Women as Agents of Change: Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention in Kenya

Njoroge, Kezia; Cattan, Mima; Chinouya, Martha; Ahlberg, Beth Maina

doi:10.1007/s12119-021-09932-8

Cited by 1 publication

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“…If the ideal man is aggressive, subjecting boys to aggressive behavior by men is a vivid demonstration of that ideal" (Schlegel and Barry, 2017) (p. 15). Domineering behavior is a common feature of such rites; similar observations have been made of the male initiation practices among the Kikuyu of Kenya (Njoroge et al, 2022), for example, or among various ethnic groups in Papua New Guinea . In these and other MGC-practicing societies, young boys who fail to live up to the demands of "real man" masculinity often face bullying and harassment from older males to prove their manliness-a necessary component of which is surviving the MGC ritual (see Box 3).…”

Section: An Alternative Approachsupporting

confidence: 54%

Genital Cutting as Gender Oppression: Time to Revisit the WHO Paradigm

Earp

2022

Front. Hum. Dyn.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) condemns all medically unnecessary female genital cutting (FGC) that is primarily associated with people of color and the Global South, claiming that such FGC violates the human right to bodily integrity regardless of harm-level, degree of medicalization, or consent. However, the WHO does not condemn medically unnecessary FGC that is primarily associated with Western culture, such as elective labiaplasty or genital piercing, even when performed by non-medical practitioners (e.g., body artists) or on adolescent girls. Nor does it campaign against any form of medically unnecessary intersex genital cutting (IGC) or male genital cutting (MGC), including forms that are non-consensual or comparably harmful to some types of FGC. These and other apparent inconsistencies risk undermining the perceived authority of the WHO to pronounce on human rights. This paper considers whether the WHO could justify its selective condemnation of non-Western-associated FGC by appealing to the distinctive role of such practices in upholding patriarchal gender systems and furthering sex-based discrimination against women and girls. The paper argues that such a justification would not succeed. To the contrary, dismantling patriarchal power structures and reducing sex-based discrimination in FGC-practicing societies requires principled opposition to medically unnecessary, non-consensual genital cutting of all vulnerable persons, including insufficiently autonomous children, irrespective of their sex traits or socially assigned gender. This conclusion is based, in part, on an assessment of the overlapping and often mutually reinforcing roles of different types of child genital cutting—FGC, MGC, and IGC—in reproducing oppressive gender systems. These systems, in turn, tend to subordinate women and girls as well as non-dominant males and sexual and gender minorities. The selective efforts of the WHO to eliminate only non-Western-associated FGC exposes the organization to credible accusations of racism and cultural imperialism and paradoxically undermines its own stated goals: namely, securing the long-term interests and equal rights of women and girls in FGC-practicing societies.

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Section: An Alternative Approachsupporting

confidence: 54%

Genital Cutting as Gender Oppression: Time to Revisit the WHO Paradigm

Earp

2022

Front. Hum. Dyn.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Women as Agents of Change: Male Circumcision and HIV Prevention in Kenya

Cited by 1 publication

References 17 publications

Genital Cutting as Gender Oppression: Time to Revisit the WHO Paradigm

Genital Cutting as Gender Oppression: Time to Revisit the WHO Paradigm

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