female circumcision

is, for alleged victims, in fact a form of symbolic capital, allowing them to gain access to custom, community, virtue, and morality.

Rites we see as horribly demeaning are a form of symbolic capital to alleged victims, gaining them access to custom, community, virtue, and morality. (432)

is, for many African women, a means whereby the limitations of ascribed inferiority are overcome and where one might assert her value.

However, for many African women, FC and its attendant meanings 'are means whereby the limitations of ascribed inferiority are overcome . . . they use, perhaps unconsciously, perhaps strategically, what we in the West might prefer to consider instruments of their oppression as means to assert their value' (Boddy 1989, p. 345... see also Omorodion 1991, Skinner 1988). (432)

is less about enhancing male sexual pleasure, as is commonly averred, and more about preparing a woman for motherhood by retaining her inner, fertile moisture.

The rite is less about enhancing male sexual pleasure, as is commonly averred, and more about preparing a woman for motherhood by retaining her inner, fertile moisture. (429)

is not always reflective of a lack of power and control, but in some instances, it gives local women a sense of control so that they can become socially relevant actors in a highly gendered world.

For critics, FC betokens a lack of power and control. But some instances of FC give local women a sense of control so that they can become socially relevant actors in a highly gendered world (Abusharaf 2001, Kratz 1994). (432)

is often opposed by westerners on the western chauvinistic grounds and a type of moral manifest destiny that sees african and islamic cultures as oppressive and insane.

African and Muslim cultures are oppressive and insane... Western culture is ennobling and free. They are enslaved to an evil, irrational tradition... we transcend tradition through rationality. They subsume individuality within the collectivity... we applaud the person who stands above the crowd. Therefore, as a consequence of a type of moral manifest destiny, we must change them. (432)

is painful, but women who undergo the rite may attribute significant social meanings to their ability to endure it. The pain is something to be endured, not avoided, because it fostered positive transformations of the self.

Although FC rites are often painful, Walley (1997, p. 422) pointed out that women who undergo the rite may attribute significant social meanings to their ability to endure it. We may shudder at the thought of FC, but they viewed the pain as something to be endured, not avoided, because it fostered positive transformations of the self (Johnson 2000 (432)

is reflective of confinement within a village. This bodily enclosure also 'sews' a woman into an agnatic group so that, later, she is opened by her husband.

Women enclose their genitals through excision and infibulation. The female rite thus corresponds to confinement within the village. This bodily enclosure also 'sews' a woman into an agnatic group so that, later, she is opened by her husband (Talle 1993). (429)

is required because women develop less reason than men, and so are more prone to carnal desires.

Another localized explanation for FC is that women develop less reason than men, and so are more prone to carnal desires. FC constrains woman's sexuality, which is sometimes associated with the wild bush (Beidelman 1965... Muller 1993, 2002 for 'pseudoexcision'). (429)

female circumcision, n.Definitions

female circumcision