Analysis Of Richard Shweder's Female Genital Mutilation

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In the article by Richard A. Shweder, “Female Genital Mutilation”? And Why Understanding Culture Matters in the First Place”, the author emphasis female circumcision and the relationship to culture (Shweder, pg.1). The author is focusing on female circumcision however it can also be related as female genital mutilation (FGM) in other cultures. (Shweder, pg.1) Throughout this article, the author specifically focuses on the thought of the cultures which practice female circumcision (Shweder, pg.2). The author goes into depth referring to the research question, "is female circumcision really mutilation?" (Shweder, pg.6). The thesis developed through this article is that FGM is an extremely painless and admirable in several cultures (Shweder, …show more content…
Shweder believes that the ideas being brought from the Anti-FGM should be brought to attention by detail (Shweder, pg.218). According to Shweder, Obermeyer a medical anthropologist at Harvard’s University concluded that, “claims of the anti- FGM movement are highly exaggerated and may not match reality”(Shweder, pg.3). In much research that Obermeyer conducted, she discovered there is no evidence to cover Anti-FGM claims (Shweder, pg.3). According to Shweder,” she discovered that in most publications in which statements were made about the devastating effects of female circumcision no evidence was presented at all”(Shweder, pg.3). Shweder goes on to discuss how falsely the claims are of the Anti- FGM movement with many examples and evidence to support his thesis (Shweder, pg.1-pg.15). Presented by Shweder the Okeiek shows education, “she tells us, do not talk about circumcision in terms of the dampening of sexual pleasure or desire, but rather speak of it “in terms of cleanliness, beauty and adulthood (Shweder, pg.4). The author goes on to include that Somalia and Sudan in which women believe that altering their genitals actually improves their body making them,” feel more beautiful, feminine, civilized, and honorable”(Shweder, …show more content…
Another component of Shweder 's thesis is the aspect of tolerance, he believes that the practices in countries outside our own should be treated with respect and their perspectives should be taken into account when making assumptions about their lives (Shweder, pg.6). Shweder suggests that society should put their own beliefs aside and look at the evidence presented on the topic and practice tolerance when it comes to practices outside one 's comfort zone (Shweder, pg.6). The goal of Shweder 's article is to push society into questioning the Anti-FGM movement and look at the evidence surrounding the practice more closely in order to begin practicing tolerance towards female circumcision (Shweder,

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