A great day for women in Egypt!

[Butterscotch]

.

[yolland]

Most of my awareness of FGM comes out of an academic context--international human rights law articles, documentaries seen in Women's Studies courses I took as an undergrad, reports from organizations like Amnesty and UNICEF and WHO, and serving as a proofreader for a colleague of mine who specializes in Ethiopian women's issues and has been directly involved in campaigns on the ground against FGM there. That does 'bias' me towards a certain approach to the issue, and a focus on the history of strategic attempts to address it and what their results have been like. I'm not personally involved in lending direct practical support to any anti-FGM campaigns on the ground in Africa right now. If you are, that's wonderful, and I'd like to hear about it, but if you're not, then you're just as guilty of "sitting around" on it as I am, and in my book at least, you don't get any moral extra credit for getting more emotionally agitated about it while "sitting around," any more than I do for having read a bit of scholarly literature on it while "sitting around". That's a question of personality, not moral caliber, and it's pointless coming to blows over it or trying to argue for the innate superiority of one type of reaction over the other.

[Butterscotch]

I guess what it comes down to for me is, it really doesn't matter what they did and why and for how long, the only thing is it needs to stop, because it's brutal, abusive and wrong, and Egypt has made the right decision

[Vincent Vega]

Originally posted by Butterscotch


Thank you Martha. I expected more outrage too. There's no excuse to allow this to continue, or to condone it with any kind of 'understanding', especially when it all amounts to abuse of and discrimination against women and girls.

You're right, if you wait to 'educate' it out of them, it will take generations, possibly never. Someone has to say ENOUGH and stop it now and ask questions later.

And how, for God's sake, should they stop it by now?

You can't just stomp your feet on the ground and expect everyone to act accordingly.

[butter7]

Originally posted by Vincent Vega


And how, for God's sake, should they stop it by now?

You can't just stomp your feet on the ground and expect everyone to act accordingly.

Actually...it really depends on how strict the law is.

I mean... if anyone who has done this, the adult of the whole family went to jail for a live time (don't even have to have death sentence here), I guess it would stop very soon....

[Vincent Vega]

But we are talking of remote areas with tribal structures here.
The step to make the procedure illegal is an important step, of course. But those countries don't have the structure, and often not even the will, to go after it.
The procedure itself would go on, the just would hide it better.
If you get the people to realize that this is not the right thing to do, they will stop doing it, which in the long-run will be far more effective.

[butter7]

Originally posted by Vincent Vega
But we are talking of remote areas with tribal structures here.
The step to make the procedure illegal is an important step, of course. But those countries don't have the structure, and often not even the will, to go after it.
The procedure itself would go on, the just would hide it better.
If you get the people to realize that this is not the right thing to do, they will stop doing it, which in the long-run will be far more effective.

How long would it take for most of the western countries to realise that homosexual is natrual?

Or, we couldn't even got this one sort out in this forum wide?

This time, this issue wouldn't be any easier than the homosexual right movement.

Education = carrot

Legal punishment = stick

For the most effective result, we need both.

[AnnRKeyintheUSA]

You could explain the cultural reasons for doing a lot of terrible things in this world, does that solve anything? The only solution is to stop it. You're never going to change anyone's mind.