FGM! NO WAY!

Tribal communities around the world find westernization as a threat to maintaining cultural value. When the world began to recognize FGM as a human rights violation, practicing communities spoke out in defense of the procedures.

For example, the men in an Egyptian village demonstrated against the states attempt to ban 'circumcision'. This country is conservative, religious and guided largely by traditions, even when those traditions do not adhere to the tenets of their faith, be it Christianity or Islam. For centuries Egyptian girls, usually between the ages of 7 and 13, have been taken to have the procedure done, sometimes by a doctor, sometimes by a barber or whoever else in the village would do it.

FMG is considered necessary here to preserve chastity and honor. The skeptical public must be convinced that men will marry a woman who has not undergone the procedure and that circumcision is not necessary to preserve family honor. It is a challenge to get men to give up some of their control over women.

Both sides have been heard, but the terminal health risks associated with this tradition has the world speaking out against it. Culture can be upheld without threatening the lives of the women who cherish their heritage just as much as their grandmothers and mothers have in the past.