‘Gosh’: A cross-cultural encounter with a Somali woman, a male interpreter and a gynecologist on female genital cutting/mutilation

2015 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-128
Author(s):  
Sylvie Schuster
Keyword(s):  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Somali Woman ◽  
Cultural Encounter ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Theorizing ‘African’ Female Genital Cutting and ‘Western’ Body Modifications: A Critique of the Continuum and Analogue Approaches

2007 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Pedwell
Keyword(s):  
Cosmetic Surgery ◽  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Feminist Literature ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Body Modifications ◽  
Female Genital ◽  
The Continuum

Making links between different embodied cultural practices has become increasingly common within the feminist literature on multiculturalism and cultural difference as a means to counter racism and cultural essentialism. The cross-cultural comparison most commonly made in this context is that between ‘African’ practices of female genital cutting (FGC) and ‘western’ body modifications. In this article, I analyse some of the ways in which FGC and other body-altering procedures (such as cosmetic surgery, intersex operations and 19th century American clitoridectomies) are compared within this feminist literature. I identify two main strategies of linking such practices, which I have termed the ‘continuum’ and ‘analogue’ approaches. The continuum approach is employed to imagine FGC alongside other body-altering procedures within a single ‘continuum’, ‘spectrum’ or ‘range’ of cross-cultural body modifications. The analogue approach is used to set up FGC and other body-altering practices as analogous through highlighting cross-cultural similarities, but does not explicitly conceive of them as forming a single continuum. Two key critiques of the continuum and analogue approaches are presented. First, because these models privilege gender and sexuality, they tend to efface the operation of other axes of embodied differentiation, namely race, cultural difference and nation. As such, the continuum and analogue approaches often reproduce problematic relationships between race and gender while failing to address the implicit and problematic role which race, cultural difference and nation continue to play in such models. This erasure of these axes, I contend, is linked to the construction of a ‘western’ empathetic gaze, which is my second key critique. The desire on the part of theorists working in the West to establish cross-cultural ‘empathy’ through models that stress similarity and solidarity conceals the continuing operation of geo-political relations of power and privilege.

Female Genital Cutting

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
NAWAL M. NOUR
Keyword(s):  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Response to Commentaries: Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior to Female Genital Cutting and Deinfibulation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonya S. Brady ◽  
Jennifer J. Connor ◽  
Nicole Chaisson ◽  
Fatima Sharif Mohamed ◽  
Beatrice “Bean” E. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Planned Behavior ◽  
Planned Behavior ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

scholarly journals Cohort analysis of the state of female genital cutting in Nigeria: prevalence, daughter circumcision and attitude towards its discontinuation

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babatunde M. Gbadebo ◽  
Adetokunbo T. Salawu ◽  
Rotimi F. Afolabi ◽  
Mobolaji M. Salawu ◽  
Adeniyi F. Fagbamigbe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Birth Cohort ◽  
Cohort Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Female Children ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Female Genital

Abstract Background Female genital cutting (FGC) inflicts life-long injuries on women and their female children. It constitutes a violation of women’s fundamental human rights and threats to bodily integrity. Though decreasing, the practice is high and widespread in Nigeria despite efforts towards its eradication. This study was conducted to perform cohort analysis of the state of FGC between the years 2009 and 2018 in Nigeria. Results The study found that that FGC has reduced over the years from 56.3% among the 1959–1963 birth cohort to 25.5% among 1994–1998 cohorts but a rise in FGC between 1994–1998 cohorts and 1999–2003 cohorts (28.4%). The percentage of respondents who circumcised their daughters reduced from 40.1% among the oldest birth cohort to 3.6% among the younger cohort. Birth-cohort, religion, education, residence, region, and ethnicity were associated with FGC. Factors associated with the daughter’s circumcision were birth-cohort, religion, residence, region, ethnicity, wealth, marital status, FGC status of the respondent, and FGC required by religion. Similar factors were found for discontinuation intention. Conclusions The practice of FGC is still high but decreasing among younger birth-cohorts in Nigeria. There is no significant change in the perception of the discontinuation of FGC. More awareness about the adverse effects of FGC, particularly among women with poor education in Nigeria will greatly reduce this cultural menace’s timely eradication.

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