Thank you Jayne and Frederique for your messages of support. Thanks also Frederique for your reminder about the insidiousness of cultural imperialism. I plead guilty to the ethnocentricity charge. It is an issue I find difficult to come to terms with. I wonder how others on the list, particularly those "in the field" deal with the apparent contradiction of viewing certain cultural practices (such as clitoridectomy) as cruel and barbaric from a Western feminist perspective, yet respecting the rights of individuals within that culture to continue that or any other practice, as they choose. Should we intervene at all (even so minor an intervention as education) or do we just chalk the whole thing up to "cultural differences" and forget about it. This is a difficult question for me. Any answers ?
