. Shweder
232
'Edgerton,
Mau
Mau:
An
African
Genital
"Female
'See Lawrence
G. Sager,
"The Free Exercise
in this issue of Dcedalus.
This
attle,
Surgeries,"
is basically what was proposed
until
U.S.
Patricia
Representative
constitutional
status
of
the
law
Some
of Culture:
at the Harborview
Schroeder
sibility of a violation of federal law (see Coleman,
The
1.
93.
^Obermeyer,
tinctions,"
40.
Crucible,
Female Genital Mutilation,
7Rich and Joyce, Eradicating
in question
Doubts
Medical
objected
and
and Dis
Center
raised
in Se
the pos
"The Seattle Compromise").
has
yet
to be
tested.