“I also have no qualms about letting anyone know that I fiercely condemn this disgusting practice, hurt feelings be damned.”
An editor for the New York Times decided that the paper would refrain from using the phrase “female genital mutilation” because it’s “culturally loaded.” Apparently, the Times doesn’t want to offend Africans who accept female genital mutilation as part of their culture. This preposterous conclusion was made by Health and Science editor Celia Dugger after a trip to Africa in the ‘90s. Dugger would rather use the phrase “genital cutting” when referring to the barbaric practice of removing female genitalia from young girls.
Indian-born doctors in Michigan were charged with performing the horrible surgeries on girls aged 6-8 years old. Some minor girls had even been taken across state lines in order to receive the procedure. Female genital mutilation is illegal in the United States. One of the doctors operated after closing time, and his wife was present in some instances.
I’ll never be convinced that mutilating a child’s body in this manner should be culturally acceptable. I don’t even like the idea of piercing infant girls’ ears. I also have no qualms about letting anyone know that I fiercely condemn this disgusting practice, hurt feelings be damned.
The fact that the New York Times would walk on eggshells when reporting an atrocity such as female genital mutilation shows that people in the United States have become too focused on being politically correct and less concerned with facts.
Female genital mutilation is illegal in the United States. This isn’t Africa, India, or the Middle East. Journalists have a duty to preserve human rights and advocate for awareness of such violations. I don’t care how many trips to Africa Celia Dugger has embarked on or at which point she became comfortable accepting female genital mutilation—she’s using the Times to downplay the reality of these crimes.
Why place so much stock in preserving the feelings of groups who do this to young girls? Calling the practice archaic would be putting it mildly. It’s becoming a serious double standard within the American media regarding political correctness. Liberal publications want to toe the line to prevent angering outside cultures but will attack groups and political parties in the United States with blistering headlines and one-sided rhetoric.
The New York Times has frequent exchanges with President Donald Trump and has no problem hurling insults, but they draw the line at offending African cultures who mutilate children’s genitals. What?
Celia Dugger’s choice to use the phrase “genital cutting” sugar coats the brutality these young girls are subjected to. The United Nations has even asserted that utilizing the word “mutilation” accurately reinforces the severe violation of women’s and girls’ basic human rights.
The Times has been in the spotlight lately for its irresponsible reporting. The Sports editor recently posted to social media a false comparison of White House photos taken of the New England Patriots during their visits to the White House with President Trump and former President Barack Obama. Celia Dugger should be ashamed of herself as a woman for attempting to normalize this barbarism. Where are the feminists?
