The International Crime of Female Genital Mutilation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"The International Crime of Female Genital Mutilation," (1979) is a news article by Gloria Steinem on female genital mutilation published in the March 1979 issue of Ms..
The article reported on the "75 million women suffering with the results of genital mutilation."
According to Steinem, "The real reasons for genital mutilation can only be understood in the context of the patriarchy: men must control women's bodies as the means of production, and thus repress the independent power of women's sexuality."
Steinem's article contains the basic arguments that would later be developed by philosopher Martha Nussbaum.
On male circumcision, she commented, "These patriarchal controls limit men's sexuality too ... That's why men are asked symbolically to submit the sexual part of themselves and their sons to patriarchal authority, which seems to be the origin of male circumcision, a practice that, even as advocates admit, is medically unnecessary 90% of the time. Speaking for myself, I stand with many brothers in eliminating that practice too."