What Is Female Genital Simulation?

If you’re in my history class you would know that I read an article Mrs Olsen stuck up on the wall about Umhlanaga, also known as the reed dance. This is an traditional event that is performed by people of the Swazi and Zulu culture. And after reading this article I was outraged at how sexist the whole ceremony was and how ridiculous it was that these young women were dancing around almost naked to try and impress an old man getting chosen as a queen based off of their appearance and how well they could seduce this aging king.
And then I stopped myself.
Who am I – a privileged, western white girl to say what is right or wrong. Who am I to criticize their culture and what gives me the right to look down upon their traditions.
And so I started thinking. What actually happens when cultural rites and human rights conflict- which side do we support, which side does the international community take? And I realized that before I make such offensive judgements I actually need to get my information correct first and look at everything critically. …show more content…
And I chose to research Female Genital Mutilation.
Female genital mutilation is seen as a violation of human rights by the United Nations. It is defined as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical purposes. Between 100 and 140 million women in the world have already been exposed to this, and it is a practice that is increasing in