What are the rights of families from other countries where it was their culture/religion to cicumcise their daughters and still want their daughters circumcised whilst living in a Western Society? Are there any cases where this is being done or seeing the results of illegal surgery being done?

-- Ann Wheeler (wheelsthree@hotmail.com), June 13, 2004

Answers

Western countries have reacted to the issue with a variety of legal responses. It is now illegal in the United States to perform genital alteration on female minors, no matter how minimal the surgery or how safe and sanitary the procedure. While state and federal laws are on the books in the United States, there have been no prosecutions thus far. France is the country that has most energetically cracked down, with at least twenty-five prosecutions. Having no specific legislation outlawing female genital mutilation , successful prosecutions have been brought under existing laws. On the other hand, newborn male genital alteration (circumcision) is an accepted procedure in the U.S. Although there is some controversy over this practice, for most of us it is a familiar part of life in the U.S. In the term "female genital mutilation," ( officially adopted by the World Health Organization, ) Mutilation implies removal alteration or destruction, without medical necessity, then logically it should also include routine male circumcision as well. The term has no regard for the meanings of female genital alteration in the cultures in which it is practiced, in which not to be circumcised is to look weird and be an outcast. Why is one procedure criminalize and not the other? This too, was confusing to many of the Somali refugees in Seattle, who were told that the hospital would gladly circumcise their boys, but not their girls. In 1996, physicians at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle decided to provide a compromise acceptable to their Somali immigrants and proposed a small "genital nick" in place of traditional genital alteration. postmaster@culturediversity.org), October 23, 2004.

In response to the second part of your question read the following... The Gwinnett Daily Post archives http://www.gwinnettdailyonline.com

Raises some interesting issues ...

-- victor (postmaster@culturediversity.org), October 30, 2004.