i needed to link to this

absolutely NEEDED to.

there are NOT two sides to female genital mutilation. a rose steamin' pile o' shite by any other name..........

it's not culture and it's not ethnicity and it's not tradition. it's the FORCIBLE HOLDING DOWN OF VERY YOUNG GIRLS AND CUTTING THEIR GENITALS OFF SO THEY WILL NOT EXPERIENCE SEXUAL PLEASURE LATER IN LIFE. in most cases, it's not even done by a doctor. (if you're asking what i think of male circumcision, i think the same thing. it's brutal and savage)

why it's even being presented in any other form than that is fucking beyond me. a bull fight is spanish or mexican 'tradition, culture, or whatever'. to me it's STILL KILLING AN ANIMAL FOR THE GRATIFICATION OF SALIVATING CROWDS. as i said, a rose steamin' pile o' shite by any other name........

cutting off a young girls vaginal lips does NOT make them a woman. it does NOT welcome them into womanhood. it's barbaric and savage and fucked up. if as an adult a woman wishes to have that done to her, than so be it. it's then THEIR decision. when it's forced on a young girl, then it's OUR business and MUST BE STOPPED AT ALL COSTS.


Female Genital Mutilation Versus Female Circumcision
The amazing Michelle Goldberg has a great piece in the latest print issue of The American Prospect, but you can also read it online. Essentially, she's exploring the question, as the title suggests, of "Rights Versus Rites," when it comes to the much abhorred practice of "female genital mutilation" (by many Westerner feminists) and the much honored practice of "female circumcision" (by many African women). Same practice, vastly different contexts and values--as evidenced by the language itself. Goldberg writes:

At first glance, the two speakers seemed to symbolize the dichotomy between modernity and tradition, cosmopolitanism and cultural authenticity. Fuambai Ahmadu (pictured), the American-born daughter of a Sierra Leonean family, wore knee-high leather boots under a stylish rust-colored skirt. A postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago with a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, she looked younger than her 40 years. Beside her was Grace Mose, regal in a red African tunic, matching skirt, and head wrap. Her perfect English was deeply accented by her native Kenya, where she had grown up in an Abagusii village in the country's southwest region. It was easy to imagine her as a champion of the line of midwives who have made their living cutting girls since the beginning of recorded history, women who are now being jailed in some countries for practicing a trade that once brought them money and pride.

But it wasn't that simple. Ahmadu, not Mose, is the high-profile defender of female circumcision and the role it can play in inducting African girls into their societies. "My sitting here is a perfect example that female initiation can have a place in a global society," she insisted. "I don't see that initiation is somehow an impediment to girls' development."...Toward the end of the debate, a Senegalese woman, incensed by Ahmadu, stood up and said, "I really feel very frustrated seeing an African sister defending female genital mutilation.".........