Female Circumcision - Assignment Example

Female Circumcision Female circumcision is the partial or total cutting of the female genital organs. This is a common tradition that has been widely practiced in Africa. The practice is aiming at preparing girls to develop from childhood to womanhood especially just before marriage. 2. Female circumcision is a big deal and cannot be compared to male circumcision. Male circumcision is widely accepted since it draws healthy advantages such as hygiene. In addition to this male circumcision has greatly reduced the chances of HIV infection by quite a percentage.

However, female circumcision does not draw any positive advantage instead it is a practice that is dehumanizing and against the rights of human beings. Female circumcision is abusive and has a detrimental effect on the attitude and self-esteem for the females who practice it. 3. Patriarchy is a process or a system through which the males dominate and are in charge of social welfare of people within the society. For this reason, they are able to control the resources and set rules, norms and regulations that define a community.

Patriarchy has played a big role in female circumcision especially through the ritual norms that must be performed in order to assume acceptance as a member of a certain society or community. This is because the institutions of males have dominance over the privileges of the female hence insubordination.4. A lot of non-governmental organizations have teamed up to fight this practice. Groups like Maendeleo Ya Wanawake in Kenya have formed female groups which fight against this ritual. Most of the governments in Africa and Kenya to be precise have set rules that ban the practice terming it as child abuse.

Most of the governments in Africa have also set tight penalties for societies or communities that engage in this old ritual. It is indeed right for us Westerners to meddle in traditions and practices that have no positive effect on the lives of Africans. Female circumcision is an abusive act that dehumanizes the female gender and must be fought by all members of the world and not westerners only. 5. In my opinion there has never been and there will never be any good reason to perform female genital mutilation to the female gender because it does not add any value but instead only ruins the self-esteem and leads to a lot of side effects like hemorrhage and conception difficulties and even death resulting from over bleeding during the process (Francis Athlaus).

Works CitedFrancis Athlaus. "Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights?" Special Report (2009): 130-133.