scholarly journals Negotiating Female Genital Cutting in a Transnational Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 458-471
Author(s):  
R. Elise B. Johansen ◽  
Salma A. E. Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Readiness To Change ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Theories Of Change ◽  
Traditional Norms ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Female Genital ◽  
The Continuum

In this article, we explore migrant Somali and Sudanese women’s reflections and decision-making regarding female genital cutting in a transnational context wherein women are compelled to maneuver between contradictory social norms. These include traditional norms, which consider the practice to be associated with socially acceptable sexuality and reproduction, and international norms, which consider the practice to be a violation of sexual and reproductive rights. Our analysis builds on data from in-depth interviews with 23 women of Somali and Sudanese origin residing in Norway. Informed by three central theories of change, we categorize women along a continuum of readiness to change ranging from rebellious women eagerly pursuing the abandonment of female genital cutting and adopting international norms regarding the practice, to women supporting the practice and its traditional meanings. Ambivalent contemplators were placed in the middle of the continuum. Women’s positioning was further interlinked with social networks and perceived decision-making power.

scholarly journals Egypt: NGOs need to join forces to end FGC

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
Population Council ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Female Genital

Until recently, the practice of female genital cutting (FGC) has been nearly universal in Egypt. However, a 1998 national survey found the first signs of a decline in the practice among adolescents since 1994. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in community development, health, and women’s rights have played a leading role in advocating eradication of FGC in Egypt. To document and assess the impact of anti-FGC programs, the Population Council conducted an assessment from August 1999 to February 2000. Researchers telephoned numerous Egyptian NGOs to identify those most actively involved in anti-FGC programs. Then they conducted in-depth interviews with officials of 15 NGOs, as well as staff of the Ministry of Health and Population, UNICEF, and the United Nations Population Fund. As concluded in this brief, 15 Egyptian nongovernmental organizations are actively involved in programs to eradicate the practice of female genital cutting. To make these programs more effective, NGOs should form coalitions, engage in advocacy, train activists in communication skills, and evaluate the impact of their programs.

scholarly journals Egyptian Activism against Female Genital Cutting as Catachrestic Claiming

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-239
Author(s):  
An Van Raemdonck
Keyword(s):  
Task Force ◽  
Female Genital Cutting ◽  
National Council ◽  
Feminist Activism ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
National Task ◽  
Genital Cutting ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Female Genital ◽  
Politics Of Location

This paper deals with questions of the politics of location in knowledge andnorm production within the context of Egyptian feminist activism for abandoningfemale genital cutting practices. It seeks to determine underlying schemesof international campaigning discourse and analyzes how these predicate andcomplicate Egyptian postcolonial activism. It draws on a broad literature studyin addition to fieldwork in Cairo consisting of in-depth interviews with activistsand policy makers. My focus is on the national Task Force against FGMfrom 1994 until 1999 and its subsequent cooptation by the National Council ofChildhood and Motherhood. I argue through the concept of catachresis thatlocation matters in setting the terms of anti-FGC discourse and its relation toreligion.

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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