Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Who is oppressed?

Back in the 90s Australian feminists often turned to the circumcision of girls in northern Africa as proof of their theory that men were an oppressor group and women a victim group.

The argument only works though if it's only the case of northern Africa that's considered. In southern Africa it's actually not girls but young men who undergo dangerous forms of circumsion.

An article in the Melbourne Herald Sun this week (Pointed end to men's ritual 5/1/05 - not online) discussed the issue of dangerous circumcision ceremonies for young men in South Africa. According to Sizwe Kupelo of the Eastern Cape provincial health department "at least 10 young men had died during the current initiation period" in the Eastern Cape alone.

So, if you look at the whole of Africa it's not clear at all that only women are the victims of dangerous circumcision pratices. It appears that young men also suffer badly through such customs. You won't hear feminists publicising this, though, as it upsets their political assumption that you can divide society into male oppressors and the female oppressed.

1 comment:

  1. The funny thing about feminists is that they actually expect us to care about women and their trevails even though it's clear they don't give a crap about men or our trevails.