Greetings, Jane, I have to agree with you here, and I feel inthis
case, I may have inadvertently fallen into that trap. As I said in
another message, I've modified my views on this issue significantly
since first becoming aware if its existence.
Ginny
On 12/6/06, Jane Warner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I am so glad to read this forward. I am so sick and tired of hearing us
> in the west telling those in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere what is
> good for them -- across the spectrum, from political to sexual. And it is
> especially preposterous for Americans to be counseling the backwards
> people of Africa about sexuality. Watch a little TV if you doubt what a
> spectacularly bad job American culture does with sexuality and relations
> between the sexes.
>
> Jane Warner-Tholley
>
> *^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
>
> Jane Zainab Warner-Tholley
> University of Washington
> Seattle, Washington
>
> *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>
> On Sat, 2 Dec 2006, Ylva Hernlund wrote:
>
> > Due to a lack of time, I have not been participating in the latest female
> circumcision debate (although I am of course always willing to reply to
> direct inquiries regarding my book). Fuambai Ahmadu, who has written the
> definitive work on Gambian FGC, asked me to forward this to the list
> (perhaps the list managers can look into why she can't post, although she is
> surscribed).
> > Best always, Ylva
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 00:37:27 +0000
> > From: fuambai ahmadu <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Posting for the Gambia list
> >
> >
> > Ylva,
> >
> > I wrote this last week after following some of the "Sabuni/FGM"
> > discussion on the Gambia list. I tried to post it but it came back to me
> > twice. I was wondering you could to it for me and sign my name. All the
> best,
> > FA
> >
> >
> >
> > Subject: Sabuni and FGM
> >
> > Just to interject for a moment here (in response to "Ginny Quick" and
> > other comments on Sabuni and "FGM"). As a scholar of African female and
> male
> > inititaion/ritual genital
> > modifications as well as a woman who has been personally "subjected" to
> > the practice, I have to say that not all circumcised women accept for one
> > second much of the exaggerated and sensationalized media claims and
> > activist literature about the "harmfulness" of "FGM". Moreover, there
> > are significant studies that challenge the view that female circumcision
> > automatically hinders or diminishes female sexuality (the forthcoming
> > edited volume by Hernlund and Shell-Duncan, for example). The current
> > biomedical evidence on various sources and experiences of female
> > orgasms (as well as on the extensive structure of the clitoris itself,
> > which is mostly hidden below the vaginal surface and remains untouched
> > after excision or clitoridectomy) support the bulk of anecdotal evidence
> > of circumcised women who report experiencing sexual pleasure and
> > orgasms. "Education" must flow both ways. Nonpractitioners
> > - particularly anti-"FGM" activists, both liberal and conservative
> > politicians and policy-makers in Western countries as well as various
> > strands of Westerns feminists - have much to learn about the cultural,
> > symbolic and aesthetic values of women who come from practising
> > societies, especially the latter's views about womanhood and women's
> > power and status in their own cultures. Millions of African women who
> > uphold female circumcision may not be literate or "educated" in a western
> > sense, but they do have their own ideas about the merits of excsion to
> > women's cleanliness and hygiene (much of the same arguments are made
> > about male circumcision) and do not necessarily require books or Western
> > women to tell them "how their bodies work". Despite Western media
> > representations, in many of these cultures, the experience of sexual
> > pleasure is considered a woman's right in marriage, as much as a man's;
> > and, for hundreds, if not thousands of years, African grandmothers have
> > used indigenous women's initiation networks to teach matters of sex,
> > sexuality, sexual hygiene, among other things, across generations of
> > women. What is sorely needed (albeit, perhaps too idealistic) is honest
> > cross-cultural/transnational exchange and dialogue among women as equals,
> > circumcised and uncircumcised, to see what we can learn from one another,
> > rather than the current situation of imposing the dominant cultural
> > values and aesthetics of women in Western countries over those of
> > circumcised African women who come from poor, geopolitically
> > marginalized countries. Ethnic orgin and socioeconomic status aside, how
> > morally different is African women's "FGM" from Western women's more
> > euphemistically termed "designer vaginas"? Perhaps we - that is,
> > Western(ized) women - need to put away cultural arrogance and hypocrisy
> > and engage African women in international efforts to improve women's
> > autonomy and empowerment in all parts of the world, including the west.
> >
> > Fuambai Sia Ahmadu
> >
> >
> >
> ________________________________________________________________________________
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Visit my blog at: http://quickgm28.blogs.com/ginnys_thoughts_and_thing/
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