Reasons for Female Circumcision. Source- Human's Right Quarterly.
Human Right's Quarterly published by The John Hopkins Press written by Alison T.
Slack thoroughly explains female circumcision, its origins, myths, why it is
done, where it is done, people who believe in it and other interesting
information about it. However I will focus on a section of the literature piece
that provides reasons why we should think female circumcision is not bad after
all. The author provides three reasons to back up her argument for female
circumcision. They are: "sexual control of females, religion, myths, and
tradition."
Circumcision as a control
mechanism- According to the author, in Muslim countries, they believe is that female virginity is
precious so as a result circumcision should be done to females to destroy their
sexual pleasure and to help keep their virginity.
Circumcision
used to obey religion- According to the author, no religion addresses the issue
of circumcision however, the practices can be related to Islam. The practice is done to reduce the women’s
sexual contact before marriage because women should not have sex before marriage. The circumcision was used to keep the women
pure and reserve the virginity which is very important in the Islamic society.
Circumcision
as a myth- Women should be circumcised to increase the number of their
childbirth experience, and to ensure the cleanliness of the genital area. There is also a
myth that the clitoris is similar to the fore skin of the penis which justifies
the reason of the procedure. Some believe women getting circumcised increases
sexual pleasure for men. While some also believe that the clitoris can cause
harm to the baby during childbirth
Circumcision
and tradition- People who participate in female circumcision believe it is the
best way to preserve tradition and pass it down to their generations. They
believe it is used to represent their values, believes, ideas, and rules. They also believe it is symbol of adulthood in their culture.
The
above reasons were used as a justification for female circumcision. However,
the questions we should be asking ourselves are that are these reasons good
enough for the pain and horrific experience these women go through. Should
women get circumcised to increase the sexual pleasure of men? This reason shows
that women are not treated equally as men. It shows that women are not as important as men. I see where the author is coming from when they
wrote the reasons why women should get circumcised in the literature piece; however I do not agree with
some of the reasons at all because they illustrates how unfairly women are
treated. They show that women do no have a say for themselves. For example, it is very unfair for the society to think women should
get circumcised for men. If anything, I think it should be a personal choice. Someone
who cares about justice will ask, why sex is one of the criteria used to
determine the qualification of female genital mutation? They may also ask if it is fair to compare make circumcision to female circumcision?
The scholarly
source approaches the issue differently because it explains the idea from the perspective
of a group of people and more than one culture while the web source shares the
experience of a family and culture.
Source:
Slack, Alison T. "Female Circumcision: A Critical Appraisal." JSTOR. The John Hopkins University Press, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/761916?seq=9>.
Slack, Alison T. "Female Circumcision: A Critical Appraisal." JSTOR. The John Hopkins University Press, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/761916?seq=9>.
