Great analysis at the post as well. A helluva pickup!

“B. She has enough gential piercings herself that she sets off metal detectors at the airport.”

That is not an image I need floating around in my head.

I can think of an alternative that Amanda did not mention: maybe instead of celebrating “diversity” we should prevent people from cultures that do this from entering America.

Gee, that’s funny, because I distinctly remember Marcotte having pretty liberal views on sexuality; doesn’t she realize that the point of FGM is to render intercourse unpleasurable (and even painful) for women?

Or, as you said, I suppose that little fact is lost amid her rabid desire to be “diverse”…

Wait, what?

Well, it is the acceptance of the intrinsic value of “culture” other than our distinct American one that leads her to this bizarre compromise position. “A little nick ain’t nothing.” It is a symbolic salute to the culture from whence the practice was brought to its full fruition, and the thinking that went behind it, hardly much different than the Jewish ceremony for males, right?

And what was the thinking that birthed this cultural ceremony? The thinking was that if women experience sexual pleasure they are likely to be out committing sexual acts with whoever comes along, so lets fix em early and take that concern off our brains, such as they are.

Yeah. It stems from the male portion of that culture being culturally insecure in their sexuality and having an ownership attitude toward the women in their lives. That is why they go about running down their daughters for wearing in jeans in school. Or decapitating the head of their estranged wife for filing for divorce.

That is an inferior culture, Ms. Marcotte, and if you are unwilling to say so than you are willing to have your daughters grow up in it.

Time to grow a set.

This is not some “differing religious cultural custom which may seem strange to Americans but should be accepted in the spirit of tolerance blah blah blah.” This is a barbaric tradition of cruel, violent, and uncivilized people. In those places where the practice IS “traditional,” the “tradition” is also that the “procedure” is performed without sanitary conditions or anesthesia and in the years just before sexual maturity, maximizing the suffering. Infections are common and deaths are not unheard of.

Also, as Amy P. notes @ #3, the sole purpose is to diminish sexual pleasure in the victim. In the view of these primitive “societies,” women cannot possibly control themselves, without strict repression the wanton sluts would be out every night like cats in heat, yowling and writhing provocatively on the ground to attract sex partners (no offense to Ms. Marcotte intended). These are the same “cultures” which react to a woman being raped by stoning her to death for adultery.

This is a despicable, barbaric, and sadistic practice. Those who cherish such perverse traditions deserve no consideration whatsover from civilized human beings.

And furthermore: I believe that under the laws of every State in the Union, the only lawful and ethical response of a medical professional to a request to perform such a procedure would be to discretely call the police.

I don’t see anything wrong with this statement. A prick is nothing compared with foresin amputation, which is legal.

Amanda Marcotte is no feminist, at least not in the rational sense of the word. She doesn’t care about women’s achievement, whether they are coerced into abortions, or about women who are actually harmed and oppressed by non-Christian cultures. Rather, she wears the mantle of feminism as a reaction against American and Christian cultures and the conservative movement.

If you want to see whether or not a modern liberal feminist actually deserves the moniker, see how she reacts to Sarah Palin and it will tell you everything you need to know about how much she cares for actual women.

Amanda is okay with female genital mutilation. That is what you call nuance! Is she okay with male circumsion too? It’s the gender crime of the century according to Andrew Sullivan (with hints that we should blame the Jews for that).

I would propose making honor killings allowed here too, because if you don’t people might leave the country to do it. It is much better doing it here and doing it right.