The American Academy of Pediatrics has suggested a new way to fight female genital mutilation in the United States: Allow doctors to give girls a “nick” down there. In a policy statement titled “Ritual Genital Cutting of Female Minors,” the Academy suggests that allowing such a ritual could serve as a way to “build trust” with immigrant families and prevent parents from sending their girls overseas for far more extensive, and potentially life-threatening, procedures. It’s a “possible compromise to avoid greater harm,” the statement says.
As you might imagine, the Academy’s endorsement of a ritualistic “nick” has not gone over well. PZ Myers of Pharyngula mockingly wrote: “We’ll just mutilate baby girls a little bit, to make the misogynist patriarchal assholes happy.” Taking a similar tack, Shakesville’s Melissa McEwan turned up the snark real loud: “Girls get only a little heinous physical and psychological trauma, and their guardians get to practice their violent misogyny, just in a slightly less violent way. Yay for compromise!” I had a similar reaction. I mean, I even disagree with male circumcision (at least when there’s a total absence of personal choice in the matter).
Doctors defend genital “nick” for girls – Broadsheet – Salon.com.
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- “Ritual Genital Cutting Of Female Minors” (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
- American Academy of Pediatrics Endorses a Kinder, Gentler Form of Female Genital Mutilation (slog.thestranger.com)
- Group Backs Ritual ‘Nick’ as Female Circumcision Option (nytimes.com)
- Cultural Tolerance (stoopidnoodle.wordpress.com)
The AAP seems to have an agenda. Last year the CDC announced that it was working on a policy about male infant circumcision. Now AAP is trying to say not all genital cutting is bad. I see a pattern here. Maybe the economy is hitting doctors and hospitals and they are trying to create some business by recommending that we cut the genitals of more babies and children. Just thinking.