Genital Cutting Advocated By American Academy Of Pediatrics

http://jezebel.com/5532683/genital-cutting-advocated-by-american-academy-of-pediatrics

Our own American pediatricians think we shouldn't call it "mutilation." They're even willing to appease the idea that a female's clitoris is not appealing or acceptable in it's natural state, by performing "ritual cutting," because it's safer if they just get 'knicked.'

My African Studies teacher wants to know "why is it, that Western women are so concerned with African women's bodies?" because, you know, we are all mutilated with piercings, tattoos and the idea that we need to have cosmetic surgery to change our own bodies.

Anyone who attended the FGM conference that we held with OSU Somalian women last spring would know why mutilation is an appropriate term for female circumcision. We've seen the pictures and heard the stories from those who have experienced it. We've heard what kind of circumstances make this so entirely different than the decisions impressed upon Western women to change their bodies.

No, Western women have not achieved perfect equality. But what kind of women would we be if we didn't use the freedoms we DO have for the purpose of liberating others? I have priorities, and I'm tired of being told that they're in the wrong place. If we want to work for women's rights, we need to do so where they are the most desperately needed, not where they are the most convenient.




Has anyone else been challenged as far as why they are feminists, or activists for any reason?