In the beginning of this project, I
wasn’t sure how prevalent FGM (or FGC) was in the United States, I knew it was
illegal (from basic Google searching), but I was not sure it was an issue. In
this article it shows that this is still an issue, especially since girls are
being sent back to their native country, where they will receive the operation
under poor circumstances. US doctors are faced with a hard decision; either
deny the surgery and accept the fact the girls will get “vacation-cutting,” or
do the surgery illegally. One doctor, Dr. Doug Diekema, proposed that
doctors do a “ritual nick” just to spill a little blood to satisfy the parents.
The American Academy of Pediatrics at first supported this idea, but after
great fuss they changed their mind. Human activists believe this is just
enabling mutilation and a terrible tradition, and is not a good solution.
As
for my opinion, I agree with Dr. Diekema, if the girls are going to be cut
anyway there should be a safer, cleaner, and better alternative to
“vacation-cutting.” Also, this nick is better than getting Infibulations
(completely sewing up the vagina). However, I am concerned about whether or not
a family that would consider “vacation-cutting” would think “ritual-nicking”
would be equivalent. But I do think this is a good start.
Additionally,
after reading this article I realized that in our American tradition we value
religion over culture. Part of that is, I think, religion is connected to a
higher power, some sort of God, and should be respected. Where culture is
agreed upon to be completely man made, and therefore can be argued and changed
more easily. Therefore, when we look at FGM opposed to male circumcision in Judaism,
there is a difference, people could say but
it’s religious, there is spirituality behind it. Personally, I do not see a
difference between FGC’s “ritual-nicking” and male circumcision, both are traditional
practices that take a little of the genitalia.
Finally,
when researching I am only finding opposition to FGM, which is frustrating
because they all say something like everyone
pressures me to do this, or the
village would shun me, however, the “village” is not getting media
attention in order to defend itself. Even if we believe the practice is “brutal,”
“against human rights,” or “a crime against humanity,” I want to know why
people continue this practice.
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