Female Circumcision

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Recommended: Ways in which sexuality is culturally constructed

How do you end a tradition that a culture has had around for centuries? Every culture has a different and original tradition. What happens though when the tradition is a horrible and painful one? Female Circumcision is a procedure that is a tradition to many cultures. The purpose of this procedure is to make women stay faithful to their husbands and not become promiscuous, as they get older. This procedure is not safe and has many side effects. Female Circumcision is a shocking procedure that cause women pain and suffering for the rest of their lives.

The first thing I did was, I conducted a survey with general questions relating to female circumcision. The point of this survey was to see how many people in Fresno, California knew anything about a female circumcision. The procedure is illegal in the United States and is only practiced in Africa with the exception of a few cities in Egypt. Therefore I assumed not very many people here in Fresno, California would know too much about it. My assumption was right. The results of my survey showed that out of 25 people only 14 people knew what female circumcision was. In spite of this, from some of the other questions I asked, I believe most of the people who claimed they knew what female circumcision was did not truly know. For example 9 people answered yes they knew where female circumcision took place but only 6 really did, and 5 said they knew what religion practice this procedure but really only 2 did. (Female Circumcision) These results informed me the best place to start is from the beginning.

The big difference between a female circumcision and a male circumcision is the different ways to perform the procedures. With men there is only one way to have the proc...

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... of Rights) Some people think that maybe these women are brainwashed to believe that this is a good thing. Nothing good comes from this procedure, and it is very painful.

A tradition is a tradition. Some of these women feel it is okay to undergo this procedure, and who are we to tell them otherwise? Other women are forced to go through with this, and those are the women we need to try and help.

Works Cited

Female Genital Cutting." Womenshealth.gov | 800-994-9662. The National Women's Health Information Center. Web. 15 June 2010. .

Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage Or Violation of Rights?" Guttmacher Institute: Home Page. Frances A. Althaus. Web. 15 June 2010. .

Heather Raymond. “Female Circumcision” Questionaire. Fresno: Heald, 2010.

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