would you consider the practice of female genital mutilation as a sexual deviance or cultural relativism? Why?

Answer 1

Cultural Relativism......I am an OB/GYN nurse and have seen quite a few women who are from cultures that this is the Norm. They however will not take their children (female) back to their home countries because they do not believe it to be a safe practice even though it is part of their heritage. It causes quite a few health issues regarding infections, such as Pelvic Inflammatory disease (PID)...etc..... It is not advisable to undergo these procedures and the women of the 21st Century are very aware of the problems that come with it. Any other reason than cultural is deviant I would have to say. Piercings wouldn't be considered mutilation...I am talking about female circumcision in the above instances.

Answer 2

I think it's an extreme case of male dominance. If females in a culture accept being mutilated, it's because the repercussions of not submitting are severe. And doesn't anyone here know that cultural relativism is not a term describing an act, it describes an attitude? The only way you can use that term in this case would be to say that "acceptance of the practice of female genital mutilation by people of other cultures is due to their attitude of cultural relativism." It is a belief that cultures cannot be judged from outside because attitudes are relative to the culture itself, only. I don't believe this, myself. Some things are just wrong or right for human beings, no matter what they've been taught to believe.

Answer 3

It's not only a sexual deviance, it's a torture for these women! The mutilation usually is practiced without any kind of anesthesia, without any adherence of hygienic standards, nor surgery device! I saw a documentary film about a genital mutilation in Africa, there an old woman used a piece of broken glass to remove the labia's and the clit of a little girl!
This girls are traumatized for the rest of their live and get no chance to enjoy sex and in my opinion there is no justification for this cruel ritual!

Answer 4

It may be cultural relativism more than deviance. Because although it is generally enforced in patriarchal societies, some women submit willingly to the practice, or teach their daughters to submit based on cultural beliefs.

Answer 5

it's not my culture. who am I to judge what histories and circumstances have created in such far away places? here in the west we circumcise males; that's a form of genital mutilation. plus we practice all kinds of other forms of mutilation from tatooing, piercing and branding to cutting, bulemia, and anorexia. women wear high heels and men tie a noose around their necks. California is full of poor sad people who mutilate themselves with surgeries, implants, and botox, and they do it all because they have been convinced that the way they were made by God is inadequate or insufficient. in some ways I think that is more disturbing than trimming off excess, which is I suppose a part of how female mutilation is percieved in the Sudan or Eritrea.
all I can tell you is that I wouldn't do any of that stuff to myself or my children.

Answer 6

I consider it to be cultural deviance. I also consider requiring women to cover themselves from head to toe to be cultural deviance, but that is just my own ideosyncratic opinion.

Answer 7

Cultural relativism. It is deviant in our culture, but is normal and expected in some other cultures. I, personally, find it a barbaric and objectionable practice, but I was not raised in a culture that accepts it.

Answer 8

I would say it can be both. In Camroon for example young girls are scarred with really hot stones that are pressed against their chest. THis is for deiance and its also part of their culture. THey have been doing this practice for hundreds of years.

Answer 9

Both. It occurs in both situations. I believe some sects of islam circumcise women, and some women are masochists.