History of popular Europe is replete with such practices but today they are not there and if you find some residuals of them they have lost their original values.
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D
Professor of Philosophy
Adekunle Ajasin University
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State
Nigeria
Cellphone: 08033041371
08024670952
What guarantee do you have that these practices will go away once these countries have "developed"? And, what is that magic level of development at which these practices will miraculously disappear? And when would we know if that level of development has been achieved? By the way, if it is true that "[w]hen the countries of Africa start developing economically and industrially, ossified beliefs, old dictums, traditions, assumptions, and conventions will give way to new ideas and practices," then why is it that many generations of Africans living in Europe and North America (highly developed societies by any measure) still practice, albeit illegally, these barbaric customs, which include, of course, FGM?Finally, in the meantime, and that is, until these countries become developed economically and industrially, what happens to the lives of the thousands of girls who must be subjected to this humiliating and unnecessary practices? Should we allow them to continue to suffer in the name of gradualism? If something is wrong, it should be stopped. We should not grant deference to the practitioners in order to allow for them or their offspring to achieve a level of development that, hopefully, will allow them to voluntarily give up their destructive practices.By the way, the fact that some people refer to the practice as clitoridectomy (instead of FGM) should have absolutely no impact on the desire of Africans to fight and eliminate the practice.--On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunlakaiye@hotmail.com> wrote:Another point is that change is a natural, evolutionary process (Darwinian law) that must come. Whether we clamour for it or not some of these anachronistic and 'perverse' practices will become obsolete and without people necessarily demanding the change - Ofure Aito.Thank you my sister. When the countries of Africa start developing economically and industrially, ossified beliefs, old dictums, traditions, assumptions, and conventions will give way to new ideas and practices. We don't need the Evil Samaritans to come to us with their NGO money to tell us which of our problems should be prioritised. On December 14,1981, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 36/133 declared that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development, etc. are human rights but the Satanic Samaritans opposed it. If that resolution was accepted and implemented, FGM, among other things, would have disappeared long time ago.However, the practice of FGM is diminishing in Africa without the pointing of fingers from those who name their own FGM, CLITORIDECTOMY.> Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 23:57:34 -0700
> From: ofureaito@gmail.com
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - RE: Tireless campaigner against FGM dies in London
>> May I add my voice by sharing my experience on FGM conversation. First, I understand the position of Mr/Dr/Prof Kadiri and Samuel as well as Prof Mbaku's strong opposing position. I was genitally mutilated in what is called 'circumcision' at age 5 along with my elder sister at age 8. I recall a middle aged woman coming to our house one late afternoon and asking my mum to buy her new razors. Thereafter, my sister was taken to the bathroom. When she returned she walked astride. I worried and was transfixed by the way she walked after a simple visit to the bathroom. I didn't understand what was happening but within me I said I will not go to the bathroom. So I went to our room and hid under the bed, in fear and rejection of walking like my sister. My father came to lure me out to the bathroom where I was given my 'skin cut' and walked like my sister. When I returned to the living room I overheard our neighbor's son in our house explaining to my brother the reason why were walking like that was because we had just been circumcised. The point in this recall is that, I was born in the city and grew in the city, yet my parents felt it was necessary, even when I was already conscious of my environment. My parents never explained. My understanding came from what the neighbour said.
> I do not subscribe to fgm or circumcision, but I wonder how much damage that has cost women in African societies since the 60s to date in terms of diseases and sexual deprivation? Our arguments usually take cue from western prompting. The symbolic sexual control it is expected to pose has not limited women's potentials in so many areas of self achievements and actualization (even in the precolonial that the practice was strongest and a thing of pride, women were leaders, partake in policy making, decision makers at home, during war and peace). Even promiscuity has never been affected or controlled, because in my growing up days we hear about women: married or single, who were described as 'wayward', putting it mildly. It has not stagnated women and their identity, sexuality and sensuality.
> From my experience, the change in the 21st century like Prof Mbaku clamour for is subjective and dependent on individual choices. My parents did not choose to do what they did until we were almost in our teens.
> I stand on the argument that it is a societal tradition, not culture that may have outlived its implication, especially, in the age of technological consciousness. The interpretation and practice are subjective but the age-old view is to control women's sexual power and identity vis-a-viz male dominance. Has this actually been the case. Another point is that change is a natural, evolutionary process (Darwinian law) that must come. Whether, we clamour for it or not some of these anachronistic and 'perverse' practices will become obsolete and without people necessarily demanding the change. Even the culture of piercing and tattooing in the west as fad is fading.
> And I do agree with Samuel that until the west has given a name and approval, Africa does not come up with her on opinionated view. For instance, the issue breastfeeding in the 70s was disdained by the west in order to sell baby formular and now, exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months is ideal. Africa is the dump site of various ideological tests and we Africans do not see anything good done in, by or come out of Africa.
> Ofure
>
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--JOHN MUKUM MBAKU, ESQ.
J.D. (Law), Ph.D. (Economics)
Graduate Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law
Nonresident Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
Attorney & Counselor at Law (Licensed in Utah)
Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor of Economics & Willard L. Eccles Professor of Economics and John S. Hinckley Fellow
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