The outpouring of western concern over the issue of female circumcision offers a case study in how well-intentional efforts of Americans to improve the lot of oppressed people elsewhere in the world can have precisely the opposite effect. In at least some societies targeted, the practice has increased. This book suggests that to end the widespread practice of female circumcision as quickly as possible, the present approach of protest and challenge should go beyond arousing indignation. This approach only creates a siege mentality in societies where female circumcision is still practiced. The feeling that "they are attacking our way of life" has led to communal regrouping as well as a renewed determination that no young female should escape the blade.

Beginning with a critique of Alice Walker's novel, Possessing the Secret of Joy, which epitomizes the method of indignation, the book employs in-depth anthropological study to decipher the cultural logic responsible for female circumcision. It corrects certain anthropological distortions in popular literature about this practice, especially the perception that circumcision is meant to reduce a woman's pleasure in hopes of reducing the possibility of promiscuity. The study suggests that in fact the practice continues because the traditional culture identifies procreation as the measurement of self-worth and links fertility with circumcision.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
EMMANUEAL BABATUNDE is the director of the honors program at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, where he teaches anthropology.

CATEGORY
Women's Studies, Cultural Studies/AFRICA