This qualitative research study explores female circumcision within the Canadian community perspective. / Issues examined in the literature review include: the historical background of the practice, its cultural and religious implications, its effects on health, existing social pressures to continue or discontinue the practice and the subjective constructions of majority and minority identities, perspectives and interactions in Canada's multicultural society. / For the purposes of this study majority/minority relations are explored in terms of the interactions between an immigrant community from a FC practicing country and the mainstream community in Canada. The Somali community has been chosen for this case study as the one best known to the author and as one in whose country of origin available statistics indicate a 98% prevalence rate of FC. Canadian mainstream reactions to this practice are analyzed through media reporting and statements from Somalis in Canada describing their interactions with the mainstream community on this issue. / Members of the Somali community in Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario were interviewed in order to cover as wide an area as possible, including difference in provinces. The following six themes were chosen after data analysis: the Effects of FC on Health, the Cultural Orientation of FC, Religious Beliefs Regarding FC, Social Pressures, A Sense of Differentness and Efforts to Discourage the Practice of FC. These themes are discussed with special attention being paid to 'differentness' and the mechanisms or coping skills developed to deal with this complex social phenomenon which involves opposing values, beliefs and perceptions. / In its final section, the study examines the social work implications of the findings which address intercultural fears, anxieties and the dynamics of power involved in the way the FC issue has been addressed in Canada. / Practice, program and policy recommendations with regard to discouraging FC practice are made at the end of the thesis. / The study concludes with the observation that the debate around FC in Canada is much wider than the issue itself and that the practice has been sensationalized in a manner which has emphasized perceptions of differentness which exist in our society. No constructive dialogue will be possible around this issue until the issue of differentness is addressed, and mutual fears and anxieties evoked by the perception of differentness are dealt with in a sensitive manner, in both immigrant and mainstream communities.

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