Hello MRDG, Are you people serious with this posting ?I have problems of understanding what you people are saying.If you people are reading the different postings on this issue you will understand that Gambian women do not need a Hammadi to tell them what is good or bad about this issue.They don't need any western woman/women to tell them what is good or bad on this issue.They are doing their work and putting their message through to those it concern.It concerns them and if we could not support them then lets give them peace and not accusing them for not been able to think for them selves.Secondly if this is an African culture that needs to be taken care of,I hope this is not what you people mean,then one needs to define what culture is all about.Culture is no stone,culture is something that is in constant change,our people ,including you people,don't go in "jemba/jemboo" ,we go in "Dabakorto" and jeans. Can you give one reason why male circumscription is bad for the health of men? This debate was up here some time back,it seems that the message that the sisters were sending out did not get through,I hope this time we will be able to come to a final conclusion. For Freedom Saiks ----- Original Message ----- From: Movement for the Restoration of Democracy in Gambia <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 3:31 AM Subject: Re: Female circumcision; My View. > What about abortion and death penalty/execution? God, help us with the > selective choice of words, some of us have been conned to use, even against > our selves...Female Genital MUTILATION..what? What do we call male > circumcision? Male Genital Decapitation. Are you guys aware of the Movement > to banned Male circumcision? It's sad that some of us, instead of reasoning > with our brethren that practice this form culture, tradition, religion or > whatever one wants to call it, we decided on the reversal role of blaming > ourselves as uncivilized, barbaric, inhumane and all the crap nonsense. My > question to you, if the cap fits, where the hell on earth were you the past > two decades, when more females were circumcised than currently exaggerated by > these no-good Liberators/Westerners knows best. Do you JJC's suffer from > selective myopia or amnesia on this issue, even though you were born and > raised in the Gambia? We have to start reading between the lines when these > so called saviors come knocking on our doors, on the pretext of > salvaging/educating/civilizing us from our traditional/cultural practices, as > seen from their own perspective. In the eyes of many foreigner's to Africa > and Africans, it's only recently, that we, Africans, became 'civilized' > instead of the usual negative/subliminal connotations attributed to, and > believe by some of us Africans [backward, savages, cannibals]. This changed > as we, Africans started leveling the plain field, by learning, mastering, > competing them in their art, craft and science of myth-making and reality. > The solution is, either we collectively educate/empower [as Hamadi did] the > families and or practitioners of female circumcision, or shut up and stop > being forceful hypocrites. > A friend of mine recently send her daughter home, after a lot of debate on > "culture clash" vis a vis, the husband Wollof and wife Mandingoe; to > circumcised or not to [as the grandmother wished]. Upon seeing the > granddaughter the first time in her life, the grandmother accepted the > reality that the fifteen year old girl's mode of thinking and understanding, > is that of a competitor and focused determinant on being a doctor someday, > the grandmother turned out to be more supportive of the child's education and > well being, infact threatened a neighbor, for mentioning circumcision to her > granddaughter. > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L > Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html > You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] > if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask] if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------