I am absolutely fascinated with the intersection of culture, race/ethnicity, religion and gender.
I wrote a paper last semester for my global health class about something that is a global health issue, and of course I chose something involving women in the world, female genital mutilation.
Like most, I was staunchly against the practice and to me, it is still a heinous crime against vaginas everywhere. This article really gives a different perspective, and I ended up centering my paper around how medical practices in the western world can be borderline cultural imperialism. That is, impressing our beliefs and values onto other cultures as "right" or "moral".
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/a-new-debate-on-female-circumcision/?_r=0
What is ya'll's take on this? I believe this whole world is grey, nothing is black and white. It's beautiful that way. Is this just one of those things that really is black and white, right or wrong?
I think criticizing other cultures is really tricky. Unless these African women tell us that the circumcision is oppressing them, who are we to try to make them stop it even if it does sound absolutely dreadful. I think the best way for women to help women in other cultures is to get to know them and learn from them if and how they are being oppressed.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's the interesting thing too, adding onto Ebony's comment, can't people be oppressed without knowing they're being oppressed? I guess yeah, that is what makes this work so tricky. Nothing is black and white, and I am not completely sure, but I think this ties into the idea of essentialism? Or maybe just cultural imperialism. I've definitely been conflicted on these issues, and I guess that's what the third wave feminists are working towards, trying to be aware of and respectful of women's issues or non-issues world-wide.
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