The Atlantic By Olga Khazan

The article that I chose to write my essay on is the one from The Atlantic, written by Olga Khazan. Olga Khazan interviewed and discussed the misconceptions of female circumcision with an anthropology professor at the University of Washington by the name of Bettina Shell-Duncan, who has been studying the practice in many countries for years. In the beginning of the article, Olga examined how female circumcision is portrayed in the parts of the world that don't practice it. Olga inputs definitions from the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and includes Professor Shell-Duncan-s critiques of those definitions as derogatory and bias. Professor Shell-Duncan “suggests using the term “cutting” rather than “mutilation,” which sounds

One of the men state stat they needed more antibiotics for the weddings. At first the professor was stunned because she could not imagine what would go on in a wedding that needed antibiotics. It was later explained to her that the antibiotics were needed for the circumcisions. In the Rendille culture, weddings can take years and the first part of wedding ceremonies is the female circumcision of the bride. The purpose for the circumcision is to initiate the bride into womanhood and to be further accepted to the groom's family. Life as a women is hard everywhere, especially in African countries. Living in these societies is something not every women can do. So to ensure that girls of these tribes like the Rendille girls, they practice female circumcision so that the elder women of the tribe acknowledges that that girl can handle the hardships and sacrifices of being a woman and wife in such male cultures. It’s like how the Satere-Mawe Tribe of the Amazon allow the boys to be stung by bullet ants so that they can be

In my mind, by removing the clitoris, removes a woman's desire for pleasure and leaves her a sexual slave to her husband rather than the master of her own sexuality. Besides being sexist, I see it as very inhumane. Why take off a part that has a profound role in the body of a women? Addition, cutting of the clitoris causes many unhealthy medical conditions. There is no adequate reason to circumcise a female. However, after reading this article i have a different perspective on the matter. I realize that for male and female circumcisions, there are for cultural reasons. It's part of a culture, and even though other cultures might not understand it, does not make it inhumane or illegal. In many western cultures becoming a man or women does not involve pain. Here in America, becoming a man is getting a job and providing for himself and a potential family all by himself. Sae goes for females. To be a woman means that you are independent and self sustaining and both genders involve little pain to move on to the next step in life. Female circumcision serves a viable purpose and it depends on what your culture sis to really analyze the reason behind it, nevertheless it is an interesting part of many