Over in the WoBioBlog, Sabrina posted an entry about female and male circumcision. Seems there is a vocal debate going on right now, based on several other blog entries elsewhere about the American Anthropological Association’s yearly meeting, where “third wave” (or subaltern) academics, including female anthropologists from Africa who voluntarily chose female circumcision as adults, spoke for the first time about the debate.
Sabrina and I are having a fun discussion in the commentary, but the links themselves are interesting and worth reading. Sometimes it can be hard to remember, as an academic, that there are multiple sides to every story. The anti-FGM crowd is very vocal in America, and to be perfectly honest, it never occurred to me that there might be a differing side with calm opinions. Sometimes you’re so high up in that ivory tower, you get lost among the clouds – forget about seeing the forest, you can’t even see the ground.
[cross-posted to the Medical Humanities blog]