Creating Spaces: Challenging Conventional Discursive Norms Surrounding the Marking of Women’s Bodies (2008)
This study is a Descriptive research regarding All FGM/C with the following characteristics:
Author(s): Courtney Smith
FGM/C Type(s): All
Health area of focus: None.
Objective: To examine the profound ways in which the female body is constructed
Study Population: Women and men
Findings: Aside from viewing female genital cutting as an inherited cultural tradition,the eighty Senegalese interviewees did not express a homogenous viewpoint regarding FGC. As the interviewees themselves vary in terms of where they live,levels of education,whether they are cut1 ,which ethnic identity they belong to,etc.: their responses to questions regarding FGC reflect this diversity. The opinions of the Senegalese men and women do tend to fall into three categories,or explanations of why FGC exists. These are: FGC as part of the passage to womanhood,FGC as a hygienic measure,and,finally,FGC for the protection of virginity. Along with these explanations,however,interviewees also express negative opinions regarding the practices. These opposing viewpoints are based on the decrease,or elimination,of female sexual pleasure,and the negative health consequences resulting from female genital cutting .Similar to the interview data collected in Senegal concerning female genital cutting discussed above,the American responses to FGC fall into categories. Unlike the Senegalese viewpoints,however,these categories are not based on the various rationales for FGC – Americans I spoke with are largely unaware of the reasoning behind the practices – but rather on their opinions about FGC in general. These responses from the sixty one interviews are distributed in three main camps that can be understood as
Geographical coverage
Region(s):Western Africa,North America
Country(ies):Senegal,United States