tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post2243710099063217807..comments2024-03-03T13:55:46.243-08:00Comments on Ambling Along the Aqueduct: Problematizing Legal Approaches Toward Stopping FGSTimmi Duchamphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00673465487533328661noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-48089823858378543022007-07-06T23:14:00.000-07:002007-07-06T23:14:00.000-07:00(primarily their bodies)(primarily their bodies)Rachel Swirskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00939668760298612130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-30143252496103828572007-07-06T23:13:00.000-07:002007-07-06T23:13:00.000-07:00Laura,You mistakenly posted your comment in Eleano...Laura,<BR/><BR/>You mistakenly posted your comment in Eleanor's thread at first. My repsonse is there. Please read it before commenting again.<BR/><BR/>a.,<BR/><BR/>I understand that there are affected women who are comfortable calling it a mutilation and an abomination. <BR/><BR/>There are other women who have reported feelings of profound alienation form the terms, and I think it's important to include them in the discourse. It's their bodies that are affected.Rachel Swirskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00939668760298612130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-69590922989419485012007-07-06T04:03:00.000-07:002007-07-06T04:03:00.000-07:00I agree with many of the points you make, in parti...I agree with many of the points you make, in particular the necessity of avoiding colonialism. Nevertheless I don’t think you can discount any approach: all have their own worth and should form a full spectrum.<BR/><BR/>However I don’t like the term female genital surgeries. One of the problems that has come out of demonstrating the health hazards has been the medicalisation of FGM. Indeed the recent closing of the legal loophole in Egypt was precipitated by the death under anaesthesia of a girl undergoing FGM in hospital. Medicalisation lends a type of acceptability to the process.<BR/><BR/>Over the last few months I have been in contact with a <A HREF="http://survivance.blogspot.com" REL="nofollow">blogger</A>, Papillon, who lives in Paris. She is of Senegalese origin and suffered FGM at the age of four. She has been recounting her experiences since February as she decided to have reconstructive surgery (now that is what I would call female genital surgery). Her blog is in French although her mother tongue is Mandinka. I have, roughly, translated it in <A HREF="http://travellingspouse.blogspot.com/2006/02/my-path-to-renewal-translation-from.html" REL="nofollow">early part</A> of my own blog. There are now a number of surgeons who perform reconstructive surgery.<BR/><BR/>Another person who suffered the same fate is Khady Koita. She campaigns against it as part of the organisation GAMS (Groupe femmes pour l’Abolition des Mutilations Sexuelles) and has written a book “Mutilée”, which give the account of her childhood in Africa and her unhappy married life in Paris.<BR/><BR/>Neither of them have any qualms about calling the procedure a mutilation and an abomination.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.kmgselfhelp.org/howwestarted.html" REL="nofollow">Dr Bogaletch Gebre</A> is another campaigner against FGM who herself suffered it. As she says “One girl, one woman, one person at a time … it is thus that change will come”.A.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04709794851766685322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-38956914199500743072007-07-06T01:48:00.000-07:002007-07-06T01:48:00.000-07:00This article seems very biased to me as and indeed...This article seems very biased to me as and indeed female chauvinist in its denial that male genital cutting is comparable to female cutting.<BR/><BR/>It fails to mention for example that a common female circumcision (particularly in Egypt) is the removal of a woman's foreskin (sometimes with part of her labia).<BR/>Clearly this is directly comparable with male circumcision and yet it is entirely banned in many countries. In Egypt it has often been carried out on consenting, educated adult women - none of the newspaper reports told us that, did they?<BR/><BR/>It is known that incresing numbers of American women now choosing to undergo this type of circumcision. This is because they've absorbed all the male circumcision propaganda that says loose skin on the genitals is smegma-ridden and disgusting to a sexual partner.<BR/> <BR/>Although on one level i have no problem with consensual female (or male) cutting, it is disturbing when a society creates this degree of body dysmorphia in its citizens.<BR/><BR/>The foreskin contains a huge number of nerve endings (around 3 times as many as the tip of the clitoris). We should be celebrating it, and thanking God/mother nature for the joy it brings both men and women.<BR/><BR/>One final point of clarification - <BR/>NO WOMAN HAS EVER HAD HER ENTIRE CLITORIS REMOVED. The clitoris is a mainly internal organ that is around six inches long. 'Clitorectomy' removes the visible tip of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360814020056871156.post-52662666753905842272007-07-05T21:19:00.000-07:002007-07-05T21:19:00.000-07:00Thank you for all the information and thoughtful p...Thank you for all the information and thoughtful post, Rachel. I started thinking about foot binding after reading Nancy's post on women in Afghanistan on June 28th. We covered the topic in depth as part of a exploration of the status and role of women in a couple of Chinese history classes I had back in the late 80s-early 90s. Bound feet were considered beautiful but it was more complicated than that. Having bound feet (with all of the limited mobility it brought) implied status and wealth, since farm and other work was difficult to do, and also kept women under control and close to home. There were two things that stuck with me all these years from those classes. We saw a video that included three generations of Chinese women. A grandmother sat on a bench with her daughter watching her granddaughter play and run around the yard. She had had her feet bound at the age her granddaughter had just reached -- about 5 years old -- and she was elated that it was no longer practiced. Although she had loosened the bandages, her feet still ached and walking was difficult and painful for her. Despite this, she showed no bitterness, only joy in the freedom her granddaughter and daughter had. Since the reproduction restrictions were in place at that point, her granddaughter was the only child her daughter would have. The grandmother was thrilled that, despite the fact that she was a girl, her granddaughter was a welcomed and treasured child. I remember being amazed at the amount of cultural change that the three generations covered. The other thing I remember was a comment from one of my professors, a pro-democracy woman who had grown up in 50s China. She said that only the Communists could have eradicated foot binding and elevated the status of women in just one generation. She wasn't a fan of the Communists (she'd had to leave to avoid arrest) and didn't want to imply that they had brought equality when obviously they haven't. Since then, I've read that the women with bound feet were persecuted and discriminated against by the government. They must all be in their 70s and 80s now. Soon foot binding will just be history.Kristinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06129261691148239743noreply@blogger.com