POPLINE Document Number: 187427
Author(s):
Ahlberg BM
Njau W
Kiiru K
Krantz I
Source citation:
African Sociological Review, 2000;4(1):35-54.
Abstract:
This paper has attempted to answer the question why female circumcision persists despite increasing knowledge about its harm to women's health. We argue that the persistence is not due to being deeply rooted in the social and cultural systems where it is practised. Rather, it is the failure to base eradication on an understanding of the meaning of female circumcision, the gender power dynamics within which it is placed, the social normalisation of power and control and the way these are socially constructed and organised. The eradication efforts' have however transformed a practice that among the Kikuyu was a public action controlled and regulated through the public gaze into an individual, secret action. The elaborate and sexual educational ceremony became a simple act of cutting the clitoris, the very aspect that poses threat to women's health. In our view, it is the invisibility that female circumcision has assumed that makes prevention challenging. (excerpt)
Keywords:
KenyaIndex page
Research Report
Interviews
Adolescents, Female
Women
Female Genital Cutting
Harmful Traditional Practices
Gender Issues
Pain
Sex Behavior
Social Change
Campaigns
Developing Countries
Africa, Eastern
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Data Collection
Research Methodology
Adolescents
Youth
Age Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Traditional Health Practices
Culture
Signs and Symptoms
Diseases
Behavior
Communication Programs
Communication