Circumcision: Maketh the Man, Maketh the Woman

This webinar is part of the Patriarchal Inscriptions: Female bodies contested, invaded defended & owned webinar series.

If as Simone de Beauvoir stated, women are made, not born and, by extension, clitoral amputation produces them, circumcision similarly makes the man. Although the aims of clitoridectomy and removal of the foreskin are incomparable, the belief in their equivalence plays a role in the longevity of the former. And given that human and children’s rights are increasingly influential in the discussion of both customs, avoidance of the ‘circumcision’ debate for anti-FGM campaigns is increasingly untenable.

Therefore, contributions are invited to explore issues surrounding circumcision; consider circumcision in comparison to FGM; analyse efforts to sustain and abolish both; examine circumcision/FGM as enhancements/ detriments to sexual development or fulfilment; looks at each in relation to gender identities; takes into account personal narrative (memoirs) as well as creative writing (fiction); mines the shafts (pardon the pun) of ethnographic history concerning circumcision rites; historical and contemporary religious debates, and the like.

Programme

Circumcisions as Inscriptions of Gender: Implications of FGM Eradication or Sustenance

Mary Nyangweso, PhD, Associate Professor & J. Woolard & Helen Peel distinguished chair in Religious Studies at East Carolina University

Plastic Surgeons’ Familiarity with Female Genital Mutilation & Cutting in the United States

Ava G Chappell, MD, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Institute for Global Health, & the Buehler Center for Health Policy & Economics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Mona Ascha, MD, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, North- western University Feinberg School of Medicine

Rachita Sood, MD, MPH, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Kathryn E. Fay, MD, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Melissa Simon, MD, MPH, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

John Y. Kim, MD, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, North- western University Feinberg School of Medicine

Sumanas W. Jordan, MD, Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Lori A. Post, PhD, Buehler Center for Health Policy & Economics, Department of Emergency Medicine, & the Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Female Genital Mutilation, Male Circumcision & other Genital Interventions as Markers of Collective &/or Individual Identity: Exploring Legal & Medical Approaches in the UK

Jeanise Dalli, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Law & Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle

Emotional & behavioral consequences of FGM/C among African immigrants in NYC: depression, anxiety, PTSD, but also coping & recommendations for clinicians

Mariama Diallo, Program Director, African Initiative

Following presentations by the speakers, there will be a moderated Q&A.

Registered attendees will be sent the access link to participate in the webinar on their web browser or via the Microsoft Teams app the day prior.

To register your place, please visit Eventbrite.