<p>Between one hundred and one hundred and forty million young girls around the world have reportedly been subjected to some form of genital excision during 2005. Approximately three million young girls are at risk every year of undergoing this harmful procedure (WHO, 2008). Female genital mutilation is reported to occur, and is expected to continue occurring in twenty-eight African countries (London Safeguarding Children Board, 2007). This paper aims to firstly observe the levels of excision in Africa, and then highlight the underlying factors that encourage certain women to continue this dangerous ritual by analysing national datasets, such as the child info database, obtained form the United Nations Children&rsquo / s Fund. By calculating and comparing common indicators, the prevailing ones that dominate FGM appreciation can be further analysed. The final objective will be to suggest strategies that can be put in place to encourage the discontinuation of female genital cutting universally.</p>

This thesis analyzes examples of current female circumcision discourse within U.S. feminist contexts and western-based anti-circumcision projects operating in Kenya. This analysis reveals that, despite recent critiques from postcolonial scholars and activists, the knowledge produced around female circumcision perpetuates discursive and material violence against Kenyan Maasai communities. I explore how this violence has persisted in neo/colonial eras as part of the white western feminist ‘care of self’ technique of displacing female abjection through the pleasure of whiteness. I trace how these formations of race and gender have become attached to understandings of genitalia through colonial-era race science, Freudian psychoanalysis and some feminist texts from 1949-1970. I suggest that these western feminist constructions of sexual liberation rely on depicting racialized women as primitive and degenerate. Finally, I argue that these racial and gendered constructions now inform concepts of ‘developed’ versus ‘underdeveloped’ bodies and nations in contemporary international development work.

This thesis analyzes examples of current female circumcision discourse within U.S. feminist contexts and western-based anti-circumcision projects operating in Kenya. This analysis reveals that, despite recent critiques from postcolonial scholars and activists, the knowledge produced around female circumcision perpetuates discursive and material violence against Kenyan Maasai communities. I explore how this violence has persisted in neo/colonial eras as part of the white western feminist ‘care of self’ technique of displacing female abjection through the pleasure of whiteness. I trace how these formations of race and gender have become attached to understandings of genitalia through colonial-era race science, Freudian psychoanalysis and some feminist texts from 1949-1970. I suggest that these western feminist constructions of sexual liberation rely on depicting racialized women as primitive and degenerate. Finally, I argue that these racial and gendered constructions now inform concepts of ‘developed’ versus ‘underdeveloped’ bodies and nations in contemporary international development work.

Since Julius Wellhausen's synthesis of the Documentary Hypothesis&mdash;and no doubt owing in part to the Protestant Reformation&mdash;dominant portrayals of the Priestly material have described a self&sim;interested legist with little or no concern for those outside the Levitical ranks. Though this negative characterization is recognized by some to be reductionist and misguided, none has undertaken to examine Ishmael's critical role in what is better understood as a universal mode of thinking in P. Examining first the narratives that give indication of Ishmael's status in J and E, I have contrasted Ishmael with the other non&sim;chosen siblings of Genesis, concluding that he is favored in these sources in a way that the others are not; also, that Ishmael and his mother adumbrate not only the distress of Israel's bondage in Egypt, but also their deliverance. With this background from J and E, I have sought to elucidate P's relationship to these sources through its representation of Ishmael in the Abrahamic covenant. It appears that P has recast the promises that Ishmael receives in J and E so that Ishmael is more explicitly excluded from God's covenant with Abraham, on the one hand; but P also identifies Ishmael with the blessing of fertility, invoking the divine injunction to all humanity through both Adam and Noah to &ldquo;be fruitful and multiply&rdquo; (Gen 17:20), on the other. P's emphasis on fertility also relates to Ishmael's own participation&mdash;though he is non&sim;chosen&mdash;in circumcision as the sign of the covenant. Therefore P accounts for God's universal regard for humanity through Ishmael even in his particular covenant with Abraham. / Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

<p>Between one hundred and one hundred and forty million young girls around the world have reportedly been subjected to some form of genital excision during 2005. Approximately three million young girls are at risk every year of undergoing this harmful procedure (WHO, 2008). Female genital mutilation is reported to occur, and is expected to continue occurring in twenty-eight African countries (London Safeguarding Children Board, 2007). This paper aims to firstly observe the levels of excision in Africa, and then highlight the underlying factors that encourage certain women to continue this dangerous ritual by analysing national datasets, such as the child info database, obtained form the United Nations Children&rsquo / s Fund. By calculating and comparing common indicators, the prevailing ones that dominate FGM appreciation can be further analysed. The final objective will be to suggest strategies that can be put in place to encourage the discontinuation of female genital cutting universally.</p>

Male circumcision evokes emotive responses with those who either support or oppose the practice. It is an area of human interaction that has remained outside the public arena as a result of cultural taboos, but has increasingly come under public scrutiny due to the deaths of young boys as a result of unhygienic circumcision. Some taboos raise the spectre of death over anybody who dares to divulge the secrets of the ritual to outsiders. Male circumcision has resulted in public debates due to death and fatalities of some boys who undergo the ritual, but not much has been done to investigate the impact that male circumcision has on the social lives of the circumcised living in urban areas. This study investigates some of the reasons for the practice of traditional male initiation rituals by amaXhosa males who reside in Clermont-KwaDabeka (Durban); and explores, analyses and assesses the social meaning and effects of male circumcision. An analysis is offered about some of the gendered constructions related to sexual pleasure as an effect of male circumcision as perceived by Xhosa men and women living in Clermont-KwaDabeka. The processes involved in circumcision rites for the circumciser and the circumcised are examined in order to establish the context for the study and to extrapolate the processes in order to reflect on the meaning of the ritual. The study highlights the ongoing debate as to whether circumcision may be practiced as a health intervention strategy, and suggests that male circumcision has no impact on the sexual pleasure experienced by women, and concludes that female orgasm (s) is a problematic issue that needs further investigation. The study also conceives male circumcision as a cultural practice, and as a social construction that is gendered. The study recommends further interrogation of the issues pertaining to culture, sex, sexuality, gender, masculinities and male circumcision in order that this will serve as an intervention towards socialization of boys, and help them in making informed decisions before undergoing initiation. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

This paper examines the popular philosophical theory of moral relativism. Traditionally, the theory argues that communities have their own conceptual frameworks of morality that are inaccessible to those outside of the community. Thus, one community cannot give another community a moral reason to change a practice. In this paper, I will examine David Velleman’s version of the theory presented in his book Foundations for Moral Relativism. This version posits that the drive towards mutual interpretability is a universal drive among human communities. From this drive stem all the practices and moral values of communities. However, Velleman does not believe that this implies that communities can understand each others’ conceptual frameworks. In this way, his account remains a normal version of moral relativism. I will argue that there are some cases in which a person can understand a different community’s conceptual framework enough to provide a reason for that community to change a practice. Importantly, my argument will not say that the reasons for change are moral reasons. They will be practical reasons based on the normative fact that human communities should strive towards mutual interpretability. Thus, my account will also maintain the crucial tenets of moral relativism. If accomplished, this argument will add a great power to the theory.

Female genital mutilation, or FGM, is a harmful traditional practice that was brought to Europe by immigrants from practising regions in Africa. Despite numerous approaches to the eradication of FGM, the tradition perpetuates within the immigrant communities in several European countries. Drawing on the available literature, film and interviews, this thesis presents a comparison of the French and Dutch strategies to tackling the problem of FGM. The thesis argues that the Dutch preventative approach could benefit from adopting particular features of the French punitive approach. The thesis concludes by proposing that strong legislative measures that apply to the discovery, investigation and prosecution of FGM cases have contributed significantly to the decline of FGM among practising communities in France, and as such, would have similar results if incorporated into the Dutch strategy for the eradication of FGM.

This thesis presents data on two separate areas relevant to the prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) transmission in homosexual men. These data arise from the community-based Health in Men (HIM) cohort of HIV-negative homosexual men in Sydney. First, the association of circumcision status with HIV and STIs was examined. Older age, ethnicity and country of birth were demographic factors independently associated with circumcision status. Self-report was a valid measure of circumcision status in this population. Overall, being circumcised was associated with a non-significant reduced risk of HIV seroconversion in the HIM cohort (HR 0.76, 95% CI 0.41-1.41, p=0.381). Among the one-third of participants predominantly practising the insertive role in anal intercourse (AI), being circumcised was associated with a significantly reduced risk of HIV infection (HR 0.15, 95% CI 0.03-0.80, p=0.026). Circumcised HIM participants also had a lower risk of incident syphilis (HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.15-0.84, p=0.019), however circumcision status had no significant effect on the remainder of prevalent and incident STIs examined. Second, risk factors for pharyngeal gonorrhoea and chlamydia were investigated. The BD ProbeTec nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) had a positive predictive value (PPV) for pharyngeal gonorrhoea diagnosis of only 30.4% (95% CI 25.2-36.1%) when compared to a previously validated NAAT targeting the gonococcal porA pseudogene. Pharyngeal gonorrhoea was common in HIM, mostly occurred without concurrent anogenital infection and may frequently spontaneously resolve. Infection was independently associated with younger age (p-trend=0.001), higher number of male partners (p-trend=0.002), contact with gonorrhoea (p<0.001) and insertive oro-anal sex with casual partners (p-trend=0.044). Pharyngeal chlamydia was less common but a high prevalence/incidence ratio suggested that infection may persist in the pharynx for long periods. Pharyngeal chlamydia was independently associated with receptive penile-oral sex with casual partners (p-trend=0.009). In conclusion, circumcision may have a role as an HIV prevention intervention among the subgroup of homosexual men who predominantly practise insertive rather than receptive AI. Regular screening of the pharynx including a validated supplemental NAAT for gonorrhoea diagnosis may prevent much transmission to anogenital sites, whereas chlamydia occurs too infrequently in the pharynx to recommend routine screening in homosexual men.

Thesis (Ph. D.) (Botany)--University of Pretoria, 2002.