Warrior Marks Essay -- essays research papers

Warrior Marks   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Female circumcision is a traditional ritual that is mostly practiced in Africa on young girls with ages that vary from birth to pre-pubescent. It is reported to have its origins (with varying degrees of reliability) in ancient Egypt. Female circumcision was also discovered being practiced in western India and eastern Asia until it was outlawed around the turn of the 20th century (common era). The procedure is varied through three different types of circumcision: Infibulation, clitoridectomy and Sunna. Clitoridectomy and Sunna are minor version of the circumcision with Infibulation being the most drastic. These practices cause serious health hazards in some women, which become greater in adult years with the introduction of menstruating, intercourse and childbirth. Clearly, there must be a powerful reason for this procedure to continue given the complications and mandatory repetitious post surgeries. Some accounting must be taken in order to understand why women are put in such peril. The answer lies in culture. A person's culture and background define the belief system and understanding that a person holds as innate truth. All choices and decisions are made because of culture and anything that is in direct opposition to culture affects the decision process and their beliefs. Other important elements to understanding the continuance of female circumcision are social and religious traditions, power/alienation relationships, and aesthetic tastes. Is this longstanding tradition necessary and if so are there ways to incorporate more conducive (sterile instruments, medically certified/experienced doctors, age limit, etc.) methods of performing the operation? However unnecessary an outsider may think the practice is, the irrevocable fact is that this tradition is an important element of cultural identity. If the operation somehow was not completed by a certain age in the girls life, she would be encouraged by her peers as well as her elders to seek out and request the circumcision. Different from most traditional practices in African, female circumcision is exclusively reserved for women’s presence and men are excluded from detailed knowledge of specific events. Females normally have these operations performed on them before or at puberty. It is common for the mother or other close relative usually holds the girl in pa... ...iciently abhorrent that we will actively work to change the behavior. I would recommend that the United Nations take a more practical stand on the issue and begin to put in place alternatives that will at the very least make the practice of female circumcision more sanitary. These organizations offer condoms to reduce the spread of aids and food resources to incite healthy eating habits so they should begin to train these countries to complete the practice in exact medical form. This does no mean that the United Nations or any other organization agrees with the practice, it simply means that positive efforts are being made towards reducing unnecessary after effects. We will never be able to address whether or not the process is necessary because we do not understand the culture. However, we can make it better. Everyone in America does not agree with abortion, which could be considered female genital mutilation, however the choice to have the procedure done is available and it is available under medically trained doctors that are focused on keeping the patient safe. The patients of female circumcision should also have these options available. To understand does not mean to condone.