Fgm's Just or Unjust?

FGM's Just or Unjust?

The question raised is whether Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) should be allowed in cultures around the world in which it is practiced. It is hard to determine the ethics on this subject because it is performed in a culture not similar to western views. To decide whether or not this practice is morally correct is not in the hands of a westerner but that of the people within these cultures. Excluding personal biased medical and moral reasoning, FGM's should be continued to be allowed in these cultures for a number of reasons.

At first glance, this practice seems to be cruel, unreasonable, and medically unsafe, yet after further analyzing the subject it is clear that our biased (western) views on morals and culture cannot be more correct than theirs. Who is to say that one culture is better than another? Before jumping on a particular side, one needs to consider that these cultures in which they practice FGM's have been around for thousands of years compared to our newborn culture here in the US. Simply because our military and economy are more powerful than another, does that really mean our culture is too? It is obvious that cultures do change with time, such as gay marriage in the US, but the reasoning behind this change is because of the people within. We as Americans (especially outside the Bible belt) are coming to realize that gays should not be considered a lower form of humans. They should have the same rights and equality as do the remaining citizens of the US. Just because our culture (which is based on religion to begin with) states that marriage should be between a man and a woman, does not mean that people with different lifestyles should not be equal. This kind of prejudice is all too similar to the era of abolitionists. In comparison between the present, with gay rights and post civil war African American rights, we can obviously see that culture is an evolutionary process.

It seems easier to side with the banishment of female circumcision because of our indoctrinated