Female circumcision in two contexts
Citation
Jervis, Lori L. (1989). Female circumcision in two contexts. -- Lambda Alpha Journal of Man, v.20, p.84-106.
Abstract
Female circumcision is a practice which j.s appalling to
many Westerners, yet in cultures where it occurs, it is often
considered only a custom. Yet the failure of repeated
attempts to eliminate the practice by both Westerners and
non-Westerners suggests that female circumcision is
intricately interwoven into the social structure of the
cultures where it occurs. It would seem that the practice
has symbolic meaning and is somehow functional. This
research is a comparative theoretical study of the occurrance
of and the importance of female circumcision within two
different cultures in Africa, the Sudanese and the Maasai.