SS+FGC+neg+-+Solvency+FL

Joe De **__Capua__**, staffwriter for VOA News, **__8/3__**/07, http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2007-08-03-voa43.cfm “__Essentially because female genital mutilation and cutting have been justified on the basis of religion and culture__. So it was agreed by participants that __the onus of fighting this scourge would fall heavily on those leaders, who allow the use of culture and religion to justify the continuation of the practice__. It cuts across religion…. It’s not only about Muslims or Jews or orthodox Christians. It’s practiced across all these religions,” he says.
 * 1) Their own** **Crawley** **card says that despite education, girls do it out of fear. Plan can’t solve.**
 * 2) No Solvency- In order to prevent fgc from being practiced- cultural leaders must be involved.**

Nadine **__Hoffman__**, director of the Leadership Council for Human Rights, __7/11__/07, July 11, 20**__07__**, “Unveiled Gender Bias,” http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070711/EDITORIAL/107110010&template=nextpage. All of the women and girls in Gula's village are circumcised, as required by custom. __The tradition__ (widely referred to as female genital mutilation or FGM in the human rights community) __is so adamantly observed that an uncircumcised female "cannot even accept a glass of water__," one woman explains. __The myriad health concerns related to FGM are not taken into account.__
 * 3) Africans are aware of the health effects of FGC now, but they continue to practice it.**


 * 4) Programs like the ones the plan funds will never work because they do not attempt to preserve African tradition**
 * __Wallace Global Fund__**, **__2k__**. http://www.wgf.org/publications/reports/2000/paper_fgm.pdf

Never has there been so much interest from so many levels of African society on so private an issue. __Programs to eradicate **FGM** seek ultimately to change the very fabric of African social tradition. If these programs are to succeed, they must be implemented by Africans__ and in Africa where the tradition started. Additionally__, they must be designed with acute sensitivity, so as to eliminate harmful practices //without// disrupting the many rich and beneficial traditions that are often part of the ritual practice.__
 * __Solvency Frontline__**


 * 5) The only way the plan can solve is if the women are given opportunities to work**
 * __Al-Ahram Weekly__**, June 5, 20**__03__**, Issue No. 643 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/643/eg3.htm

Nahid Toubia, president of RAINBOW (Research, Action and Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women), is a Sudanese physician whose research has become a standard for understanding FGM. __After wondering for years why some women themselves defend the practice -- flying in the face of health risks,__ prohibitive laws, and even religious leaders' advice __-- she came to the conclusion that women who insist on practicing FGM, do so because it is their only means of obtaining acceptability and material gain through marriage, in a patriarchal social setting.__ According to Toubia, __while adopting prohibitive laws, women in FGM practicing communities must be given benefits that will compensate for not complying with social norms. If FGM is practiced by women to gain acceptability in society, then in addition to imposing laws we must give them education, improve their chances of working, and equip them with means to reject the practice, she says.__

__Alternative rites of passage are really no alternative in the minds of the traditionalists and circumcision candidates.__ __That is why__ Maendeleo ya Wanawake and other __NGOs committed to ending FGM__ or **FGC** __need to think again. When it comes to a cultural rite, it is difficult to get away with mere symbolisms.It is a well-known fact that about half of the rural districts still practice female circumcision in spite of it being a criminal offence.__ It is practised not only in remote West Pokot but also in some areas next door to Nairobi, such as Gatundu and Kabete. FGM is a cultural tradition, therefore educating the women in Africa about it is going against morals and beliefs.
 * 6) Alternative rites of circumcision is not an alternative to traditionalists and circumcision candidates.**
 * __The Nation.__** Africa News. Women and Gender; Enacting Laws Won't End Female Cut. December 3, 20**__05__** Saturday


 * 7) Programs that address health concerns are not enough to stop FGC**
 * __Wallace Global Fund__**, **__2k__**. < http://www.wgf.org/publications/reports/2000/paper_fgm.pdf>

__Beliefs about the benefits of **FGM** are inextricable from its role in controlling women’s__ __sexuality and keeping them subordinate to men.__ Thus__, programs which seek to protect women’s health by ending circumcision must also address, and attempt to change, the cultural, social, and possibly religious rationales that underlie the practice.__


 * __Solvency Frontline__**


 * 8) Having the West act on FGC just hurts the cause of eliminating fgc**
 * __Yale Journal of Public Health__**, Vol. 1, No. 2, 20**__04__**, “Cut Off.” http://www.yaleph.com/archive/vol1no2/story7.html

As it is currently performed, female genital cutting significantly endangers the health of women and girls in Africa and throughout the world. But __the dialogue surrounding FGC has the potential to be more divisive than unifying for advocates of women's rights and women's health. Anti-western sentiment is largely directed at priorities and tactics which are viewed as misguided, rather than at the goal of eradication itself__. __To counteract this problem, action against genital cutting must be linked to other relevant problems such as economic development, family planning and childrearing, education, and healthcare - all of which are crucial in improving general health in developing countries__. Education about the medical consequences of FGC can reduce risks by preventing unclean and unsafe surgeries, and although some object that health education implicitly sanctions the practice, there is room to inform women objectively. Adult women should be able to choose if and how they want to modify their bodies.


 * 9) Even if the plan manages to educate women and teach them to say no, it can’t stop fgc from being performed on children who cannot do anything about it**
 * __Wallace Global Fund__**, **__2k__**. http://www.wgf.org/publications/reports/2000/paper_fgm.pdf

large number of groups in 27 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and by followers of major religions. Depending on the ethnic group and region, circumcision may be performed at any age from 8 days old through the seventh month of the first pregnancy. __Increasingly it is practiced on children, who are in no position to oppose it.__
 * FGM** is the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia. It is practiced by a


 * 10) More women than men favor FGC and will keep defending the practice no matter what**
 * __Yale Journal of Public Health__**, Vol. 1, No. 2, 20**__04__**, “Cut Off.” http://www.yaleph.com/archive/vol1no2/story7.html

The opinion of women in Sudan is certainly not uniform. __Many women__ vehemently oppose genital cutting; others, however, __are so adamant about its preservation that they have begun to circumcise themselves.__ According to demographic and health surveys, __79% of__ Sudanese women __favor FGC, and it is women - rather than men - who have championed the practice against numerous attacks.__ Some Sudanese women who advocate the practice fear being stripped of cultural identity by an imposing outside world; others are concerned that no man will want to take an uncircumcised woman for a wife; yet others argue that circumcision helps a woman to be mistress of her own body. They argue that terming the practice "mutilation" misrepresents it in public discourse.


 * __Solvency Frontline__**


 * 11) The plan doesn’t do enough to solve**
 * __Wallace Global Fund__**, **__2k__**. http://www.wgf.org/publications/reports/2000/paper_fgm.pdf

__To be effective, **FGM** eradication programs must take into account the unique nature of__
 * __FGM__** __and of the efforts to address it. It is a practice rooted in many layers of African culture and carries meaning and symbolism. Many women continue to support it, even though they realize it harms them__. Therefore, **__focusing on the health consequences of FGM is not enough to stop the practice.__** __Eradication programs must also address the //social// and //cultural// factors--the network of taboos, myths, and beliefs about women’s nature, status and sexuality--that underlie female circumcision.__

P. Stanly **__Yoder__**, Noureddine **__Abderrahim__**, **__and__** Arlinda **__Zhuzhuni__**, writers for MEASURE DHS+ - a data monitor of population, health, and nutrition programs, September 20**__04__**, “Female Genital Cutting in the Demographic and Health Surveys: A Critical and Comparative Analysis” p. 54
 * 12) Many women want to continue female circumcision for tradition reasons**

__In__ **11** **surveys**__, **after** **respondents** **were** **asked** **whether** **they** **thought** **FGC** should con-__ __tinue, those who wanted **FGC** to continue **were** **asked** why **they** held this view__. The precoded answers included 1) custom and tradition, 2) good tradition, 3) religion demands it, 4) cleanliness/hygiene, 5) virginity/morality, and 6) better marriage pros- pects. Table 4.15 shows the responses given most frequently to support the continua- tion of **FGC**. **Respondents** **were** allowed to give more than one answer. __A large proportion of **respondents** cited “tradition,” or “custom,” as their first an-__ __swer to the question. These two terms are used in essentially the same manner and__ __thus are considered equivalent in their meaning. “Good tradition” was another possi-__ __ble coding in some countries, and many **respondents** mentioned it.__ “Religion” here refers to answers that say that religion requires **FGC** to be done. “Virginity” refers to answers that say, for example, that **FGC** protects a girl’s virginity, prevents her from becoming promiscuous, and prevents immoral behavior. “Marriage prospects” refers to the belief that a girl cannot be married unless she is circumcised, and that she will not be acceptable to her husband unless she is circumcised. “Hygiene and cleanliness” refers mostly to aesthetic judgments of the body’s appearance rather than to being clean or dirty.

P. Stanly **__Yoder__**, Noureddine **__Abderrahim__**, **__and__** Arlinda **__Zhuzhuni__**, writers for MEASURE DHS+ - a data monitor of population, health, and nutrition programs, September 20**__04__**, “Female Genital Cutting in the Demographic and Health Surveys: A Critical and Comparative Analysis” p. 54
 * 13) Most women want to continue practices of FGM more than men**

The table shows that __higher proportions of women than men favor the continua-__ __tion of **FGC** in all the countries surveyed__, although support among women and men is about equal in Benin 2001 (5 percent each). __The percentage who say that **FGC**__ __should be stopped is consistently higher for men than that of women__. Does this mean that more women than men favor the continuation of **FGC**? How can this difference be explained? Three explanations are worth considering.