Abstract

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is one of the most prevalent harmful cultural practices against women and girls in many African countries. We identified reasons for the failure of the legal approach to stop FGC practice in the Ejagham region Southwest of Cameroon through multi-locale ethnographic fieldwork. The reasons revolve around the belief that FGM is useful for the reduction of sexual immorality among women, removal of sexual ambiguity and improving genital esthetics, a feministic symbol and cultural identity, and the government’s socio-economic neglect of the Ejagham communities; the basis for resistance. Non-legal approaches involving community development and women empowerment have been proposed for fighting FGC.

摘要

女性生殖器切割（FGM/C）是许多非洲国家最普遍的针对妇女和女孩的有害文化习俗之一。我们通过多地区民族志实地调查确定了在喀麦隆西南部 Ejagham 地区采取法律方法未能阻止 FGC 实践的原因。原因围绕着这样一种信念，即女性生殖器切割有助于减少女性的性不道德行为、消除性模糊和改善生殖器美学、女权主义象征和文化认同，以及政府对 Ejagham 社区的社会经济忽视；抵抗的基础。已经提出了涉及社区发展和赋予妇女权力的非法律方法来对抗 FGC。