17/12/2025
There is no "cultural defense" for child abuse.
I just finished reading a new "extended essay" published by the BMJ that argues the global campaign against Female Ge***al Mutilation (FGM) is harmful because it "stigmatises" communities and relies on Western bias.
The authors actually argue that we should stop using the word "mutilation" and that safeguarding these children amounts to oppressive "surveillance". They even suggest that parental decision-making and family privacy should be weighed against the child's rights.
I flatly reject this.
Let’s be crystal clear: Culture is never an excuse for physical harm.
The article claims there is a "double standard" because the West accepts infant male circumcision and cosmetic surgery. They are right about the double standard, but they draw the wrong conclusion. The answer isn't to tolerate FGM, it is to recognize that any non-therapeutic cutting of a child's ge****ls, regardless of gender, is a violation of their bodily integrity.
Children cannot consent. Period.
If protecting vulnerable children requires "surveillance" or hurts the feelings of adults who want to cut them, so be it. The rights of the child to be safe and whole must always trump the "right" of a parent to impose a harmful tradition.
We cannot apologize for protecting kids.
