Hi Mavs,

No. I am not avoiding criticizing Muslims at all costs
ás you claim. I just
don't think you can lump them all into one group.

What I am trying to do is present some balance instead
of finger-pointing or going only for one side in this middle-
eastern conflict. In my view taking only one side is a
narrow and negative attitude and yes - a blinkered biased
point of view.

FGM is a manifestation of deeply entrenched gender inequality,
a fact recorded by the World Health Organization.

Although FGM is practiced in some communities in the belief that
it's a religious requirement, research shows that FGM pre-dates
Islam and Christianity. Some researchers have traced the
practice to Egypt in the 5th century BC and argue that the
geographical distribution of FGM suggests that it originated
on the West Coast of the Red Sea.

Egyptian mummies show women infibulated and this is supported
by a Greek papyrus in the British Museum dated 163 BC. There
also appears to be a link between FGM and slavery.

The reasons for the practice of FGM today according to the
World Health Organization is because of a mix of cultural,
religious, and social factors within families and
communities.

FGM happens in not only Africa, but the Middle East, Asia, and
diaspora communities in the UK, US Europe, Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. All have been affected.

FGM is illegal in Australia. This includes sending a person
overseas to have a procedure done or facilitating, supporting
or encouraging someone to have it done. A person who commits
these crimes can go to jail, whether they are a man or a
woman.

The Australian Muslim Community is not monolitic. It has
sectarian divisions and is also extremely diverse racially,
ethnically, culturally, and linguistically.

Here's a bit of reading for you:

http://bbc.com/news/world-47131052

http://abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-drive/female-circumcision-debate/4630478

Josephus,

Your claim that:

In islamic countries it is done by law is not quite accurate.

The practice is not required by most forms of Islam and
fatwas have been issued forbidding FGM, or favouring it.
Leaving the decision to parents, but advising against it.

However, FGM was introduced in Southeast Asia by the spread of
Shfii version of Islam's jurisprudence which considers the
practice obligatory.

All Muslims don't practice their religion in exactly the same
way. Different groups with Muslim communities espouse
parallel non-religious ethnic identities - with related
non-Muslim counterparts both in Australia and abroad.

Foxy, then stop comparing child abuse in Australia with acceptable cultural abuse in other countries. It means you are downplaying child abuse in Australia as culturally acceptable, by making it equal to abusive cultural practices.

Thanks Foxy

You are such a humanist - in a good way, of course.

Mavs

"Why do our Muslim brothers in the Middle East do it? :("

No Mav, you don't tar people with the same brush, and you'd likely only succeed in entrenching the practice as opposition would be portrayed as western oppression. Best to deal with it as a public health issue, although Gambia is about to legalise FGM on religious and cultural grounds.

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/gambia-mp-defends-bid-legalise-female-genital-mutilation-2024-04-08/

More evidence that the missile strike on the Gaza hospital car park was a failed Hamas rocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJQQqgTRBas

Netanyahu can't restore Northern Israel without a fight with Hezbollah.
He needs to start a regional conflict and drag the US into the fight directly against Iran.

Biden siding with Israel risks alienating his Democratic party base and losing the election, he needs a show of placating his pro-Palestinian and Muslim constituents, while also appeasing his Zionist political donors.

Everything changed for Israel on October 7.
The world no longer sides with Israel the way it did.
There's no putting things back to the way it was before.