An interesting article. Tanveer Ahmed is quite correct that the cultural roots of various controversial practices have little to do with religion, but that in itself is no justification for tolerating barbarities like female genital cutting in our society.

That is because Australian society quite rightly abhors the infliction of harm upon innocent children. I think that any kind of non-medical surgery on the genitals of children should remain illegal, and that the laws should be enforced. However, we have something of a double standard in Australia whereby little boys still routinely have their genitals surgically mutilated for cultural reasons, but nobody ever wants to talk about that.

As far as the hijab, niqab, burka etc are concerned, it's quite a different question. Nobody is harmed by a woman wearing any of those garments, so there is no valid case for banning them.

Whether due to "culture" or "religion" abhorrent practices like female genital mutilation have no place in Australia. Many have issues with multiculturalism because of exactly this type of practice. We don't care what the historical reasons are, they no longer apply here. European history is full of nasty cultural practices that have been dumped as we mature, we only ask that the process of improvement continues.
We don't mutilate our girls here! Simple. I'm afraid that if visitors and new-comers cannot respect a simple yet important part of this nation then they are probably not culturally compatible, or respectful enough of existing residents.
We are tolerant of dress, language, race, imaginary friends (Gods), and most everything else but we needn't, indeed mustn't, tolerate human torture from visitors. Sometimes we can safely assume that we have advanced beyond the countries that folks are fleeing. To set high standards in matters of child rearing "culture" is no more unjust than setting higher standards for things like medical practice, food handling, energy production, etc.

CJ Morgan, I am annoyed that you are equating male circumcision as practiced in Australin hospitals to female clitoral nicking or female 'circumcision'. A more apt male eqivalent to female 'circumcision' would be to cut the penis off, or perhaps cut the head. Sound good to you?
Currently about 5% of Western Australian male children are circumcised, in a procedure that is not supported or even suggested within the public hospital system,according to my GP.
Also, as a side issue, female 'circumcision' offers the woman no marginal protection against life threatening stds such as genital warts or aids in the context of heterosexual vaginal intercourse.

Hi floatinglili - sorry to annoy you, but my comparison is between the clitoral 'nick' that Tanveer Ahmed discusses and the removal of the foreskin that is commonly practised and tolerated in Australia. Perhaps I should have been clearer, but arguably the removal of the foreskin results in greater disfigurement than the clitoral 'nick'.

<< Currently about 5% of Western Australian male children are circumcised, in a procedure that is not supported or even suggested within the public hospital system,according to my GP. >>

Clearly, the reason the procedure persists is for cultural rather than medical reasons. Both practices should be outlawed, if we are to be consistent.

CJ Morgan & Floatinglili

I agree with both of you.

But (there had to be a 'but')

The significant difference between a clitoris and penis is that the clitoris serves only one function - orgasm. Therefore, a more apt comparison would be as Float suggests, removal of the entire head of the penis. There is no reason to remove a foreskin unless for medical conditions, however its removal is no impediment to orgasm.

The 'ritual' nicks for either boys or girls is more about religious sexual hang-ups than anything else and could very well cause self esteem issues about one's genitals.

"Mummy why do I have scar here?"

"Because it is a clitoris"

"Why?"

"Because a clitoris is just for sex and should be scarred."

I have no issue with either men or women wearing the hijab.

I wonder how long the scar tissue would hurt in the 'ritual nicking'? A lifetime? Just a few years?
Not to go into detail here, but many women find scars resulting during childbirth are painful for many years, if not permanently. This long term pain is, of course, underplayed by medical personnel who are interested in the short-term issue of removing a healthy baby!
Yet the long term affects on a woman's self esteem and sexual enjoyment can be really marked.