“I appreciate we live in a multi-cultural society but what gives him the right to impose his beliefs onto me?” she added.
uh, because it is part of some cultures’ beliefs that it is best that their beliefs are imposed on you for your own good. in fact, to a great extent it is part of ALL CULTURES’ belief! ask the egyptian who tries to get his daughter circumcised because he believes it is in keeping with his ideas about islam. that crosses the bounds of tolerance of western culture (ask somali immigrants in seattle who requested a nominal incision into the clitoris in lieu of the more extreme practices who were refused angrily). OTOH, since some westerners (mostly conservative christians of various stripes) would also share the same objection as the muslim re: birth control dispensation it is “tolerated” as part of the multicultural program 
[granted, sometimes this model of tolerance being simply a function of the 'normal' variation within a society does not apply, and there is a dispensation to let minority groups do things that would be objectionable in the majority context because it would be perceived as barbaric, but that isn't the case here]
aziz 5:27 pm on October 4, 2008 Permalink |
(ask somali immigrants in seattle who requested a nominal incision into the clitoris in lieu of the more extreme practices who were refused angrily).
huh, I hadnt heard about that – is that recent? intriguing case study for freedom of religious practice, if the women were the one requesting the incision for themselves and it wasnt men asking for it on their behalf. Sort of like hyper-hijab as an issue.
razib 8:54 pm on October 4, 2008 Permalink |
from 2002. they were female infants. the families wanted it done. partly it was cuz they believed it was islamic; and party cuz it would make them marriageable within the community.