Issues Paper

My topic for my issues paper is on genital mutilation. I feel like this is a topic that many people have not heard of.  Women especially, are being circumcised in various parts of the world.  Mostly in Africa does this practice exist.  In other countries, such as the U.s., Canada, Sweden, and the U.k. is it illegal and is considered a violation of a human's rights.  Because of globalization, we are now just finding some of these things out about other culture's and religions. We know now that many women are circumcised to prevent sexual promiscuity, for marriage-worthy purposes, and other various religious issues.  It has become known that if a girl is not circumcised in some of these cultures, these women are looked down upon, scoffed at, kicked out of homes, and will probably never marry.  Not only do women develop infections and are very uncomfortable, they also die from these various procedures daily.  They are stitched up and restitched more than once in their lives. As to counter the damage that is being done to these poor women at such young ages, many organizations, such as the World Health Organization, are stepping in to make a difference.  They are finding that in order to make a difference they are having to educate individuals on sexual hygiene and the human body.  There are ethical dilemmas they are running into, one is trying to change someone's religion.  They are finding resistance in those societies where female circumcision is a belief rather than tradition.  They are finding that in order to change the way of the society is to change the thinking of their leaders and helping women find more rights within the society.   Immigrants in the U.s. that come from families who participate in female circumcision are causing problems for general surgeons, asking the surgeons to do circumcision. Also, women from the countries where they were circumcised come to the U.S. and ask for doctors to try and repair whats been damaged.