Debating FGM (4)

Female Genital Mutilation is a human rights violation that cannot be justified in the name of culture. I beg to differ that celebrating African womanhood entails continuing to perpetuate practices that are used to subjugate women. Celebrating African womanhood means that we should embrace wholeheartedly African cultural norms that uplift women and they are many, but at the same time, we cannot defend human rights violations using the tool of culture.

FGM violates a woman's womanhood, the very essence, the very vital part of her that makes her a woman. If we African women continue to think in these terms, whom do we expect to defend and advocate for our rights? It is tragic to hear such sentiments supporting FGM echoed by one who is obviously learned. Culture is a constantly evolving and changing thing and is actually determined by the people who practice it. For instance, wife inheritance was the norm in many societies but with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, societal norms have had to take cognisance of this and the practice is slowly dying away. Therefore to advocate for a practice like FGM in any of its forms given the attendant medical complications is quite unrealistic.

There are many alternative ways of passing education about being a woman to our children without resorting to mutilating them. Which form if any of FGM serves a purpose except to subjugate a woman's sexuality? The practices and norms that shape the rubric of a people's interaction are their culture. Culture evolves as society evolves. We have come too far in striving for the rights of African women to allow sentiments such as those advocating for FGM to drag us back.