Female Circumcision in Africa: Procedures, Rationales, Solutions, and the Road to Recovery

In this article, the author argues that the continued practice of female genital cutting (FGC) in Africa is a mode of expressing identity and cultural difference. She notes that African women are deeply suspicious of Western interference in African culture. The author then examines various justifications for FGC and finds that the internal rationale for the practice is linked to suppressing women's sexuality or depicting women's sexuality as monstrous or dirty. She theorizes, however, that Eurocentric intervention simply cements the practice and that an Afrocentric resistance, which gives full voice to the colonial concerns of African women, should be developed. [Reproductive Rights - Female Genital Cutting, International - Africa]